Residential Building
Built
in 1937, Dodge Hall was the first residential building completed
on the Northfield campus after Alumni Hall was built in 1905. It
was renovated in 1998. Apart from housing students on five floors,
this dormitory also has a lounge with a television and pool table.
Originally, this building was named Cabot Hall to honor Dr. Godfrey L. Cabot. However, when the original Dodge Hall was demolished in 1965, it was decided to change the name of this building to Dodge Hall.
Major General Grenville M. Dodge graduated from 
Norwich
University in 1851. During the Civil War, he was active in the reconstruction
of bridges and railroads that had been destroyed during the fighting.
After the war, he
worked as Chief Engineer of the
Union Pacific Railroad. In this capacity, he completed construction
of the Union Pacific Railroad from Omaha to Promontory Point, Utah,
and made over 100,000 miles of railroad surveys. He served as trustee
of Norwich University from 1882 to his death in 1916 and assisted
in the organization of the Alumni Association of New York City.
TOMPKINS HALL
Mathematics & Mechanical Engineering
The first two floors of Tompkins Hall are occupied by the Mechanical Engineering Department, with laboratories and shop areas on the lower floor and offices and classrooms on the first floor. The top floor of the building is the domain of the Mathematics Department, which includes a Mathematics library. For a time, the Vermont Bureau of Industrial Research was also located in this building.
Tompkins
Hall was built in 1951 at a total cost (including equipment) of
$276,000. It was funded mainly by alumni and friends of the University.
It had a full renovation in 1997. The building was named Tompkins
Hall on June 7, 1952, to honor the service of Colonel Frank Tompkins,
who had served as Professor of Military Science and Tactics and
Commandant between the years 1910 and 1923. He also remained a Norwich
trustee for twenty two years. Col. Tompkins fought in World War
I, and also saw service in Cuba and the Philippines. Of his many
military decorations, the Distinguished Service Cross and the Purple
Heart are prominent.
Humanities,
Education, Nursing, Dole Auditorium
Webb Hall was completed in 1960 at a cost of $630,000 and originally housed the English, Modern Languages, Social Sciences, Psychology and Education, and the Business Administration programs. Today, the Modern Languages, English, Education, and Nursing programs are located in this building. Twenty one classrooms and three seminar rooms are available. Dole Auditorium, which can seat over four hundred people, is also located in Webb.
The building is named after J. Watson Webb, who was a Norwich trustee and benefactor. He was a Yale graduate and founder of the firm of Webb & Lynch in New York City. Mr. Webb was also an outstanding polo player and was a member of the American team that won the international cup in 1921, 1924, and 1927. He contributed the lion's share of the funds necessary for the construction of this building. Other contributors included J. Walter Juckett, Jacques Gerard, and General A. Conger Goodyear.
Dole Auditorium honors the name of Professor Charles Dole, a Norwich graduate (1869) who served the University in various capacities. These included acting president, vice president, commandant, secretary of the faculty, professor of history and rhetoric, and instructor in Mathematics and Latin. He went on to become president of the Dole, Brill, Black Slate Company and was also Northfield's representative in the Vermont Legislature for a year.
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Source: Guinn, Robert Darius, The History of Norwich University, 1912-1965.