Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Walker Memorial Gymnasium Committee Ledgers

The Walker Memorial Gymnasium Committee was appointed in 1899 to secure subscriptions from MIT alumni and local society representatives for a new memorial gymnasium on the Boston campus. The committee also sought to garner support for the gymnasium from the MIT Corporation, faculty, and undergraduates. The need for a new gymnasium arose when the Institute’s lease on the grounds of the old gymnasium on Exeter Street in Back Bay expired. Rather than simply move the gymnasium, members of the committee believed that the Institute was in need not only of a new gymnasium, but also of a fitting tribute to the late President Walker, who had died two years earlier in 1897. Walker had promoted physical exercise, and the gymnasium that the committee envisioned was well-rounded, providing space for running, rowing, swimming, and games.

The new gymnasium was completed in December of 1905 and stood on Garrison Street in Back Bay, Boston. In 1916, when MIT’s campus moved from Back Bay to its present-day location in Cambridge, the gymnasium moved along with it to its new home in the newly-erected Walker Memorial Building (Building 50) at 142 Memorial Drive.

Members of the Walker Memorial Gymnasium Committee were appointed by the Executive Committee of the Alumni Association. The members of the 1899 committee were Robert H. Richards (Class of 1868 and first Alumni Association president), Thomas Hibbard (Class of 1875), Harry W. Tyler, Everett Morss (Class of 1885), William B. Thurber (Class of 1889), Edward Cunningham (Class of 1891), Albert F. Bemis (Class of 1893), and Benjamin Hurd (Class of 1896).