Last updated on 11/18/2016
A sketch of Ms Irene Hazard Gerlinger. She was the unstoppable force behind the construction of UO’s Gerlinger Hall, and it was named in her honor in 1929:
So which of our Board’s members would have the gall to propose taking this remarkable woman’s name off the building she created?
She would. Franklin Lewis has the story in the Emerald here.
Originally named the Women’s Memorial Hall, construction of the building began in 1915 and finished in 1921. According to the Architecture of the UO portion of the UO Libraries website, the building was renamed in honor of its primary advocate, Irene Gerlinger. Ironically, in 1957, Gerlinger told the Register Guard that she didn’t approve of the name change and would have rather kept the original name to honor women.
More on Ms Gerlinger here.
Hazard! Can we call it Hazard Hall? Or should that remain as the unofficial name of PLC?
Just FYI, members of the Gerlinger family are still very active in supporting the campus. I do hope that any initiative on renaming is closely coordinated with them.