The Yerkes of Yesterday
Centre College has long been a place steeped in tradition. Since the Kentucky General Assembly’s approval of its inception in 1819, the institution has garnered both local and national esteem in the realm of higher education. Over the years, Centre has bolstered this reputation with consistent rankings and awards. These accolades include listings as a U.S. News top-50 national liberal arts college, a Forbes top-15 college/university in the South seven years in a row, and being included in Colleges That Change Lives, among several others. Even the athletically-inclined have reason to admire the college. As part of Central University in 1910, the men’s basketball team handed the University of Kentucky its largest losing margin to date with a final score of 87-17. It is also nearly impossible to forget the Praying Colonels’ renowned defeat of Harvard in 1921 (6-0), still considered to be one of the greatest upsets in college football history. All of this is to say that Centre College is a place defined by its accomplishments, taking pride in the ways it is able to serve its campus community as well as the greater Danville area. This narrative of success, along with the notion of constant progress, is the chosen portrayal that is marketed to the world. And while aspects such as these are definitely apparent, the “Centre Experience” as it is truly lived by students, does not always align with such expectations. The College’s decorated history is also home to circumstances that have come to be deemed less desirable, reminders that the ideals of Centre Dear have not always been upheld.
Though this appearance of Centre as a picture perfect place attracts the attention of prospective students, they quickly learn that these halls obtained their ranks for good reason. Days are spent running to class, dedicating time to extracurriculars, being involved in community service, maintaining a healthy social life...and maybe finding a minute to remind yourself to eat something in between. The never-ending expectations of being a Centre student leave little room for much else. However, as senior Kelly Webb tells us, that does not mean there aren’t even more components at work on the campus. Kind enough to share with us, Kelly recounts some experiences she and her roommate encountered during their first year on campus. During this time, they were residents on the second floor of Yerkes House. Although there were several other occurrences, three in particular seemed to be connected. Kelly began by describing the layout of her room. After noting the window’s location high above her bed, she spoke of a child-sized handprint they found “way up at the top.”[i] According to Kelly, this would have been a very difficult level to reach even if one were to stand on her bed and jump. Interestingly enough, she spoke of how other girls who lived on the same floor claimed they had seen a child out in the hallway. Perhaps one of the most chilling parts of this account took place one morning. “My roommate woke up and she had a text from her friend and her friend was really confused. ‘Why did you send me this?’ So my roommate looked up and there was a message that was sent from her phone to her friend that said ‘come play with me’ in the middle of the night.”[ii] With many stories of spirits lingering in multiple buildings on Centre’s campus, what makes this one so special? Perhaps the indication of it being a child? That seems out of the ordinary on a college campus. However, when we apply the history of Yerkes and those who occupied the land before its construction, a connection seems much more plausible.
Yerkes House was built in 1963, named after a family who had maintained a strong relationship with the College for over three generations. It was one of multiple buildings being simultaneously constructed as “the first phase of Centre’s ten-year sesquicentennial development program.”[iii] Following the construction of Acheson-Caldwell House and Cheek-Evans House in 1962, Yerkes was the third and final building needed to accommodate students transitioning from the women’s college to Centre’s main campus. This women’s college began as the Henderson Female Institute in 1854. The effects of the Civil War proved difficult for the new school, which had more than its fair share of names and presidents over the course of its first fifty years. With an amendment to its charter in 1913, it officially became the Kentucky College for Women. Nevertheless, issues with funding and other aspects of independence led the institution to become a department of Centre in 1926. The formal consolidation did not take place until 1930. In one 1963 issue, a headline in Danville’s The Advocate-Messenger read, “Centre’s Yerkes House Opening Marks End of One Era And Start of Another.”[iv] And surely it did. Segregation in the United States was still occupying much of the country’s attention at the time of Yerkes’ construction. With the Civil Rights Movement still in full force in response to Jim Crow laws and other minorities faced with similar experiences of oppression, this process of fully integrating women into a prevailingly white-male-dominated institution carried more weight than one might expect. In a dejecting twist of irony, Centre obtained this area through the Urban Renewal project, commandeering the residences of African Americans to fulfill these housing needs. Perhaps this ghostly child called one of these residences home long before the land was assigned its new purpose. It serves as a reminder of the complex, and often contradictory, nature of Centre’s history. It also requires the modern student to re-evaluate their position in this web, acknowledging that they are only one of many who have passed through this place.
Writing on the concept of place and how we perceive it, Michael Bell notes that ghosts “may conjure up in places, but it is only people who can conjure them up.”[v] With that being said, Centre has encouraged the conjuring up of strictly positive ghosts, ever dependent upon the spirits that dictate a beneficial reputation. Its students are conditioned to believe in the necessity of accomplishment in their fleeting four years, when the magnitude of their experience should lie in the realization that any contribution they make is miniscule in the greater context of Centre’s history. If the College can choose to see the ghosts of a past not so far removed — one that proves progress doesn’t necessarily equate true success — it can become a place not haunted by its ghosts, but strengthened by them.
-Hannah Drury
Endnotes
[i] Kelly Webb (Centre Student) in discussion with the author, January 2021.
[ii] Ibid..
[iii] “’Big Move’” Takes Place As Centre Opens New Campus,” Advocate-Messenger (Danville, KY), Jan. 28, 1962.
[iv] “Centre’s Yerkes House Opening Marks End of One Era And Start of Another,” Advocate-Messenger (Danville, KY), Nov. 21, 1963.
[v] Bell, Michael Mayerfeld. “The Ghosts of Place.” Theory and Society, Vol. 26, No. 6 (Dec.. 1997): 831.
Bibliography
Bell, Michael Mayerfeld. “The Ghosts of Place.” Theory and Society, Vol. 26, No. 6 (Dec.. 1997): 831.
“’Big Move’” Takes Place As Centre Opens New Campus,” Advocate-Messenger (Danville, KY), Jan. 28, 1962.
“Centre Facts.” Centre.edu. Accessed January 27, 2021. Centre.edu/centre-facts/.
“Centre’s Yerkes House Opening Marks End of One Era And Start of Another,” Advocate-Messenger (Danville, KY), Nov. 21, 1963.
Kelly Webb (Centre Student) in discussion with the author, January 2021.