A green space adjacent to Florida State University’s Westcott Building that is rich in university and local history will be rededicated during a Heritage Day Celebration led by Florida State President Eric J. Barron on Friday, April 20.
In addition to Barron, others taking part in the ceremony include FSU alumna Betty Lou Joanos, chair of the Emeritus Alumni Society’s board of directors, who will ring a ceremonial bell to officially open the Heritage Day Celebration; and 2012 Senior Class Council President Kimberly Siddle, who will announce her class’s donation of a memorial garden within the green.
Following the rededication ceremony, tours of the historic William Johnston Building, whose interior recently received an ultramodern makeover, and the new Heritage Museum located in Dodd Hall will be offered.
The Heritage Day events will begin:
FRIDAY, APRIL 20
4 P.M.
MINA JO POWELL GREEN
(LOCATED BETWEEN THE LONGMIRE BUILDING AND WESTCOTT BUILDING)
CONVOCATION WAY
FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY
TALLAHASSEE, FLA.
Mina Jo Powell Green first received its name during a ceremony led by former Florida State President Bernie Sliger in 1991. (Powell, a 1950 graduate of Florida State, had been a tireless advocate for preservation of this and other open spaces on campus.) The green, once filled with camellia bushes, a goldfish pond and a sundial donated by previous graduating classes, was fenced off and used as a staging area from 2008 to 2010 while extensive renovations and construction took place at theWestcott Building and Ruby Diamond Concert Hall.
With that construction complete, Mina Jo Powell Green has been brought back to life with flowers and other landscaping, as well as marble benches and a statue of George Edgar, the first president of the Seminary West of the Suwannee River, an early predecessor of Florida State University.
Mina Jo Powell Green has been a gathering place for students, faculty, staff and visitors to the Florida State University campus and its predecessors for more than 120 years. Commencement ceremonies were held on the site for approximately five decades, ending in 1950. And two small buildings that housed the State Normal College for Colored Students — the predecessor of Florida A&M University — are believed to have been located on the site from 1887 to 1891.
Read more about the history of Mina Jo Powell Green here.
Following the rededication ceremony, tours of the Johnston Building and the Heritage Museum will commence. In addition, a pair of commemorative stained-glass windows will be unveiledwithin Dodd Hall’s Werkmeister Reading Room. The tours will conclude around 7:30 p.m.
All Heritage Day Celebration events are free and open to the public.
Visit http://heritage.fsu.edu/ to learn about Heritage Protocol, a university-wide initiative designed to preserve the history of Florida State University and its predecessor institutions.
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CONTACT: Donna McHugh, FSU University Relations
(850) 644-1000; dmchugh@admin.fsu.edu
