The University of Michigan, an encyclopedic survey ... Wilfred B. Shaw, editor.

About this Item

Title
The University of Michigan, an encyclopedic survey ... Wilfred B. Shaw, editor.
Author
University of Michigan.
Publication
Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press,
1941-
Rights/Permissions

The University of Michigan Library provides access to these materials for educational and research purposes. These materials may be under copyright. If you decide to use any of these materials, you are responsible for making your own legal assessment and securing any necessary permission. If you have questions about the collection please contact Digital Content & Collections at digital-collections-help@umich.edu, or if you have concerns about the inclusion of an item in this collection, please contact Library Information Technology at LibraryIT-info@umich.edu.

Subject terms
University of Michigan.
University of Michigan -- History.
Cite this Item
"The University of Michigan, an encyclopedic survey ... Wilfred B. Shaw, editor." In the digital collection The University of Michigan, An Encyclopedic Survey. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/u/umsurvey/AAS3302.0004.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed March 28, 2024.

Pages

School of Music Building

The "Ann Arbor School of Music" was opened in September, 1881, and classes were conducted in a building at

Page 1731

the corner of State and Huron streets. Later in the same year it became a division of the incorporated "University" Musical Society. Because of insufficient resources, however, the School did not flourish, and in 1890 a special committee was appointed to discuss its reorganization.

In December, 1891, Professor William H. Pettee, who was active in the early program of the Musical Society, announced: "The University Musical Society has all the power it needs to proceed to the establishment of a School of Music," and it was resolved that a school of music be established "as soon as the necessary financial support could be secured." It was proposed that $6,500 to cover expenses, payable over a three-year period, should be guaranteed by subscription. In January, 1892, the committee reported that one hundred subscriptions of sixty-five dollars each had been obtained, whereupon the Board of Directors passed a resolution establishing the "University School of Music," which opened for instruction in October, 1892, in rooms rented in Newberry Hall. The rented rooms were inadequate, however, and it was proposed that the School of Music be moved to Main Street. This proposal was not favorably received, and in 1893 a group of Ann Arbor business men and townspeople formed the School of Music Building Association. About two hundred individuals and firms subscribed for approximately six hundred shares of stock at $25.00 each, aggregating a total of $25,000. With this money the site at 325 Maynard Street was bought and the building was constructed. Wesley Howe was the architect and builder.

In the years 1913 and 1916 alterations were made to the building under the supervision of Lewis H. Boynton, architect.

In 1925 the Building Association gave the title to the University Musical Society, and the School of Music Building Association was dissolved. The Society transferred the title to the University in 1929 when the School of Music was made a definite unit of the University.

In the Regents' Proceedings for April, 1929, the value of the property was given as $106,393.

Do you have questions about this content? Need to report a problem? Please contact us.