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Camp Columbia Exhibit Opens in June

An exhibit of Camp Columbia memorabilia will be on display at the Old Town Hall Museum in Morris, CT, on Saturday afternoons from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., June through September. Professor Emeritus Howard Vreeland, resident director of Camp Columbia from 1966 until 1983, shared his collection with the Morris Historical Society and served as a resource in order to present this exhibit.

Professor Vreeland credits Town Historian Lee Cook with assembling the "Camp Columbia" exhibit. "Ms. Cook has followed professional standards of collecting, cataloging and displaying a wide assortment of items of historical interest and importance," says Professor Vreeland. He expressed the hope that many Columbians will take advantage of this special opportunity to see Camp Columbia in its historical perspective. The Old Town Hall Museum is at 12 South Street, Morris, CT, and is, according to Professor Vreeland, "right in the center of town."

Professor Vreeland wants to reassure SEAS alumni that the State of Connecticut is acknowledging Columbia's long association with the property. "The major portion of the property has been named Camp Columbia State Forest, providing free access to the public," he says. "A smaller amount of acreage has been designated as a ‘State Historic Park' and includes most of the cluster of buildings usually regarded as the campus area, as well as the boathouse frontage on Bantam Lake." From the School's earliest history until 1964, all Columbia engineers were required to take classes during the summer at the Town of Morris property owned by Columbia University and known affectionately as "Camp Columbia."

The last department to abandon the Camp Columbia requirement was Chemical Engineering, which used the site until 1966. Jeffrey M. Franklin '68, a chemical engineering major who was at Camp Columbia in 1966, recalls, "for the 25 (or so) of us who lived and studied there during the summer of 1966, this was, and will always remain, a significant experience."

The photo above shows the Camp Columbia Stone Water Tower, which was built in 1942 and was a gift of the Class of 1906. Photos below show various gatherings at Camp Columbia over the centuries. They are, in chronological order, from 1886, 1890 and 2004. The earlier photos are of faculty and students; the last photo is of the final Camp Columbia Reunion held by alumni at the site, in 2004, following the transfer of ownership to the State of Connecticut.