Fletcher Hall

Name

Namesake: Walter Fletcher

Walter Holden Fletcher was born August 8, 1877, in Rumney, New Hampshire. After high school, he attended Dartmouth College, where he received his B.A. (1900) and M.A. (1908). Upon finishing his master’s degree in education, Fletcher began his career working in grade schools in Vermont and New Hampshire, later working as a high school principal in Vermont by 1910. Fletcher married Lena Willey in 1913 and five years later the pair moved to Oshkosh, where Fletcher joined the staff of the vibrant state Normal School. There he devoted the next 26 years to students’ academic and social achievement.

Fletcher taught mathematics, English, Latin, and general science, but his greatest contributions to the campus were in his leadership of the Advance newspaper and the Men’s Association, a now-defunct organization which fostered fellowship among male students. Fletcher was remembered for his enthusiasm for student affairs and his excellent cooking skills, which he shared frequently with the campus community through dinners and picnics. Fletcher’s lasting achievement at Oshkosh is his guidance of the campus newspaper. When Fletcher arrived at Oshkosh Normal, the Advance was a quarterly publication created as part of a Journalism class. Under Fletcher’s tutelage, the Advance became an award-winning weekly extracurricular paper with high standards of writing, reporting and graphic design and continues to be an important and influential part of campus life. He retired in 1944, but left a lasting impression on the lives of his students. Walter Fletcher died on January 19, 1955 and is buried in his birth place of Rumney, New Hampshire.

Facts

Completion Date: 1964

Renovation Date:  2016-2017

Original Purpose of Building: Men’s dormitory.

Current Use: Coed dormitory.

History

 In the early 1960s, Oshkosh State College was growing rapidly. Increasing enrollment due to the baby boom generation required the school to expand its physical plant. Fletcher Hall was the largest of the school’s original ten low-rise residence halls. Opening in 1964, it housed up to 520 male students. The dormitory went coeducational by 1970.  Massive and modern, Fletcher Hall, when it opened, was the “crown jewel” of residence life at Oshkosh.

Due to its available space, the Fletcher Hall basement became home to a fitness center in 1985. When it opened, membership for the center cost $30 per year and featured 14 Nautilus fitness machines, exercise classes, and a “computer with programs on nutrition and fitness.” Eventually, the center was closed when the Student Recreation and Wellness Center opened in 2007.

Fletcher Hall’s size and location near Reeve Memorial Union made it a popular choice for undergraduates. Over the decades, the hall has developed a reputation as a social hotspot with a strong history of involvement in Hall Government, Homecoming, and Winter Carnival events. The culture of a hall changes with each passing class, but Fletcher has maintained its irreverent and active attitude - from anti-Vietnam peace sit-ins, cheeky in-hall newsletters to floors devoted to artists or the first-year experience. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Fletcher Hall alone remained open all-year long, and thus was the appropriate hall to house many of the University's international students who were not always able to return home during breaks. Fletcher’s international student population brought diversity to the Oshkosh campus:  it was the site of Hindu celebrations, multicultural festivals, and frequent meetings of the Club International, an organization created to increase knowledge and understanding of other cultures and ethnicities. The impact that the willingness of these students to share their cultures and involve themselves in campus affairs had on the well-being of the university is immeasurable and contributed to Fletcher Hall’s unique atmosphere.

In 2017, Fletcher Hall underwent a complete renovation and expansion that included new large common areas in the front of the building.     

Photos