Built in 1888, Mears Cottage is the second oldest building on campus and has served many purposes over the years. Originally a women’s dormitory, this building later went on to house several offices and the English, history and gender, women’s, and sexuality studies departments before being remodeled once again to house Human Resources and Campus Security.
The initial developments for Mears Cottage began in 1871, when former Grinnell President George Frederick Magoun recommended the construction of a facility that would provide quality accommodations for students. Due to money troubles, fire hitting other parts of campus and the tornado of 1882, the Board of Trustees did not appoint its first committee on the subject until 1884.
In 1887, Edward A. Goodnow contributed $5,000 toward the building of Mears. He said that it should be named after Mary Grinnell Mears, daughter of Josiah Bushnell Grinnell, one of Grinnell’s founders.
In 1889, thirty women moved into Mears dorms, which included a closet, dresser, bed and study space. Soon after its construction in 1893, it also became one of the first buildings on campus to house electric lights. Another addition was made to the building in 1904 in order to increase the capacity of housed students. Based on the national register nomination form, by 1973, the building was co-ed and housed about 55 students.
Katherine Klein Byrd `69 mentioned small closets and students heavily decorating dorms to fit their personalities in an alumni interview with the college.
In Nov. 1978, the building was set to be demolished by the Board of Trustees, and a fourth floor was to be built onto Norris Hall instead, due to the high costs associated with renovation of the building. Mears stopped housing students in the fall semester of 1979 due to the deterioration of the building, which former professor of biology Waldo S. Walker claimed that this deterioration was due to inadequate maintenance and self-governance culture causing extra damage to dormitories. This decision did not sit well with several students and faculty, who voiced their dissatisfaction with the destruction of the building, which was, at the time, pending for National Register Listing.
During the late 1970s and 1980s, students continued to speak up about their beloved building, and alumni traveled to complain about its destruction to the board. It was a topic brought up in SGA candidacy statements, and was mentioned multiple times in The Scarlet & Black.
Due to protests from students and alumni, by Jan. 1979, the future of Mears Cottage was uncertain. Mears joined the National Register of Historic Places in April 1979, and former President George Drake `56, recommended to the Board of Trustees in 1980 that the building should be preserved and renovated into offices.
Much to the frustration of the campus community, shifts in priorities continued to motivate the uncertainty of the building’s purpose, and it stood empty until a renovation occurred in 1986.
After seven years of standing unoccupied, a $1.4 million renovation converted Mears Cottage into the Office of Admissions, Office of Student Financial Aid, the Office of Career Development and the Office of Evaluation and Planning.
In the early 2000s, Mears Cottage became the home of several academic departments.
Erik Simpson, professor of English, said that Mears brought the English department together instead of being spread all around campus. Mears featured offices for faculty and academic assistants, three classrooms and a downstairs lounge area.
Simpson remembered a time two high school students stopped by his office in Mears. He mentioned that his office was likely the dorm their grandmother had lived in while she was a student. “But when we were working there, you don’t very often think about what the building used to be,” he said. “That was a moment where it’s like, oh, that reality really hit home that this really was a dormitory.”
Over spring break in 2022, both Campus Safety and Human Resources moved into Mears Cottage, following the migration of English, history and gender, women’s and sexuality studies to the Humanities and Social Studies Center in 2021. This move sparked protests from students over the potential for increased surveillance and the potential for increased racial profiling for students of color.
James Mulholland, director of compensation and risk management, has since found the move helpful as it’s increased walk-in traffic and access.“[Mears] is very different from [The Old Glove Factory] because now we have more access or there is more access for employees of the institution and also for students, because we employ a ton of students and there’s a lot of paperwork that has to get done,” he said.
Simpson felt Mears was very distinct in comparison to other buildings on campus. “Part of that gave it a real character and charm that was fun because it’s not like any other building. It also meant that there were bats and there were rumors that it was haunted by Helen Mears,” he said. “Students would have stories about hearing the ghost of Helen Mears at night, and it had an elevator that always seemed like a coin flip. You know, whether you were going to make it to the floor that you chose.”
