The Antioch College Union is going to be demolished. Constructed in 1957 with money from the Kettering family, the mid-century modern style building gradually fell into disrepair and completely closed fifteen years ago. In its heyday, the union had a dance hall and cafeteria as well as classroom and office space. It is also the building where WYSO had its first broadcast in 1958.
Over the weekend, about one hundred Antioch alumni and community members held a funeral for the building during the college's annual reunion. The funeral service, which was also live-streamed, included a New Orleans style procession, a eulogy and a music performance. Most people wore white, instead of traditional black.
Anna Hogarty worked at the college for 27 years. Hogarty said the front steps of the building, or "the stoop," were a venue for political debate between Antioch students with a reputation for leftist politics and more conservative visitors from the area.
"People from Springfield and Xenia and Fairborn, they would drive by on a Saturday afternoon and harass the students," she said. "And the students would harass them right back."
The stoop and some art from the building will be preserved from the demolition.
The college got the $100,000 state grant to knock down the building in March but no official demolition date has been set.
Chris Welter is a reporter and corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms.
