Last updated 01/09/09
On his web site “Dartmo: The Buildings of Dartmouth College,” Scott Meacham ’95 offers a detailed history of the Green, including the orientation of the footpaths that cross it:
“The paths have not always been where they are today. The northern cross-path was added after Massachusetts Hall was built, to connect it to the north door of Dartmouth. The diagonal path that start at the southwest corner once began farther east, probably because it still followed the line of the old Main Street across the Green and because there were no traffic lights or sidewalks telling one where to cross Wheelock Street. The paths probably fell into their current pattern after 1931, though changes have been occurring on the southeast corner in the last 30 years since the Hop and its H.B.s were built in a diagonal relation to Thayer. Director Ken Burns's favorite baseball photo depicts a game on the Green, and he compares the field to L'Enfant's Baroque plan for Washington (DAM November 1994, 26).” For more information on The Green, see the Dartmo web site.
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