Hardway Hall Commemorative Plaque | About Fairmont State University


FAIRMONT STATE COLLEGE • FAIRMONT, WEST VIRGINIA HARDWAY ADMINISTRATION BUILDING Historic Site
The Fairmont State Normal School moved from its Fairmont Avenue location to this, its new building, January 1917. FSNS construction had begun in 1915 with the cornerstone being laid October 11, 1915. The architect was Philadelphia’s influential Paul Armon Davis, III. As other buildings were constructed, this building became known as the Administration Building. April 25, 1989, it was dedicated to Dr. Wendell G. Hardway, President (1973-1988). March 28, 1994, the Hardway Administration Building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places by the United States Department of the Interior. It qualified through its significant architecture and the fact that it was the site of three events of national historic importance. These events were the founding of Alpha Psi Omega (1925), the national collegiate drama honorary fraternity, Delta Psi Omega (1929), the junior college drama honorary fraternity, and the National Thespian Society (1929), the high school drama honorary society, all under the leadership of Dr. Paul F. Opp, FSNS Professor of English, Speech, and Drama. Dr. Joseph Rosier was FSNS president.
J. Walter Barnes	1921-22 at Fairmont State Normal School, now Fairmont State College - led by J. Walter Barnes’ English 5 Class - the students formed a dramatics club. 1922-23 student George H. Turley was elected the club’s first president. The students requested the employment of a dramatics teacher with Lawrence A. Wallman, student newspaper editor, the most vocal.			George H. Turley	Lawrence A. Wallman
1923-24 Barnes, Dean of Instruction, announced that Paul F. Opp, A.B. Mt. Union College, M.A. Columbia University, had been employed as an English teacher and advisor to the Dramatics Club. The Dramatics Club, renamed the Masquers, elected Wallman president.	Paul F. Opp (1923-1964)			1924-25 the Masquers, wanting to reward the theatre work of students and to promote theatre education, applied for a charter to National Collegiate Players and Alpha Theta Phi, national collegiate drama honoraries. They were denied. Teacher training schools did not qualify. Under the leadership of Opp, the Masquers created Alpha Psi Omega, their own national honorary. National faculty officers were established: E. Turner Stump, Marshall College (University), President; Russell Spiers, Colgate University, Vice-President; and Paul F. Opp, Secretary and editor of The Playbill. On August 12, 1925, at FSNS the Alpha Cast (Chapter) was chartered. Marshall College, next chartered, became the Beta Cast.
	1929 APO created Delta Psi Omega as a junior college branch with 53 colleges chartered. Opp served as Business Manager and editor of the DPO Playbill.
Earl Blank	Harry T. Leeper		1929 Earl Blank, Opp’s fraternity brother and a teacher at Natrona County High School, Casper, WY, suggested to Opp a need for a high school drama honorary. In answer Opp, Harry Leeper, East Fairmont High School teacher and play director, and Ernest Bavely, Opp’s secretary, both from Monongah, WV, along with Blank organized the National Thespian Society as a division of Alpha Psi Omega.
Financed by APO, Opp patterned the constitution after that of APO and named the organization for “the first actor”, the ancient Greek Thespis. Harry Leeper designed the insignia, and edited the society’s first publication The High School Thespian, October 1929.			In honor of Earl Blank, Natrona County High School was given a charter for Troupe One. By June 1st 1929, Troupes Two and Three, Fairmont Senior High School and East Fairmont High School, respectively, had been inducted together on the FSNS Administration Building stage.			Ernest Bavely

1929-30 Opp, pursuing a doctorate at the University of Toronto, moved the national offices of APO, DPO, and the Thespians to Canada. 1930-31 Opp turned the Thespian executive-secretary work over to Bavely, then teaching at Weir High School, Weirton, WV. 1935 Bavely moved the Thespian headquarters to Cincinnati, OH. He continued as national executive-secretary until his death in 1950.
Opp, earning his doctorate, returned to Fairmont, re-establishing the APO and DPO national offices at FSNS. He continued as the Executive Secretary and editor of The Playbill until 1966. 1968 the Thespians became the International Thespian Society. 1989 the Educational Theatre Association, a “parent organization” to the International Thespian Society, was formed. 1990 Educational Theatre Association created the Junior Thespians for middle schools which now has over 222 Troupes. The High School Thespian, re-named Dramatics (1944) is accompanied by two additional publications: Educational Theatre and Teaching Theatre Journal. The headquarters are 2343 Auburn Avenue, Cincinnati, OH 45219. (www.edta.org)		Auditorium (circa 1923) - Fairmont State Normal School Administration Building
		2002 Alpha Psi Omega lists 640 Casts in every state in the USA, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, Canada and Egypt. Delta Psi Omega lists 350 Casts throughout the USA and its territories. The Playbill, serving both organizations, is considered the oldest continuous theatre publication. APO and DPO headquarters are at Wabash College, Crawfordsville, IN. (www.AlphaPsiOmega.org) James Fisher is the National Business Manager and The Playbill editor. The now International Thespian Society has over 3,200 Troupes with an aggregate membership of over 2 million.
At the beginning of the 20th century, at a time when all levels of education considered theatre extra-curricular and seldom recognized it as an academic discipline, Alpha Psi Omega and its subsequent creations, Delta Psi Omega and the International Thespian Society “...promoted and strengthened...” theatre as an academic discipline at all educational levels throughout the nation. Now at the beginning of the 21st century, they and their subsequent organizations continue this influence.

05/10/02 - Printed by Fairmont State College / Text: Jo Ann Lough / Photos: John Piscitelli Design: Robert Heffner, Jr.

The above commemorative is displayed in the main entry to the Hardway Administration Building.
It was dedicated May 18, 2002

errata:
1924-25 - Alpha Theta Phi should be Theta Alpha Phi

additions:
Elanore Watson and Robert Sloan, Fairmont State Normal School Students from Fairmont, were the first Alpha Psi Omega initiates nationally. Watson also assisted in writing the Alpha Psi Constitution