By The Keystone Newspaper By Elizabeth Kolb
If the 3 1/2 floor in Old Main couldn’t seem creepy enough by its own name, not to mention its Harry Potter-type vibe, there appears to be a set of secret rooms inside the wing, as in some other parts of the old school building too. Behind a nondescript door next to the Psychology and Paralegal Studies faculty offices in the small corridor, there is a secret apartment that seems to not have been used in years. On the directory and fire evacuation plan of Old Main, it is called a “VIP Suite,” but it is hardly talked about among the students or faculty. Many pass by the apartment, whose entrance is merely a nondescript door just like any other faculty office door, but few actually know what’s behind. Thanks to the transom window above the door, though, a few students have managed to grab a chair nearby and struggle to snap a photo of inside the apartment.
There also appears to be one on the second floor of the A Wing as well, which is larger to the looks of the fire evacuation map, but does not have a window above the door to snoop into. Could these secret hideaways be the current home of Mary, the ghost who is rumored to haunt Old Main to this day? One freshman student thought so when she was standing outside across from Old Main and was spooked to see what looked like to be a figure of a woman appear in the same window of the 3 ½ floor apartment.
So, what are these random apartments that are dotted around the oldest building on campus for, and why would somebody want to live in Old Main? Well, it all comes down to the history of the university, and the fact that Old Main once housed the dormitories on campus and was the only building of the then-Keystone State Normal School in its earliest days. Jason Graver, a KU alumnus and passionate historian of Kutztown University’s vast history, is an avid storyteller and presenter at the university’s homecoming events, alumni dinners, and even a ghost tour of Old Main. “Old Main is filled with so many mysteries like this one… All of which are hiding in plain sight. It’s so much fun to explore,” he admitted. “Today’s Old Main was constructed over a 20+ year period, in separate sections, beginning in 1880. First came a ladies’ dormitory… [then] a chapel, a boys’ dormitory, the ‘Main Building’ today’s… and a model school, auditorium, and gymnasium.”
Today, that is no longer the case, as nearly all of Old Main’s dorm rooms have made way to faculty offices by the early 21st century and many other new academic and residential buildings have been built on campus. But just because today’s students no longer have the convenience of keeping on their pajamas and slippers and walking a couple flights down to their 8am classes from their dorm doesn’t mean that the tales of living in Old Main are over for good. In fact, Desiree Reasoner, the directing of KU’s Housing and Residence Life, has confirmed that the top floors of Old Main may temporarily return to its era as a dormitory next academic year in the case that the university needs overflow housing again.
But as for the apartments around Old Main that have yet to be renovated and converted to faculty offices like the rest of the dorms on the upper floors, Jason said, “I’m not sure what this apartment is used for today. I’m just happy to know that this artifact of Kutztown’s past has survived” A few other alumni also had little clue as to what the apartments were used for, even as they lived in Old Main.
“I lived on the fourth floor in 1989, but I don’t remember anything about those apartments,” Cindy Krum admitted. It was only until many other KU alumni spoke up and told their stories of living in Old Main when the origin for the mysterious and abandoned secret apartments was uncovered. Nancy Mikitka, who was lucky to live in the apartment on the half floor said that, “The room was large enough that I had three roommates instead of the usual two, saying that she “loved the transom windows above the huge doors that allowed the hall light to be our night light!” Another alumna revealed that her apartment and the other suites housed university leaders such as resident directors and even the president.
“After the President’s Main Street home was built, the Old Main apartment was used by the lead professional in residence, campus leadership and some visiting dignitaries,” said Kathy Lynch. The current director of Housing had once lived in the apartment in the A-wing from 2000 to 2003 when she herself was the resident director in Old Main. Many fond memories of their home have been made with her family in those three years.
“I lived on the second floor… Residence life and dining oversees that apartment… When I was the residence coordinator, I lived in that apartment. It was good, I lived there with my family. We had two young boys the first two year I lived there,” Desiree also explained what the other apartment on the half floor is currently used for, “There’s two apartments in Old Main: one is on the third [and a half] floor; that one is controlled by Dr. Hawkinson, and is used for guests, if there is traveling faculty members or guest speakers,” Desiree said. Even in the modern day where there are hotels in Kutztown like the nearby Hampton Inn, the VIP Suite in Old Main remains convenient for guests who come to KU. “It’s used so no one has to pay for a hotel, [but recently] it wasn’t used for a good chunk of time. There’s an apartment in Rothermel [Hall] that’s much more current and updated that’s used more today,” she added.
With chintzy blue curtains, framed paintings, and antique living room furniture, which are all untouched and stuck in its own era, the guest suite gives the vibes more that of a haunted house or Grandma’s living room. Conversely, down in the A Wing, the university president’s apartment is nearly empty, with only a spartan set of living room, bedroom, and dining room furniture, and nothing on the walls. It looks more like the typical rented college apartment on Main Street than the official residence of late President Rothermel, but then again, the president left for the more spacious house across the street in 1929, which is known as the current President’s House across from the Stratton Administration Building.
What will happen to these apartments that are one of the few spaces in Old Main that has yet to be renovated into faculty or staff offices? Will they remain as abandoned artifacts of KU’s rich history? Will ghost tours of the apartments be offered to students or the paranormal club? Will they be relegated to just another office? Desiree shared that the apartment in the A-Wing will remain an apartment, and once the leak in the kitchen floor is repaired and renovated, the apartment will be possibly turned into a guest suite like the other one on the half floor or become housing for a rotating professional staff member for the university.
But what about the ghosts? Did any of the apartment residents believe that Mary Snyder may have been their uninvited roommate? Desiree mentioned that when she lived in Old Main, she did hear from residents that “radios have turned on and off, lights, strings, sounds,” and other occurrences happened, “Things that we see as unexplainable. [However], I didn’t have any firsthand experience to say if it was true or not,” she admitted. So, although the secret of Old Main’s apartments has been uncovered, nobody will know for sure whether Mary really was the one who stands in the window on the half floor…