Oldest Buildings at U Mass are New to (OS1)

The oldest facility being cleaned on (OS1) is 281 years old. The University Club at the University of Massachusetts recently was added to the roster of buildings cleaned using the (OS1) standard. The University Club is housed in two colonial-era New England farmhouses in the heart of campus. With its centuries-old ambiance, it can almost seem to luncheon guests that Herman Melville might be seated at the next table.

The Boltwood-Stockbridge House, built in 1728 at its present site and also the oldest house in Amherst, is one of the two houses comprising the club. The other is the Homestead House. Built in 1731, it was moved from its former location and joined with the Boltwood-Stockbridge House in 1972.

In May Ashoke Ganguli, Director of Auxiliary Services, added the Faculty Club to the (OS1) cleaning process at U Mass. The cleaning improvement was innagurated by inviting the lone part time janitor in the facility to participate in the (OS1) training classes taught by Owen Graves and Jim Motyka, both former winners of the Cleaning Industry Best Trainer award.

Those who work in newer buildings on campus consider the University Club a kind of a haven where they can go and find a quiet place. The buildings are considered the historic heart of the university.

A Storied History

Daniel Chester French (1850-1931), sculptor of the statue in the Lincoln Memorial and of the statue of the Concord Minuteman, lived in the Boltwood-Stockbridge house as a boy when his father, Henry Flagg French (1813-1885) served as first president of the Massachusetts Agricultural College from 1864 to 1866. Levi Stockbridge, a pioneer of scientific agriculture, had his office there. And nine Royalists were briefly confined in the house during the American Revolution. The Homestead House was acquired by the Massachusetts Agricultural College in 1928 and was used for many years as a residence for women who were taking the practical homemaking course required of students majoring in home economics. Now the University Club is one of the newest sites of the (OS1) cleaning process.