Welcome Home, Grinnell Alumni

Across the street from Merrill Park and just around the corner from the north side of campus, a newly renovated historic home on Broad Street stands ready to host alumni.

Dedicated late last year, Hannah Alumni House will serve as the College’s first central meeting space for Grinnell alums. Filled with photos, artifacts, and other objects that span College history, the two-story house at 1527 Broad is designed to both welcome and celebrate alumni.

It features four guest rooms available for overnight stays, two meeting rooms, a sunporch, kitchen, and two lounges. Outdoor spaces and gardens are also available for parties and celebrations.

“From language houses to the Black Cultural Center, the College has a longstanding history of creating spaces that support and foster belonging,” says Bernadine Douglas, vice president of development and alumni relations. “For many alums, this happens every summer when they return to campus for Reunion, and now with the Hannah Alumni House, alums have their space. It’s a tribute to their shared experiences, and a place we hope Grinnellians gather often throughout the year.”

The house has long been connected to the College. Built by Jesse and Maude Fellows, both class of 1901, it was the site for numerous events hosted by the couple for Grinnell’s faculty, students, and alumni. The house also served as a dormitory in the late 1930s and early 1940s, and much of the original Craftsman-style interior, featuring leaded glass bookcases, stained glass doors, and crafted oak woodwork, remains throughout the home.

When President Anne F. Harris learned that the home was for sale, she knew she had found a place to honor Grinnell alumni. It was purchased by the College in 2022 and named after M.E. (Mary Emily) Hannah ’58, DL ’82, an education trailblazer whose $1 million gift to Grinnell helped make the renovations possible (see sidebar for her biography).

Several guest rooms and other spaces have been sponsored and named by alumni donors including Rachel Bly ’93, who has a personal connection to the house.

Bly’s late husband, Bob, enjoyed visiting the home as a boy, when it was occupied by family members in the 1950s and ’60s. Bob’s grandfather, A.B. (Alfred Byron) Hamilton (known as “Daddy Babe” to his grandkids), started an insurance agency in town. A.B.’s sister, Pearl Hamilton Nollen (who was the sister-in-law of Grinnell’s sixth president, John Nollen), bought the house to be closer to family, and was joined by A.B. and his sister-in-law, Blanche.

“So it was Daddy Babe, Aunt Pearl, and Aunt Blanche, and all the kids would go to Grandpa’s house on weekends for pancakes, popcorn, and to play tag and other games,” says Bly.

“The house was so meaningful to Bob and held so many memories, so when the College decided to buy it and fix it up, it just seemed like a really fitting way to honor both the College and Bob.”

Along with her son Davis, Bly dedicated Aunt Pearl’s Guest Room. Aunt Pearl’s jewelry box is in a first-floor display case in the house.

Dick Metzler ’65 chose to support the second-floor lounge, now known as the Metzler Family Lounge, which features a sitting area of large comfortable couches, big easy chairs, and a fireplace, along with a display case on one wall honoring the current year’s Alumni Award recipients.

“It’s a great space,” says Metzler, who met his late wife Dorothy “Dottie” Metzler ’66 at Grinnell. “I was blown away and quite emotional when I saw our names associated with such a beautiful space. It seems so warm and inviting and a great place for people to gather.”

During their college years, Dick was a chemistry major and president of Rawson Hall, while Dottie was a biology major and vice president of Cleveland Hall. The two met on a weekend Student Government Association retreat while roasting marshmallows over a bonfire and the rest, he recalls, is history.

Both Dick and Dottie helped plan their 50th class reunions, work that made it apparent to both of them that alumni needed a comfortable place near campus to gather. The new alumni house meets that need, which is one reason why Metzler, who previously established the Dottie Metzler Environmental Prairie Fund, wanted to support the new house by underwriting the lounge.

“It’s a beautiful house on a nice piece of land, and a great bridge to the campus community that’s just a few blocks away,” says Metzler, who attended the November ribbon cutting ceremony.

“I think it will bring more connection for alumni who come back to campus for reunions or Alumni Council or football games and other sports weekends. It will be a place for alumni to get together for parties, to talk and share experiences that are unique to Grinnell alums.”

Metzler envisions alums gathering in front of the fire for conversation in the namesake lounge. “As the building gets used for functions, I think Hannah House will become a central location for alumni and a real part of the College community, just like the Joe Rosenfield Center is the center of life for the student body.”

For Donna Rothenberg Savage ’74, the first-floor sunporch, which she named the Alumni Meeting Room, was the most fitting spot in the house to support. Savage earned a master’s degree in college administration and student services in 1976, then returned to Grinnell as a resident advisor from 1981–84.

As a student, she was co-president of Norris Hall and was heavily involved in instituting the first-year tutorial system and eliminating core requirements. More recently she served on Alumni Council.

“I attended a lot of meetings at Grinnell, as a student and an RA, and I like the idea of supporting a room where alums can gather among themselves or with students, faculty, and staff,” she says. “I envision that room being used as a place for people to get together formally and informally.”

Savage also likes the idea of alumni having a place to build closer ties with students. “It’s important for alums to meet with students — students like meeting with alums, and this will be a really comfortable place to do that.”

Hannah House is “very much my idea of a typical Grinnell home — comfortable and welcoming,” she adds. “It provides a focal point for alums when we return to campus and instills pride that the College has set aside a building in our honor. And it continues the ties that bind us as members of the Grinnell College community.”

“I think the house is beautiful,” says Bly, who first noticed it when she was a student in the early ’90s. “I love that the College has invested in a dedicated space for alumni, one that showcases artifacts and photos celebrating our history. It’s a place where those stories can really be seen and appreciated.”

“This will be a space where alums can gather, celebrate, and have fun, not just at Reunion but at other times too, like a ‘friends’ weekend’ or even a wedding in the back garden,” she says. “It will be a wonderful place to build new memories.”

Who Was M.E. Hannah?

M.E. (Mary Emily) Hannah was the first female vice chancellor in the history of the Minnesota State University System. She moved on to the University of Wisconsin at Eau Claire in 1980 as chancellor and acting vice president, becoming the first woman to head a public four-year campus in the state of Wisconsin. She then served from 1984–1993 as the vice chancellor of academic policy and procedure at the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education until her retirement.
As a Grinnell student, Hannah was president of women’s government. She was also on the staff of the yearbook and the radio station.

“In retrospect, I think my most significant mentors were Dean Evelyn Gardner, President Howard Bowen, and Professor Al Jones ’50,” Hannah wrote in retrospective for the class of 1958’s 50th reunion in 2008. “Each one gave me ambition — Gardner to take myself seriously, Bowen to speak up when I had something to say, and Jones to be a careful listener, reader, and writer.”

Hannah stayed active as an alumna, serving as Heritage (Bequest) Chair for the class of 1958 from 1993 to 2003. She was also involved with Grinnell’s career development office and came back for reunions and other events. In 1979 she received an Alumni Award, and in 1982 she was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree. Hannah passed away in 2022.