This photograph shows International Hall from across Lake Massasoit, also known as Watershops Pond. The hall is framed by tree branches. International Hall is a dormitory at Springfield College. It was the first new dormitory built after the original trifecta of dorms (Lakeside, Massasoit, Reed) was constructed during the 1950s. The target completion date for the dorm was September 15th, 1964, and the ground breaking ceremony was held a little over a year earlier on July 15th, 1963 at 10 am. The dormitory was officially dedicated on in October 1964. The eight-story high rise housed 307 students and cost $1,137,000 dollars. By the time of its completion, 1200 out of Springfield’s 1600 full-time students lived on campus. The eighth floor, which is now a large lounge, was originally a classroom. On June 1, 2011, a category EF3 tornado hit the city of Springfield, Massachusetts and caused severe damage to Springfield College’s campus. International Hall, which was hit dead on, sustained the greatest amount of damage. The tornado shattered every window, tore all the internal doors from their hinges, jostled the furniture and blew dozens of mattresses into the lake. The entire building was renovated and repaired within twelve weeks, in time for students to move in, a task which could have taken at least a year. The tornado tore up trees for a quarter mile along the shore of Massasoit Lake, and today students on the eighth floor can see out over the lake and into the city.
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