News Archive

Graduates of the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law who attended classes in the historic Maennerchor building took part in a reunion at the Woodstock Club on Wednesday, June 12.

The guests enjoyed an opportunity to visit with classmates and former colleagues during a coffee hour before the luncheon. Current IU McKinney students also visited with alumni during the event. In the photo at left, the Reverend Franklin E. Breckenridge, Sr., '68, (left) chats with IU McKinney 2L Scott Probert.

Robert Everitt, '65, welcomed everyone to the event, and presented Dean Andrew R. Klein with a hubcap, reminiscent of the collection that Professor R. Bruce Townsend kept in his office at the law school during the Maennerchor era. Professor Townsend apparently was known to momentarily stop class when he heard a hubcap pop off of a car, so that he could go collect it from Michigan Street. Attendees then enjoyed a presentation on campus history in commemoration of IUPUI's 50th anniversary from Executive Vice Chancellor Kathy Johnson. Mary Beth Ramey, '72, Chair of IU McKinney's Board of Visitors, then spoke, as did Dean Klein. Paul Kruse, '81, President of the IU McKinney Alumni Association, introduced evening division student Mike Webb, who just completed his first year of law school. He talked about working as an engineer at Rolls Royce, and balancing his work and family life with the rigors of law school. In the photo at right, Webb visits with Terry (Glenn) Cutter, '68.

The Maennerchor building was the law school's home from 1945 until 1970, when it moved into the building located at 735 West New York Street, in the areas where Herron School of Art and Design now resides. The Maennerchor building, located at 102 West Michigan Street, was demolished in 1974. Some of those who attended classes in that facility, but could not attend the reunion luncheon, sent along the following remembrances of their time there.

"I was a part of the committee to save the Maennerchor building. We were doing very well in planning and beginning to initiate our plan when my wife and I went away on a vacation. The evening we returned, I drove by our old beloved building just in time to see the wrecking ball make its first hit. So much for our efforts to save the building. I gathered up three bricks from the initial rubble, placed identification plates on the bricks and gave one to my brother, one to Larry Jegen and kept one for myself." Pat Van Valer, '72

"I was in the last class in the Maennerchor building before we moved into the 'new' law school on New York Street. Since I could not keep awake in normal temperatures (still can't), I became known as Nanook of the North and found a small room on the second floor where I could open the outside window so the room was quite chilly/cold. And when you walked through the library the stacks of books would sway to and fro with your walk! It was old, cramped, but provided a wonderful place for first-year students to start to understand what 'the practice of law' was all about. Nothing but fond memories of that gracious old building." Joe Moser, '72

"I graduated in 1969 and spent my entire law school experience in the old building. There were homeless people who used to wander into the building during classes at night to get out of the cold… It was a great old building. I have an etching of it that was done in 1970 on my office wall. I look at it often, and it always brings back memories." Larry Suciu, '69