Harold Edwin Brookman: A Beloved Engineering Professor

Harold Edwin Brookman was born on November 5, 1886, in Vermillion, Dakota Territory. He was the oldest of four sons born to Edwin and Anna Brookman. St. Claire Edwin (S.E.) Brookman and his twin brother Edgar were born in 1855 in New York and arrived in Vermillion in the early 1880s. The Brookman twins were millers and later instrumental in the development of electricity in Vermillion. Harold Brookman’s brother Lowell became a city electrician working for the city-owned power plant for several decades.

Harold Brookman was educated in Vermillion, attending the State University (University of South Dakota, USD) majoring in engineering. At USD the School of Engineering existed from 1907 until 1933. Brookman graduated in 1910 and was described in the 1911 Coyote Yearbook as an “athlete (football and track), engineering student and a lady’s man”. A photograph from that yearbook shows Brookman, captain of the track team, with a coyote pup on his lap sitting in the center of  his teammates.

Brookman went on to earn a master’s degree in engineering at State College in Brookings and became a licensed, professional engineer qualifying in drainage, architecture, heating, and ventilation, as well as mechanical engineering. He also studied art at the Trenton Art School. His family mentioned to me that in his spare time, Brookman painted and constructed scaled down exact models of wagons and stage coaches. During World War I, Brookman supervised the manufacture of materials for the Navy.

Harold Brookman was a member of the USD faculty since 1921 garnering honors for his work and admiration from President ID Weeks. When the School of Engineering ended, Brookman developed a program in Applied Science and was Professor and Chair until his retirement in 1959. As part of the program, he helped graduates find jobs or further educational prospects. When Brookman retired received the status of Professor Emeritus and continued to serve the University until his death in 1967.

A letter dated October 26, 1956, found in Brookman’s files in Archives and Special Collections (please see below) was written by President I. D. Weeks to Brookman. A portion of the letter stated “Your genuine interest in all of the University and willingness to do anything to contribute to its welfare has been an inspiration to me. My life has been enriched by being associated with you and I know this is true for countless numbers of students and faculty.”  Friends and associates honored Brookman by endowing a scholarship in his name. Moreover, Brookman Hall, constructed in 1963 was named after him.

Brookman designed the Danforth Chapel and helped renovate several buildings on campus. In a 2019 Volante article, his work on tunnels on the USD campus is described as follows: “Harry E. Brookman, professor of applied science and Brookman Hall’s namesake, designed the first tunnel in 1928 to carry power and steam lines from the old campus power plant to Old Main, a much more pacified purpose than protection from nuclear fallout. As the campus expanded through the next few decades, so did the tunnels underneath them.” (https://volanteonline.com/2019/10/underneath-the-u-the-strange-history-behind-usds-tunnel-system/)

Aside from his service to USD as faculty and university engineer, Brookman was an alderman for the City of Vermillion for six years. In 1929 he helped oversee the construction of the first swimming pool in Prentis Park. The vote from Vermillionites to go ahead with the project received only four more votes than the descenders! In 1936 Brookman designed the Prentis Park caretaker’s house constructed from wood taken from the Municipal Golf Club House.  

Brookman also contributed architectural drawings for a Progress Works Adminsitration grant submitted in 1934 by USD on behalf of the Dakota Hospital Association to construct Dakota Hospital. The Dakota Hospital Association got its money, but the construction of the building was under the auspices of USD that held the warranty deed. Brookman was City Engineer during the late 1930’s to early 1940’s. Brookman also served on the board of the Vermillion Chamber of Commerce. Harold Brookman died at the age of 80 years on October 7, 1967.

Thus, Professor Harold Brookman was a dedicated faculty member, supportive of his students, and honored by his colleagues. In addition, he served his community as alderman, Chamber of Commerce board member, and city engineer. Looking through his files at USD Archives and Special Collections, it was evident that Brookman was a student of history who believed that understanding the past would help prepare for the future.

Professor Harold Edwin Brookman (Photograph curtesy of David Gross)

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Portion of a photograph showing Governor Kneip laying a wreath on December 29, 1971 in observance of the anniversary of the massacre at Wounded Knee.

Archives and Special Collections recently received 4 photographs of this observance.

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The 1950s to mid-1960s: University of South Dakota’s Building Boom and the Chesterfield Cigarette Salesman

As part of my work in Archives and Special Collections, I reviewed negatives and photographs from the mid-1950’s to mid-1960’s. Many images illustrated athletic events predominately football and basketball, although there were a few images of Dolphins, the women’s synchronized swimming team. Several images were associated with Dakota Day (D-Day) events including parades down Main Street consisting of elaborate floats constructed by fraternities and sororities as well as other student organizations. Important dignitaries rode in cars and beckoned to enthusiastic spectators. Other D-Day images were of the football games and Miss Dakota Day royalty.  Intriguingly, among the negatives and photographs I reviewed was an image of a Chesterfield cigarette salesman catering to students through a suggestive poster and the salesman giving out free cigarettes to students. Although undated, the image was probably from the late 1950s to early 1960s.

What I found most interesting among the images I evaluated were the changes in buildings on campus during this time period. As a background several structures were built in the late 1900’s to early 20^th century including East Hall (1887), the second Old Main (1893-94), the Old Armory which became the Women’s Gymnasium (1903), Science Hall (1902), Dakota Hall (1919), the  Andrew Carnegie Library (1910), the School of Law Building (1908), the Chemistry Building (1915), the Observatory (1917), Power plant and water tower (1910), and the Engineering building (1918). In honor of the Inman family, Mrs. Adele Inman contributed the land and substantial funds to construct the Inman stadium in 1918. West Hall, first a women’s dormitory and then a men’s dormitory was constructed in 1885 and burned down in 1905. Dakota Hall and East Hall served as dormitories until the 1950s and early sixties.

In the 1920s several buildings were completed that still stand today with several additions and renovations over the years.  The Administration Building (now Slagle Hall), the New Armory (now the Neuharth Media Center), and the first Student Union were built as the student body, faculty members and administration of the University and athletics increased following World War I.

A second building boom on campus occurred following World War II as increased enrollment necessitated more dormitory space and expansion of specialty schools. According to Cedric Cummins’ book: The University of South Dakota 1862-1966, enrollment in 1943-1944 was 461 students and by 1950 it was almost 1800. In 1965 student enrollment was almost 4,000 students.

Danforth Chapel, a unique building constructed in 1954, was used and continues to be used by many people of different denominations for prayers and meditation and as a site for special events. Increased housing requirements were met with construction of Julian Hall (1950), Noteboom Hall (1953), Julian Hall Addition (1958), Brookman and Norton Halls (1963), Cypress (1958) and Redwood Courts (1960), and Grace Burges Hall (1960).  Cypress and Redwood Courts, which served married students, no longer exist. In the fall of 2022 residence halls Julian Hall, Julian Hall Addition, and Brookman Hall were razed.

Although the School of Medicine started in 1907, it was not until 1953 that it received its own building. The Andrew E. Lee Memorial Medical and Science building initially housed both medicine and biology. It would be expanded twice in the next ten years. In 2005-7 a new medical school was built on the same footprint as the old building. Although the Medical School became the USD Sanford School of Medicine, the building retained its original name.  

To replace Science Hall built in 1902, no longer used in 1958, and razed in 1961, a new Science Building was constructed in 1962 on the west side of campus. At their 40^th class reunion the class of 1930 placed a bronze plaque attached to a boulder to denote where the old Science building stood. It is the only commemoration of past buildings on campus. The new Science building would be called Akeley-Lawrence Science Center in honor of a distinguished professor (Lewis Akeley) and alum (Ernest Lawrence) who went on to win the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1939. Both were profoundly involved in the development of KUSD radio. To accommodate the medium of television KUSD TV developed and would occupy a building north of Old Main for several years.  

An increased need to provide students with a background in business necessitated construction of a new building located adjacent to Cherry Street to house the School of Business in 1957. Likewise, a new School of Education was constructed directly south of the School of Business in 1963. Finally, a major change to facilitate student activities occurred in 1965 with the erection of the Coyote Student Union replacing the role of old Student Union built forty years earlier.

Thus, the period of the 1950s to the mid-1960s constituted a building boom on the University of South Dakota campus driven not only because of increased student enrollment, but the development of new programs. As a side note, cigarettes were freely advertised and available on campus until the 1980s. It wasn’t until 2013 that USD became a smoke free campus.

A Chesterfield salesman and helper giving out cigarettes to students. Note the poster. The University of South Dakota Photograph Collection, Historic Series, Archives and Special Collections, I. D. Weeks Library.

A University of South Dakota campus map showing buildings on campus as well as fraternity and sororities houses.  Although the library is designated to be finished in 1965, it would not be used until 1967. University of South Dakota Bulletin Series LXIV (no. 7) March 1, 1964.

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Here’s a glittery book for #ArchivesSparkle.

Our book must have been striking when it was new in 1892 with its bright red velvet covers and shiny metal filigree corner embellishments.

Title is Perlen aus der Instrumenten-Sammlung von Paul de Wit, Leipzig, published in 1892 and is in our Mahoney Music Collection. The English title is Pearls from the instrument collection of Paul de Wit, Leipzig (Saxony).

The National Archives sponsors #ArchivesHashtagParty once a month, and December’s topic is #ArchivesSparkle. NARA invites archives to submit tweets about anything that glitters in their archives.

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