Painter Hall, circa 1896.

Stameshkin states that a small group of Middlebury students rented space in town and furnished it with gymnastic equipment briefly in the years before the Civil War. In 1881, the north division of Painter Hall was renovated to make space for a gymnasium.  An admissions pamphlet from the late nineteenth century made much of this impressive facility:

The Gymnasium in the south division of Painter Hall is supplied with apparatus adapted to the systematic physical development of the students.  In connection with it are bath-rooms and a dressing room furnished with lockers.  It is open during the whole day and evening (Middlebury College, 1896).

The College’s first building dedicated entirely to athletics was McCullough Gymnasium, completed in 1912. President Thomas urged construction of the new gymnasium as a means of attracting “more men to the college, as well as to provide better exercise facilities during the long winter” (Stameshkin, 268).  Female students were excluded from McCullough Gymnasium during its first five years of operation.  After that, they were permitted to purchase gym memberships, including use of bath and dressing rooms.

The College’s first athletic field, used for football, baseball, and track and field events, was established in the green space west of Old Chapel Road in the 1880s.  Tennis courts were built on the space currently occupied by Munroe Hall.  At one time, the outdoor skating rink occupied the space north of McCullough, and at another time it was erected west of Voter Hall.   In the 1910s, the college’s first baseball diamond was built on Porter Field Road.