Students burn down benches in Old Chapel
Oct. 25, 1890

In an act that came “not from motives of devilry and distinction, but for improvement,” students broke into Old Chapel, ripped out the old wooden benches, and burned them (quoted in Stameshkin Vol. 1; 208). When the administration found out they punished the students and, in a rare moment of administrative transparency, admitted that the students “were warranted in making these thorough repairs” for the benches were ancient and in disrepair (Vol. 1; 209). The school ended up replacing the benches only because students had made their discontent known.

Middlebury Students outside Old Chapel circa 1890