Constructed in 1908 as Hewitt Hall, the University’s gymnasium, the facility was a lasting gift from Lydia Moss Bradley. Originally constructed at a cost of $75,000, when it opened, it was the nation’s third largest gym. Designed for the use of 600 students, Hewitt Hall housed a swimming pool (now part of our orchestra pit), a men’s gym with a 1200 seat basketball court and running track, a woman’s gym, and a third floor social hall. Seventy years later, in 1978, after a rich history of intercollegiate sporting events and conference tournaments, not to mention two world wars where the facility served as a barracks and training center, Hewitt Hall was converted into the Hartmann Center for the Performing Arts. Named for Jack and Mary Hartmann, two tremendous supporters of Bradley University, the Hartmann Center for the Performing Arts houses Meyer Jacobs Theatre, the 300-seat thrust stage, where Bradley University Theatre produces an extremely diverse season of shows, from musicals to classics, for a subscription audience.