Alfred University, Davis Gymnasium, 10 Upper College Drive, Alfred, NY

Allen Steinhelm Museum, Alfred University, Alfred, NY

Big Al

 Constructed in 1925-1929 in honor of Reverend Boothe Colwell Davis.
Alfred State College is a public, coeducational, two- and four-year, nonsectarian college of approximately 3,300 undergraduates. The College was founded in 1908 and joined the newly organized State University of New York (SUNY) system in 1948.
Alfred State is located in the beautiful Southern Tier, surrounded by lakes, ponds, wetlands, and state parks. Alfred State is 70 miles south of Rochester and 90 miles southeast of Buffalo.

Alfred University’s old Davis Gymnasium has a wooden track at floor level. The track is banked where it curves. a small, dark, dreary facility from the 1920s. Students say the track is a rarity, one of the few such wooden tracks left. Indeed, some even want it preserved. I’m no expert in gymnasium history, but I haven’t seen a wood track like this one before. I’ve seen both old and new tracks suspended at mezzanine level, but never a wooden track at floor level.

Like the gym, the track has seen better days. The gym’s entrance is on the upper level. The gym itself extends back beneath a curving roof. Arch trusses made of wood support the roof. The columns that support the trusses are also wood. The track goes behind the staircase leading down from the upper level.




Jerry performed here on
5/1/70 New Riders Of The Purple Sage and Grateful Dead