The construction of a fire pit outside Kendall Hall will finish by late fall, according to Chief Administrative Officer Rich Péwé. It is a separate project from the senior class gift, which is a smaller fire pit planned for the northeast side of Lane Hall.
“It would have been disruptive to student events to build both at the same time. We’re planning to start the Lane fire pit in the spring,” Péwé said in an email. “There is an opportunity for a donor to name the Kendall fire pit.”
Since construction in the north quad will last several more years, the administration believed it important to enhance the south quad, according to Péwé.
“It needed to fit in its place,” Péwé said. “This fire pit will be a great place for students to gather and study. It will also be a great venue for outdoor classes and planned events.”
The fire pit will operate on natural gas with an on-off switch, with stone seating material with the capacity of a seminar room. Péwé said the sides of the seats will be made of a similar type of stone, and a stone path will lead to the fire pit from the west and east approaches.
“It’s a fairly elaborate design,” Péwé said. “There will be landscape lighting, there will be a great deal of new vegetation for beauty and to shield the parking lot and protect the setting from the wind, and there will be power to plug in devices and power for concerts.”
Péwé said the fire pit can be used as a bench or picnic table, and even outdoor classes.
“It will feel like an outdoor room,” Péwé said. “I can see it being used often on weekends and after class hours. The faculty are going to love it as well.”
Junior Lydia Boone said the fire pit has an interesting location beside Kendall.
“That’ll be cool in the winter when it’s freezing,” Boone said.
Senior Anna Teply said she looks forward to the finished fire pit.
“I think it will be great to have another space for students to gather in the middle of campus, particularly one that we’ll also be able to use when it gets colder,” Teply said. “I hope some professors will also be able to use it as a space for holding class outside as well.”
Michaela Estruth ’25, member of the 2025 Legacy Board, said the Lane fire pit came into being as a tribute to the senior class beginning college in 2020, the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, and all of the time they were encouraged to spend outside if they wanted to be in a group setting.
“We were coming in remembering what it was like to have all these events outside, and we had the quad,” Estruth said. “As seniors, we didn’t have the same bonds because of all the construction, and we were mourning that and missing that. We wanted a place where students could just gather and chat, as they used to do on the quad.”
The college had already developed plans for both fire pits when the 2025 Legacy Board met with them, according to Estruth.
“They had us look at their plans, and then said that we could fund one of them,” Estruth said. “We were hoping that raising the funds would mean that we could get it built quicker.”
Estruth said she hopes the class of 2025 will have left an important mark on campus and help to further develop a changing campus culture.
“I know that sometimes these additions to campus can feel a little bit extra or unnecessary, but I hope that they add to the community of Hillsdale, because it truly is the people,” Estruth said. “It’s what makes Hillsdale Hillsdale, and so even in the colder months, when you’re rushing to get to the library or to get a paper in, just stop and say hi to your friends and chat around that firepit for a little bit. That’s what’s cultivating the community at Hillsdale. It really is invaluable, and you won’t get that time back.”
