A House for Exercise

At the time of the College’s opening, concern that rigorous physical exercise would make a woman masculine were common.  Perhaps in response to these concerns, the first gym resembled a home rather than a space for drills and gymnastics. The architecture of the gym — including its quaint porch, chimneys, and dormer windows –  may have calmed parents’ anxieties and reminded students of the obligation to maintain their health in order to fulfill future responsibilities as wives and mothers. Built in a style similar to the Gothic Cottages advertised in the ever popular Godey’s Lady Book, the gym was less decorative. It was constructed out of the economical material of brick, which served to indicate its role on campus as a functional space.​

State of the art equipment was pivotal for proving that student health would not suffer from a demanding academic curriculum. The gym was equipped with a piano to accompany drills, weights, suspension rings, mattresses, ramps, and bats. Above, a running track circled the building. Dressing rooms also served as stations for the Gym Directress to take students’ measurements, a requirement to ensure that they met statistical standards of physical health and proper proportion. The Bryn Mawr physical culture regime was progressive, meticulous, and rigorous. The use of gym rings requires tremendous upper body strength and is more commonly engaged by male gymnasts than female gymnasts, even today.