Corner A History of Student Life at the University of Virginia Book

Historian Coy Barefoot drew on University archives, student publications, and personal interviews with Corner denizens to create this vibrant history of a storied commercial district and the student life it has anchored. He begins with the on-Grounds raucousness that led to the founding of Temperance Hall, the first major edifice and social center at the Corner. He revisits days when the student body's social strata were revealed on the benches in front of Anderson Brothers Bookstore, days when buildings were prized for their "loafing facilities" and first-year men were not welcome. He recounts the coming of the railroad trestle, the University Diner, the Cavalier, the Virginian, and a little store called Mincer's Humidor, as well as more ephemeral establishments like Poe's and the Mousetrap. He pays homage to such legendary figures as panhandler Tim Murphy, bell ringer Henry Martin, and the dog Beta, and he follows the transformation of Elliewood Avenue from a quiet neighborhood lined with boardinghouses to a bustling promenade of shops and eateries.

Barefoot also revisits less carefree times. The arrival via railroad of thousands of wounded soldiers during the Civil War prefaced the lean years of the Great Depression and two world wars. Competing University and local interests formed a backdrop to the tumultuous '60s, when Corner stores were targets of student activists. The boom-and-bust business cycles of the '90s presented their own challenges.

Primary sources lend color to Barefoot's recounting. Student journalists describe clandestine nineteenth-century card games, the "joke" that was Prohibition, mixed reactions to coeducation and, later, women in slacks. A former delivery boy conjures Johnson's Confectionery; Eljo's founder Jo Hyman mourns the passing of gentleman's attire. The proprietors of Carroll's Tea Room recall the night a furious President Colgate Darden did his best to break up a party.

The Corner is a living history of student life at the University of Virginia — and a fascinating tribute to unforgettable places and times.