Alumni 55th Reunion Central

​​Allegheny Class of '​66

The Red & White was immediately across the street from the Brooks Hall sundeck... nicknamed the "tuna deck."

The Red & White

 

Just across the street from the back of Brooks Hall stood the landmark “Red & White.”   In addition to the groceries and snacks, from the late 1940s until 1968, the Red and White featured a soda fountain and grill.  What student at Allegheny in that era didn’t enjoy an occasional hamburger, hot dog, soup or milkshake… often skipping the more formal meals at Brooks!

 In the summer of 1963 the Red & White became even more popular when Allegheny President Pelletier established a policy that cigarette vending machines could no longer be located in dormitories and that the cigarettes could no longer be sold at the campus bookstore.  Now the closest source of “smokes” for Allegheny students was the Red & White.

And the college cigarette dictate was not the only policy that was lucrative to the Red & White store: 

         In the years when freshmen were subject to a curfew and had to be on campus by 10:30 p.m. (9 p. m. for                women students), the College administrators decided that the Red and White was “on campus” – a definite              boon to business.  Similarly, when students were grounded for infractions, they weren’t permitted to leave the          campus but they were allowed to visit the Red & White.   

                                                   (From Through All the Years, a History of Allegheny College by Jonathan Helmreich)

 
There was no retail store any closer to campus than the Red & White….  

in an era when few students had the luxury of cars at school.

 
The Red & White closed in January 1990.