Old Snu
Sigma Old is the nickname of the four-flat apartment building at 151 S. West Street.
This building was the residential and social building for Knox's chapter of Sigma Nu for over 30 years. After decades of lobbying, the chapter was leased a building closer to campus with more modern facilities. This was due in part to a desire by Knox administrators to centralize college residence buildings to one area of campus and sell off property north of Tompkins Street.
The 151 S. West St. house stood vacant for a year while it was being sold to a private owner. The new owner renovated the building and reverted it to four apartments. It is currently occupied by several groups of Knox students who are allowed to live off campus because of a housing shortage. The owner and building have no official affiliation with the school.
The building's configuration while it served as a fraternity house resembled a suite format similar to buildings in the quads where several single or double rooms surrounded a common area. The walls between the apartments were removed to allow people to go between each suite.
Those members of the fraternity who lived in the basement were called the basement dwellers. Very creative.
Suite names[edit]
- First floor north: Susie (named for the late Susie Boothby, the last house mother of the fraternity chapter. Her apartment was in the NW corner of the suite.)
- First floor south: Pitch (named for a popular card game of the late 1960's)
- Second floor north: Dance
- Second floor south: Bar
Housing condition[edit]
As a fraternity house, the building experienced heavy wear and tear and minimal upkeep. In the later years, the second floor could be seen bending and sagging during popular parties. This sagging could also be in part due to the fact that some members of the house in the 1990s used a garden hose to clean the second floor rather than a more traditional mop and bucket.
The building was one of three fraternity house to have a basketball court. It also had a brick patio area in the backyard which still contains a large number of bricks which were cast in the brick yards in nearby East Galesburg.
BasketBall court[edit]
The court owes its unique blue color to a paint job by a past brother of Sigma Nu who got intoxicated and decided to paint the court when it was dark out so he couldnt tell that the paint was Blue instead of black
