Building name honors
UM's fifth president

A former campus leader has finally received the recognition he’s due after The University of Montana restored a building to its rightful name last month.

The Science Complex now will be known as the Charles H. Clapp Building. Few have known that the building on the southeast edge of campus has been named for UM’s fifth president since its construction more than three decades ago, and current President George Dennison decided it was time to rectify the oversight.

The building was officially named for Clapp during Homecoming 1971, and a plaque was installed in the foyer. But through the years the building has been known as the Science Complex, reinforced by a sign reading as such out front. That changed Commencement weekend when Dennison unveiled a new sign bearing Clapp’s name.

An accomplished scientist and administrator, Clapp served as University president from 1921 to 1935, when he died in office. He was the longest-serving president in UM history until Dennison broke Clapp’s almost-15-year record a year ago.
Clapp’s three surviving children — Frank Clapp, Lucie Clapp Hagens and Peggy Clapp Smurr — traveled from their homes in California — to attend the ceremony. They were joined by a handful of Clapp grandchildren and great-grandchildren, as well as members of the campus and Missoula communities.

“I believe it entirely fitting that we complete the effort initiated by President Robert Pantzer in 1971 to recognize one of the University’s greatest and most-effective presidents,” Dennison said. “Charles Clapp not only held the University together during very difficult times, but he undertook initiatives to assure its continued development, thereby assuring its future.”

Clapp guided UM through the lean Depression years, at one point taking a 20 percent pay cut along with the faculty, even after his own budget committee suggested he not be subjected to it.

His tenure was marked by the most extensive building period in UM history, Dennison noted during the ceremony. The original Dornblaser Field, located where the Mansfield Library now sits, was built with $25,000 in private funds raised by Clapp. Several residence halls, the Social Science Building, the Fine Arts Building and Schreiber Gym were all built during the Clapp era.

At age 51, Clapp died of cancer on May 9, 1935, after running the University from his hospital bed for many weeks.

The Clapp name became popular again on campus three years ago when the former president’s survivors donated a manuscript on the University’s history to the Mansfield Library. The never-published history, “Narrative of Montana State University, 1893-1935,” was written by Mary Brennan Clapp, a longtime UM faculty member and the wife of Charles Clapp. The manuscript — planned for publication within the next two years by The University of Montana Press — covers UM’s beginnings and the terms of its first five presidents.

Mrs. Clapp was told there was no money to print her history when she finished it in 1961, and it was still unpublished when she died in 1966.