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Parke R. Kolbe
(1913-1925)
Dr. Parke Rexford Kolbe was born in Akron, Ohio on April 23, 1881. His father, Carl F. Kolbe, served the University for thirty-three years as Professor of Modern Languages. Parke Kolbe attended Akron public schools and Buchtel Academy, and graduated from Buchtel College with an A.B. degree in 1901. The following year he studied at the University of Gottingen in Germany, and in 1902 received an A.M. degree from Buchtel College. He also attended the University of Heidelberg in 1907 and from 1910 to 1912, receiving a Ph.D. In 1933, Temple University conferred upon him the degree of LL.D., and the same degree was awarded to him by The University of Akron the following year.
Kolbe served as a teacher of German and Latin Languages at Salem High School in Ohio from 1902 to 1905. He then succeeded his father as Professor of Modern Languages at Buchtel College from 1906 to February 1913, when he was elected 7th President of the College. While Kolbe amassed a long list of accomplishments as President, including doubling the size of the student population, his most important accomplishment was presiding over the critical transition of Buchtel College to The Municipal University of Akron, which probably saved the institution. During Kolbe’s tenure, the University was accredited by a number of accrediting associations, including the North Central Association of Secondary Schools and Colleges.
Kolbe continued as President until 1925 when he resigned to become President of the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, New York. He served there until 1932 when he became President of Drexel Institute of Technology in Philadelphia where he remained until his death on February 28, 1942.
In 1919, Kolbe participated in the Federal School survey mission to the Hawaiian Islands. He was a member of numerous educational organizations in the United States and Europe. He also was a member of Akron University Club, Rotary Club, and Universalist Church. In 1905 he married Lydia Voris, granddaughter of General Alvin Coe Voris, Civil War veteran, trustee of the College, and well-known Akron attorney.
“Our type of school has a fine spirit of public service . . . Every institution, like every business, should have the desire to serve the public.”
– Parke R. Kolbe
From The University of Akron Photographs Collection in Archival Services of University Libraries
Under the administration of Parke R. Kolbe, Carl F. Kolbe Hall opened in 1916. The building, which was named for his father, long-time Professor of Modern Languages at Buchtel College, housed Bierce Library and the first student lounges. The building was demolished in the 1950s to make way for a new library.
From The University of Akron Photographs Collection in Archival Services of University Libraries
During President Kolbe’s administration, the country and the world were engulfed by the First World War, which came to campus in 1917 when the faculty voted to require military training for all male students. President Kolbe went to Washington, D.C. to work with the Bureau of Education and created the Student Army Training Corps (S.A.T.C.). In August 1918, Akron was designated a S.A.T.C. training center.
From The University of Akron Faculty Publications Collection in Archival Services of University Libraries
President Kolbe was a scholar and author as well as an able administrator. After the conclusion of World War I, he published The Colleges in War Time and After (1919). He also published the first history of the University, A History of the Establishment of The University of Akron (1914), among other works.
From The University of Akron Photographs Collection in Archival Services of University Libraries
One of the major accomplishments of President Kolbe’s administration was the surge in enrollment to 3,000 students. This image shows a number of representatives from the student body as well as guests gathered to celebrate one of the earliest campus traditions, Tree Day.
From The University of Akron Photographs Collection in Archival Services of University Libraries
During President Kolbe’s administration a new concrete grandstand seating 6,000 people was erected at Buchtel Field in 1923 and was officially dedicated as Memorial Stadium. A bronze tablet inscribed with the names of the 304 Summit County heroes who lost their lives in World War I was placed on the wall near the main entrance.
From The University of Akron Photographs Collection in Archival Services of University Libraries
In 1955, 30 years after Kolbe resigned as President of The University of Akron, the $1 million arts and sciences building was opened and named in his honor. The building, which housed the liberal arts college, was the second to honor a Kolbe, the first being named after his father, Professor Carl F. Kolbe.
“Parke Kolbe’s enlightened vision of the expanded role Buchtel might play has redounded to the advantage of thousands of men and women whose influence for constructive action radiates from the hilltop campus to far places of the world.”
– George W. Knepper