Penn State Behrend dedicates new Glenhill Gardens greenspace

ERIE, Pa. — On his birthday, Ernst Behrend liked to swim a mile in the Glenhill Farm pool.

That was 80 laps. Outdoors. In March.

After his death, when the farm became Behrend Center, and then Penn State Behrend, the pool remained a central feature of the property. A generation of faculty and staff children learned to swim there.

“We grew up in that pool,” said Jeff Kochel, whose father, Irvin Kochel, ran the college from 1954 until 1980. “Our mother would take us early in the morning, and we’d stay all day.”

This year, with funding from Jeff Kochel and his wife, Pam, and with additional support from the Student Facility Fee, the University Access Committee and campus beautification funds, the college reconfigured the original Glenhill pool site, creating a community-focused greenspace in the historic core of the Behrend campus.

The pool was filled in. Its surface was turfed, preserving the original outline of the water. The pool deck was expanded, making room for some modern-day features: charging stations, Wi-Fi and bollard lighting.

At the south end of the pool, a fountain leads to granite steps that connect to the walkway between Senat Hall and the School of Science complex — an area where the Behrends once maintained an orchard.

“When the Behrends lived here, the pool was a focal point of the property,” said Ken Miller, the former senior director of administration and student affairs at the college. “They entertained here. They hosted parties on the pool deck, with a big tent-like structure set up to provide shade.”

In the early years of the college, the pool was used in another way: It served as an emergency fire reservoir.

The pool was closed in the early 1990s. The college’s maintenance staff cleaned and filled it at the start of every summer, but swimming no longer was permitted. Eventually, the pool was covered with a tarp.

The renovated space, now called Glenhill Gardens, was designed to honor the history of the pool while creating a new, parklike setting where students and other members of the campus community can gather.

“Part of the inspiration for this came from how students use the Mary Behrend Monument,” Miller said. “There has been a need for more outdoor programming space — places where students can gather for events, or just sit and relax between classes, taking in the beauty of the campus — and this provides that.”