Dowling College
Dowling College
Main page

Dowling College

logo
Community Hub0 subscribers
What are your thoughts?
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Dowling College

Dowling College was a private college on Long Island, New York. It was established in 1968 and had its main campus located in Oakdale, New York on the site of William K. Vanderbilt's mansion Idle Hour. Dowling also included a campus in Shirley, which contained the college's aviation program and athletic complexes, and small campuses in Melville and Manhattan.

Dowling was composed of four schools: the School of Arts & Sciences, the School of Education, the Townsend School of Business, and the School of Aviation. Largely enrolling local Long Island students, the college offered a variety of bachelor's degree programs in the arts, sciences, and business, master's degree programs in education and business, and a doctorate in education.

After years of financial difficulties, frequently changing leadership, declining enrollment, and a failed search to find an academic partner, Dowling's accreditation was revoked by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, and the college ceased operations on August 31, 2016.

Idle Hour was a 900-acre (3.6 km2) estate on the Connetquot River built in 1882 by William K. Vanderbilt. The wooden 110-room home was destroyed by fire on April 15, 1899, while his son, William Kissam Vanderbilt II, was honeymooning there. Willie and his new wife escaped. It was rebuilt of red brick and gray stone, with exquisite furnishings, for $3 million. His daughter Consuelo also honeymooned there when she married the Duke of Marlborough in 1895.

After Vanderbilt's death in 1920, the mansion went through several phases and visitors, including a brief stay during Prohibition by gangster Dutch Schultz. Around that time, cow stalls, pig pens and corn cribs on the farm portion of Idle Hour were converted into a short-lived bohemian artists' colony that included figures such as George Elmer Browne and Roman Bonet-Sintas.

In 1963, the estate became home to Dowling College until it closed in August 2016.

In 1955, Adelphi College began offering extension classes in Port Jefferson, Riverhead, and Sayville, New York. In 1959, Adelphi Suffolk became the first four-year, degree-granting liberal arts institution in Suffolk County, housed in an old public school building in Sayville. In January 1963, Adelphi purchased the former William K. Vanderbilt estate in Oakdale. Adelphi spun the campus off in 1968 as Dowling College, named after city planner and philanthropist Robert W. Dowling, who provided an endowment of over $3 million.

The Racanelli Learning Resource Center was constructed in 1974 to house the library, cafeteria and additional classrooms. A month later, a fire damaged the Vanderbilt mansion. The Hunt Room, the Foyer and Ballroom were all substantially damaged. A College committee, led by Alan Fortunoff, Dowling Trustee and son of Fortunoff founder Max Fortunoff, guided the restoration of the ornate woodwork, precious marble, and the elaborately carved stonework. The mansion was renamed to Fortunoff Hall to honor Paul and Emily Fortunoff.

See all
User Avatar
No comments yet.