Willie Gillis's College Setting Is Middlebury College

by Jamie Robins '09
(Hartford, CT via Middlebury, VT)

The building seen in the background is Old Chapel, the central feature of "Old Stone Row" at Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont. Old Chapel was completed in 1836, details regarding it and nearby buildings can be found here.



Middlebury College was founded in 1800, is currently a top tier liberal arts college, and is known for having a traditional bucolic New England college campus. Travelling by Route 7, Middlebury is roughly 75 miles from Norman Rockwell's home in Arlington, Vermont.

Based on the vantage point of this image, it must be from Starr Hall, which is directly adjacent to and located to the South of Old Chapel. Painter Hall, which is also adjacent to Old Chapel but to the North, has no windows on its North or South sides and thus, from there, this vantage point cannot be achieved.

Before my time at Middlebury, Starr Hall was renovated so that any room this could have been painted from is now a hall bathroom. I don't know whether this could have been a dorm room in 1946 or if Rockwell painted the background from a photo.

Photos of Old Chapel are attached. I hope this helps!

Jamie Robins
Middlebury 2009