Dale and Tina Knobel to Present for the Granville Historical Society
On Wednesday evening, November 7, 2018 at Kendal, Denison University President Emeritus Dale Knobel and his wife Tina Knobel return to Granville. They'll serve as co-presenters at the Granville Historical Society's annual meeting and banquet. The couple lived at Monomoy Place from 1998 until 2013 while Dale served as President of Denison University. Both treasure the fifteen years they spent at Denison during which time they enjoyed partnering with each other in their activities on campus, in the community, and with the worldwide Denison alumni community. Their presentation, “Loving a 'Victorian Lady': 15 Years of Living and Restoring at Historic Monomoy Place” promises an evening rich with fond memories of their Denison years.
Recalling their first impressions of the home, Dale wrote, “Our moving van from Texas pulled up in front of Monomoy Place on the last day of June, 1998 and the big Victorian house, already partially furnished by the University, easily swallowed up all of our household furniture and personal items. The next morning, we came downstairs to the kitchen in our nightclothes and robes for coffee and our first breakfast in our new home and discovered a University staff member cleaning off the glass front door to Monomoy and then passing around to repeat the process at the back door at the end of the 75 foot long main hallway that runs from the front steps on West Broadway to the driveway at the rear of the house. We were curious and asked what was up? Well, our new colleague replied, overnight and in the wee hours of the morning, dozens of nose and finger prints had appeared on the glass doors as a curious "town" looked in from the Broadway side and equally curious "gown" peered in from the academic side. Suddenly we knew that Monomoy Place was going to be unlike any other home we'd ever lived in. It would be our home--but it would also be Denison's home and even Granville's.” Beginning with this first impression and moving on through their fifteen-year residence, the Knobels will share their many more fond memories of Denison, Monomoy Place, and the Granville Community.
Monomoy Place was built by a local physician in 1863, probably reusing timbers from an earlier structure dating from the early nineteenth century on the site at West Broadway and Cherry Street. In the 1880s, the physician's daughter married J.S. Jones, local coal and railroad entrepreneur, and during the 1890s, Jones redeveloped the property as his Granville "town house," enlarging the structure and raising the roof to accommodate a third floor ballroom. During these years, Mrs. Jones named the house "Monomoy Place" to commemorate a favorite family vacation spot at Monomoy Point at the elbow of Cape Cod. Denison University purchased the property in 1935. The home has a history of mixed usage and did not become the official residence of the President of Denison until 1979. In the summer of 2018, President and Mrs. Weinberg moved into a new presidential residence across Broadway, and Monomoy Place is currently being renovated to serve Denison in a new capacity as an alumni house and reception venue.
Dale and Tina retired in 2013 and split their time between a home in Georgetown, Texas, where they are not far from their grandchildren in Houston, and a summer home in Ohio on western Lake Erie. Tina has reengaged with a number of area women's civic and philanthropic organizations, and Dale has joined the boards of two national philanthropic foundations as well as the Trustees of Southwestern University and the American University of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. He recently accepted an appointment as Interim President of the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations.
TICKETS REQUIRED:
Tickets for the event are available by phone at (740) 587-3951, or by email at granvillehistorical@gmail.com. Tickets are $35.00 per person for GHS members; $40.00 for non-members.
WHEN: Wednesday, Nov. 7, at 6:30
WHERE: Kendal at Granville, 2158 Columbus Rd, Granville, OH 43023
