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Former St. Aiden's is now Woodlawn Place

May 24, 2005

KALAMAZOO--The Children's Place Learning Center and Disabled Student Resources and Services at Western Michigan University are now located in Woodlawn Place, but neither has moved, only the name of the building has changed.

Located next to the Sindecuse Health Center, the building has been known unofficially for the past decade as the Children's Place. That name failed to recognize its dual role as home for WMU Disabled Student Resources and Services.

Use of the name Woodlawn Place was authorized by the University Space Allocation Committee, chaired by Robert M. Beam, vice president for business and finance.

Originally known as Canterbury Center--Chapel of St. Aidan, the building was completed in 1966 with support from members and friends of St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Kalamazoo and was owned by the Episcopal Diocese of Western Michigan.

During the 1970s, the building was popularly known as the Canterbury Center, and it served as a venue for campus ministry and fellowship, folk music performances and presentations on social issues. By the mid-1980s, the Canterbury Center name had fallen from common use and thereafter most on campus community knew it as St. Aidan's Chapel.

The chapel was used less and less frequently in the early 1990s, and the Episcopal Diocese sold the property to WMU in 1994.

Media contact: Thom Myers, 269 387-8400, thom.myers@wmich.edu

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