Dear Brian,

President and Mrs. Baker moved into the house at 29 Park Place in the 1950s and the house has been the residence of the president of Ohio University ever since.

The house has been continuously occupied by the presidents and their families and also has been heavily used for entertaining university visitors, speakers, boards, students, faculty and donors ever since the 1950s.

My wife and I moved into 29 Park Place with our two children, a Rotary exchange student from Zimbabwe, and our dog in the summer of 1975. Over the next 19 years our children finished high school at Athens High, went on to college, graduated and were married. During those 19 years, we entertained more 50,000 University guests, including large numbers of students and student groups, faculty and staff, as well as official guests. We moved out when I retired in 2004. I am sorry that you were not in the house during your years on campus.

Warm best wishes,

Charles J. Ping

Dear Brian:

Ohio Today has forwarded your letter to me for response, and I am pleased to let you know that, indeed, Ohio University presidents do live in the University President's House on Park Place. And of course we also entertain there — alumni, students, faculty and staff, government officials, prospective donors, and special guests and friends of the university. It is a grand house, built as an elegant private residence in 1898-99 and purchased by the university for its presidents in 1951.

My wife René and I enjoyed living in the President's House because it was so convenient for entertaining people on the campus. It was a bit like living in a fish bowl, and I must say that we sometimes wished for more privacy than living right in the center of a campus. Our neighbors were the Sigma Chis, who were sometimes a little boisterous on a weekend night, although we shared garden tools with them and we got along very well. Occasionally a student would ring the doorbell for assistance on some matter that could have been better handled by someone else, but for the most part people were very respectful and from our perspective the advantages of living there far outweighed any disadvantages.

Presidents Alden and Ping both raised children at 29 Park Place and so they used the entire house for family living. Because the Glidden children were grown and gone by the time we came to the university, we reserved the first floor of the house for entertaining and lived on the second and third floors. Our kitchen and private living area were on the third floor (along with my study), and it was a long way to carry groceries but we managed very well.

Ohio University is fortunate to have 29 Park Place for its presidents, although with the new Baker Center just down the street, the neighborhood has changed!

Thanks for writing, Brian. Next time you're on campus, you can drive by 29 Park Place and wave to President McDavis.

Sincerely,

Robert Glidden