University of Louisiana at Lafayette leaders paid homage to three individuals who left lasting legacies on campus and in the community.
On Saturday, Sept. 18, administrators formally dedicated two new apartment buildings in Legacy Park and renamed another.
The two new Legacy Park buildings were named for Anne Delie Bancroft and Anna Montgomery Denbo. The former Vermilion building was renamed for Robert E. Trahan.
“ These three people will always be remembered for their public service and devotion to this university,” said Dr. Joseph Savoie, UL Lafayette president.
Bancroft taught English from 1920 to 1957 and became one of the university’s first deans of women. She was also the director of the Community Concerns Series of Lafayette and faculty advisor to the university’s Panhellenic Council. Bancroft earned a bachelor’s degree from Newcomb College in New Orleans and a master’s from Stanford University. She did additional study at Columbia University in New York, Bread Loaf School of English in Vermont and the University of London.
Denbo was influential in the Lafayette community. She actively supported public education and was instrumental in the passage of a parish school tax for the first public school in Lafayette in the late 1890s. She was also a member of the Women’s Club, which in 1906 awarded the first scholarship to a student to attend UL Lafayette. From 1897 to 1917, she worked in the Club’s lending library.
Trahan was president of Ragin’ Cajun Facilities Inc., a group that brought apartment-style housing to campus. He also served as president of the Alumni Association and was a longtime supporter of Ragin’ Cajuns athletics. In 2004, he was awarded an honorary degree of humanities in recognition of his service to the university and the Lafayette community.
“ Dedicating these buildings to this group seems perfect,” said Lisa Luquette Landry, director of housing at UL Lafayette. “We want each’s legacy to live on at this university.”
The growth at Legacy Park is part of a campus-wide housing initiative that includes having enough housing options for more than 4,000 students. Currently, 1,565 students live on campus. That’s just shy of the maximum number of 1,700 beds available.
Ambling Companies of Georgia – a development and management company specializing in university development – will work on the housing project. It is expected to include two construction phases.
The initial phase includes new housing at the site where Denbo and Bancroft dormorities sit near Taft Street. Traditional style housing will replace the old dorms.
The second phase will address dormorities surrounding the Rose Garden on campus. Plans to either renovate or build at this site are still being developed.