The teens A s t h e e r a o f p r o g r e s s i v i s m y i e l d s t o t h e a g e o f m o d e r n i t y, P r att I n s t i t u t e b e g i n s t o m o v e b e y o n d i t s o r i g i n a l m a n d at e s .
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ratt Institute celebrated its 25th anniversary in 1912. Having educated over 80,000 students, Pratt’s emphasis on technical instruction and intensive learning,as well as its eclectic course offerings, became a template for vocational schools across the nation. However, with Europe engulfed in revolution and the arts and sciences grappling with new ways of understanding the world, Pratt men and women were called upon to cope with crisis, nurture creative awakenings, and spearhead innovation. In the process, the Institute found a new sense of purpose. Once the United States entered World War I, the Institute partnered with the government to aid in the war effort. True to its growing reputation for versatility, the School of Science and Technology organized a Students’ Army Training Corps, offering engineering courses to bring enlistees’ skills up to speed for the war effort. After the war ended, the burgeoning aviation industry turned to Pratt engineers to move aircraft technology forward. Engineering alumnus Donald Hall partnered with aviator Charles Lindbergh to design the Spirit of St. Louis. Shortly afterward, Pratt began offering courses in airplane construction and design.
Main Building, sitting on what was once Ryerson Street, now Ryerson Walk. 1 2 5 was a nonce n i van er s a thoroughfare r y p r a t used t f obyl cars i o and local Ryerson Street urban residents in the heart of the densely populated Clinton Hill neighborhood.
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As part of the Institute’s efforts to elevate the quality of American design, in 1928 Pratt organized an intensive training course that brought together instructors from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, fashion retailers, Pratt fine-art teachers, and others to teach the application of art principles to fashion merchandising. But other Pratt art students and alumni, such as Katherine Dreier, who exhibited at the legendary Armory Show of 1913, were drawn to the avant-garde. In 1920, Dreier, along with Marcel Duchamp and Man Ray, founded the Société Anonyme, Inc., the first modern art collection in the U.S. The Roaring Twenties spun the nation into a dizzying era of prosperity. Jazz and ragtime filled dance and concert halls and American youth asserted itself as its own generation. Though Pratt was not yet a degree-granting college, its students joined in the good times by organizing dances in the gym, athletic games, a yearbook, and social clubs for everything from sports and entertainment to afternoon teas. Alumni groups returned to campus for reunions and students found the Pratt experience as rich and exciting as any four-year college. The growth of the Institute—in population and prestige—fulfilled Charles Pratt’s original vision and opened doors for new avenues of learning.
Hundreds of Pratt alumni from as early as 1904 took part in reunion festivities such as this procession on May 22, 1926 down Ryerson Street in celebration of Alumni Day, which typically took place the day before Commencement.