Relief at the Well

The site of Philander Chase's well, a few yards from the middle of Wiggin Street near the College gates, is a humble but venerable Gambier landmark. It was actually Chase's second well, his first attempt (closer to Old Kenyon) having failed to find water. But, never mind; the point is that this site evokes the heroic era of our founding and summons up all sorts of stirring, liquidy metaphors--drawing water from the well of wisdom, slaking the thirst for knowledge, and so on.

Long after the College stopped tapping the well, students found a distinctly non-metaphorical use for it. By the 1960s, the well survived only as a pothole-like depression in the roadway. In other words, a natural pit stop, centrally located between the beverage-brimming party you had just left and the dorm bathroom that suddenly seemed too far away for your ever more pressing need. Usually there was standing water visible at the bottom, which served as a kind of invitation.

Hence the innocent tradition of relieving oneself in Philander's Well. Watering the well became part of the rhythm of campus evenings. A rustic pleasure--which, through repeated indulgence, grew into an assumed entitlement. And, in its own way, an affectionate recognition of the well's historic stature.

It's not surprising, then, that when the state highway people patched the pothole in 1965, students rebelled. According to Edward Ordman '64, Kenyon students actually tore up the state's handiwork several times before a solution was found. The hole would be filled, but the site would be marked by a round plaque. The plaque, bearing the words "Philander Chase Well 1826-1965," was accidentally paved over a few years ago, but later uncovered. It is there today, trod on but dry.

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