About 100 students and faculty members from Penn State Altoona kept in contact with Robert Eiche, the campus’ first director, after they left school to serve in World War II overseas. Today, the collection of about 500 letters is a permanent collection at the campus library.
Returning World War II veterans overfilled the two buildings that comprised the Altoona Undergraduate Center. In 1947, an abandoned 38-acre amusement park named Ivyside Park on the outskirts of Altoona was purchased for a new campus, which opened in 1948 with approximately 600 students and 30 faculty members. The amusement park was home to Ivyside pool, the world's largest concrete swimming pool, as well as a roller coaster and bathhouse.
In September 1939, the Altoona Undergraduate Center opened in the Webster Grade School Building in downtown Altoona.
The staff of the Altoona Undergraduate Center, now Penn State Altoona, around the time of World War II. Robert Eiche, the campus' director, is pictured (third row from bottom, far right).
Along with letters and postcards, Penn Staters wrote home using Victory Mail, or V-Mail, which was an expedited and more secure form of mail used by the U.S. military during World War II.
Charles Diehl, a Penn State Altoona instructor who returned to teach at the campus after World War II, pictured in 1942. He wrote to Robert Eiche during his time in the war, where he served as a private in the U.S. Army, took a 22-week course in radio training and qualified for officer training school.
The Penn State Altoona, then the Altoona Undergraduate Center, basketball team from 1947-48 included Jerry Conlon (holding ball), who was a prisoner of war in Germany and returned to school at the campus after the war.
