Wisconsin’s oldest college, founded at the confluence of the Rock River and the Turtle Creek watershed in 1846, has the opportunity to finally reach –and make full use of– the water through its planned reuse of Wisconsin Power and Lights’s decommissioned Blackhawk Generating Station. The facility, which sits on the riverside adjacent to the Beloit College campus, is being re-imagined by the college as a new activity and recreation center for the college.

We believe the project will dramatically enhance Beloit’s residential experience, complete a 25-year redevelopment of the city’s riverside, and become a model for sustainable and cost-conscious renewal. Already, a semester-long programming study has yielded a list of 10 pressing space needs for the college – from a 150-seat public auditorium to a competition-grade swimming pool – that could be distinctively accommodated within the facility. And all this is possible at a cost that is equal to, if not less than, what would be required to design and build an equivalent on existing college property. For these reasons and others, the college has committed to pursuing this opportunity as a purely donor-funded project—yet another distinctive detail.

Make a gift to support the costs associated with assessing the feasibility of the activity and recreation center and enable us to continue to pursue this exciting possibility.