The Katherine Howell Weingart ’61 Civic Innovation Pavilion builds on a strong Grinnell tradition of community-wide partnerships and problem-solving. Serving as the public portion of Renfrow Hall, the Weingart Pavilion is a unique gathering space dedicated to campus and community connection, collaboration, and exchange.
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Katherine Howell Weingart ’61 and her brother, Steve Howell ’63, would venture to downtown Grinnell to frequent the drugstore soda fountain or get a haircut.
It wasn’t until Steve Howell spent a summer living off campus in Grinnell that he grew to enjoy the community and saw it as something beyond a place to get services.
When it came time for him to designate a gift to Grinnell on behalf of Weingart, the Civic Innovation Pavilion within Renfrow Hall was an ideal choice for several reasons.
“I thought my sister would be interested in the pavilion because she had done a lot of community work where she lives in Walla Walla, Washington,” Howell says. “I also felt the concept was great. It will be good for the community. They will have programs there that will be of interest to both students and community members.”
Along with the residential spaces, a key feature of the project is a public pavilion on the first floor of the south tower, which is dedicated to civic innovation, providing space for dialogue, exchange, problem-solving, and collaborative brainstorming with the community. This space will be called the Katherine “Kathie” Howell Weingart ’61 Civic Innovation Pavilion.
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