Anniversary of the Monkey Hunt Day, 1954

Today, November 22, 2019, marks the 65th anniversary of a momentous occasion in Lehigh University history – the great Monkey Hunt day of 1954. The Monkey Hunt, described in detail by “Big Game Reporter” Dick Gaintner in the December 3, 1954 edition of the Brown and White below was occasioned when one of the rhesus monkeys kept in Professor Francis J. Trembley’s (the namesake of Trembley Park) lab in the rear of Williams Hall made its bid at freedom. The monkeys of Williams Hall were primarily kept for dissection and other biological studies, but were seemingly well known to the student body, as references to them appear in various editions of the Brown and White throughout the early twentieth century. On November 22, 1954, however, this rhesus monkey decided that dissection would not be its fate, and escaped from Williams Hall while being chased by Professor Trembley and some dogs. After being driven up a tree between Grace and Price Halls, the biology department decided to cut its losses and rid themselves of the liability of a wayward monkey. The military department was quickly summoned, and dispatched the monkey while taps was played.