LYON HALL

The earliest reference to a new residence hall for women was in the Minutes of the Board meeting of January 4, 1907, when the request for appropriation was being prepared. The list of needs included $40,000 for an addition to Margaret Hall. Three years later an allocation of $55,000 was made from the millage tax fund.¹

No further action seems to have been taken until 1913 when

The executive Council being in joint session with the Board, the matter of using for a dormitory on another part of the campus the $55,000 authorized by the 34th General Assembly to be expended in building an addition to Margaret Hall was discussed informally, and the Building Committee was directed to present the matter to the council in writing, with blue prints showing the plan recently adopted for the campus.²

The question of the legality of a separate building rather than the addition was settled by an opinion from the attorney general that the change was permissable under the state law.³

Considerable discussion then developed around the actual location. The faculty favored the site where Memorial Union now stands.⁴ The final decision was reached at the March 1914 Board meeting with the knowledge that additional halls would be built in the same area at a later time.

In May, 1914, Superintendent Sloss was authorized to begin excavation for the building and in July the construction contract was awarded.⁵

The Iowa State Student, on Dec, 19, 1914, reported that the building would be ready for occupancy after the Christmas vacation. On January 30, 1915, the paper carried this item:

Miss Mildred Walls opened the new dining room in the dormitory Thursday morning to the twenty-six girls who are rooming there and to the twenty girls of the Lakota club who are occupying the Beardshear house. The room is furnished in fumed oak and will seat 108 people.

The kitchen which is one of the finest in the west is furnished in white, with a large built-in refrigerator. Two large ranges and a pastry oven will ensure plenty of ‘eats’ for the girls.

The kitchenette, on the first floor, will surely be the scene of many merry fudge patties and boxes from home ‘feeds’.

The drawing rooms are furnished in mahogany and tapestry with floor coverings in two toned brown rugs. A large fireplace adds much to the cheerfulness of the rooms.

The top (third) floor had been left unfinished under the original contract. When funds from the millage tax were made available in August 1915, Superintendent Sloss was authorized to complete the rooms on that floor to accomodate twenty-six more girls.⁶ Total cost of the building, including about $6700 for the third floor, came to $58,981.68.⁷

The building was officially designated as West Hall in September 1916, and retained that name until October 1928 when it became Mary Lyon Hall.

Fire excapes were installed in 1918.⁸

An extensive renovation of the building was undertaken in 1964. Smith Voorhees-Jensen, Architects Associated, was selected as architect in September 1963; the construction contract was awarded to James Thompson & Sons in February 1964 and the completed work was accepted the following September. Total cost of the renovation came to $124,120.19.