MARGARET HALL

Located about where LeBaron Hall stands now.

The first request for funds for a Ladies Hall was in November 1885, and was reported in each subsequent biennium until an appropriation of $45,000 was made in 1894. Preliminary plans for the building had been prepared by Nourse & Hallett in the fall of 1893 and these were submitted with the request to the legislature for an appropriation of $75,000.

The sharply reduced budget necessitated extensive changes in the plans. A formal agreement was entered into in May 1894 and the architect then revised drawings and bids were received in August 1894. The bids ranged from $41,000 to $48,143 and the contract was awarded to Whiting & Wood at the low figure, with some alternates for various changes. ¹

The building was described in the Biennial Report for 1894-95:

The erection and completion of the women’s building marks a new era in our advancement. It is designed with choice architecture, composed of brick, roofed with slate and finished with taste. It occupies one of the most sightly locations on the campus, giving the most pleasing outlook to its occupants. It is provided with steam heat, electric lights, ample parlors, bath rooms and the most improved modern conveniences. It is neatly and tastefully furnished throughout. A large dining room is in connection with the building, with a capacity for eight hundred students. It tones for the better our entire college life. Most noteworthy of all it was comfortably filled the first term. It is named Margaret Hall in memory of Mrs. Margaret MacDonald Stanton, whose estimable life and character were given in large measure to moulding the college through a greater part of its history.

Construction was started with ground breaking the last of August 1894.² The contract for plumbing and heating was executed in the fall with Wallace & McNamara. North Hall was connected to the rear (north of Margaret Hall) and served for the Steward’s office and the Domestic Economics department. This resulted in an amusing story in the IAC Student of March 30, 1895:

The Stroller³ could not repress a smile as he remembered the remark of someone, who, when asked what the style of the building was, said that the front of the building was Queen Anne style and the rear was Mary Anne style. He did not need to go round the building to find the reason for the latter application, remembering that the dilapidated North Hall, which joins the new building on the north, was sufficient for applying the name.

Margaret Hall was completed in July 1895 and occupied at the beginning of the term. The name was formally adopted at the November Board meeting. The hall had accommodations for about a hundred girls. Fire escapes were installed at each end of the building in 1897. They were replaced in 1903.

The Botany department was headquartered in Margaret Hall, after the loss of the south portion of old Main, from 1902 until 1906 when they moved to the new Central Building.

In 1913 authorization was made to excavate the basement of Margaret Hall to provide for installation of lockers and shower baths.⁴ Two years later a swimming pool was added.⁵

From its opening until 1929 Margaret Hall had been used for undergraduate women. In that year, when additional halls were available, it became a hall for graduate women, and all food service was discontinued. ⁶

Margaret Hall was completely destroyed by a fire the night of April 9, 1938.