Called at various times Women's Hall and Ladies Hall, a dormitory for girls was erected in 1896 at the corner of Union and College streets on the stie of the old Brown House, an early-day hostelry. The building was extensively remodeled in 1909-1910, and, in 1916, was officially named Howard Hall in honor of the University's former president. A new addition to the building, to the north, was erected in 1937.

Howard Hall was razed in the summer of 1976, along with Super Hall, the Lindley Hall annex and German House.

• Additional facts about Howard Hall

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Additional facts about Howard Hall

• From 1952 Athena yearbook

  Howard Hall, the first women’s dormitory on the Ohio University campus, has built up many fine traditions. The girls of Howard Hall are noted for outstanding social, scholastic, and athletic activities. The functions on the year’s social calendar included Open Houses, the traditional Tavern Dance, and a formal Christmas dinner. At the Christmas Formal, “Snowflake Fantasy,” the residents of the dormitory danced to the music of Wib Lanning’s Orchestra. However, the residents of Howard Hall did not neglect their studies. They made good use of their study hall and won the Scholarship Plaque.

• From Athena 1956 yearbook

  From the intersection of College and Union Streets, Howard Hall offered its “corner of hospitality” to all visitors this year, and guaranteed more than the regular influx of male callers by issuing invitations. On one weekend the Howard women entertained their adopted “little sisters”. Younger sisters and friends still in high school spent the weekend at Howard, and their big sisters went all out to make them feel at home on campus with banquets, skits, parties, and friendly chatter. But most of the invitations went to men. The women opened up “No Man’s Land” and took their dates on a tour of the dormitory at the winter formal, a “Frosted Fantasy” set in evergreen. The mixers with men from the East Green dormitories brought more guests to Howard’s corner.

• Excerpt from The Athens Messenger - October 12, 1972

  Dormitory enrollment approximately 650 students below capacity is likely to lead to closing of Howard Hall at Ohio University again this year.

  About 60 students currently are living in Howard Hall, the university’s oldest dorm, located at Union and College Streets, Sowle said.

  Those students probably will be forced to move into vacancies found throughout the dormitory system, with Howard to be closed again this year as it was in 1971-1972.

• From Alumni Journal- March/April 1976

  Howard Hall, which has not been used as a dormitory since the 1971-72 school year, will be torn down this summer. The decision was made by the Board of Trustees on the recommendation of the University administration and the Ohio Department of Public Works which inspected the facility. Factors considered in the decision were the age and lack of future need for the building plus the high cost of renovations which would have to be made if the hall were to be reopened.

  Built in 1895 with additions in 1909 and 1938, the dormitory was named for Solomon Howard, president of the University from 1852- 1872.

• From Fact Sheet - Solomon Howard (Howard Hall)

  Ohio University’s sixth president, Solomon Howard (1852-1872), was born at Cincinnati, Ohio, November 11, 1811, the son of Cyrus and Lucy Howard.

  Upon the presentation of President Ryors’ resignation at the meeting of the Ohio University Board of Trustees on August 5, 1852, the members of the governing body elected a Rev. Joseph Tomlinson, of the faculty of Augustana College, Augustana, Ky., as president, and the Rev. Solomon Howard, of Springfield, as professor of natural sciences. When, shortly after the meeting, Tomlinson declined the presidency, a three-man committee, authorized to fill vacancies in the faculty, appointed Howard to serve as president. This action was confirmed by the board at its next meeting. The new president began his duties early in the summer of 1852, although his formal inauguration was not held until August 3, 1853.

  During the early years of his presidency, Dr. Howard succeeded in placing the University on a high plane as an institution of learning, and in increasing the number of students.

  Toward the close of his administration, precedent was broken by the admission of women students. Margaret Boyd, who entered in 1868 and graduated in 1873, was the first co-ed.

  Called at various times Women’s Hall and Ladies Hall, a dormitory for girls was erected in 1896 at the corner of Union and College streets on the site of the old Brown House, an early day hostelry. The building was extensively remodeled in 1909-1910, and, in 1916, was officially named Howard Hall in honor of the University’s former president. A new addition to the building, to the north, was erected in 1937.

Information about Howard Hall is courtesy of The Robert E. & Jean R. Mahn Center for Archives and Special Collections at Ohio University.