Montevallo’s Residence Hall History

Published by: Keyshawn Talley

University of Montevallo is known for its unique architecture design buildings and the history of the campus ghost but what about the location’s students at the university call home away from home? How the university became from this small all-girls school to the very diverse campus that it is today.

Montevallo is a very historical small town in Alabama and is known and praised for its still unique historical feature and even thought the small town has created newer locations and made town a bit more appealing with the shape of the new world. The elements of the old buildings mixed with new makes the town even more beautiful and makes the interest of the student more fascinated to attend the university.

Main Hall

Starting with the oldest resident hall on the campus, Main Hall, which was establish at the university in 1897. The hall consists of three wings: west wing, central wing, and east wing, which were all built at different times, west wing was built first in 1897 making it the first and oldest residential part on the campus. The west wing was created to house 100 girls. Central wing was built in 1907 and the east was built the following year 1908. The two wings were added to resident 400 more girls on the campus and is still used to this day as a residence hall as well as used as the housing and residence life and health and services offices.

Madyson Robertson said, “I live in Main Hall. I have lived in Main for three years now: two years as a resident and one year as a resident assistant. Main is different. Although it is the biggest dorm on campus and houses over 250 individuals, it feels like home. You may not know everyone on a name basis, but you will know everyone by face. Main also has its ups and downs. The walls are thin, and the floors are creaky, but I believe that gives the building character. Depending on who you ask, it is also the most haunted building on campus. While walking in the halls, the elevator doors may open with no one on it.”

Ramsay Hall

In 1925, Ramsay Hall was built from the money raised during the school’s “Million Dollar Drive” which was a campaign to increase state funding. This makes this dormitory the second living space on the campus which was able to house 200 more students on the campus. The building then went under construction in 1979, which then converted the dormitory to a conference center and lodge. Today the university still has the building as a residential hall for male and female students in the Honors program but has the first floor for campus offices. 

“Ramsay is such a friendly and comfortable place to live! I feel safe and at home with all of my neighbors, and I love the little activities that are hosted in the dorm,” Ava DuBose said, “I have made many new friends and have created many memories in the building. I would never want to move to another dorm, and highly recommend living in Ramsay!”

Hanson Hall

The third residential hall would be Hanson Hall built in 1929. This dormitory was built to house 200 more students and is still used for those reasons today. Hanson hall has a beautifully furnished parlor on the first floor and a sundeck with lounge furniture for sunny relaxing days. Hanson Hall is still an all-girls dorm and is the hall where the women of Delta Gamma chapter call home.

Tutwiler Hall

In 1940, the university added another dormitory named Tutwiler also known as “Tut”.  This dormitory was originally created for seniors only but as of today the dormitory is still a girls-only living dorm but is available to women of all classifications. Tutwiler was another building out of two created using federal WPA funds. Today Tutwiler is known to be the home for the Phi Mu women. 

“I live in Tutwiler, on the Phi Mu hall. My experience has been extremely enjoyable. Aside from the great resident hall staff that works in Tutwiler, I also am honored to have my sister around daily for support. The environment is honestly nice and clean thanks to the amazing cleaning staff,” Phi Mu member, Rachel Raiford, said.

Napier Hall

In 1957, the first men’s dormitory was built on the campus. Making the university officially no longer an all-girls school. Napier Hall was the first resident for the male students at the university and was dedicated during Founders’ Day. The hall was built outside of the gates at that time due to girls not wanting guys at the university. Today the building is still used as an all-boys dorm and is the home for four different fraternities on the campus.

Brooke Hall

In 1959, the resident hall, Brooke Hall, was built.  This four-story building has private bathroom and an elevator. The hall is also the home of the women of Chi Omega. Brooke hall is the only women dorm that is open during holiday breaks. Brook Quad is in between Lund Hall, Brook Hall and New Hall and when the sun is out it is filled with student playing volleyball and many other activities.

“Living in the residence halls for the past three years has been quite nice. There are things within the hall of Brooke that needs to be fixed but what I love is constantly being around people and friends especially my sorority sisters and friends.” said Delaney Eaves, a member of Chi Omega and a Brooke Hall Residence, also continued with “Living in Brooke Hall has been fun, and the location is very close to everything on campus which helps with involvement.”

Lund Hall

Lund Hall was created in 1969, making it to be the second all-boys dormitory on the campus. Today Lund Hall is still an all-boys residential hall. Lund hall is the smallest residence hall on campus, its s three story building and is a very popular place for men due to the building features. The hall is a double-occupancy room with private bathrooms and an elevator. Lund is also another hall open during holiday breaks. 

Peck Hall

In 1981, Peck Hall was built being the first dormitory to be a co-ed living space for men and women of university. Today the building is and modern four story, apartment-style room featuring a kitchenette and a private bath. Peck hall is open year-round including holidays breaks. It’s one of the dormitories where married UM couples are allowed to live together. The dorm hall is one of the popular ones and so to live in this dorm you will need to contact the HRL office to be placed on the waitlist for the dorm. However, new students will not be assigned to live in Peck.

New Hall

In 2009, the newest residential hall was built. New hall was built and open. This brand-new resident hall is four-stories. It’s the most popular hall on the campus today. New hall features furnished suite style rooms with private bedrooms, living rooms and a kitchen area with full-sized refrigerator. Each of the suites includes four bedrooms and two bathrooms. This hall is a very diverse population of students from every class and has common study rooms and kitchen areas with ovens available on each floor, and the community game room is very popular. 

The university has changed in so many ways since the campus opened. Starting off as an all-girls school to now very diverse and open to all shows the growth and the why the history of this campus is so unique. I think reading and hearing about the different dormitories and the stories from the students living here now is very cool. Seeing the way the dorms has been changed since the university first opened to now and how much the dorms has changed not only from the inside but the outside too.