1912 - Curry Hall - Denton, TX
N 33° 12.819 W 097° 08.789
14S E 672741 N 3676503
Constructed in 1912 for use as a library and gymnasium, Curry Hall is the oldest building on the campus of the University of North Texas, at 200 Avenue A, Denton, TX.
Waymark Code: WM12WJ7
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 07/26/2020
Views: 2
A 1994 Texas Historical Marker near the cornerstone provides some background:
Built in 1912-13 to serve as a library and gymnasium, this is the oldest remaining building on the North Texas campus. It became known as the Historical Building in 1925, when history professor Joseph Lyman Kingsbury (1880-1949) began a museum that was housed here until 1986. The institution's eclectic collection included published works and artifacts from around the world. Upon the museum's closing the collection was distributed to other institutions in Denton. The building also has housed academic offices, classrooms, and the college radio station.
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A newer marker, placed by the university in 2012 and entitled "Library Building", stands out in front of the building, expanding upon the narrative on the older marker. It has a vintage photo along with this text:
Work on what was first known as the Library Building began in 1912, and the brick and concrete structure opened in 1913 with the library on one floor. It is the oldest building still on campus. When the library was completely furnished in 1916, it offered 8,000 books, 48 magazines and two daily newspapers. Physical education classes met in the basement, and classrooms and meeting rooms for campus literary societies were on the top floor. In 1923, the library became an early site for Saturday night socializing when the women of the faculty invited students to the reading rooms for "some place to go and an opportunity to meet friends informally, under conditions of safety and propriety." The building housed the first campus post office substation beginning in 1924 and also became home in the 1920s to the museum curated by J.L. Kingsbury of the history faculty and later by his wife, Mabel. Designated a State Historical Collection in 1930, the museum housed such treasures as the college archives and collections of weapons, coins, blue glass, dolls and model ships. Artifacts ranged from a stuffed buffalo head to a Regina music box and a bowl by potters Maria and Julian Martinez. The library moved to what is now Sycamore Hall in 1937, and the museum closed in 1986. The Library Building also was known as the Museum Building and the Historical Building. It was remodeled in 1990 for classroom and computer lab space and was renamed Curry Hall in honor of the first business dean, O.J. Curry.
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