FIRST Men's Dormitory on Campus - Denton, TX
N 33° 12.658 W 097° 09.055
14S E 672333 N 3676198
A 2014 sign placed by the University of North Texas in front of Chilton Hall notes that it was constructed as the first men's dormitory on campus, back when this was still North Texas State Teachers College
Waymark Code: WM12Z8A
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 08/11/2020
Views: 4
While nearby
Marquis Hall has the distinction of being the first dormitory on campus, it was constructed for the ladies. It took only a few years to provide comparable housing for the men, and the sign elaborates:
Chilton Hall was built in 1938-39 as the first men's dormitory on campus. It was partially funded through a federal Public Works Administration grant. The original three-story hall featured nine unconnected sections, or "ramps," that opened into a U-shaped courtyard. Each ramp contained eight three-person rooms and could be entered by only one door. Chilton Hall housed the Harte Flying School, a liaison division of the armed services, early in World War II. The hall was used as a women's dorm until the end of the war and was re-converted to a men's dorm before once again housing women. In the 1950s and 1960s, sororities lived in the ramps, and the courtyard was the site of many social rituals, including men presenting their fraternity pins to their sweethearts. The courtyard also was home to a cast marble statue that became known as "The Student" -- a semi-reclining man with a book, created in 1940 by graduate student Sterling Cook Jr. In the late 1960s, when the 15-ton statue became a favorite target for pranksters with paint and difficult for workers to maintain, it was quietly buried. Its disappearance remained a mystery to most until 1987, when it was unearthed during renovation and expansion of the building. The statue's restored head and shoulders are displayed in Chilton Hall. In the expansion project, the courtyard was filled in to provide an additional 60,000 square feet for offices and classrooms, and visitors now have a close-up of the building's original architectural details. The hall was named for founder Joshua C. Chilton, who served as the institution's first president from 1890 to 1893.
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