The ASU History Department is located in historic Wilson Hall. The following is an edited reprint of an article that tells a bit about the early history of this building, a building that has at various times over the years housed the library, administration, post office, cafeteria, the college of business and now houses the College of Humanities and Social Sciences.

From the Dust:

A Firsthand Account

of Wilson Hall's Rise During

the Great Depression

He was 12 years old when Arkansas State University's original administration building ignited on Jan. 13, 1931. His father was the first president of ASU. He attended classes on campus from third grade until he received his bachelor's degree in engineering in 1938.

V. H. Kays grew up with ASU and Wilson Hall in midst the beginning of the university. "I printed my diploma for high school," he said. "I had the run of the place." [Editor’s note: this article is largely taken from an interview of V.H. "Buddy" Kays who passed away in 2001. Kays was a long-time support er of ASU and Kays family papers are housed in the ASU archives.]

He said he vividly remembers the night the building burned. "Mother woke me up at midnight you could hear the grand piano (drop) all the way from the auditorium down to the basement," he said. "We could look right out the window and see everything." Kays said his house was very close to the administration building.

According to Voices From State: An Oral History of ASU by Dr. Larry Ball and Dr. William Clements, the fire destroyed most of the school's records and classroom space. Kays said Dean Ellis was a physics instructor at the time. The school had just gotten new physics equipment. "When it burned, Daddy had to keep him from going back into the building to get (the new equipment)," Kays said.

It was the day before the spring semester started.

"When daddy saw the building was going, he had the firemen concentrate their hoses on the safe with the students' records. We didn't lose a single (student) record," Kays said.

Ball and Clements wrote, "The fire demonstrated conclusively the institution's ability to survive and bounce back. It also heralded a new look for the campus since Wilson Hall established the architectural style that would be developed in most construction over the next several decades.

"Classes were the next day at noon," Kays said. He said the school held classes in many other campus buildings, including the barn. Even with the loss of the building, the school awarded its first two bachelor's degrees in May. Harriet Kibler received a bachelor of science in education, and Beverly Armstrong earned a bachelor of arts degree because both had accrued transfer credits.

On January 19, 1933, the Board of Trustees and Kay's father, V.C. Kays met to discuss the plans for a new building. The school received $100,000 in insurance. As part of a bond issue, the school sought $140,000 to help construct the building. But no one would buy the bonds. "Board members could be counted on at any time," Kays said. "They were willing to put their personal credit on the line, and did. There were some local people who did, too." He said board members got a loan to build the building. Kays said Robert E. Lee Wilson was a Board of Trustees member at the time. He said Wilson traveled by train all the way from California to Little Rock to ask the governor to help the university.

It was during the Great Depression. Kays said life in Jonesboro and everywhere else was hard during the depression. He said at that time, he Board of Trustees had to release all faculty from their contracts because there was no money for salaries. He said the school had the appropriations but no money. "We had little girls coming to our door asking for bread. They needed it, they had flour sack dresses and nothing to sew the hems with," he said. "Every bank in Jonesboro went broke."

Kays said the school had to go to a bank in Pine Bluff for the money to build Wilson Hall because there were no functioning banks in Jonesboro.

He said a Ford car cost $50, a house call from a doctor was $5, and a steak supper cost 50 cents. "People today have never experienced anything like the Depression," he said. "They can read about it. They can know it was rough and tough but they can't have the feeling for it." Wilson Hall rose despite the hard times.

Since his father was president of the university during the construction, Kays saw the day-by-day operations firsthand. "It was a big job to me," he said. "I kind of had the run of the place. The most valuable part is what I learned from being here and seeing it. I learned to read [architectural] drawings on the new building," Kays said. "I learned how to understand specifications on the teacher's training building."

"[Robert E.] Lee Wilson sent mules up here to excavate the basement," Kays said. "They did all that kind of work in those days with mules. So much of everything was done by hand in those days." Sixteen teams of mules helped dig trenches for the foundation. [Editor’s note: R. E. Lee Wilson (1863-1933), for whom Wilson Hall was named, was founder of the 37,000 acre Wilson Farm, one of the largest cotton-growing farms in the world, most of it located near the eastern Arkansas town of Wilson. Wilson was a major contributor to ASU throughout his life. Source: Arkansas History Commission]

Wilson Hall housed the library, the administration, the auditorium and the departments of laboratory sciences, music, drama, sociology, English, philosophy, agriculture, history, economics, language and art. The building included four rooftop gardens, which no one ever used.

Two light courts also housed the original staircases for the building. Students could walk up from the railroad and through the building to the staircases. Now one of the light courts is locked, and the other is a picnic area.

The library was located where the history faculty offices are now. The artwork that marked the entrance to the library still is on the west side of the building. [Editor’s Note: This is the frieze now used as the ASU logo called "The Scholar."]

The original plans included many stone details. But the drawings were not very detailed. The masons used the basic design from the plans to create their work of art. "At that time, some masons were more artists than craftsman; they were allowed to express themselves," said Terry Carty, ASU construction coordinator. Kays said the black marble inside Wilson Hall came from Arkansas. "Arkansas is the only place you can get black marble outside of France."

Kays said very few mechanical aids existed when Wilson Hall was built. He said workers were adding a hoist to the south side of the building, but they didn't correctly attach the support wires. The wind blew the hoist over and the man inside was crushed to death. Kays said that was the only fatality during the construction. The work on Wilson Hall was complete and it opened for classes November 28, 1932. "Everything was brand new, nothing old was moved into the building because they didn't have anything old to move in," Kays said. "It was the first fire-resistant building we had here." History graduate student Linda Edrington of Paragould said, "It was the most magnificent building in Northeast Arkansas at the time."

He said Wilson Hall was a center piece and saved the university. The state was going to abolish many of the schools in the area but decided not to abolish ASU. "Frankly, by getting the state so far in debt or (Wilson Hall), (the state) couldn't abandon it." "We had some other hard times at this institution, but that one was really getting close, he said.

Kays remembers the dedication of Wilson Hall. He said a veil rested over the plaque in the lobby. "Wilson kept showing it to people," he said. "They had to keep putting (the veil) back up"The university renovated the building in the 1960s. A-State added four staircases to the building to bring it to code. Carty said workers installed an air conditioning system, which explains why the hallway on the bottom floor of Wilson Hall is not as wide as the rest of the halls near the break room. Other additions included an elevator near the light court, which is not in use. Originally, the plans located the elevator left of the auditorium. Carty said, "We were supposed to have an organ, but they never came up with the money."

"I haven't been in the building in years," he said. Kays said he thinks the school is doing well. "This school has had hard times, but ASU was set up to serve the youth that didn't have the means to go to more expensive places. I think they have done what they set out to do," he said. "Everybody should be educated to the limits of their ability."

[Editor’s note: The university currently plans to build a new building to house the College of Humanities and Social Sciences and remodel Wilson in keeping with its original designs. In 1998, this was not as certain. There were suggestions that Wilson be torn down or rebuilt. The following refers to those plans.]

Carty said administrators planned to tear out the auditorium and build new floors when the university decided to request less than $10 million [for a new building]. "Personally, I don't want to see us try to construct a high-rise," Carty said. "Fortunately we have the room to expand to the east and west."

Edrington, a member of Phi Alpha Theta, ASU's chapter of the National History Honors Society, said renovations could destroy the group's plans to place Wilson Hall on the National Registry of Historic Places. She said only certain renovations can take place for the building to remain eligible for the registry. No additions to the top of the building can be visible from 150 feet away, she said. The registry allows annexes next to the building, but the connectors must look as if they are not part of the original building.

Edrington said progress is necessary but should not rob ASU of its history. "We can work together to modernize the building yet maintain historical integrity," she said.

According to this student, "Wilson Hall represents the essence of Arkansas State University's history, and tearing it down would be like destroying that history."

[Editor’s note: Linda Edrington graduated from ASU with a BA in history in 1997 and an MA in history in 2000.]