Every building has a history, but few have such a diverse past as the Hall of Languages.
The third oldest building on campus, the Hall of Languages was built in the 1920’s but was originally the campus library. The library served a different purpose then, as opposed to now, according to Head of Special Collections Dr. James Conrad.
“In the 30’s and the 40’s, students used to borrow text books,” he said.
Students used to check out books for a quarter, or what would be half a semester now, Conrad said; however, the textbooks were not the only difference compared to today’s library.
“There was a large two-story reading room on the north side of the building,” he said.
The reading room had a tiled floor according to Conrad. There were large oak tables and chairs; during the summer fans were used to keep the room cool since there was no air conditioning. The room was not only used as a place for studying and reading though.
“Occasionally dances were held in the reading room,” Conrad said.
Live bands were brought in to play these events, and students on the campus would dance to the point of irritating the building’s janitors.
“Students would scuff up the floors during the dances,” Conrad said. “One day the janitors put crumpled wax on the floor, so when the students were dancing they would crush the wax and coat the floor with it.”
The library also had a natural fixture, which drew in students. Conrad said there was a leaning tree in front of the north entrance where students would congregate.
“It was like a leaning palm tree with enough space for couples to sit on it,” he said.
Unfortunately the tree no longer exists.
“It leaned too much,” he said.
The building was converted into the Hall of Languages in the 1960’s. Conrad said there was not enough space for the library and the school decided they needed a larger and more modern facility. When the former library was converted to the Hall of Languages, the reading room was split into two floors filled with offices and classrooms.
Not all the stories from the Hall of Languages are happy.
A younger brother of a student was walking around the building one day in the 30’s and found an open janitors closet, which led up to the third floor. At that time there was a sky light on the roof of the building according to Conrad.
“The little boy fell through the sky light to his death,” he said.
Even with the tragedy, the Hall of Languages has a mostly positive and diverse history.
“Once it turned into the Hall of Languages they would have a lot of speakers come and talk in the auditorium in the building,” Conrad said.
Poets, writers and even a holocaust survivor are among those who came to share their stories at this staple in A&M-Commerce’s history.