Lookadoo Student Union

To provide a student recreational center, Henderson had resorted to makeshift accommodations since 1929. In their day, the Men's Club, The Hut, and the bookstore in Key Hall had served students as temporary gathering centers.

In 1945, the location of a student recreational center changed once more. Dr. McBrien consulted with Business Manager H. Grady Smith, Student Senate President Beverly Beane, and others on campus about “the best possible place for the new student center.” As a result of these consultations, on September 17, 1945, Dr. McBrien announced at the first meeting of the Student Senate that Henderson students would have “a brand new student center" all their own.

Since The Hut was “in such a bad state of repair,” President McBrien “feared for the safety” of students “on those poor rickety floors.” As a result, Dr. McBrien had "...finally decided that the best plan would be to rearrange the whole bookstore, knocking out all partitions to make it one big room, and turning the center around so that it would face the room. Booths will be placed around the sides of the room and at the back, and plans are being made to install the nickelodeon". He had “already given the go-ahead sign” for the renovation of the bookstore and assured the Senate that the work would begin as soon as the College could secure labor.

In December, 1945, Dr. McBrien announced the appointment of Joseph Wallace Hill as manager of the bookstore and student center. A member of the Class of 1942 and student manager of the College Bookstore for his last three years at Henderson, Hill had recently been discharged with the rank of Captain from the United States Infantry.

In August, 1946, Henderson moved the Bookstore and Student Center from Key Hall to the renovated Gymnasium on the first floor of College Hall. The first Henderson Bulletin published after this change printed the following paragraph about "The Bookstore and Student Center": "Located on the first floor of College Hall, the college bookstore has many functions: books and student supplies are available; it is a student center where informal recreation is provided for between-class relaxation; in addition, the bookstore contains the college post where mail is delivered twice daily".

The student center remained in the old Gymnasium in College Hall until 1958, when the “dream student union” that Howard “Rock” Stone had envisioned and appealed for in an editorial in the Oracle on March 6, 1941, finally became a reality. Originally, the movement for a new, modern union was “student-initiated”. Since the union would have to be financed by a loan of $275,000.00, the student body voted five to one to increase their fees by $10.00 to liquidate the loan.

Sympathetic to the movement for the construction of a student union, the Trustees invited Gordon Wittenberg and Breck Campbell of the architectural firm of Wittenberg, Delony and Davidson, Little Rock, to the Board meeting on December 8, 1955, to explain “in a general way the preliminary plans and regulations to apply to the Housing and Home Finance Agency of Fort Worth for funds to construct a student union building”. From this point on, the planning for a student union on the Henderson campus moved slowly but steadily forward.

On April 27, 1956, when students were eating the evening meal at the Caddo Center, Dr. McBrien read a telegram from Senator J. W. Fulbright announcing the “preliminary approval of plans and reservation of funds for a student union building” at Henderson by the College Housing Branch of the Housing and Home Finance Agency. The College employed Wittenberg, Delony and Davidson on September 11, 1956, to prepare plans and specifications for the project.

The Board of Trustees awarded contracts on January 16, 1957, to the low bidders, all from Little Rock: Herman Carty for the general construction contract, $142,624; Pfeifer Plumbing and Heating, the mechanical contract, $41,870; and David Ray Electric Company, the electrical contract, $11,416. The contracts stipulated that the building was to be completed by December 31, 1957.

In the meantime, to prepare for the occupancy of the Student Union, Dr. McBrien announced in a directive in early January, 1958, the creation of a Student Union Board to set policies and regulations governing the operation of the building. The Board's proposals then went to the Faculty Executive Council “for consummate approval.” Three faculty members, three Student Senate members, and a non-Senate student composed the first Student Union Board: James L. Stewart, Dean of Men; Mrs. Bernice Smith, Dean of Women; Dr. F.C. Elkins, professor of history; Senate President Don Roberts; Carleen Harris and Ed Harrison, Senate representatives; and Bob Bruce, selected at large by the Senate from the student body.

In the directive of early January, Dr. McBrien also announced the appointment of Mrs. Boulware Martin Ohls as manager of the union and alumni secretary. Mrs. Ohls was a graduate and faculty member of Henderson.

Among the specified duties of the building's manager following: Put into effect and enforce the policies and regulations made by the Student Union Board after their final approval; Submit recommendations for new policies or modifications of old policies by the Student Union Board; Act as chief receptionist at the building; Serve as alumni secretary; Keep a calendar of activities scheduled for the building and be responsible for the scheduling of rooms, management of game rooms, but not charged with the management of the college store or post office.

As alumni secretary, Mrs. Ohls would plan alumni activities, locate "lost” alumni, and correspond with alumni “with the aim to increase their interest” in Henderson.

Although the building was scheduled to be finished by December 31, 1957, the contractors could not complete the structure by that date, chiefly because of the prevailing inclement weather. As a result, students had to wait six more weeks before using the new building. But on January 31, 1958, those on the Building Committee—J. H. Lookadoo and J. B. Wingfield, Trustees, and Dr. McBrien—accepted the union building after inspecting the structure.

The College now had a new union building—separate, modern, and conveniently located. Constructed of red brick with stone trimming on the site of the old Trailer City directly west of Womack Hall, the Student Union was of contemporary functional design. Almost 200 feet long, it housed a lounge, a ballroom, the College Bookstore, the manager's office, and the post office on the first floor; a lounge for reading and watching television, recreational rooms for ping pong, pool, checkers, and dominoes, and rooms for meetings of organizations on the second floor.

During the first two weeks of February, campus workers began moving furniture and equipment into the Student Union Building. On Sunday afternoon, February 16, 1958, more than 500 students and town citizens toured the Union during the open house from 2:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. The next day, students made “their long anticipated move into the new student Union”. At long last, after 17 years, the ephemeral dream of 1941 had been concretized. The new Student Union was named for Trustee Jonathan H. Lookadoo, in memory of “his valuable service as a trustee of the college for twenty-one years, thirteen of which he served as board chairman".

After the Union had been in use one week, several students remarked that the new recreational center seems to have transformed a number of personalities. The glitter of the all-day dance floor seems to have enthralled several students. It is a matter of conjecture whether class attendance has been affected by the new jukebox.

On October 2, 1963, the Board awarded a contract in the amount of $45,775 for the construction of a Post Office annex to the north wall of The Student Union. On January 11, 1968, the College approved a contract at $292,454 for extensive renovation of the Student Union itself. An increase in enrollment “of 91 per cent over the last four years” made this addition to the 10-year-old Student Union “a vital necessity”. The addition of approximately 17,000 square feet included an expanded snack bar, bookstore, game room, television lounge, offices for the president of the Student Senate, Alumni Affairs, yearbook staff and student newspaper, ballroom, recreation room, kitchen, and conference rooms.

As of 1991, the Student Union building is a component of the Garrison Center. It houses a fast food court, the bookstore, the campus radio station KSWH, the offices of the Star yearbook, the e-sports computer lab, conference rooms, and offices.