McBrien Hall

In a special session of the General Assembly in September, 1961, Henderson received approval of an appropriation of $700,000 from the Contingent Construction Fund to erect and equip a new Administration-Classroom Building on the site of the old Library and a parking lot to the north of College Hall. Preliminary plans for the new structure were well under way by November, 1961, when the architects representing Wittenberg, Delony and Davidson met with the Trustees to discuss general requirements for a new Classroom-Administration Building or Classroom and Administration Buildings. For practical and economic reasons at the time, the Board decided on one building, not two.

A year later, after approving the plans and specifications for the Administration Classroom Building, the Board awarded the construction contract on November 13, 1962 for $665,335. On December 13, 1962, when the Matson Company began to prepare the site for the new building, the College blocked off the east-west campus street from Twelfth Street to the east corner of the old Library. By February, 1963, the old Library was being razed to clear all space needed for the new building. Since Huie Library had been housed in Arkansas Hall, the old Library had been a storage facility “for discarded furniture from all over the campus”. Students often referred to it as “Check Point Charlie”.

Almost a year before the structure was completed, the Trustees named the new Administration-Classroom Building McBrien Hall on June 21, 1963, in honor of the retiring President, who had rendered years of valuable service to the College.

A three-story red brick with white trim, the building contained 38,000 square feet of floor space and was air-conditioned. It housed administrative offices on the first floor and faculty offices and classrooms on the second and third floors. The move from College Hall into McBrien Hall began on the weekend of April 18, 1964, with April 27 set as the completion date for the moving and for classes to start meeting in the new building.

Since faculty and students were so accustomed to the rambling roominess of old College Hall, they had difficulty in adjusting to the compactness of McBrien Hall with its narrow halls, low ceilings, and narrow stairways. In October, 1965, because of the crowded conditions on the narrow stairs when students changed classes each hour, the College designated the east stairs for persons going up to the second and third floors and the west stairs for those going down to another floor or exiting the building.McBrien Hall was formally dedicated at 2 p.m. on May 12, 1964, in a ceremony in Arkansas Hall. Governor Orval Faubus was the guest speaker; President Russell was master of ceremonies. The Madrigal Singers, with Eugene Kuyper as director, and Robert Ellis, organist, provided the music for the service. After the formal dedication, visitors then toured the new building.

Other formal ceremonies were to continue that afternoon. At 3:15 Governor Faubus and President Russell were escorted to Haygood Field, where they reviewed the Henderson R.O.T.C. Brigade and participated in the annual R.O.T.C. Awards Day. The Brigade awarded an honorary membership in the Henderson unit of Pershing Rifles to Governor Faubus.

And last, at 4:30 p.m., the Henderson Young Democrats gave a reception for Governor Faubus in the Student Union lounge to end this event-studded day at Henderson.

Later, after the removal of the Administrative Offices to Womack Hall, McBrien Hall then became the center for the Schools of Education and Liberal Arts. The transfer of faculty offices was completed by January 15, 1975. With offices for the History Department moved to McBrien, Evans Hall then served as the center for the Department of Nursing on the first floor and the Department of Mathematics on the second floor.

McBrien Hall, a major classroom building, presented special difficulties for the handicapped, since it had neither ramp nor elevator until the spring of 1981. On March 27, 1981, the Oracle published pictures of a workman from D&H Construction Company as he operated a jackhammer on the second floor in preparation of the shaft for the elevator. A ramp at the north entrance of McBrien Hall was also constructed. The State funded the construction of the ramp and the elevator for McBrien at a total cost of $86,922.