Editor’s Note: Campus Findings is a weekly column about things on campus that trigger the curiosity of Iowa State students, faculty and staff. Carrie Sutton, junior in journalism and mass communication, will investigate the inquires each week and post her findings. Submit inquires to [email protected].

The Iowa State residence halls, which have evolved and expanded since the first facility opened in 1868, are named after men and women who contributed to the evolution of ISU.

ISU’s first residence halls

Old Main, also known as Main Building or the College, was ISU’s first residence hall. It was located in the same area as Beardshear Hall, which was then three miles from the 5-year-old village of Ames.

Old Main was four stories high and housed the entire student body its first year in 1868, according to the “First 100 Years of Residential Housing at Iowa State University: 1868-1968.”

The north wing was destroyed by fire in December 1900, and in 1902, another fire destroyed the south wing beyond repair.

Margaret Hall — named after Margaret McDonald-Stanton, ISU’s first dean of women — was destroyed in 1938, also by a fire. It was ISU’s first women’s residence hall and was located where LeBaron Hall stands today.

McDonald-Stanton taught French, English and mathematics and worked for co-education, which was not looked upon favorably. She was placed on ISU’s Judiciary or Ruling committee, which was a great honor, according to the “First 100 Years of Residential Housing.”

McDonald-Stanton was married to Edgar W. Stanton, who received the first diploma awarded at ISU in 1872.

Edgar Stanton donated the first 10 Campanile bells to Iowa State College in memory of his wife. The Campanile would later be known as the Stanton-Memorial Carillon Campanile.

Richardson Court residence halls

Welch Hall, built in 1929, was named after Mary Beaumont Welch, founder of the home economics college and wife of ISU’s first president, Adonijah S. Welch.

Mary Welch “recognized the need for scientific domestic training” and voyaged to England’s South Kensington Cooking School, where she got many of the ideas used to form the College of Home Economics, according to “Brief Biographical Sketches of Persons for Whom Residence Halls and Houses are named at Iowa State University.”

Roberts Hall was built in 1936 and is named in honor of Maria Roberts. Roberts was a member of the ISU staff for 52 years, and among her many other positions, she was a mathematics instructor and professor, president of the Alumni Fund Board, vice-dean and dean of the junior college.

She also held the position of dean emeritus and chairman of the Student Loan Fund, which she helped establish.

Lyon, Barton and Freeman Halls were named after women who had no affiliation with ISU.

“At that time, [the buildings] were named after outstanding American women,” said Library Assistant Becky Jordan.

Barton Hall, built in 1918, was renamed from South Hall to Clara Barton Hall in 1928. Barton was the founder and first president of the American Red Cross in 1882.

According to “Brief Biographical Sketches,” Barton was known as the “angel of the battlefield,” hated war and “desired to soften some of the hardships and to allay its miseries induced her to dare its pestilence and unholy breath.”

“She was a go-getter,” Jordan said.

Lyon Hall was built in 1914 and was called West Hall from 1916 until it was renamed in 1928 to honor Mary B. Lyon, according to “For Whom It Is Named: Names of Halls, Buildings, Streets, Residence Hall Houses and other facilities at Iowa State University.”

Lyon was the founder of Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts, the first school of higher education for women.

According to “Brief Biographical Sketches,” Lyon started Mount Holyoke Female Seminary with money she raised alone. She also served as principal of the seminary.

Freeman Hall, initially called East Hall when it was completed in 1916, also was renamed in 1928 after a leader of a prominent college — Alice Freeman.

Freeman was a University of Michigan alumna and the second president of Wellesley College in Massachusetts.