Hale Hall is a historic building of the

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best pub ...

main campus in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, an ...

. It was built in 1909–1911 and listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1979. The building was formerly the Ohio Union, and had numerous other names through its history. It was the fourth student union building built in the U.S., and the first at a state university in the country. It is only one of four buildings on campus on the National Register; the others are the

Ohio Stadium Ohio Stadium is an American football stadium in Columbus, Ohio, on the campus of Ohio State University. It primarily serves as the home venue of the Ohio State Buckeyes football team and is also the site for the university's Spring Commencement c ...

and Hayes and Orton Halls. The building was designed by George S. Mills and built from 1909 to 1911. Although built as a student union, the building was replaced by Building 058, completed in 1951. The old building was then remodeled for student services, completed by 1953. The student health service moved out in 1969, and most of the remaining student services had moved by 1976. The property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979, despite opposition from the university's executives. From 1989 to 2020, the building or its predecessor served as the Frank W. Hale Jr. Black Cultural Center, a student center and gathering space for Black students at the college. It was named for the former vice provost for Diversity and Inclusion and professor emeritus at Ohio State, who spent years creating opportunities for students of color while creating safe spaces for these students. The students had fought for their own space, resulting in the center's establishment. The center lost its space in 2020 during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

and the building was converted for classroom use. Black student groups are working to have the space return to acting as a cultural center. Hale Hall's north end

References

External links

Hale Black Cultural Center

OSU Building Index page

OSU Archives page
{{National Register of Historic Places National Register of Historic Places in Columbus, Ohio Jacobethan architecture Ohio State University buildings 1911 establishments in Ohio School buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Ohio Buildings and structures completed in 1911