Ogden Hall is a

hall of residence A dormitory (originated from the Latin word ''dormitorium'', often abbreviated to dorm) is a building primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people such as boarding school, high school, college or university s ...

Miami University Miami University (informally Miami of Ohio or simply Miami) is a public research university in Oxford, Ohio. The university was founded in 1809, making it the second-oldest university in Ohio (behind Ohio University, founded in 1804) and the 10 ...

. Construction started in 1923, funded by a donation from Laura Ogden Whaling. The building was renovated and extended in 1999. Originally it was a residence for male students, but now serves as a dining hall and residence for both male and female students.

History

In 1923 Laura Ogden Whaling donated $430,000 to

to build a hall of residence in her brother's honor. Her brother, George C. Ogden, graduated from Miami in 1863 and went on to receive his medical degree from the Ohio Medical College. It was part of her request that the Hall must be located west of the Herron Gym, directly across the street from Lewis Place, the President's home. But the president did not want a building directly across from Lewis Place; he wanted green space on either side of the slant walk. So in order to keep with Laura Ogden Whaling's wishes, Herron Gym was moved down the street to what is now the parking lot adjacent to Roudebush Hall. The cornerstone of Ogden Hall was laid on October 12, 1923. The stone was laid by the Grand Master of the

Masonic Lodge A Masonic lodge, often termed a private lodge or constituent lodge, is the basic organisational unit of Freemasonry. It is also commonly used as a term for a building in which such a unit meets. Every new lodge must be warranted or chartered ...

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, Mr. Harry S. Johnson, of

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

. He was assisted by President Hughes, members of the Board of

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, and other

University A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

officials. Ogden Hall was the first men's dormitory built on campus since the North and South Dorms were built. It also provided for a place for social activities, as it had a men's auditorium,

Y.M.C.A. YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

quarters, game rooms, and a number of conference rooms, in addition to housing 114 men. Ogden Hall was designed by Dittoe, Fahnestock & Ferber Architects and cost $330,000.00 to build in 1924. The general contractor was Fred Wood (Physical Facilities - Ogden Hall). It was to be a three-story red brick, stone trimmed, red tile roof

Colonial building The Colonial Building is a historic government building located in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The building was the home of the colonial and later provincial Newfoundland and Labrador, Newfoundland government and the Newfoundl ...

, which fit in with the rest of the architecture on campus (Ogden Hall Corner Stone to be Laid).

Rumors and ghost stories

The Ogden Hall Wall

The rumor is that when Laura Ogden Whaling donated money to Miami University, in order to build a new men's dormitory in her brother's name, she made a demand that a wall should be constructed around the new structure to keep it private. After the dormitory was built, it was rumored that Miami did indeed build the wall, but underground. The rumored wall was actually the foundation of the old Miami gymnasium. The gymnasium had to be moved during the construction of Ogden Hall because of the location wanted by Laura Ogden Whaling for the dormitory. Currently there is a tradition that the “wall” was built to keep men out of what would become a women's residence hall.

Present: recent renovation

In 1999, the building undertook renovations to update the building to then current accessibility and building code standards and to update the dinner facility. At “Miami Spice” students are able to participate in the production of their meals, choosing ingredients and passing them directly to the cook. Also with this addition came the expanding of seating and a new outdoor plaza café. Cincinnati-based architects, GBBN, carried out the renovations. GBBN Architects did . of renovation and a . addition to Ogden Hall. They created 9 food stations, 4 themed interior dining areas, a formal dining area, and an outdoor café (Ogden Hall). This new addition cost $6,103,444.00 and the projects contractor was Wright Seyferth. The building is currently used as a dining hall and a residence hall for freshman students.

References

External links

Miami University
{{Miami University Buildings and structures of Miami University University and college dormitories in the United States