Emma Jones Hall, OHSU

Introduction

Text-to-speech Audio

Emma Jones Hall was constructed in 1927 as a dormitory for student nurses in the Multnomah Training School, a predecessor institution to the OHSU School of Nursing. In 1944, it was renamed after Emma Jones, the former nursing superintendent at Multnomah County Hospital who supervised hospital nurses for twenty-five years. An east wing addition was built in 1953. The building ceased to house students in the 1970s and transitioned to academic offices.

Images

Nurses Dormitory/Emma Jones Hall, University of Oregon Medical School, circa 1927.

Sepia photograph of an exterior view of the Nurses Dormitory on the Marquam Hill campus, Emma Jones Hall. The building is a four-story classical style building with a short porch on the front. Around the building is a clearing of grass with evergreen trees in the background.

Multnomah County Hospital and Emma Jones Hall, circa 1920s.

Photograph of (front to back) the Multnomah County Hospital and Emma Jones Hall on the campus of University of Oregon Medical School. The picture has been taken from a position to the southwest of the buildings. The buildings are large, classical style and light colored, and surrounded by a clearing of grass.

Superintendent Emma Jones, R.N. (1863-1958)

A black & white photograph of Emma Jones, R.N. She is an older woman with pin-curled gray hair, a nurse's uniform, wire-rimmed glasses, and a nurse's cap from her nursing school.

Housing guidelines in "Guidelines for Students" from the School of Nursing, 1963.

Yellow background, blue text. "Dormitories" section states that two residences are maintained for students, Gaines and Jones halls. The halls are supervised by housemothers and require a term $24 deposit. "Living Off Campus" notes that students under 21 are required to live in dormitories unless married or living with relatives. Students over 21 are allowed to live off campus with parental approval.

Backstory and Context

Text-to-speech Audio

Until 1927, when the hall (then known as the Nurses' Dormitory) was built, nursing students lived on the third floor of the Multnomah County Hospital itself. This building was the first dedicated dormitory for student nurses on the Marquam Hill campus.

The building is named after Emma Jones, the former superintendent of nursing at Multnomah County Hospital from 1919 to 1944. A graduate of Cook County Nursing School, Jones was instrumental in numerous transitions at the Multnomah County Hospital, including the move from Second Avenue and Hooker Street in 1923, and the planning and construction of the dormitory in 1927. The building was renamed in her honor shortly after her retirement in 1944.

Through the 1960s, women students under the age of 21 were generally required to live in on-campus dormitories, which included Emma Jones Hall, Gaines Hall and, later, the Women's Residence Hall. The dormitories upheld strict (by today's standards) policies on curfews, visitors, and leave from campus. Students over 21 were permitted to live off-campus with written permission from parents.

In 1973, when Emma Jones Hall no longer served as student housing, the faculty and staff of the School of Nursing relocated their offices into the building from Mackenzie Hall. After the School of Nursing moved into a standalone building in 1992, the building transitioned into other academic offices.

Sources

Gaines, Barbara. A History of the School: 1910-1996, 1998. https://www.ohsu.edu/sites/default/files/2019-04/history_complete%20%281%29.pdf.

Piasecki, Sara. "The eponymous Emma Jones," Historical Notes blog. November 24th 2008. https://wayback.archive-it.org/8239/20191206183726/http://ohsu-hca.blogspot.com/2008/11/eponymous-emma-jones.html.

University of Oregon School of Nursing. "Guidelines for students," 1963. Archival Publications, Historical Collections & Archives, OHSU Library.

Image Sources(Click to expand)

OHSU Digital Collections, https://doi.org/10.6083/M44B300N

OHSU Digital Collections, https://doi.org/10.6083/M46M35GC

OHSU Digital Collections, https://doi.org/10.6083/M45D8QHZ

University of Oregon School of Nursing "Guidelines for students," 1963. Archival Publications. Historical Collections & Archives, OHSU Library.