Built as part of West Virginia University’s expansion in the early twentieth century to house the College of Agriculture, Oglebay Hall remains one of the most prominent structures on WVU’s downtown campus. University officials named the hall for Wheeling industrialist and philanthropist Earl W. Oglebay, a WVU regent at the time. Similar to the calculations made by university officials today, WVU administrators hoped that Oglebay might be sufficiently honored by the building's moniker that he would make a substantial contribution to its construction. While such hopes were never realized, the building’s construction was completed in 1918 and the College of Agriculture moved to their new home shortly thereafter. The College of Agriculture moved to the new Evansdale Campus in 1961 and the university’s psychology department moved to this building until 2002 with the construction of the new Life Sciences Building. The site is notable for its association with Dean of Agriculture Henry G. Knight (who went on to head the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Chemistry and Soils), the Psychology Department’s Life Span Developmental Psychology Program (the first of its kind in the country), and as the location of student protests against the Vietnam War in 1970. The building received considerable upgrades and renovations in 2007, becoming the first LEED-certified (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) building in the state. It is currently the home of the Department of Forensic and Investigative Science and is open during regular university hours.
Stalnaker Hall (Woman's Hall) is a historic dorm building on the downtown campus of West Virginia University. The construction of Woman's Hall represented a shift in students lodging. Beginning in 1919, female students were able to relocate from area boarding houses to residence halls. In 1972, Woman's Hall was renamed Stalnaker after Elizabeth Mattingly Stalnaker. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) on December 19, 1985.
Once located at the edge of what is now the Mountainlair Green, the Armory building on High Street was the second such structure on West Virginia University’s downtown campus. Built at the turn of the twentieth century, the second university Armory was a considerable upgrade from the first (which stood at the approximate location of Oglebay Plaza and became an experimental station for the College of Agriculture after 1889). The university Armory was the primary headquarters, storage facility, and training ground for WVU’s Corps of Cadets, formalized along with other such organizations nationwide as the Reserve Officer Training Corps during World War I. It was during that conflict in particular that the Armory on High Street experienced its heaviest use, a period in which the entire campus essentially became a military camp as WVU (like many other such institutions) worked to meet the escalating demands of the federal government for trained military personnel. The Armory was demolished in the 1960s to make way for the ambitious construction project that became the university Mountainlair and adjacent Mountainlair Green.
Built in 1935, Boreman Hall South is a residence hall located on West Virginia University’s downtown campus. The hall took a year to complete and was originally called Men’s Hall. When Men’s hall was completed, it was the first dorm that housed men on campus since the University was founded in 1867. The completion of Men’s Hall is significant because it represents West Virginia University’s “first attempt to provide housing” for all male students.
The Charles C. Wise Library is located on the downtown campus of West Virginia University. The library gets its name from Charles Wise Jr., a lawyer and former WVU student body president who donated 4.260 acres of land to the WVU Foundation. Today, the Wise Library is connected to the newer Downtown Campus Library. It houses art, historical archives, and rare book collections. Many of the newer exhibits in Wise are affiliated with West Virginia culture, and each room has an Appalachian flavor.
Located on the sixth floor of West Virginia University's Wise Library, the West Virginia and Regional History Center offers the largest collection of materials related to the history of West Virginia and central Appalachia. The center is open to the public and offers a library, manuscript collection, collects, preserves, and provides public access to materials that show the history and culture of West Virginia and the central Appalachian region.
Built in 1923 as the new home of the West Virginia University law school, Colson Hall is one of the most eye-catching structures on WVU’s downtown campus. The building gained its moniker in 1975 in honor of former law school dean and two-time interim university president Clyde L. Colson, one year after the law school moved to its current location and the West Virginia & Regional History Center took its place. During its time as WVU’s law school Colson Hall witnessed the graduation of several prominent individuals, among them the law school’s first African American graduate (Charles E. Price of Fairmont, West Virginia), three West Virginia governors, and a US ambassador. Through its association with these individuals, Colson Hall serves as a unique window into the legal, political, and diplomatic histories of West Virginia and the nation at large. After the West Virginia & Regional History Center moved to its current location in Wise Library in the early twenty-first century Colson Hall became the home of WVU’s English Department, which continues to occupy the building and is open during regular university hours.
Stewart Hall was built between 1900 and 1902 to replace the second floor of Martin Hall as West Virginia University’s library. When the Wise Library was completed in 1931, Stewart Hall became the administrative offices for the university, a role it still serves today. Originally known as University Library, the building was renamed to Stewart Hall in 1972 after Irvin Stewart, a successful and longtime WVU president. Its architecture is an emblematic representative of the Romanesque Revival style. Many consider Stewart Hall to be one of the finest and most authentic Romanesque Revival buildings in West Virginia.
Designed by Uniontown, Pennsylvania architect John Charles Fulton in 1904 as a new residence for West Virginia University’s presidents, the building known as Purinton House on the school’s downtown campus is an eclectic blend of Colonial Revival and Neo-Classical styles. The building takes its moniker from its first occupant, Daniel Boardman Purinton, who purchased the land on which it stands from Dr. Israel Charles White (West Virginia’s first state geologist and one of the university’s first students when it was founded in 1867). Despite initial protests from university members who considered the expenditure unnecessary (particularly within the context of President Purinton’s aggressive expansion of the downtown campus more generally), Purinton House quickly became a fixture in university life. While the building serves as a window into the history of geological science and the university itself through its associations with Dr. White and President Purinton, however, it is also notable as the location of President William Howard Taft’s “World Wide Speech” in 1911. Purinton House remained the residence of WVU’s presidents until 1967 when it became for a time the headquarters for the Alumni Association. It currently houses the university’s International Students & Scholars Services program.
West Virginia University’s Elizabeth Moore Hall has served as a women’s physical education facility, women’s graduate student dormitory, office of the dean of women, and home of numerous campus organizations. The three-story, red brick, Georgian Revival structure was built between 1926 and 1928 to house the university’s physical education program. In 1938, the dean of women’s office was relocated to the building. A 1962 addition added extra gymnasium and classroom space. The building was listed on the National Register in 1985.
The Mountainlair, also known as "The Lair" is the student union building at West Virginia University. It was built in the 1960s to replace the 1948 student union building. The Lair serves as a hub that combines the educational, social, recreational, and cultural needs of West Virginia University's diverse student body. It provides a large variety of services and programs, including ATMs/banking, copy centers, email/print stations, lockers, lounges, parking, a food court/cafeteria, games areas, a post office, a movie theater, and more. In addition to recreational facilities and student services, the Mountainlair also contains a large events ballroom, various meeting and conference rooms, and many administrative offices of the University. The campus bookstore (stocked by Barnes & Noble), Starbucks, and university shop are also adjoined to the Mountainlair.
The West Virginia Mountaineer in the official mascot of West Virginia University (WVU). Selected annually since the 1930s from the university’s student body, the mascot is a popular tradition of the school. There is a bronze Mountaineer statue in front of the Mountainlair, WVU’s student center, which was dedicated in 1971.
On December 7, 1941, The U.S.S. West Virginia was struck by two bombs and seven torpedoes during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The attack sunk but did not destroy the battleship, and she went back into service after repairs until her decommissioning in 1947. On March 17, 1961 the mast of the U.S.S. West Virginia BB-48 arrived at West Virginia University to commemorate the perseverance of the battleship. This mast is one of many artifacts from the ship donated to the state of West Virginia. The mast was later installed in Oglebay Plaza in front of Oglebay Hall on May 11, 1963, as a Pearl Harbor memorial. In 2007, a commemorative bronze plaque was dedicated with the names of the 106 sailors who died during the attack on the USS West Virginia.
On September 12, 1992, the Native American Studies Department of West Virginia University held a ceremony for Chief Leon Shenandoah to plant a Peace Tree on campus to commemorate the five hundred year anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ arrival in the Americas and to reflect on the University’s commitment to studying Native American history. Peace Tree honoring ceremonies are held annually.
Built in 1870 in the Second Empire style and named for the university’s first president, Alexander Martin, Martin Hall on Woodburn Circle is currently the oldest structure still standing on West Virginia University’s downtown campus. Early on in the university’s history the building was the site of a number of notable student pranks, most prominently the 1883 firing of a decorative cannon in Woodburn Circle by a group known as the “U. of W.V. Guerillas” (led by Al Jennings, later one of the most wanted criminals in Oklahoma history). The following year, another group of pranksters that included future Minnesota District Court Judge James C. Michael coaxed a steer into Martin Hall, where they left it to be discovered by faculty on the second floor the following morning. On a more serious note, the building was also the site of early radio tests in the 1910s and 1920s by Drs. Robert Colwell, Charles Jolliffe, and James D’Agostino, tests that ultimately led to the creation of FM and color television. The latter has made Martin Hall a particularly appropriate home for its current occupant, the Reed College of Media, which keeps the building open during regular university hours.
Woodburn Hall is the centerpiece of West Virginia University (WVU). Constructed between 1874 and 1911, Woodburn Hall bears the name of the Woodburn Female Seminary, the first school for girls in Morgantown. Woodburn Hall is the second-oldest extant building on WVU's campus and has been a meeting place for the University community for over a century. The building was designed by renowned Morgantown architect, Elmer Forrest Jacobs, and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.
Built in 1893 on the northern side of Woodburn Circle, Chitwood Hall is the third oldest building still standing on West Virginia University’s downtown campus. Originally known as Science Hall, the building was renamed in 1972 for former history department faculty member Dr. Oliver P. Chitwood. In addition to its association with Dr. Chitwood, the structure is also notable for its connection to the work of zoology professor Dr. Albert M. Reese. While Reese earned recognition nationwide as an expert on the order Crocodilia (crocodiles) and participation in Smithsonian expeditions to South America and Asia to study that animal, he also gained notoriety both locally and across the state as a defender of evolution during the 1922 Scopes trial. Chitwood Hall is now home to WVU’s Department of World Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics, and is open during regular university hours.
For most of the twentieth century, West Virginia University fans cheered on their favorite football team at Mountaineer Field, once located between Woodburn Hall and the present-day Life Sciences Building. Known colloquially as "Old Mountaineer Field," the stadium seated 34,000 spectators and was home to famous football games such as the Backyard Brawl, a longstanding rivalry between the West Virginia University Mountaineers and University of Pittsburgh Panthers. Mountaineer Field closed in 1979 and was demolished in 1984 after the new Mountaineer Field, now Milan Puskar Stadium, opened in 1980 on the Evansdale campus.
This Tour is a Walking Tour.
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Discover historic sites on WVU's Downtown Campus with this walking tour! Visit buildings, statues, monuments, and other unique campus features that have important stories to tell about the University's history. A number of these Clio entries were created by students at West Virginia University as part of their history courses.
