5 Historic Facts About Dean College Residence Halls

Have you ever wondered about the history that lies on the Dean College campus? In the coming weeks, we will be sharing interesting facts about the history that set the foundation for Dean College today. 

Dean College offers a variety of on-campus student housing options and many of these residence halls have history behind their making. Read on for 5 historical facts about the Dean College residence halls.

1. Many of Dean’s residence halls were built in the 1960s. When the Baby Boomers, defined as people born between 1946 and 1964, reached college age in the 1960s, most colleges and universities didn’t have enough space to accommodate their growing student bodies! It was during this time that Dean College built Jones Hall, Wallace Hall, Ewen Hall, Adams Hall and Bourret Hall.
2. The parking lot outside of Dean Hall was once a tennis court. That’s right! The Dean Hall lot where students, faculty and staff park today had three tennis courts for students to play on.
3. Mitchell House is named after a family full of Dean alumni. Now an all-female residence, the Mitchell House it is one of three houses on-campus for students to live in and was named after the Mitchell family, whose members attended Dean. The history of this house dates to when Dean was expanding rapidly from an academy to a college in the 1950s.
4. Several residence halls have a namesake. Ewen Hall and Wallace Hall are both named after former Dean College presidents. Jones Hall and Bourret Hall are named after former Dean College faculty members. 
5. Dean has a balance of historic and modern housing options. While some of our residential buildings are historic and charming, others are modern buildings with state-of-the-art facilities. For example, Horne Hall, which is the newest residence hall on campus, is named after Dorothy and Glendon Horne, who graduated in the class of 1931 alongside Academy Award winner, Broderick Crawford.

Check back next week for more historical facts and in the meantime learn more about the history and mission of Dean College. 

Historic facts provided by Alex Feuz ˈ22 with guidance from Dean College Professor of History, Dr. Rob Lawson. 

About Alex: Alex is a sophomore Sports Broadcasting major with a passion for the history of Dean College. He is looking forward to sharing stories of Dean that will last a lifetime.