Hodges Hall

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Hodges Hall dormitory was built in 1937 and Demolished in 2013.

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HUNTINGTON — The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA), renamed in 1939
 as the Work Projects Administration, was the largest and most ambitious New Deal
agency, employing millions of people (mostly unskilled men) to carry out
 public works projects, including the construction
 of roads and public buildings

In 1937, at the height of the Depression, the EPA built three buildings at Marshall College —
a teacher training school named for Confederate General Albert Gallatin Jenkins (later
home of the Marshall Lab School) and two dormitories. The record-setting 1937
 Ohio River flood precluded occupancy of the three
 buildings until the fall of that year

One of the dormitories was named Laidley Hall in honor of Marshall's
 chief founder, lawyer John Laidley. When a new school was built
 in 1837, it was Laidley who convinced his neighbors
 to name it for his friend John Marshall.

The second dorm was named Hodges Hall, honoring Thomas E. Hodges, who
was principal of the school from 1886 to 1896. The school saw considerable
 growth under Hodges, with its enrollment exceeding 200 students for
the first time. Erecting the two dorms cost a total of $300,000.

Located at the eastern side of MU's inner campus, Hodges Hall last housed students in 2007.

After that it became office space for the Marshall Community College and storage
 space for the university. Saying the three-story former dorm had become
 too expensive to maintain and noting that it wasn't air-conditioned,
Marshall demolished it 2013. At $400,000, the cost to
demolish the old building was far more than
 what it cost to build in 1937.

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Note:  This Article and picture appeared in the Herald-Dispatch Newspaper on Oct. 1, 2018

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