Wisely Hall

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm going to do it justice. Picture Stephen F. Austin State University in the spring of 1924, just settling into its new home on the northern edge of Nacogdoches.

The ink was barely dry on the move when President Alton W. Birdwell looked around at the surrounding area and saw a problem. Students needed places to live, and the housing options nearby were, to put it plainly, inadequate.

So Birdwell started thinking about dormitories. And then the Great Depression arrived, and thinking was about all anybody could do. The expansion of Texas educational institutions came to a halt.

Plans had a way of going nowhere in those years. But Birdwell was not a man who let a problem sit. Neither was his business manager, J.H.

Wisely. Together they spotted something in the National Recovery Act of 1933: the Public Works Administration, the PWA. That, they decided, was their way through.

By the end of 1933, Birdwell and Wisely had drawn up plans for a men's dormitory, thirty-five rooms, room enough for seventy students, with a kitchen, a dining room, an apartment for the manager, and social and club rooms where students could gather and breathe a little. The State Board of Regents looked at those plans in 1934 and said yes. They issued bonds for ninety-three thousand dollars, with the PWA putting in funding alongside.

Architect W.E. Ketchum took the design, and the A.M. Campbell Company was chosen as general contractor.

Construction broke ground in July of 1935, and when it was all said and done in 1936, the final cost had climbed to a hundred and six thousand dollars, furnishings included. That right there was the first PWA project in all of Nacogdoches. Now, they called it the boy's dorm, and it did not take long for that building to become a favorite gathering place, not just for the residents living inside it but especially for commuters who needed somewhere to belong between classes.

A good number of residents even worked in the cafeteria as waiters and servers. Then 1943 rolled around, and President Paul Lewis Boynton made a decision that changed the character of the place entirely. He recruited the Women's Army Corps, WAC Branch Number 1, to use the dormitory as barracks.

The male students moved back in come January of 1944. And then, in 1948, President Boynton and the Board of Regents did something quiet and lasting. They renamed the building Wisely Hall, in honor of J.H.

Wisely, the business manager who had helped dream the whole thing into existence. Wisely had died in 1945, and he never got to see his name on the door. But the door is there, and the name has held.

What the marker says

After Stephen F. Austin State University moved to the northern edge of Nacogdoches in the spring of 1924, it became evident to President Alton W. Birdwell that housing options for students in the surrounding area were inadequate. However, before plans for dormitories could materialize, the Great Depression immobilized the expansion of Texas educational institutions. President Birdwell and business manager J.H. Wisely saw the Public Works Administration (PWA) of the National Recovery Act of 1933 as a solution to the dearth of campus housing. By the end of 1933, Birdwell and wisely presented plans for a men's dormitory that would accommodate 70 students in 35 rooms. There were also plans for a kitchen, dining room, apartment for the manager and social and club rooms for student use. In 1934, the State Board of Regents agreed to the plans and issued bonds for $93,000, with the PWA providing funding. W.E. Ketchum was the architect for the project and the A.M. Campbell Company was chosen as general contractor. The "boy's dorm" was the first PWA project in Nacogdoches. Its construction began in July 1935 and was completed in 1936 at a final cost of $106,000, including furnishings. The boy's dorm quickly became a favorite place for all students, but especially commuters, to congregate. Many of the residents were also employed as waiters and servers in the cafeteria. In 1943, President Paul Lewis Boynton recruited the Women's Army Corps (WAC) Branch Number 1 to use the dorm as barracks. Male students moved back into the dorm in January 1944. In 1948, President Boynton and the Board of Regents changed the name to Wisely Hall in honor of J.H. Wisely, who died in 1945.