Hayes Hall

Hayes Hall continued to play a role in the University through the modern era by housing various academic departments and interim office space for university personnel.

Listed below are additional highlights in the history of the building:

• 1929, Board of Trustees of the University and the Attorney General of the State of Ohio approve plans for construction of a Practical Arts building on campus to provide classes in the "practical side of teacher-training."
• 1931, construction of building completed at a final cost of nearly $250,000. The Practical Arts Building, as it was known in 1931, opened for classes and housed the Music, Home Economics, Political Science and Business programs.
• 1951, Department of Home Economics opens laboratory known as "model apartment" used as a laboratory for students to practice cooking cleaning and other household tasks, housing four new students every six weeks.
• 1957, Attorney General of Ohio appropriates $340,000 for renovation of Practical Arts building and Elementary School.
• 1959, relocation of the Practice Apartment was followed by renovation, providing space for occupation by the Departments of History, Geography, offices of the Dean of the College of Business Administration, and the Departments of Accounting, Business Administration, Economics, Business Education. The building also housed Engineering Drawing division of Industrial Arts, a lecture hall, and backstage dressing rooms.
• 1959, officially dedicated to the 19th President of the United States, Rutherford B. Hayes and his wife Lucy Webb Hayes of Fremont, Ohio.
• 1968, most of the College of Business Administration moved into building from Administration building.
• 1984, stairs in front of building replaced and ramp for handicap access.
• 1992, first major renovation undertaken for a cost of approximately $7 million. This renovation resulted in the centralization of Computer Services and the Department of Computer Sciences in one building, as well as replacement of the building's plumbing, electrical systems, roof, windows, doors, the addition of air conditioning, landscaping, and the washing of the brick on the outside of the building.
• 1997, fire in the building causes minimal damage.