UIHistories Project: A History of the University of Illinois by Kalev Leetaru
        B U I L D I N G S
   

Davenport House

The first section of the Davenport House residence hall was purchased in 1922 for $17,000, and in 1927-1928 an additional section of the house was acquired for $16,500. [1] It was originally the residence of Eugene Davenport and was located at 807 South Wright Street in Champaign, housing 50 women. As a women's residence hall, it had a "mature cultured woman who is chaperon and social director [and] is an able hostess who also gives individual attention to the students, directing and counseling them in all their interests." [2]

There was also a student council which met weekly in the house mother's parlor. Elected yearly, the council worked with her "for the conduct and cultural atmosphere of the hall, the hall organization, the student activities, and the home-like spirit". Examples of social activities included "teas, dinner guest nights, dances (both formal and informal), scholastic celebrations, holiday parties, fireside gatherings, birthday celebrations, special banquets for festive occasions such as Homecoming, Mother's Day, Dad's Day, etc". [3]

Food service was provided by "trained dietitians" who "furnish[ed] wholesome, well-prepared, balanced menus". Dinner was also a social activity, with "student hostesses presid[ing] at the tables and the others rotat[ing] at intervals so they may widen their acquaintance". Each resident had her own private mailbox with mail delivered twice a day. There was also a central switchboard in the house, with a "buzzer system summon[ing] an occupant to the extension on her floor where she may take her call in a private booth". [4]

Rooms were well-furnished, with "study tables and lamps, curtains, dressers, wardrobes, comfortable mattresses, single cots, and lavatories". Students were expected to bring "personal linens (towels, etc.), bed linens, blankets, dresser scarfs, [sic] couch cover, and other decorative articles" and "window draperies, made of cretonne or other suitable material, may be furnished if desired". It was believed that "the arrangement of her room becomes for the Residence Hall girl an experiment in self-expression". [5]

By 1942 the School of Physical Education had lost 50% of its facilities due to the transformation of Kenny Gym and Kenny Gym Annex into housing for the Naval Training School for Signalmen and the conversion of the West Hall of the Stadium into classroom space for the Navy's Diesel Engine Operator's School. To give the school more room, the University closed Davenport House as a women's dormitory and "assign[ed] it to the Department of Home Economics for use as a practice apartment and the Child Development Study Program".[6]

The building was later torn down and the Illini Union Bookstore now stands in the same spot. If one takes the north-west entrance to the building (to the administrative offices) and walks to the end of the hall where the elevators are and looks to the south, one will find a window and sill preserved from the original building. [7]




[1] Board of Trustees Proceedings, November 27, 1942
[2] Residence Halls for Women at the University of Illinois
[3] Residence Halls for Women at the University of Illinois
[4] Residence Halls for Women at the University of Illinois
[5] Residence Halls for Women at the University of Illinois
[6] Board of Trustees Proceedings - July 25, 1942
[7] Personal Observation
Bookmark and Share

Search Site:

Advanced Search

Site Navigation
   Welcome to the ...
      About The UIHis...
      Collections
      Foreword
      Foundation
      Gifts & Memoria...
      Other UI Histor...
      Postword
      Special Feature...
      Student Life
      University Mile...
      All Buildings
         ACES Library, I...
         Admissions and ...
         Advanced Comput...
         Agricultural En...
         Agriculture Bui...
         Agronomy
         Agronomy Barn
         Agronomy Field ...
         Agronomy Greenh...
         Alma Mater
         Alpha House
         Animal Husbandr...
         Animal Patholog...
         Animal Sciences...
         Aquatic Researc...
         Arbor
         Arboretum
         Architecture Li...
         Armory Annex
         Art and Archite...
         Artillery Barns
         [...]