Residence halls

Professor Russell I. Thompson writes in a letter to President Boyd Lee Spahr about his ideas for the future of the college. He suggests the creation of a more specific position for the dean of women, calling the position as it stood then an "anamolous" one. He believes that the dean of women should be more than just a house mother or supervisor of Metzger Hall: instead, the dean should guide all the women of the college.

The Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees recommended to the Board the appointment of a "special committee of five" to look into the construction of a women's dormitory. They suggested the building be erected on Mooreland Campus and be adequate to house 150 women.

Dean Ernest A. Vuilleumier reports to the Board of Trustees that the college was operating four separate buildings--Metzger Hall, the Gibbs House, the Parker House, and the Phi Delta Theta House--as women's dormitories. The dean viewed this situation as unsatisfactory and argued for "the very great need for a new dormitory for women." He urged the Board to make plans for the construction of a women's dormitory as soon as possible.

In President Boyd Lee Spahr's report to the Board of Trustees, he discusses the possible acquisition of the Shearer Property on the "northwest corner of College and Louther Streets" for the construction of a women's dormitory. A local real estate agent had tipped the college off to the sale of the property for an estimated $18,000. When the college offered the sum to the seller, however, it was declined, and the president explains that the property might not even be desirable as a location for a new women's dormitory.

In the "Minutes of the Faculty Meeting of November 11, 1940," the Board of Deans reviewed a case of discipline in which the Phi Delta Theta house hosted a party "without proper chaperonage" followed by a jaunt in an automobile. The two female students who left Carlisle in the automobile received probation for the rest of academic year 1940-41 and were placed under "special regulations" in Metzger Hall. Another student, who did not leave in the automobile, only received probation "until Christmas."

While the majority of the male population lived in fraternity houses on and off campus, their female counterparts resided in primarily off-campus establishements like Metzger Hall, which were located some blocks away from Dickinson. Due to the lack of housing and the influx of female students, the College began to house its female students in places such as Old West. Such was the case that was described by Sarah Andrews in her interview. Also, at the time there was no Sorority Housing in which they could have meetings and hold social events like the fraternities did. 

The 1954 Microcosm shows a picture of the recently completed Drayer Hall which, according to the Ten Year Development Plan, was constructed in 1952 to house upperclass women students.

    On one of the first pages of the 1896 Microcosm is a picture of the Ladies' Hall, located somewhere on West Pomfret Street in Carlisle. It was purchased by President George E. Reed on May 16, 1893 for $5,000 from Samuel M. Hepburn . Originally it was used to house a local fraternity, Alpha Zeta Phi, but then in 1895 it was turned into a residence for women. The building was called "Ladies' Hall" until February 7, 1905, when it was renamed in honor of John Zacharias Lloyd. He was a recently deceased Methodist clergyman and trustee who bequeathed $10,000 to the College.

The 1949 Microcosm discussed the "Ten-Year Development Program" that President William W. Edel presented on the 175th Anniversary of the college. The yearbook reproduced excerpts from the speech. In one excerpt, President Edel admits that the female students' living quarters are old and that the college has provided no dormitory for the students since the institution became co-educational in 1884.

On motion of. W. L. Woodcock seconded by C. W. Prettyman, the Board of Trustees decided to repair and "put in tenatable condition" the old women's dormitory, Lloyd Hall. The motion was authorized.