Then & Now
This year, Waller Hall celebrates its 150th anniversary. Since 1867, the building has stood tall and stately at the heart of campus. Originally named University Hall, in 1912 it was dedicated to the Rev. Alvan Waller, a Methodist missionary and one of Willamette University’s first trustees. As the oldest building on campus, over the years it’s housed classrooms, dormitories, and numerous offices and departments — including the Bearcat Cavern, which opened on the ground floor in 1942 to provide snacks and drinks. Waller remains home to the original chapel. Despite major fires in 1891 and 1919, the beloved “Historic Temple” rose from the ashes. Today, just as the Salem Daily Record noted in 1867, Waller Hall remains “an elegant building, … a fitting representative of the growth and prosperity of the state, and the position sustained in it by the Willamette University.”
ca. 1870 1891
ca. 1900
Top: Waller Hall circa 1870, shortly after its construction, with the Oregon Institute in the background. Left: A curious crowd gathers to witness the fire that destroyed the building’s roof. In the background can be seen part of the original Lausanne Hall, a wood structure with striped roof shingles. Above: After the 1891 fire, Waller Hall got a new mansard roof and tower.
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SPRING 2017