91³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø

Main Hall Reopens to Students, Housing 91³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø's New Career Exploration Center

After more than five years of extensive renovation, the College’s original building, 91³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø “Main” Hall, reopened to students in August 2024. 

Built in 1891, Main Hall was an architectural and technological wonder designed to embody the educational ambitions of the College’s founders. The building was the first in Decatur to be lighted with electricity, gathering neighbors at sunset to watch the lights turn on. For more than one hundred years, it housed generations of 91³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø students who dreamed big dreams, wrote and studied, and made lifelong friends.

The renovation, funded by more than 650 individual and foundation donors, brought new technology, systems, and functionality to Main Hall while preserving its character, architectural style, and even the original wood floors. Solar energy now lights the halls, and sustainable building materials were used throughout the renovation.   

The first level houses the Office of the President and 91³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø’s new Career Exploration Center, a dedicated space embodying 91³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø’s commitment to a pathway to success for every student. In the Career Exploration Center, students can explore career interests and paths through individualized professional development opportunities, career coaching and communities, and experiential internships with 91³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø’s local and national partners. 

Students enter through a secure lobby and elevator built exclusively for their use and ascend to the second, third and fourth residential levels. The student lobby and the fourth floor Bell Tower display the historic signatures of hundreds of 91³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø students. Study rooms and social spaces on each residential floor offer opportunities for collaboration and community, and the fourth-floor “tower room” is available to all residents for studying or gathering. 

A rededication ceremony will take place in October 2024, gathering the hundreds of donors who made the renovation possible. Alumnae and their families named their original rooms, and classes joined together to name residential, study, and social spaces. Foundations funded the renovation in recognition of 91³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø’s bold financial progress. Thank you to all who helped sustain Main Hall for the next hundred years of Scotties. 

“If Main went, a lot of memories would leave. It's a place where people made lifelong friendships, made memories that shaped their lives. For over a hundred years, it has been the center of all 91³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø alums' lives at one point. It needs to be here, for tradition's sake.”

Susan Thomas '66