The Hangout

The Hangout

In the summer of 1947 President Walter A. Groves announced that "The Federal Works Agency is erecting a frame building 150 feet long directly behind Main Hall which will be used for as student recreation building. In it will be located the coffee shop, table tennis, and pool tables, and a reading room." Thus was born the Hangout, a clapboard army-type hut that served as the college's student center from 1947 to 1961. There would eventually be four rooms in the Hangout, a large center area with tables and chairs, a juke box and side-booth room, a room with a Ping-Pong table, and a kitchen/snack counter area that served breakfasts, lunches, and snacks. The renovation of Sutcliffe Hall in 1961 provided a more modern, spacious student center, and the Hangout was converted to faculty offices. In 1965 it was demolished, along with Old Main, to provide space for the new Doherty Library.