The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 62, July 1958 - April, 1959 Page: 417
617 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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B Hall of Texas
In the early days of the Hall, Judge J. B. Clark, a Mississippi
Confederate, might have been called the god-father. He tried to
see that only men of mature and serious purpose were admitted
to the Hall.'" Old-timers reported: "These students are of the
best character-nearly all leaders in their classes-and none pos-
sessed of any wealth."20
From the opening of B Hall until the wings were finished in
19oo, forty-eight students roomed there at a time and eighty took
their meals in the mess hall. A solid brick wall divided the Hall
east and west until after 1900.21
Since the enrollment of the University in the early i89o's was
slightly in excess of three hundred, of which some two hundred
were men, it is noted that meals served to eighty men meant a
large percentage of University students were eating there.22 The
other men students were either eating at home, working for their
board, or otherwise securing their meals.
The Hall profits in 1893-1894 amounted to $36.15. The Re-
gents "hoped that it may be possible to set aside next year the
receipts of room rent . . . for establishment of scholarships."28
But no profits ever accrued for scholarships.
This "home" for poor students, like any other home, had its
stormy days, its humor, its pathos, its tragedy, and its joys, all shot
through with examples of individual courage and resourcefulness.
The resourcefulness of these boys cropped out early in the
efforts of two bright young gentlemen to operate a "dancing
school" in their room. The floor was waxed, the music provided,
a small fee charged, and E. P. Schoch and J. E. Pearce launched
the B Hall barbs in the social graces.24
In noting the B Hall tragedies, one should not forget Dick
9oMinutes of the University of Texas Board of Regents, September 15, 18go
(MSS., Office of the Board of Regents, University of Texas), A, 261.
20Benedict (ed.), A Source Book Relating to the History of the University, Uni-
versity of Texas Bulletin No. 1757, p. 541.
21Brown, B Hall, Texas, 45.
22Splawn, The University of Texas: Its Origin and Growth to 1928 (typescript,
University of Texas Library), 94.
23Minutes of the University of Texas Board of Regents, June 18, 1894 (MSS.,
Office of the Board of Regents, University of Texas), A, 413.
24Brown, B Hall, Texas, 44-45.417
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 62, July 1958 - April, 1959, periodical, 1959; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101173/m1/504/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.