March 24, 1864 – General Assembly of Iowa appropriates $20,000 to erect a building at the State University which would include a chapel and a tower “suitable for an astronomical observatory”.
North Hall was constructed in 1865, to be used, in part, as a University Chapel. The original recommendation, made by Governor Samuel Kirkwood, requested funds for a chemistry laboratory, chapel and astronomical observatory, and over the years, North Hall, the two-and-a-half-story, red-brick classic, certainly became a multi-use facility. Until it was demolished during the summer of 1949, its greatest distinction was that of being the oldest existing structure actually built for the University’s use – grandfathered into on-going campus purposes from its glory days to 1949. During its lifetime, North Hall was also called Chapel Hall and Library Hall.
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