McKinley Hall | University of Illinois Archives
Pictured: The east side of McKinley Hall, now Coble Hall, in the late 1920's. The building was originally constructed in 1913 thanks to through a grant by United States Senator William B. McKinley, However, it did not formally take the title McKinley Hall until the 1920 academic year, and was not inscribed with the McKinley Hall title on the exterior until the 1940's. It was a home of the Young Women's Christian Association (Y.W.C.A) for the 34 years of its existence as a residence hall. The 1914 Illio featured as Y.W.C.A advertisement that for a price of $5,000, a student could rent a fully furnished room inside the Hall for a September-August period. The 1917 Illio advertisement notes that there was space for 40 fully furnished rooms for Christian Women, Reading Rooms, Offices, and a Bowling Alley.
The building was eventually converted to an academic facility in the 1950's and was renamed to Coble Hall 1969 after former mathematics department head Arthur Byron Coble. The building is now comprised of office spaces and houses the Illinois Global Institute.
The building is located at 801 South Wright Street, Champaign, IL 61820
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Copyright Bernard A. Strauch.
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