Morton hall then and now -UAH in Alabama

Jacob Hauguel Fall 2024

Morton Hall is an educational building built on University of Alabama in Huntsville campus. It was first created in 1961 and has been added on to over the years. Morton Hall was first established back in the late 1950s to help the growing University of Alabama in Huntsville–then called the University of Alabama-Huntsville Center–student population in Huntsville. But after the build was done, there was an influx of science and engineering majors coming into the University of Alabama in Huntsville. This surge in population drove the need to make another building to accommodate them. Morton Hall has other historical significance too, for it was the first place that Dave McGlathery, the first black student at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, stepped foot. This was not the first time Dave tried to enter the school–he tried once before, yet failed to get his degree there due to the racism in the school. Despite his house being surrounded by National Guard, he tried once more to apply to the University of Alabama-Huntsville in 1963 so that he could have the chance of learning engineering. Dave’s first steps into the school were in Morton Hall, one of the oldest places on campus, and he was finally accepted–hypothetically–into the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Morton Hall has had significant changes since it was first created. The most significant change is the new addition to Morton Hall that was added in just recently. The new addition of Morton Hall was meant to cover the original building in a modern flexible space that would encourage more technological thought and help learning in the environment. It was also to improve safety and improve mechanical systems and be more effective inside of the old building. The last benefit it gave to Morton Hall was it increased the faculty and classroom size by 30% to fit more students that were coming in every single year. Morton Hall is about 72,000 square feet and is about three stories tall including the bottom basement story; it has a total of 32 classrooms and can have a student capacity of 124. The newer levels of Morton Hall were created for the College of Arts Humanity and Social Sciences. Which needed more classrooms due to the increase of interest in these specific topics. The building style is similar to another building style on the University of Alabama in Huntsville campus which is the Charger Union. Writing this paper has been a challenge due to the lack of academic papers on the history of Morton Hall. I've had to use non-academic sources to finish my paper and make it as accurate as possible as I can. In the future, a possible research topic may be going in depth into the history of Morton Hall: the reason it was built, the significance of the building, and the significant events that happened during and inside Morton Hall. Morton Hall is a significant part of the University of Alabama in Huntsville culture and deserves further research into the building and all that it symbolizes for the school.

Didliography

• Hurley, Liz. “Dave McGlathery; First to Integrate the University of Alabama in Huntsville.” Https://Www.waff.com, WAFF, 24 Feb. 2021, www.waff.com/2021/02/23/dave-mcglathery-first-integrate-university-alabama-huntsville/. Accessed 14 Oct. 2024.

• “Morton Hall - Clio.” Clio, 2020, theclio.com/entry/151973. Accessed 14 Oct. 2024.

“News | UAH | the University of Alabama in Huntsville.” Uah.edu, UAH homepage, 2020, www.uah.edu/news/news/morton-hall-reopens-with-21st-century-panache-versatility. Accessed 14 Oct. 2024.

Acknowledgments

UAH honor college