University of Florida - Tower / Seminole Yearbook (Gainesville, FL)

Page 21 text:

Thomas Hall THOMAS HALL, the Other dormitory, lying parallel to Buckman, is almost exactly counterparted by it. Thomas, the oldest building on the campus, is named for one of Gainesville’s most prominent citizens, whose influence was a potent factor in bringing the University to Gainesville. At one time this building housed the whole University—laboratories, class rooms, dining hall, chapel, and dormitory. The first students lived, ate, slept, learned, and had their being in this one building. However, now the various departments have each their individual homes and old Thomas is given over entirely to students for a dormitory, except that in the north end there has been established an Infirmary in charge of a trained nurse, whose services it may be said are seldom required except in treating the minor ills of the student body of several hundred. Thomas Hall will always be an object of veneration to the succeeding student bodies as being the most ancient edifice as well as the namesake of a gentleman whose name is inseparably connected with that of the University. 28

Page 20 text:

Buckman Hall BUCK MAN HALL, named after the author of the famous bill which abolished the numerous institutions supported by the state and ccn-trali .ed the system of higher education, is by all odds the finest dormitory for men in the state. It is built in fireproof sections, each three stories in height, with a lavatory on every floor, and suites for twenty-four students. Buckman Hall was the second building erected on the campus, and is therefore next to the oldest. Every section has electric lights, baths, steam heat, in fact every comfort of a modern hotel. All the rooms are spacious and to each two students is assigned a suite of two rooms, one for a bed room and the other for a study. That these rooms are comfortable at all times is attested by the fact that all vacancies are promptly filled, no rooms being empty for any length of time. 27

Page 22 text:

University Commons OPPOSITK Ihc interval between the dormitories is the building, known to all students and daily visited by them, the University Commons, or Dining Hall. The Dining Hall has connected with it a large kitchen, superintended by an excellent chef with a corps of capable assistants. To feed the army that troops in thrice daily is indeed a task. This difficult matter is handled with extreme capability by the matron, Mrs. Swanson. The dining tables are always attractive, the food appetizing as any could expect. The interior of the hall and the scene at meal time, that of filled tables and white-aproned student-waiters, moving about, is novel and pleasing to the visitor.