The Martha Wren Briggs Amphitheatre at Lake Matoaka sits on the edge of Lake Matoaka and primarily hosts concerts. In the past, the site has also been known as the Common Glory Stage, Matoaka Park, Matoaka Woods, Lake Matoaka Amphitheatre, or simply the Amphitheatre. The amphitheater was planned in 1946 on the site of an old boathouse and was intended to be used for colonial pageants in the summer and William & Mary functions during the academic year.
The Jamestown Corporation oversaw building the stage, dressing and prop rooms, and spotlight towers. Designed by architect Charles M. Major, the amphitheater opened in Summer 1947 with the production of The Common Glory which ran from July 17 to September 14.
In 1977, the lease with the Jamestown Corporation ended. Two years later, equipment was auctioned, while storage and dressing rooms were used by dance classes. In May 2006, a $7.6 million renovation began in cooperation with the Jamestown 2007 commemoration. Improvements include a new stage and seating area, ADA access ramps, and underground utilities. New buildings provided space for equipment and a ticket office/restroom. The project was completed in April 2007.
In April 2016, the Board of Visitors renamed the amphitheater in honor of Martha Wren Briggs ('55) for her commitment to the facility's restoration. Her support provided the necessary funds to restore the stage, dressing rooms, sound and lighting systems, seats and entrance area, as well as ensuring the facility is accessible to those with disabilities.
]]>Adair Hall at 251 Ukrop Way is located near the intersection of Ukrop Way (formerly Campus Drive) and Landrum Drive.
Adair Hall houses an Olympic sized pool, lounge, gymnasium, dance studio, classrooms, and offices for both the Kinesiology Department and the Dance Program at William & Mary. Originally built as a women's physical education building, construction began in 1961, with the dedication ceremony on November 15, 1963. During construction, a ditch on the women's athletic field for the sewerage line to Adair and Yates caved in, killing construction worker Charles S. Taylor and seriously injuring another.
The building was named for Cornelia Storrs Adair (1885-1962), a William & Mary student who was the first woman recipient of the Alumni Medallion in 1934.
]]>The James Monroe statue, located outside Tucker Hall just south of the Senior Walk, was dedicated on April 23, 2015. The statue was a gift of William & Mary alumni Carroll and Patty Owen in honor of the class of 1962.
The bronze statue shows Monroe protecting a globe in his right hand, referring to the Monroe Doctrine, and a frieze around its base depicting important moments in his life. Eight vignettes show scenes from Monroe's life including his student experience at William & Mary 1774-1776, his military service at the Battle of Trenton, his diplomatic experience, his service as Secretary of War, and as his presidency of the United States.
The statue was created by Gordon Kray, class of 1973. Kray has created other pieces on campus including the replica of the Botetourt statue in the Wren Yard, the Marshall-Wythe statue at the law school's front entrance, and the Pierre Charles L'Enfant statue in the atrium of Alan B. Miller Hall.
]]>The Fraternity Complex is a 187-bed complex consisting of eleven 17-bed fraternity houses and a community building. Opened for residents in fall of 2013, this complex is located across the street from William & Mary Hall. As of 2014, this segment of the complex is home to Sigma Pi, Delta Chi, Alpha Tau Omega, Kappa Alpha, and Kappa Sigma.
Prior to 2013, "the Units", now known as Green and Gold Village, housed the fraternities. This complex was constructed 1965 and 1968 and housed fraternities until the recent opening of the new complex, after which it has housed freshmen.
]]>Sorority Court is a complex of sorority houses located on Richmond Road with two houses facing Armistead Avenue. Opened in 1929, it has provided the residence for a limited number of Junior and Senior women.
The current sororities with houses here consist of Kappa Kappa Gamma, Alpha Chi Omega, Chi Omega, Delta Delta Delta, Pi Beta Phi, Kappa Delta, Delta Gamma, Gamma Phi Beta, Kappa Alpha Theta, and Alpha Epsilon Pi. The Moncure and Bozarth houses are not occupied by sororities.
Since women were first admitted in 1918, sororities have always played a unique and pivotal role in the lives of women students. They were safe spaces at a time when there were few women in higher education. In the beginning, sorority housing was spread throughout the area. In the early 1920s, William & Mary began purchasing homes on Richmond Road to house sororities. Throughout the decade, additional nearby houses were acquired for sororities. When Kappa Alpha Theta arrived in 1928, it joined Chi Omega and Alpha Chi Omega in the Sorority Complex. In 1929, three new houses were built and occupied by Kappa Delta, Pi Beta Phi, and Alpha Chi Omega. These houses were the first on campus to have dining rooms, forever changing sorority life.
The national governing bodies of many sororities denied women of color the opportunity to join until the late 1960's. This aligned with the first African American students in residence at William & Mary in 1967. Despite this, Black women created spaces where they could support each other through sisterhood. Sororities in the “Divine Nine” created chapters at William & Mary. The Mu Upsilon Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated was founded at the university in 1976; the Nu Chi chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority was founded in 1981; the Xi Lambda Chapter of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated was founded 1982; the Sigma Lambda chapter of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Incorporated was founded 2011 in, but is no longer active at the university. Non-Black women of color also carved out spaces to support each other. On April 7, 2013, nine women created the Beta Delta chapter of Hermandad de Sigma Iota Alpha, Incorporada, a Latin-based sorority. The Founding Mother Class of Delta Phi Omega Sorority, Incorporated, a South Asian-interest, multicultural sorority, was founded on November 6, 2016; the sorority’s presence at the university continues to grow.
]]>Tribe Square, located across Richmond Road from Blow Memorial Hall, opened in the fall of 2011. Tribe Square is a mixed-use building that offers 56 upper level students a unique living opportunity at William & Mary.
The first floor of Tribe Square is currently home to restaurants Chick Fil-A. There is space for four restaurants for the convenience and enjoyment of students as well as the Williamsburg community. The second and third floors are composed of 14 apartments for William & Mary students, managed by the Office of Residence Life. Each four-bedroom, two-bath apartment consists of private bedrooms with a shared living space.
]]>The Randolph Complex, also known as the Randolph Residences, is a cluster of dormitories located east of the Commons on the campus of William & Mary. The dorms within the complex are varied in terms of their internal structure and include both dorm-style and apartment-style housing. The Randolph Complex houses upperclassmen and include the language houses.
The buildings in the complex are named for Virginia governors: Giles, Pleasants, Harrison, Page, Tazewell, Cabell, Nicholas, and Preston. The complex itself is named for four Randolph men, all graduates of William & Mary, who served as governors of Virginia: Edmund Randolph (1753-1813), Beverly Randolph (1754-1797), Peyton Randolph (1779-1828), and Thomas Mann Randolph (1768-1828).
Construction of five of the buildings (four dormitories for housing 246 students and one building for activities) was completed in July 1980. In the same year, five sorority court houses underwent renovation and the women previously living in those houses occupied Giles and Pleasants for the first semester of the 1980-1981 academic year. The dedication ceremony for the Randolph Complex was held on October 11, 1980 at Tazewell House on Parents' Weekend. Two new dormitories, Nicholas and Preston, were built in 1988 to house 106 more students. In March 2005, an exhaust fan sparked a fire in Preston Hall and, as a result, some students began the next school year living at Colonial Williamsburg's Governor's Inn.
]]>The Green & Gold Village is a co-ed freshman housing complex at William & Mary comprised of three buildings: Griffin, Eagle, and Lion. Up to 428 residents can occupy the complex directly across Ukrop Way from William & Mary Hall.
The buildings that now make up the Green & Gold Village were constructed between 1965 and 1968 and served as the university's fraternity complex until the opening of the current one in 2013. The first 4 fraternities to occupy the complex, Kappa Sigma, Lambda Chi Alpha, Kappa Alpha, and Keplar (a colony of the Sigma Chi Fraternity), began to take residence in the fall of 1967. Several other fraternities began to slowly occupy the units throughout the 1967-1968 academic year, with the last ones taking residence in the fall of 1968.
Each hall in the three buildings has a full kitchen and lounge on the first floor, as well as laundry machines and large lounges for study and recreation in the basement.
]]>The Fraternity Complex is a 187-bed complex consisting of eleven 17-bed fraternity houses and a community building. Opened for residents in fall of 2013, this complex is located across the street from William & Mary Hall. As of 2014, this segment of the complex is home to Sigma Pi, Delta Chi, Alpha Tau Omega, Kappa Alpha, and Kappa Sigma
Prior to 2013, "the Units", now known as Green and Gold Village, housed many fraternities. Twelve fraternities relocated to this complex in 1968. Today, Green and Gold Village houses freshmen.
]]>Hulon L. Willis Sr. Hall is a freshman dormitory at William & Mary located on Jamestown Road between the Campus Center and Admissions Office. The building can house up to 60 students, and was originally named after William Booth Taliaferro, class of 1842, American Civil War soldier, and Rector of the Board of Visitors 1890-1899. In 2021, the building was renamed to honor Hulon L. Willis, Sr. "the College’s first Black student, who received his graduate degree from the College in 1956. Willis was a veteran of World War II upon enrolling in the College. He later went on to become a professor at Virginia Commonwealth University." (see Flat Hat 4/23/2021) The building has served as a dormitory, bookstore, and tea room since its completion in June 1935. The construction of the building was made possible by a Public Works Administration (PWA) grant and loan of $650,000. In keeping with tradition, the building was designed to mimic the Georgian architecture of its neighboring structures. It began as a men's dormitory, but, in 1978, it became the first co-ed freshman dormitory at the university. From 1986 to 1988, Taliaferro Hall housed freshmen designated as Presidential Scholars, which later morphed into the Monroe Scholar Program, the most prestigious academic program at William & Mary.
]]>The Ludwell Apartments, also known simply as "Ludwell" by the students and located at 100-700 Rolfe Road, are apartments leased by William & Mary and are considered on-campus housing. Ludwell is currently home to many upperclassman.
The Ludwell Apartments were built in the 1930s and were leased to William & Mary as early as the late 1950s and 1960s. In 1965, Ludwell housed mostly first year and out-of-state women students in six apartments of 25 students each. In the 1980s, William & Mary saw its first married students take up residence in Ludwell. Many current students who live in Ludwell commute to campus by taking the Green Line bus.
]]>Originally built as Jamestown North, Hardy Hall is located at 700A Landrum Dr. It was constructed alongside Lemon Hall (Jamestown North) in 2006 at the cost of $29 million. This project added 128,000 square feet of new living space for 380 students - 200 in Hardy Hall. Within the residence are reading rooms, game rooms, and lounges.
In April 2016, the Board of Visitors voted unanimously to rename Jamestown North Hardy Hall in honor of the late Dr. Carroll FS Hardy, a former Associate Vice President of Student Affairs. She also founded STEP, a program to help underrepresented high school seniors develop math, writing, and study skills. She also established the Hulon Willis Foundation for African American students and alumni, worked to increase diversity of William & Mary's student body through six summer enrichment programs for students in grades 8 to 12, and helped create and support 15 multicultural student organizations at William & Mary.
This renaming made Lemon and Hardy Halls the first buildings on campus named for people of color.
]]>One Tribe Place is a co-ed dormitory at William & Mary that houses upperclassman. On March 22, 2013, William & Mary President Taylor Reveley announced the university would acquire the Hospitality House, a popular privately-owned hotel.
On March 22, 2013, William & Mary President Taylor Reveley announced the university would acquire the Hospitality House and its parking lot. The acquisition reflected a need for more student housing and parking space. The location of the hotel, directly across Richmond Road from Zable Stadium, and its brick exterior that aesthetically matched the university's buildings, made it an ideal choice for expansion.
The first student residents moved in to the newly-named One Tribe Place in fall of 2013.
]]>Old Dominion Hall is a co-ed dormitory for upperclassman at William & Mary located across from James Blair Hall. Old Dominion Hall was originally built as a men's dormitory, and the university planned for the rooms to bear the names of counties and cities of Virginia as well as honored citizens of those counties.
With the advent of the Flight School at William & Mary in the early 1930s, the university painted "Williamsburg" in bright yellow letters with a black background on the roof of Old Dominion Hall to aid aviators. After the dormitory was renovated in 1937, various portions of the building were used as quarters for visiting athletic teams. Old Dominion Hall became a dormitory for the Navy Chaplain's School in March 1943 during World War II, but after the war was over the building reverted back to a men's dormitory. As more students came to William & Mary in the late 1960s and early 1970s, a post office was built in Old Dominion in 1974. By the 1983-1984 school year, the dormitory became co-ed.
]]>Althea Hunt Hall, a co-ed freshman dormitory at William & Mary, is located at the intersection of Grigsby Drive and South Boundary Street. It was formerly used as an infirmary and hospital.
The building was completed by September 5, 1930, after being proposed earlier that year. The hospital was a two-and-a-half story brick building, with the south side designated for women and the north side for men. The building was designated on June 8, 1934 as the David King Infirmary.
The infirmary was used by the male students from 1938 until 1965, when the second and third floors were converted into dormitory rooms. The infirmary was renamed James Madison Hall in 1973 and was fully converted into a residence hall. A new David King Infirmary was built just west of the Lodges and the former hospital was renamed Althea Hunt Hall after Althea Hunt, the legendary professor and director of the William & Mary Theatre, 1926-1957.
]]>Monroe Hall, formally named James Monroe Memorial Hall, is a dormitory located northwest of Tucker Hall on the campus of William & Mary. It currently serves as a co-ed dormitory for freshman, including Monroe Scholars. It was named for James Monroe, who attended William & Mary 1774-1776 and was the 5th President of the United States.
Construction began on Monroe Hall in 1923, and it opened in September 1924 as a men's dormitory. The plan for Monroe Hall was similar to the plan for Jefferson Hall save for the absence of a gymnasium and the addition of an attic. The dormitory was able to accommodate 168 men. The dedication ceremony took place on June 9, 1925, and featured speakers such as John Stewart Bryan, publisher of the Richmond Times Dispatch and later President of William & Mary.
In 1928 and 1929, a small post office for Monroe Hall and Old Dominion Hall was located in Monroe Hall. In 1931, an airport pointer and meridian marker were painted bright yellow with a black background on the roof of Monroe Hall to illuminate the roof for night flyers. While the Naval Chaplains School was stationed at William & Mary during World War II, the US Navy Chaplain's residence was located on the first floor of Monroe Hall.
]]>DuPont Hall is a dormitory located on New Campus at William & Mary. As many as 264 students can be housed in double suites on three floors. Until recently, the building served as a co-ed dormitory for freshman undergraduates. DuPont currently houses upperclassman.
Construction on DuPont Hall began in 1963 when the Harry B. Graham Co. received a $996,997 contract. The Board of Visitors named the building for Jessie Ball du Pont, benefactress of William & Mary and daughter of Thomas Ball, an alumnus. The official dedication ceremony for the dormitory was held on May 8, 1966. The dormitory went coed and began to house freshman men in 1976.
]]>The Bryan Complex is a group of dormitories at William & Mary located across from Zable Stadium and named for John Stewart Bryan, former William & Mary President and Chancellor. It houses 324 undergraduate upperclassman and consists of five dormitories: Bryan Hall, Stith Hall, Dawson Hall, Camm Hall, and Madison Hall, all of which are named after William & Mary presidents.
Bryan Hall, Dawson Hall, and Stith Hall were built in 1953 and Camm Hall and Madison Hall in 1959. The Bryan Complex housed the Marshall-Wythe School of Law from 1955 to the fall of 1967 when it moved to the Old Library (now Tucker Hall). On February 6, 1959, the radio station WBE began operating from the third floor of Bryan East. Various portions of the Bryan Complex have been used for many other purposes over the decades, including as classrooms, the Geology Department, the law library, Virginia Center for Archaeology, the laboratory of the Anthropology Department, a conservation laboratory, and the Tidewater Cultural Resource Center.
]]>Brown Hall is a co-ed freshman dormitory located at the corner of Prince George Street and North Boundary Street. The current structure was built in 1930 to replace the original Brown Hall, which is now known as the Prince George House.
Brown Hall was named in honor of Mrs. Jane Brown and Cornelia Brown, members of a prominent Methodist family in Virginia. The new Brown Hall was built in 1930 with funds left by Mrs. Edward Brown of Lynchburg under the supervision of trustees for the Board of Home Missions of the Women's Missionary Society of the Virginia Methodist Conference. The building originally served as housing for Methodist female students at William & Mary but eventually opened up to the entire female student body. The designer was Charles M. Robinson, the university architect, and the contractor was J.W. Davis.
Brown Hall was purchased by William & Mary in 1939. At various points throughout its history, Brown Hall also has been an all-male dormitory, housing for Army Specialized Training cadets, and rented space for service men and families living in Williamsburg. In recent years, archeological digs around Brown Hall have unearthed evidence of a building that may have been the Bray School, a school for African Americans in Williamsburg in the 1700s.
]]>The Botetourt Complex is a collection of small freshman dormitories located on Wake Drive across from Dupont Hall. This complex was originally built to be a new sorority complex but was rejected by the sororities and instead became language houses. Later, the complex was turned into co-ed dormitories.
The renamed "Botetourt Residences" were completed in 1973, and three language houses opened in the complex: Spanish, French, and German. Project Plus moved out of the complex at the end of 1981 and in 1982, the individual buildings were named Spotswood, Fauquier, Dinwiddie, Gooch, and Nicholson. The complex was named in honor of Virginia Colonial Governor, Lord Botetourt, who was Rector of the Board of Visitors and much loved by the students of William & Mary.
]]>Yates Hall is a freshman dormitory at William & Mary located on Ukrop Way behind the new Fraternity Complex. It was built in 1962 as the first of a series of men's dormitories and is named after the fifth president of the university, William Yates.
Built at a cost of $750,000, Yates represented 25% of freshman housing at its completion. It housed 225 men in three distinct sections. In 1976, a fair housing provision of Title IX prompted the university to move some freshman women, who were housed in DuPont Hall into Yates. In 1980, both DuPont Hall and Yates Hall went co-ed. Today, the field in front of Yates Hall is a favorite spot for recreation by the students.
]]>Formerly known as William & Mary Hall, Kaplan Arena is an indoor arena at William & Mary that hosts university-wide events such as concerts, Charter Day ceremonies, Commencement exercises, and Tribe intercollegiate athletic events. The inside arena is an 8,600-seat multi-purpose venue that was named in 2005 in honor of basketball benefactors Jim and Jane Kaplan. The arena hosts men's and women's basketball, men's and women's gymnastics, and volleyball games. The building also contains weight rooms, practice facilities, and the Athletics department. At their September 2016 meeting, the Board of Visitors voted to rename the whole building in honor of the Kaplans.
The need for a large, modern athletic arena had been identified by William & Mary in its long-range planning and the idea gained traction in the budgeting cycles of the 1960s. Construction of William & Mary Hall began in September 1969 and, when completed, replaced Blow Gym as the university's primary athletic facility.
Sly and the Family Stone was the first band to play a concert there in 1971. Other notable performers include the Grateful Dead, James Taylor, Deep Purple, Neil Young, REM, and The Police. In 1993, HRH Prince Charles participated in Charter Day celebrations here. Before online registration for classes was introduced, students would wait in line to register for classes at the Hall each semester. The arena was home to the Wightman Cup tennis competition from 1983-1990 when top women’s tennis players including Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, and Jennifer Capriati competed. The Wightman Cup Room is located on the mezzanine level of Kaplan Arena.
]]>The David J. King Student Health Center at William & Mary is located on Gooch Drive, west of the Lodges. The Student Health Center provides a full-range of primary care services for full-time students and operates under the Vice President for Student Affairs.
Prior to 1972, David King Infirmary was located in the building now known as Althea Hunt Hall. The Eastern Construction Company of Tabb, Virginia, was contracted to build the Health Center in 1972. William & Mary wanted the health center to have 18 beds and emphasize the diagnostic and out-patient service of the facility. The building was completed in 1973 and was named the David J. King Student Health Center. A 1,120 square foot addition to the Health Center in 1980 included offices, an examining room, and a pharmacy.
]]>The Wendy and Emery Reves Center for International Studies, commonly known as the Reves Center, is home to the office of the Vice Provost for International Affairs, the Global Education Office, and the Office of International Students, Scholars, and Programs at William & Mary. Every year, the Reves Center helps more than 700 William & Mary students study abroad, supports William & Mary's international community, and provides scholarships. Additionally, a small number of students live in Reves Hall. This special housing is called the "Global Village" and is for international and domestic students with an interest in international affairs.
The building currently housing the Reves Center was built in 1916 as a dormitory called Tyler Hall, named in honor of William & Mary President Lyon Gardiner Tyler. In 1981, the administration decided against using Tyler as a dorm. Renovations to the building were deemed too expensive, and it was used for storage until 1985, when plans for the creation of an International House of Studies gave Tyler new life. In 1989, a $1.89 million renovation transformed the former Tyler Hall into the Wendy and Emery Reves Center for International Studies.
The present Tyler Hall, a different structure, is located along the north side of the Sunken Garden between James Blair Hall and Tucker Hall.
]]>The Jimmye Laycock Football Center, located northwest of Zable Stadium, contains a number of facilities that support the football program at William & Mary. These include meeting rooms, coaches' offices, lockers, an athletic training room, equipment storage areas, and administrative space. It also features an entrance way that includes an area dedicated to the football program's rich history. The center is named after Jimmye Laycock, class of 1970 and head football coach of the Tribe since 1980.
The Laycock Center, which opened in 2008 in time for the fall football season, was largely funded through a combination of private gifts and student fees. Its construction was part of an effort by William & Mary to improve football facilities in the early 2000s.
]]>The Alumni House, formerly known as the Bright House, is located at the intersection of Richmond Road and College Terrace near the north end of Zable Stadium. Since 1973, the building has housed the Alumni Association, and its rooms are available to rent for special occasions, such as weddings, dinners, and formal dances. David Turner's bronze sculpture "Canada Geese" graces the Alumni House side garden bordering Richmond Road.
The Alumni House was built on land purchased from William & Mary in 1847 by Samuel F. Bright. The building was constructed in the 1850s in the Italianate style featuring a prominent decorative gable. The university rented the house in 1919-1920 to lodge professors. In 1923, the university purchased 274 acres of the Bright farm surrounding the building but not the house itself. From 1925 to 1943, the building served as the Kappa Alpha fraternity house. William & Mary purchased the house in 1946 for use as a men's dormitory, and, from 1947-1971, the building was turned into faculty apartments. In 1972, the Alumni Association rented two apartments in the building with the idea of having all Alumni Association offices under one roof. A major interior and exterior renovation, the construction of a large addition and dramatic landscape improvements resulted in the present complex, dedicated in October 1975.
]]>Located on Jamestown Road near the Campus Center, the William & Mary Admission Office welcomes more than 25,000 people to campus each year. This building serves as the starting point for the thousands of high school students and their families who visit and tour the Williamsburg campus. Student tour guides working through the admission office conduct more than 1,000 campus tours each year. The admission offices were previously housed in Blow Memorial Hall on Richmond Road.
The building, constructed in 1965, housed the university bookstore until that function moved to its current location on the Duke of Gloucester Street in Merchant's Square in 2001. The building was renovated to accommodate the admissions office in 2007.
]]>The School of Education was created as a distinct entity within the academic structure at William & Mary in 1961. In the early 2000s, the school's physical needs were so large that it had several locations on and off campus, and there was a need to create a single structure to house all of the offices. Construction of the current School of Education building began in 2008 and was completed in 2010. Prior to 2010, the school was located primarily in Jones Hall.
During the years that the school has been in existence, the traditional commitment to undergraduate education for teachers has been supplemented by a wide range of graduate degree programs, including conferral of the first doctoral degree in Education in 1972. In the past decade, the School of Education has become an institutional leader in advanced studies.
William & Mary enhanced its formal role in the preparation of future educators starting in 1888 when the Virginia General Assembly appropriated substantial annual grants for the express purpose of funding the university to combine liberal education with certification of teachers for the Commonwealth's emerging public school system. This was reaffirmed in 1906 when the Commonwealth stated that one of its primary objectives in assuming responsibility for William & Mary as a state institution was to ensure a source of well-educated and trained public school teachers throughout Virginia. In subsequent decades, the university’s claim to excellence in professional education escalated due to innovations in two areas: its programs for educating school principals and superintendents and the founding of the Matthew Whaley School, one of the most influential laboratory schools in the nation.
]]>A statue featuring John Marshall and George Wythe is located at the main entrance to the William & Mary Law School. It was created by Gordon S. Kray, class of 1973, and was a gift of Robert Friend Boyd, class of 1950 and J.D. class of 1952, and Sara Miller Boyd, class of 1954. The statue was dedicated on October 7, 2000. Kray also created the bronze replica of the Botetourt statue currently on display in the Wren Yard.
George Wythe was a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses, member of the Continental Congress, signer of the Declaration of Independence, and William & Mary's first professor of law as well as the first professor of law in America. John Marshall studied law at William & Mary under the tutelage of George Wythe in 1780 and went on to be the fourth Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.
]]>The William & Mary Law School, also known as the Marshall-Wythe School of Law, is located east of campus beside the National Center for State Courts on South Henry Street. Before the construction of its present home, the law school was housed in a number of buildings. It was located in the Old Gymnasium from 1922 to 1931, in James Blair Hall from 1935 to 1968, and in St. George Tucker Hall from 1968 to 1980. The school is named for John Marshall, class of 1780 and the 4th chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, and William & Mary professor, George Wythe, the first professor of law in America.
The opening ceremony for the School of Law occurred on January 14, 1922, when the school was still housed in the Old Gymnasium. The ceremony was attended by members of the Virginia General Assembly as well as other governmental officials. At that time, courses taught at the law school were arranged to prepare students for legislative, educational and diplomatic lines of work.
By 1974, overcrowded conditions in classrooms in Tucker Hall caused the administration to plan for a separate building. In 1975, the firm Wright, Jones, and Wilkerson designed the new law school building, and the groundbreaking ceremony was held on September 11, 1976. However, construction of the building was delayed until March 1978 due to lack of funding. The Law School moved in during the summer of 1980, and the dedication ceremony was held in September of that year.
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