Marietta Hall

Graceland College, Lamoni, Iowa
Marietta (Hodges) Walker (1834 - 1930), "the Mother of Graceland". Mrs. Walker was a teacher, an authoress, the managing editor of Herald House's periodicals Autumn Leaves (established in 1888 for young men and women) and Zion's Hope (a Sunday School paper established in 1869). Mrs. Walker was one of three people who initially donated land in 1893 for the purpose of establishing Graceland College.

Originally Mrs. Walker's farmhouse, Graceland purchased the building in 1907. It was situated on the southeast intersection of College Avenue and the road that leads to the east side of the Administration Building. It was converted into a dormitory for male students. In the fall of 1954, thirteen sophomore women redecorated and repaired the house for occupancy, at which time the building was named East Hall. East Hall, along with Derry Hall and Weldon's Hall, became the home for Sariah House when the first house names were selected in October of 1962.

In 1941-42, Graceland's women students returned to Marietta Hall and the building continued to be used as a dormitory until the spring of 1946.

At noon on February 22, 1947, The College Malt Shop opened in the basement of Marietta Residence Hall under the management of Jack Gernhart. The shop offered hot dogs, ice cream selections, soft drinks, candy and cookies to the students, faculty and staff, which included its first customers: Alva R. Gilbert, A. Neal Deaver, Roy Cheville and R. Edwin Browne. Sometime prior to the fall semester of 1948, The College Malt Shop no longer existed.

Because there had been an increase in the enrollment of applied music students, Marietta Hall was converted into practice rooms and office space for the music department beginning with the 1946 fall semester. The 14 dormitory rooms were converted into 23 practice rooms. Radio and photo equipment for student clubs were also installed in Marietta's basement. By 1964, ham radio equipment had been placed to the rear annex.

During 1965-66, Marietta Hall's first two floors were remodeled, creating space for the development offices and nine new offices. College Relations moved into a portion of the first floor at the start of the 1965 fall semester and the basement was being converted into a workshop for students. Marietta housed offices for The Graceland Tower on the second floor, the Acacia, the G.S.G. President, and radio station KGRA on the third floor during the early 1970's.

During the late 1960's, East Hall was used as temporary housing for new faculty.

The building became known as Black Culture House during the 1970-71 school year at the request of several black students who wished to establish a social center. Leonard Perry served as president and manager-in-residence of the Black Culture House, living on the second floor with his wife and daughter. The first floor included an office, a library of black literature, a lounge and a study area. Guests were welcome but only at the invitation of a black student.

During the summer of 1974, plans were to tear down East Hall but with the impending of an enrollment increase of 150 students, East Hall was renovated instead. Nine members of Paloma House took up residence at East Hall during the fall of 1974 and the building served once more as a dormitory during the 1975-76 school year. East Hall was then used as storage before it was ultimately torn down in 1982.
 
SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marietta_Walker; Goehner, David. “The Graceland College Book of Knowledge: From A To Z.” Pp. 57, 80-1, 204-06. Herald House. Independence MO. 1997. Transcriptions & compilation by Sharon R. Becker, January 2017.
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These pages have been updated and reformatted by Conni McDaniel Hall, October 2019
 
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