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Williams Hall

Williams Hall was created in 1940 as the original Milner Library until 1981 when it was reconstructed for the College of Business. It is named after Arthur R Williams who was the first teacher for the Business Department at ISNU. He was at ISNU from 1914 until 1945 as a College of Business teacher. Although this building isn’t the library anymore, they found it that they didn’t have room for some of the oldest books in the new library so they left them in Williams Hall. It has been rumored that the books in Williams Hall are so old that they had to be cleaned every night and the librarian, Angie Milner, would clean them. After she passed she stayed at Illinois State and in Williams Hall she would take out the books that needed to be cleaned and leave them for the other workers to clean. She haunts Williams Hall on the second floor of the building. And every night around two am she will come out and take the books out that need to be cleaned. Since the College of Business has been moved to the State Farm Hall of Business, Williams Hall is now vacant for classes and offices for communications and some meetings are held here.

History

Williams Hall is formerly known as Milner Library. Milner Library is now adjacent from the Bone Student Center. Williams Hall opened in 1940 as the current library. The librarian was Angie Milner, which the building was names after as well as the new library. As the years went on the school realized that they did not have enough room for all of the books just in that building. So they constructed a new Milner library. But even in the new library there wasn’t enough room for all of the books, so they dedicated a small part on the second floor of Williams Hall for them. Angie passed in 1928 but her presence was always there.

In 1981 the old Milner library was changed into the new College of Business and was founded by Arthur R. Williams who was the first head of Business Education at Illinois State University. He was the second teacher hired in 1917 for the Business department. His goal at the school was to develop a strong business curriculum, which he was able to do. He created the Business Teacher Training Program at Illinois State University all at Williams Hall. It remained in Williams Hall until 2005, when the State Farm Hall of Business was built and turned into the official College of Business.

Location

Williams Hall is located by Stevenson Hall, Old Union building, and the Performing Arts Center. In relation to the quad, Williams Hall is on the southeast end.

Architecture

Williams Hall is a brick Georgian building that costs $556,000 just to build back then when it was first built. The building is very large and not very tall but it is wide. The building is only two stories high but has a large marble staircase in the middle when you first walk in.

Future Plans

Williams Hall currently holds the offices for telecommunications and holds monthly meetings but it doesn’t have any classes in it currently. The school is planning on renovating and creating room for classes inside the building. The renovation will upgrade the buildings mechanical, plumbing, and electrical systems. Although the renovation is more for the interior of the building, they will replace the slate roof so that the building can get its unique architecture back. It will also correct code deficiencies, and fix all of the windows so that they get the structure back to the original architecture. This project is recommended in Master Plan 2010-2030 and estimated to cost about $29,257,000. With this renovation they are planning on removing the last part of the library that is still there. They will store what’s left of it somewhere else or make a little more room in the new Milner Library. The plan hopes that Williams Hall can be used as a classroom and office space for different University and academic programs.

Interesting Facts

There are many interesting facts about Williams Hall.

•Williams Hall was in the top 100 haunted places in Illinois

•Angie Milner was the librarian at Illinois State since it was built but Williams Hall was built more than a dozen years after her death

•It was built in 1940 and Angie Milner died in 1928

•It’s been rumored that Angie will come out at night between 11pm and 2am and rearrange the old books that are still in Williams Hall. They are so old that they need to be cleaned and she thinks that no one else will clean them.

•Students and faculty members claim that they have seen her even during the day going up the stairs in Williams Hall. They explain it as if someone is smoking and they blow out some smoke and it’s passing by them. But the temperature feels colder, lights dim, and the floor starts creaking and then everything stops and the smoke disappears.

A business teacher at Illinois State University, Prof Ruszkowski, says that Angie Milner did not mean to haunt Illinois State. She just came back for her books and to make sure the kids were finding what they needed. But once the school noticed the strange events happening they had to make a big deal out of it. They started having tours of the building around Halloween time even when the Business school was there to prove to people that she came back. They were making fun of Angie and she didn’t like it. So during the day when classes were going on in October, she would play with the lights and turn the projectors on and off. She would write on the chalk board and try to scare everyone out of the building. Prof R was in there for a couple years as this was going on and she claims she could feel Angie’s presence as well as the whole building feeling haunted. She’s angry that the school was making fun of her so now every year around Halloween she comes out at all times of the day to make sure no one else makes fun of her and so that everyone knows she is here. Williams Hall is full of interesting facts and unknown information and deserves to be known by the world.