From the Archives

Hayes Hall, constructed in the 1870s as the Erie County Almshouse, is deeply woven into the history of the region and university. After about 60 years of housings tens of thousands of the region's indigent citizens, many with disabilities, the building was converted into administrative space for the university in 1927, with its clock tower added the following year. In the late 1960s, Hayes Hall was the site of student and faculty protests related to the Vietnam War and civil rights movement. In 1977, the School of Architecture and Environmental Design, as it was then known, took occupancy of the building.

The Erie County Hospital, 1896. University Archives, call number 20DD:7

Hayes Hall circa mid 1920s, before the university rehabilitated the building for academic purposes. University Archives, call number: 20DD:1(4)

UB's South Campus rises behind the original Erie County Almshouse complex, which included Hayes Hall, Townsend Hall and Wende Hall. In 1930, the university commissioned a campus plan from architects E.B. Green and Son and Albert Hart Hopkins, establishing the basic layout of the campus and guiding its development into the 1950s.

Samuel Capen, UB chancellor from 1922-1950, at his desk in Hayes Hall. Hayes Hall was the early home of the university's central administrative offices. University Archives, call number: 30H:10(2)

The UB Council meets in Hayes Hall, 1960. Several UB buildings are named after those seated here, including Chairman Clifford Furnas and members Charles H. Diefendorf and Carlton P. Cook. University Archives, call number: 40B:1 (Seated left to right - Harris N. Snyder, William C. Baird, Francis A. Smith, Edwin F. Jaeckle, Karr Parker, George F. Goodyear - Secretary, Seymour H. Knox - Chairman, Clifford C. Furnas – Chancelor, Lewis G. Harrinor, Mrs. Reginald B. Taylor, Mrs. Raymond D. Stevens, Jr., Grace Rumsey Smith, Charles H. Diefendorf, standing left to right – James J. Ailinger, Robert E. Rich, Burt G. Weber, William J. Orr, M.D., Walter Scott Walls, M.D., Alfred H. Kirchhofer, Joseph March, Carlton P. Cooke, Walter J. Mahoney, Paul A. Schoellkopf, Jr., Harlan J. Swift, Rudolf Flerstan – Honorary Member, Howard T. Saperston, Edward F. Mimmack)