Houston Hall (University of Pennsylvania)

Houston Hall, said to be the first student union on an American campus, was intended as a place for students of the University to pass "their leisure hours in harmless recreation and amusement." The building was constructed as the gift of Penn trustee Henry Howard Houston and his wife Sallie in honor of their son, Henry Howard Houston, Jr., College Class of 1878, who died within a year of graduation on his grand tour of Europe.

Credit: http://www.archives.upenn.edu/histy/features/studtorg/stugovt/housclub.html