Nichols Hall

Nichols Hall is a building on the campus of Kansas State University. This building was originally built in 1911 and appears from the exterior as a castle with battlements. Its interior was destroyed by fire in 1968, and was rebuilt in 1985. The building currently houses the departments of Computing and Information Sciences, Communication Studies, and Theatre and Dance.HistoryAt the start of the 20th century, the two major needs of the Kansas State University campus were a livestock pavilion and a gymnasium. The president of the University, E. R. Nichols, lobbied hard for money for these projects and the gymnasium was christened Nichols Hall in his honor when he retired in 1909.ConstructionThe initial funding and construction of Nichols Hall was started during 1910 and finished 1911. The initial budget for the construction was $25,197. More money was allocated the following year to finish the building.The construction of the building included state-of-the-art construction techniques. Nichols Hall was one of the first buildings in the United States to be built using continuously poured concrete floor. The concrete was mixed using horses.Early usesThe building provided a wrestling and basketball gymnasium, and two swimming pools in the basement. The pools were segregated between men and women until 1920 when the swimming classes were integrated. The building provided facilities for physical education (now the Department of Kinesiology) and the Department of Military Science.The building was also used for commencement ceremonies.The second educational FM radio station in Kansas, KSDB-FM, was installed into the building in 1949. The initial broadcast strength of the station was 10 watts, which was barely enough to cover the city of Manhattan.