Qualla: Old Main, Marshall University

Old Main, Marshall University: Introduction

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Wvfunnyman, CC BY-SA 3.0. In the 1820s, on a stretch of land called Maple Grove, several farmers in what would later become Cabell County, Virginia, built a one-room log cabin and named it the Mount Hebron Church. They used it for worship on Sundays and as a winter school for their children when the farm work slowed. By 1837 they had decided their children needed something more substantial, and they petitioned the Virginia General Assembly. The legislature passed the act creating Marshall Academy on March 13, 1838. From that frontier log cabin to the present Old Main complex at the corner of Hal Greer Boulevard and Fourth Avenue runs the longest continuous educational history of any institution in the Huntington area - 188 years and counting.

Image: Wvfunnyman | CC BY-SA 3.0

Old Main, Marshall University: Maple Grove and Mount Hebron

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jeanne6924, CC BY-SA 4.0. The site of Old Main was originally Maple Grove, named for the trees that defined its grassy fields before Huntington existed as a city. The Mount Hebron Church log cabin from the 1820s was the first structure with any formal purpose. When local farmers - led by attorney John Lai...

Image: Jeanne6924 | CC BY-SA 4.0

Old Main, Marshall University: Funding Problems and the Civil War

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jeanne6924, CC BY-SA 4.0. The original 1839 building was completed reasonably quickly. The intended three-story addition with chapel proved harder. Construction began two years later, but funds ran out. Only the first floor chapel of the new wing was completed. The third floor was not started. The America...

Image: Jeanne6924 | CC BY-SA 4.0

Old Main, Marshall University: Five Buildings, Four Decades

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jeanne6924, CC BY-SA 4.0. The Old Main complex visible today is actually five buildings joined together, with construction proceeding in stages from 1868 through 1907. The 1868 structure replaced the original 1839 academy. In 1895 the legislature appropriated funds for major new construction. In December ...

Image: Jeanne6924 | CC BY-SA 4.0

Old Main, Marshall University: The Name and the Symbol

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit dpursoo, CC BY-SA 3.0. The name Old Main was not official until 1937, when a Marshall College catalog used the phrase for the first time. The building had been known by various names - University Hall, the Main Building, the Administration Building - but Old Main captured the institutional reverence th...

Image: dpursoo | CC BY-SA 3.0

Old Main, Marshall University: Preservation and Continued Use

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jeanne6924, CC BY-SA 4.0. In 1973 Old Main was placed on the National Register of Historic Places, formally protecting its architectural and historical significance. The building continues in active use today as the university's primary administrative building. The Marshall University autism program, foun...

Image: Jeanne6924 | CC BY-SA 4.0