Strong Hall Memories (aka Freshman-Sophomore year shenanigans)

The University of Tennessee has closed the dorm hall where I lived my 1st & 2nd years in college. It is one of the oldest dorms on campus, had no air conditioning, was haunted, was a bit of a walk across campus/up-hill both ways in the snow to get to...but it was charming. And it felt special, not like the shoebox rooms everyone else had. It had real wood furniture, and furnaces, and an authentic cage elevator that I can honestly say I used only a dozen times because it was notorious for getting stuck. Many of the room layouts were different floor to floor, and there were “hidden” study rooms and random private bathrooms tucked in to various corners. Some of the bathrooms even had tubs! Can you imagine.

It is great luck that I even got to live in Strong Hall...I was slated for Clement, I believe. Yikes! No-limit Clement (why did we call it that? Oh right, because it was “ghetto”). But then on the first day of Freshmen orientation I met happy, bubbly Lane who was a fellow architecture major, and she convinced me to be her roomie in Strong so we wouldn’t get stuck with randoms. It was one of the best decisions I have ever made, mostly because Lane and our unbeknown-to-us-future-suite mate Melanie make up 90% of my most happy, hilarious, spontaneous memories from college. For real. We moved in early (thanks to sorority rush & the Pride of the Southland Marching Band) and had 2 days of freedom in Strong Hall running through the halls, switching out for the best furniture, and sweltering in the late summer Tennessee heat. And giggling. Lots of giggling.

Coming home from class, crossing the Cumberland Avenue bridge there is a peak in the bridge where I could see directly in to our third floor window. Sometimes I’d see Lane lip-syncing to Celine Dion, or Melanie with her trombone. But not matter what, it felt like coming home.

Many of the other past residents feel sentimental about Strong Hall too. Read their memories here (some go waaaaay back).

And lastly, you too can own a piece of the memories! The University is auctioning off all of the dorm furniture! It makes me happy and super nostalgic to look at these pictures. My only bummer is that you have to be there to pick up the items you “win” on a certain date. I seriously wish I could buy the entire lot for my re-purposed furniture hobby/dream idea. If anyone in the Knox area wants to volunteer to pick up my items I will pay you in excess dorm furniture!