Western Michigan University history

In June 1903, the Press Club pulled together civic and business leaders to organize a fund drive to secure the new school.

Construction of the school’s first building began in 1904.

The building welcomed its first class of students in September 1905.

In 1907, funds were appropriated for an electric railway. “Normal’s Railroad”, or the "Western Trolley”, carried people up and down the hill from its base on Davis Street to the summit at the grassy lawn between East and North Halls.

By 1909, two wings had been added to the first building: the Training School and the gymnasium.

In 1957, when legislature approved a change of name and status to Western Michigan University, enrollment was nearly 6,000 students.

In an effort to meet the demands of growth, by 1964 the University had acquired an additional 179 acres.

Known as the Administrative Building, the Education Building, and finally by 1967 as East Hall, this founding structure has stood through four school name changes, eight school presidents, and every triumph WMU has celebrated since its grand opening.

The 1970 Campus Development Plan anticipated that academic programs would require more than double the existing building space, from about 1,500,000 to over 3,000,000 square feet, and that parking for faculty, staff, and commuters would require about 5,200 parking spaces.

Its three columned porticos and lit cupola could be seen from afar, and inspired Will Rogers to dub Prospect Hill “the Acropolis of Kalamazoo County”. East Hall was listed with the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

He retired from WMU in 1999.

In December 2012, the University announced plans for East Hall’s renovation as the new WMU Alumni Center.

Heritage Hall, home of the WMU Alumni Center on Prospect Hill, became the new official name of the renovated structure by vote of the WMU Board of Trustees in July 2015.

2018 STARS Silver WMU was awarded a STARS 2018 Silver rating for our efforts to advance sustainability in higher education.

History student award winners of 2020 announced

Congratulations to History students Joanne Jeya, Hannah Garrod, and Ian Daly for presenting the research they conducted in Doctor Ángela Pérez-Villa's HIST 4845 class at the Latin American and Latinx Studies Undergraduate Symposium organized virtually by Rollins College, Florida in April 2021.

Doctor Matthew Penix successfully defended his dissertation on May 11, 2022.