Throwback Thursday: Grise Hall at WKU
College students are officially back to school, so we’re in Bowling Green on campus at Western Kentucky University this week. We’re at Grise Hall in the center of campus. Let’s step back in time about 50 years.
Built in 1966, Grise Hall was designed by architect Ben Johnson in Owensboro. With a $1.6 million construction budget, Grise Hall was built to be the home of the College of Commerce, Education and Psychology.
The building was named for Mr. Finley C. Grise. Born in Lewisburg, Kentucky in 1886, he earned his doctorate degree at George Peabody College for Teachers and the Life Certificate at WKU.
Grise was a teacher in the Logan County school district until 1913, when he came to WKU to be an English and Latin teaching assistant. Grise was appointed head of the Latin department in 1918. Then in 1932, he was named dean of the college and head of the foreign languages department.
The five-story building has over 60 classrooms, a class-laboratory wing, more than 150 offices for faculty and staff, and an auditorium lecture hall that seats 450 people.
The hall has seen many renovations over the years, the most recent being in the auditorium and lecture hall. New seats, stage, and modern technology equipment added in 2017 were much-needed updates to the 50-year-old building.
Students in the Gordon Ford College of Business can also be found in Grise hall. It’s home to classes in business, economics, leadership, entrepreneurship, innovation, professional selling and more.
