History of Randolph-Macon College

Then and Now: Life at the College in 1900 vs 2000

College Living

THEN: One hundred years ago students lived in campus cottages - square, two-story frame buildings, with four rooms on each floor. With two students in each room, these cottages furnished ample housing for the student body at the time, wrote Rev. H. H. Smith, Sr., of the Class of 1897. Rooms were heated by wood- burning stoves, and some students sawed their own wood. There was no plumbing in the cottages; water was carried in from a nearby pump and baths were had at the gymnasium, right. (Deficiencies in sanitation and heating were later remedied and the cottages were used as fraternity lodges and faculty homes. None of these structures still stand today.)

NOW: Today's student live throughout 10 residence halls, with student resident assistants assigned to each hall; four townhouse apartments; and seven fraternity and four sorority houses. The student-member Residence Hall Association is liaison to the administration, faculty, and staff and facilitates communication between residence halls.

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