HANNIBAL — Two of Hannibal-LaGrange University’s historic dorms are being renovated and will reopen for the 2024-25 school year for an anticipated rise in enrollment.
Pullium Hall, built in 1929, is one of three original buildings on the university’s campus. Crouch Hall was added in 1956. Both dorms were closed in 2019 due to declining enrollment.
However, the last two years HLGU has seen more students coming to campus.
“This year, we had 129 new students,” said Robert Matz, president of Hannibal-LaGrange University. “I would anticipate this coming year, it’ll be closer to 155 to 160 new students due to the number of students we’ve Had deposit, so put money down to say they’re coming to Hannibal-LaGrange.”
Pullium Hall and Crouch Hall were the chosen dorms to renovate due to being the most ready to work on. Matz hopes to work on more buildings in the future, especially dorms as the needs arise.
While an increase in enrollment was a big push to renovate the dorms another aspect was an organization called Campers on Mission, an organization associated with the Missouri Baptist Organization.
“These are high skilled individuals, carpenters, electricians, plumbers, general contractors, all kinds of folks in those kinds of areas,” Matz explained. “They decided to hold the rally here on our campus. When they hold the rally, they do major construction work. So, we will have about 100 to 115 individuals coming to campus towards the end of April to do a lot of the work.”
Matz said the goal is to make the dorms a safe space and a comfortable area for students to spend their time with one another.
Pullium Hall’s first floor will see a complete renovation including new flooring and ceiling, replacing the entry door and opening the lobby up more. The lighting and electric will be redone along with some cosmetic work including refinishing the woodwork. In individual rooms exposed ductwork will be put into the ceiling. The community bathrooms, kitchen and laundry room will also be renovated.
For Crouch Hall, individual rooms will have work done to help soundproof rooms. Across the building renovation work will be done on the exterior bricks, ceiling, carpet, paint and plaster repair. The dorm will also get a new HVAC.
Matz said students are excited to see growth at HLGU.
“The students I’ve spoken to about it are very excited, there’s a lot of excitement about getting back into these dorms,” Matz said. “The buildings have such incredible historic character so as we do this refresh, we’re excited to bring that historic character back out.”
Alumni are also excited to see their old dorms reopen.
“We put up a post on Facebook about this project and a large number of alumni started sharing memories and how excited they were to see this building reopen,” Matz said. “It’s really encouraging.”
Alumni and members of the community are invited to attend an open house to view the dorms from 4:30 to 6:30 pm on Thursday, April 4 Staff members will give tours of the dorms and answer questions about the renovations.
The university is working to finish raising the $500,000 to ensure the project can come to fruition. Matz said the university still needs to raise about $150,000 by mid April when the project is scheduled to start. The bulk of the work will be finished within a few weeks of starting work with some work to continue through the summer.
“The investment in this project is an investment in the students of Hannibal-LaGrange, it is an investment in them having a high quality experience, while they are students so much of their time is spent with one another in their dormitories. We want to provide a safe, welcoming environment in the dormitory that promotes that community.