The first phase of this building was completed in 1940 and was known simply as the Classroom Building.
When construction started on December 28, 1935, the Classroom Building was one of three buildings funded by the Public Works Administrations with a loan of $413,000 and a grant of $337,909 from the federal government. The other two buildings were the Home Economics Building and the student Union, now known as Memorial Hall.
Manhattan Construction Co. of Muskogee, Okla., was the general contractor. Haralson & Mott of Fort Smith and Mann & Wanger of Little Rock were the architects. A stone masonry building of Indiana white limestone, the Classroom Building is similar in design to six other campus buildings erected between 1927 and 1937.
Moving into the Classroom Building in January 1940 were some business administration faculty, some mathematics faculty, and the department of buildings and grounds.
The next phase of what is now Ozark Hall began in summer 1946 and was finished in fall 1947, at a cost of $379,952. This addition was located on the eaSt. It served to connect the Classroom Building on the north to the Commerce Building on the south. When the addition was complete, the building took on a "U" shape.
The exterior of the second phase matched the first phase very well in design and stone work. The interior floors of the two phases also matched perfectly. Several challenges faced the builders of this connecting phase, however. One was that part of the foundation could be placed on solid rock while other parts required driving concrete piles-some as deep as 30 feet. Another problem was that the Classroom Building on the north and the Commerce Building on the south were not exactly parallel.
When this second phase was complete, the resulting structure including the Commerce Building was named the Business Administration Building. The remainder of the College of Business Administration, which had occupied the Commerce Building, moved into the newer part of the building. Finding some place in the entire structure were the departments of mathematics, history, political science, and military science, along with some buildings and grounds office space.
The College of Business Administration moved out of this building into a new Business Building on Ozark Avenue in 1978, and this structure was renamed Ozark Hall. It now houses the administrative offices of The Graduate School and various science departments and centers.
In 1987, the old Commerce Building part of Ozark Hall was razed, leaving an unfinished west end of the south wing where it had butted against the older building. This was finished with white limestone to match the other building walls.
Ozark Hall was accepted for listing in the National Register of Historic Places in September 1992 under the name "Business Administration Building." The name "Business Administration" still appears over the east entrance to Ozark Hall.
Year Built: 1939
340 N. Campus Walk
Fayetteville, AR