Wilson Hall was never a women’s prison, despite popular belief

The initial purpose of Wilson Hall — the Brutalist, redbrick building north of Montana and  Hamilton Hall — has long been rumored to have been initially built to serve as a women’s prison in Bozeman. The building is named after Milburn Lincoln Wilson, who was part of the agriculture economics faculty 1914-1934 and undersecretary of agriculture during Franklin Roosevelt’s presidency, according to MSU’s webpage on the building.

With its watchtower-like exterior stairwells and recessed narrow windows, it’s understandable how the College of Letters and Science building makes for a believable prison.

Emma Navone, a junior English major, said of the rumor, “It’s one of those things I heard once in some random Wilson class and just kind of adopted as fact. It was believable at the time, especially given the look and feel of the building. The weird catwalk out front that could be for guard surveillance. The small enclosed courtyard.”  

Raymond Peters, a junior English major, who heard a more accurate history of Wilson’s creation — that it was designed by the same company that designed women’s prisons — echoed Navone’s perception of the building. “I can see how it could have been used as a prison. The professor’s offices are about the size of prison cells,” he said. 

Even tour guides from the admissions office have been heard spreading the false history, according to Professor Kirk Branch, who said he overheard guides misinform prospective students through his office window as they cross Wilson Hall’s inner courtyard. 

When questioned about the alleged spreading of the rumor, Associate Director of Recruitment in MSU’s Office of Admissions Anders Groseth, responded, “It appears that there may be an old fashioned game of telephone going on between some of the history we provide our tour guides throughout training, and what professors overhear. We never say that Wilson Hall used to be a women’s prison, or encourage our tour guides to say that it was. What information we do provide is that the architect of Wilson Hall also designed a women’s prison.”

Mandy Hansen, the business operations manager for MSU’s English Department, said that while serving on the university facilities planning board, the rumors were addressed and discounted as unfactual. But Hansen knew the rumors were untrue even before her participation on the university planning board. “I grew up on campus,” Hansen said. Both of her parents worked at MSU. “My friend Klee was the son of the principal architect of CTA [now Cushing Terrell] who designed this building. This building was not designed to be a women's prison,” she said.

Despite Wilson Hall’s daunting appearance, it was never meant to house incarcerated women —  it was built to educate.