House Tour: Pollock House


Constructed in 1920 for William Edward Pollock, once the president of the Oshkosh Overall Company, now known as Oshkosh B’Gosh, the Pollock House was designed in the Spanish Revival-style with a unique red-barrel tile roof and three chimneys capped with campaniles. Mr. Pollock offered to help the school acquire the property when he retired. The purchase of the Pollock House was made possible through several donations including a $5,000 gift from Mr. Pollock, a grant of $2,500 from the Activity and Alumni Funds and about $750 from an anonymous donor in 1943. At the time of purchase, the University planned to use the Pollock House as a meeting place for wartime trainees of the 96th College Training Detachment (Air Crew) and their family and friends, and also as the detachment clinic, dispensary, infirmary, and detention wards. All of these services were then located in an overcrowded Swart Hall where the trainees lived. After the war, the University planned to convert the building into a dormitory.
	The house was used as a women’s dormitory from 1944 until 1967 when it became the headquarters of the newly founded School of Nursing. Many events for the girls who lived in the Pollock House were held by the house mother, including annual Christmas and watermelon parties, as well as summer picnics. An inter-connecting hallway was built in 1952 after Radford Hall opened next door, allowing residents to move easily between the two structures. In 1971, the Pollock House became home to the Alumni Association. The Pollock House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in the United States in 1984.