Wick's Hall
This house stood opposite Palmetto on the hill and was a large frame house, one of many built originally by Mr. Hayes. It was east of the present Gailor Hall and situated facing west. Dr. C. L. C. Minor, who was master of Grammar School and professor of Latin, was the first resident, however he left in 1873 to become president of Virginia Agricultural College. In 1876 Col. A. S. Jones acquired the house and lived there for about ten years. He held various offices in the University including Treasurer.
In 1886 Mrs. M.C. Wicks obtained the lease and for many years ran a boarding house for students and summer visitors. She had two sons and two daughters. One daughter, Miss Celeste, continued to live in the house, even during its time as the Mary Dabney School. Miss Celeste moved to small cottage nearby a few years before her death in 1947. Wick’s Hall was razed in 1945.
1872
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Palmetto House
This large frame house was one of the early licensed boarding houses for students. Boarding houses like this precluded the need for University dormitories initially. The house was built by Dr. DuBose for his sister-in-law Mrs. McNeely (Mattice) DuBose and named “Palmetto” to commemorate South Carolina. It housed 30 students which was a significant amount as Otey, the next largest boarding house, held only 26. In 1874, a student wrote of Palmetto, "We have splendid fare, turkey twice a week and dessert three times."
Mrs. Sessums, mother of Bishop Sessums, and her sister, Mrs. Tucker, acquired Palmetto in 1880. For many years Mrs. Tucker ran it as a combined boarding house for summer visitors and dormitory for students. When Mrs. Tucker died in 1909, Palmetto was obtained by the University. It then had a wild life. Reportedly, the matron had very little control and students used to shoot through the ceiling, playing a game called “Corners.” Freshmen were expected to dash towards the walls of the second floor while upperclassmen would shoot the center of the ceiling. However, Arthur Ben Chitty noted this was probably an exaggeration as other sources only go as far as saying a student would shoot the ceiling to wake up the house. It was likely this happened only once or twice.
Palmetto was razed in 1931. When it was being demolished, a championship ball marked "C.B. Ames, 1884" won by the Hardee Second Nine (baseball team) was found in the wall.
1872
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