Students who imagine attending the ivy-covered halls of academia might envision something like UWindsor’s iconic Dillon Hall. Though the ivy is now gone—removed around 2010 in order to preserve the building’s structural integrity—the picturesque building is the oldest on the UWindsor campus and a local landmark.

According to retired faculty member, Assumption graduate, and UWindsor historian George McMahon, Dillon Hall was built in 1928 and named for Basilian priest Daniel Dillon, president of Assumption College from 1922 to 1928.

McMahon says Rev. Dillon is responsible for keeping post-secondary education in Windsor, standing his ground when church officials pushed for a move to London in the mid-1920s. After winning that battle, Dillon pushed for construction of a new building to supplement what is currently the Assumption University Building (still owned by the Basilian Fathers) in order to accommodate the needs of a growing student population.

Known in its early days as “the new building” and later the “high school building,” Dillon Hall originally accommodated both high school and university-level students. Individual laboratories for biology, physics and chemistry served students at both levels, with the college’s library occupying the north end of the building.

Today, Dillon Hall houses classrooms as well as the offices of career services and the Student Success Centre. It is listed on Ontario’s Heritage Register with a 2010 restoration project undertaken to preserve the building’s beloved cupolas, limestone roof towers, and stone walls.

—Tanya Michel