Married Student Housing

In the post-World War II era, Panhandle Agricultural and Mechanical College (PAMC) recognized a need to accommodate the mature, married ex-serviceman-turned-college-student. To that end, President Marvin E. McKee began working toward building housing for this type of new student. In 1946, the State of Oklahoma and the Federal Public Housing Authority gave permission for PAMC to arrange for twenty apartments to house returning veterans and their families. Two contractor companies—Busboom and Raub and Ramey and Mathis—received permission to build the units by dissembling barracks at a Dalhart, Texas, airfield. Workmen reconstructed the barracks on campus into one-, two-, or three-room apartments available for rent at approximately $30 per month.

In 1961, PAMC spent $130,000 to erect ten duplexes on the northwest side of campus to house twenty families. This duplex complex now numbers thirty buildings, and each apartment features two bedrooms, one bathroom, a full kitchen, and hook-ups for washers and dryers. Units on Cottonwood Street have no driveway, but those on Hackberry Street do.