OU marked the demolition of Adams Center, a freshman residential building built in 1964, with a ceremony Thursday.
Christopher Firch, OU’s Student Government Association president, welcomed guests to the ceremony and provided a background of Adams Center and its four towers: Johnson, McCasland, Muldrow and Tarman.
Firch then invited Dr. David Surratt, vice president of OU Student Affairs, to the podium. Surratt recounted his time in Adams Center as a freshman in 1998, where he happened to meet the woman who would become his wife.
“I spent quite a bit of time in the building, wooing my wife of 14 years,” Surratt said. “This made for some of the best memories of my time here as a student.”
Surratt discussed the future of OU residence life and said the new residential building planned to take Adams Center’s place will benefit freshmen for years to come and help the university grow its student body.
Adams Tower during the Farewell Adams Center Ceremony on May 4.
The new building is part of Phase 1 of the OU Freshman Housing Master Plan, where two new residence halls will be constructed on the site of Adams Center. Adams Center has not housed OU students since spring 2021 in preparation for the demolition, which will officially begin May 15 and be completed in the fall.
The two new buildings will be staggered in construction. The north building will begin construction in August 2023 and open in fall 2025 and the south building will begin construction in 2024 and open in fall 2026. These residence halls will collectively provide around 1,150 beds.
Once Phase 1 is complete, OU plans to also replace Walker and Couch centers.
A rendering from OU's first phase of OU's Freshman Housing Master Plan. OU's Board of Regents approved funding and the plans for the first phase in its meeting on March 7.
Angelora Castellano, an international studies and classical studies senior, described her experience as an Adams Center resident.
Castellano lived in Adams Center during the 2019-20 school year and is a current senior resident adviser. She said she tells students to live in Couch and Walker centers because of her experience in Adams.
“Without Adams, I would not have my college best friends, I would not have my future bridesmaids,” Castellano said. “I’m incredibly grateful to Adams tower for that.”
The last ceremony speaker was OU President Joseph Harroz Jr., who first moved into Adams Center in 1985 when he was a freshman at OU. He reminisced on his experience in Adams Center and how living there shaped him and countless other OU students.
University president Joseph Harroz, Jr. during the Farewell Adams Center Ceremony on May 4.
“Adams Center served as a landmark in so many students’ OU experiences, including my own,” Harroz said. “The memories and relationships it left with us will not be forgotten, and we will offer those same community-building opportunities to generations to come with a new living environment of the highest quality.”
Click here to purchase bricks or room numbers from Adams Center and to read about additional history and information.
This story was edited by Alexia Aston and Karoline Leonard. Mary Ann Livingood copy edited this story.
