Fundamentals of Journalism Blog

Dimmitt Hall, on the campus of Morningside College, is located at 3318 Vine Avenue between Rosen Verdoorn Sport Center and Elwood Stadium.  This residence hall can house up to 384 students and appears as a big brick building from the outside. On the inside it’s social with very outgoing students who like to have fun whatever it is they are doing.

Walking up the ancient, antique looking staircases on either of the main entrances you are welcomed by hot, muggy air and depending the time of day, either a very engaged lobby or a dead lobby.   Between the hours of 8:00 am and 4:00 pm Dimmitt is normally a pretty quiet place. When students begin coming back from classes and sports practices, Dimmitt is a social place and doesn’t die down until around one or two am on weekdays. Most students are very friendly always smiling, laughing with one another, and very talkative with anyone they meet in the hallways.

Dimmitt is made of fifteen different halls. Traditional, wellness, freshman, sorority, and fraternity make up the halls.  If you are a resident of a different building or just someone visiting, Dimmitt may seem as if it could consume you and get you lost in all the winding halls.  However when someone breaks it down for you, it’s not so confusing.  The building is broke up into east and west and new and old. To put it simply, anyone who lives on east is a boy and anyone who lives on west is a girl.  Facing the building, the “new” wings go east and west. Both “old” wings face south.

Within some of the halls, they have their own themes such as the Jungle, the Dungeon, and Sunset Strip.  The Residence Life staff tries to spice up the halls each year and naming or giving a theme to a hall is just another way to do so.

Residence Halls, especially Dimmitt, has changed a lot over the years.  Dimmitt Hall was built in 1926 and was named after Lilian E. Dimmitt. She was the Dean of Women at Morningside for 26 years.  It use to be an all woman’s dorm and today is a guys and girls dorm.  To learn about the founder of this building, the formal lounge, on the main floor, has pictures of her and information about who she was.

The formal lounge is one of the most unique places in the whole building of Dimmitt.  It’s one of the places you see when you tour Morningside before even deciding where you’ll go to college. If you live in Dimmitt, the formal lounge is the place you come when you check in to get your keys.  Some times the formal lounge is a place you can come to find a quiet place to study.  Sophomore, Dimmitt resident, Colleen Murray says, “Dimmitt is a great place to live. It’s got places to go when you want to be social and it’s also got places to go when you need a quiet place.  The history of the building is pretty neat too.”

From the history of the building, to the staircases and rooms that make it look historic, Dimmitt is an interesting place to be.  Come check it out!