The 1895 first dormitory at West Virginia Wesleyan College, named for a student who died in 1917 and long tied to campus legend.
59 College Ave, Buckhannon, WV 26201
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Active student residence hall on the West Virginia Wesleyan College campus. The exterior and campus grounds are free to view; the interior is a working dormitory and not open to the general public.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Paved campus walkways; historic multi-story residence hall
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1895 · First dormitory at West Virginia Wesleyan College (1895) · Named in 1920 for student Agnes Howard (died 1917) · National Register of Historic Places (1983)
Agnes Howard Hall stands at the heart of the West Virginia Wesleyan College campus in Buckhannon, the seat of Upshur County in north-central West Virginia. Completed in 1895, it was the college's first dormitory and was originally known as the Ladies' Hall. The building is documented on Wikipedia and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983 for its architectural and institutional significance.
The hall takes its present name from Agnes Howard, a student at the college in the 1910s. According to the building's history, Howard fell ill in 1917 and died that December. In 1920 the dormitory was renamed in her memory, and her name has been attached to the building ever since.
For more than a century the hall has served generations of students as a residence on the Buckhannon campus. As one of the oldest buildings at West Virginia Wesleyan, it carries the institutional memory of the college's early decades and remains in active use as a student dormitory.
The combination of the building's age, its status as the college's first dormitory, and its naming for a young student who died while enrolled has made Agnes Howard Hall the focus of long-running campus legend. The factual core, the 1895 construction, the 1920 renaming, the NRHP listing, and Agnes Howard's death in 1917, is well documented; the haunting tradition that has grown around it is part of student folklore rather than the historical record.
Sources
Agnes Howard Hall is one of the most enduring subjects of campus legend at West Virginia Wesleyan College. The reported phenomena, collected by regional folklore writers including the Southern Spirit Guide's index of West Virginia higher-education haunts, are the familiar repertoire of an old residence hall: doors that open and close on their own, small objects that move or go missing, and a general sense among residents that the building is not quite empty.
The most-repeated single story describes a student who reported hearing her own name whispered three times. In campus tradition the activity is connected to Agnes Howard herself, the student who died in December 1917 and for whom the hall was renamed in 1920. The connection is a matter of student folklore rather than documented fact; the historical record establishes only that Howard was a student who died of illness while enrolled.
Hauntbound presents these accounts as documented campus folklore tied to a real young woman's death, and treats that death with restraint: Agnes Howard was a student who fell ill in 1917 and did not recover. The legend that grew around her name is part of how the college community has remembered her, but the stories of whispered names and moving objects are folklore, not evidence of paranormal activity.
Because Agnes Howard Hall is an active student residence, it is not open to the public; the building's history and legend are best appreciated from the campus grounds.
Notable Entities
Agnes Howard Hall is the historic 1895 residence hall at the center of the West Virginia Wesleyan College campus in Buckhannon. The building's exterior and the surrounding campus are open to view. As an active dormitory, the interior is not open to the public; the building's history and campus legend are best appreciated from the grounds.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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