O’Gara Hall, which once stood where Village C now stands, operated as a student dorm from 1946 until 1966. The original date of construction remains unknown, but the building previously functioned as a barn dating back to the time when the University campus was very rural and students traveled via horse drawn carriages.
Student Housing and Name
In early 1946, with the wave of World War II veterans using the GI Bill, the University experienced a shortage of dorm space and converted the building into a student dorm. The building was renamed O’Gara Hall, for Father Martin O’Gara, S.J., an Army Air Corps Chaplain. Father O’Gara died in a plane crash off of Italy’s Amalfi Coast on June 1, 1946 while enroute from Calcutta to the United States. The plane did not have enough parachutes, and O’Gara gave his parachute to save a fellow passenger.
Repurposing and Demolition
In 1966 the old Gervase infirmary took over O’Gara where it remained until 1969 when it moved to McDonough Gym. The Security Police Station and the Traffic Department occupied the basement beginning in 1966, and the Voice Oriental Languages and the Cuban Student Organization had offices on the first and second floor.1
In 1984, the University demolished O’Gara in order to clear a space for a new 700-bed men’s dorm now known as Village C.2
