History of the UF Division of Student Affairs | Page 76

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In 1929, Sledd Hall was built. Fletcher and Murphree were built in 1939. The
linking of Fletcher, Sledd, and Thomas Halls forms the shape of “UF” visible
from the air. Sledd, Fletcher, and Murphree Halls were dedicated on November
25, 1939. Dedication materials described the then five residence facilities as
housing 1,100 residents, one-third of the (all male) student body in singles,
two-room suites, and doubles. The facilities were “administered by a Director of
Residence, his staff, a student monitor for each of the sections into which the
halls are divided, and an advisory committee on residence, composed of three
members of the faculty.”
WWII a n d Wo m e n Co m e t o C a m p u s : 1 9 4 2 – 1 9 6 0
During WWII, nearly all sections of the Murphree Area were occupied by
military detachments. UF leased one house and six fraternities to accommodate
“civilian” students. At that time, many of the all-male student body were at war
or in the military. By mid-1945, the military detachments were gone from the
Murphree Area and soldiers began to return to college. The residence halls were
less than one-half full, so the decision was made to rent Murphree Hall suites to
married couples. All suites on the lower floor in Murphree Hall were occupied by
couples; single men lived on the fourth floor. One “coed” section was designated
with single men on the upper floors and women on the lower floors. From 19241946, women were allowed to take classes not offered at Florida State College
for Women (Florida State University) or attend summer classes at UF but were
not officially admitted to UF until 1947.
Following WWII, UF experienced rapid enrollment growth as a result of the
influx of WWII veterans returning to UF on the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act
of 1944, better known as the G.I. Bill and the admission of 500 women in 1947.
The original housing strategy was to erect temporary facilities on campus or to
rent and manage existing facilities in Gainesville to be used between five to ten
years until permanent facilities could be built on campus or until the enrollment
growth stabilized. These temporary facilities included former prefabricated
military housing called “Flavets,” an acronym of “Florida veterans,” acquired
to house families; Temporary Frame residence halls for men; Grove Hall, also a
reused military building; Trailervet Village/Alachua Army Air Base/Stengel Air
Field for men, married students, and staff; The King’s House, a leased facility for

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