From the inception of the journalism program at Oregon in 1912 until the completion of its present quarters in Eric W. Allen Hall in 1954, journalism students and faculty had to put up with quite a few inconveniences. Among these: a vibrating building, a near-catastrophic fire, portable quarters shared with several other interests on campus, and an era referred to by alumni as "shackdom."

When Eric W. Allen came to the Oregon campus in 1912 to head up the infant journalism program, three rooms were cleared out adjoining the chemistry department on the first floor of McClure Hall. McClure Hall, the original building on the site of today's Allen Hall, was named after an early professor of chemistry, Edgar McClure, who was killed in a climbing accident of Mt. Rainier in 1897.

Although McClure Hall was an impressive, three-story structure from the outside, inside it was little more than a shack. In fact, the building was so shaky that whenever the printing department, located on the first floor in those days, had a job to run, any delicate chemistry experiments had to be postponed due to the vibration of the printing press. By 1913, however, chemistry had yielded most of the ground floor to journalism and University Printing.

Around 1920, a converted, one-story residence was moved onto campus just east of McClure Hall to house the growing journalism program. In addition to expanded room for journalism classes and faculty offices, the building housed the editorial offices of the Oregon Emerald. Students in those early days on either side of 1920 had to put up with cramped quarters, roughhewn furniture, and already obsolete typewriters. For years to follow, this building was affectionately referred to as simply the "shack."

In 1921, an old, open-air gymnasium was turned into a "building." The structure was roofed and turned over to the Department of Fine Arts and the School of Journalism. This second "shack" —together with the first smaller version—served as home to the journalism school until a fire destroyed it in 1922.

The fire, which actually destroyed several buildings in addition to one of the journalism shacks, resulted in the approval of a new, brick building to be built next to the remaining shack. Completed in time for the fall term of 1923, the new building housed journalism and its old neighbor, chemistry. This is where the journalism school remained until its present quarters were built in 1954.

The present building was the result of a legislative appropriation of $600,000. Named Eric W. Allen Hall at the request of the directors of the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association, the building was attached to the older, 1923 building. The older building was completely remodeled on the inside to match the current styles of the mid-1950s. The first floor of the building was occupied by the University Press (which moved out in 1996), while the Oregon Daily Emerald occupied a good share of the third floor until its move to other quarters as an independent paper in the early 70s.

Eric W. Allen Hall remained pretty much unchanged until the 1990s when various renovations began to add increased office space to the building. Beginning with the relocation of University Printing in 1996, large-scale renovation and addition was begun. The first step included a multi-media center and a student services office which now occupies a portion of the old printing department area on the ground floor. The scheduled changes have since included the Duniway Resource Center, a new Dean's office and a new entrance where the loading dock to the printing department used to be. Future improvements will include expanded office and classroom space, and new meeting and gathering spaces.