It has begun

Cowles Hall was the very first building to grace Elmira College's campus. The building was considered the College in its first few years. It was built atop Prospect Hill in the City of Elmira. The sight was chosen by Simeon Benjamin, Founder of Elmira College. The Hall was a massive structure built according to an octagonal specification architecturally popular in the mid-nineteenth century. The octagonal form was reflected in many homes in the region and two decades later would be used in Mark Twain's octagonal study at Quarry Farm that later would stand on the land sloping southward from Cowles Hall. The east and west arms were built in Simeon Benjamin's day. The north arm was built in the 1880s. A projected south arm was never built.

The Hall generated great interest in the community of Elmira. To offer residents a first-hand view, the College held an open house for the public on July 6, 1854. The setting of the cornerstone was highly symbolic, signaling as it did the cause of women's education at the collegiate level. By the autumn of 1854, one could see the construction of the Hall rising just east of the point at which Mill Street and West Union Street converged. People watched with fascination. The towering structure caught the eye because of its grace and proportion, inspired in the designer's mind by Simeon Benjamin. This Hall stands in Elmira as the foundation of women's college education in the United States.

Renovation and re-opening efforts for historic Cowles Hall began in June of 2010. The building re-opening will stand as a crowning achievement for Elmira College and Women's Education.