Stephen F. Austin State University

Stephen F. Austin State University students were educated in the A.W. Birdwell Building for almost 50 years. That era will end soon when demolition is complete of the building featuring a see-through breezeway and named for the first president of SFA.

“This building served an important function for SFA for more than 50 years, but it was constructed at a time when access for individuals with disabilities was not at the forefront in construction planning,” Pattillo said. “The design became problematic for us, because the ground floor of the building comprised three different levels and was almost impossible to navigate for a person with a mobility impairment.”

In its final academic usage, the Birdwell Building housed the Department of Human Services, which includes programs in visual impairment, and orientation and mobility, along with communication sciences and disorders, special education, counselor education, rehabilitation services, school and behavioral psychology, and the deaf and hard of hearing program.

When a $16.6 million building was constructed in 2004 to house the Department of Human Services, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board required the demolition of the Birdwell Building in order to retain the university’s balance of classroom square-footage space per number of enrolled students. However, SFA was allowed to delay demolition of the building until the completion of the Student Center addition and renovation, so that the additional space could be used temporarily by offices displaced by the construction.

“Now that the student center is complete, it is time to keep our word to the Coordinating Board and bring the Birdwell Building down,” Pattillo said. “It is a nostalgic time, because as the founding president, Dr. Birdwell will always hold a prominent place in SFA history.”

The A.W. Birdwell Building cost $425,000 to build and originally housed the departments of geography, history and government, English, sociology, foreign languages and mathematics. It was dedicated on Nov. 13, 1955.

Birdwell served as the first president of SFA from opening classes on Sept. 18, 1923, and led the institution through the struggles presented by the Depression and World War II. He helped to draft the first teacher-retirement laws in Texas and was described in the 1930 SFA yearbook as someone who “would cross Texas to help a friend.” He retired in 1942 and was named President Emeritus. He died on Oct. 25, 1954.

When demolition of the building is complete, the area will be replanted with grass. There are no immediate plans for construction on the site.