Bluford Library Archives: 50 Years of Williams Cafeteria
Nestled between A. W. Curtis Hall, Murphy Hall, and the Edward B. Fort Building, and sitting above the Holland Bowl is the massive glass F. A. Williams Cafeteria. Since 1974, thousands of Aggies, their families, campus visitors, and friends have dined and socialized here. The building has been constantly remodeled to keep up with food and dining tastes, creating unique memories for each generation. College and university students at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University have always wanted to eat well, and the history of how Williams came to be fits into how young Aggies voice what they want.
Many cannot recall a time without Williams and may find it hard to believe that Murphy Hall was once the cafeteria. Completed in 1924, Murphy became too small for the whole student body by the late 1950s, so Paul Roosevelt Brown Hall was built in 1960 as a second dining hall, with mailing and ticket services. However, in less than 10 years it became too small.
By 1969 a “grievance” list made the front page of the A&T Register, with a desire for a new cafeteria being a chief priority. Shortly after, President Lewis C. Dowdy announced that the university was planning a brand-new $1.6 million dollar cafeteria that would seat 4,000 people. The following year W. Edward Jenkins ‘49 A&T’s legendary architectural engineer alumnus was appointed designer.
Construction began on the cafeteria in 1971, and was estimated to last between 15-18 months. Visually the original design for the cafeteria was memorable among A&T’s structures as Jenkins used intersecting hexagons for its layout. Up to date for the time, the new dining hall was announced to have “sound systems,” “televisions” and “air-conditioning.” The cafeteria was constructed on land that was formerly a baseball and tennis court at the university since the 1920s.
The new cafeteria began serving students in the Spring of 1974, while some construction continued. It was used for summer school students and was ready for full use by the end of the Fall 1974 semester.
In February 1975, an act of the Board of Trustees dedicated the cafeteria to Dr. Frederick Allen Williams (1909 -1970). At the time of his passing, Dr. Williams was the director of planning and development at A&T. He was also a respected international scholar in agricultural economics and a former dean of the Graduate School. He graduated from Aggieland in the historic class of 1931 with his Omega Psi Phi brother Ellis Franklin Corbett (Corbett Sports Center), and A&T legacy faculty J. Neil Armstrong, and John “Dean Mac” MacLaughlin.
No restaurant has stayed the same for 50 years, and so Williams Dining Hall has been remolded many times. The biggest renovations came between 2000 and 2002 as part of a 250 million dollar plan to revitalize the campus. Towering glass windows replaced all the brick front exterior. The balcony that hangs over the Holland Bowl was added, along with 5 serving/cooking stations that have been modified regularly for the past 20 years. The traditional cafe would now be on a new 2nd floor with specialized restaurants on the first floor. For 21st century Aggies “data connections for Internet access” were also added. The new cafeteria also included the Chancellor’s Dining Room.
“The Cafe” has had several more renovations in the past 20 years. In 2010 the traditional extra-long cafeteria tables were replaced with booths, highchairs, and round tables for the seating variety students enjoy today.
Gen Y, Z, and Millennials will remember the “Boss Webster’s Place” neon sign that blazed on the lower-level wall as a tribute to one of the legends of East Market Street. This area housed Krispy Kreme Doughnuts (the first on a college campus on the entire East Coast) and Pizza Hut. That combined space later became a McAllister’s, and is now the new Chick-fil-A.
Younger Aggies will also recall milkshakes from “Freshens” which is now Starbucks or eating mac ‘n’ cheese and chicken Caesar wraps at 1 a.m. from the “Aggie Late Night.” That spot became Simply to Go and is now Paavo’s Pizza. New employees are correct to believe the myths that the Qdoba Mexican Eats was formerly the Faculty Dining Hall.
Countless special occasions at Williams have included the annual February One breakfast held there for many years. It was at the 2001 breakfast that Lewis Brandon became the first recipient of the A&T Human Rights Medal. This Aggie, new to A&T in 2005 recalls the surprise of going to the cafe for breakfast on a cold February morning and learning that the Rev. Jesse Jackson was seated in the building. Alumni luncheons, Super Bowl parties, film screenings, and more have drawn crowds back to Williams year after year. Many of today’s Aggies met Chancellor James R. Martin II for the first time when he visited Williams during his first week at A&T.
Memorable menus have included “Wing Night” and “Carnival Night,” and the special Homecoming feast for faculty (complete with wings and chitlins) in the old Faculty Dining Hall. More vegan options were added in 2007.
More renovations are on the way now for the F. A. Williams Dining Hall, and it is anticipated that generations of Aggies will continue to dine, laugh, and have good times there for many years to come.
ALERT – ARCHIVES MOST WANTED:
To honor Dr. F. A. Williams, the class of 1974 had a portrait commissioned of him that once hung in the cafeteria. This portrait has disappeared over time. It is not to be confused with a different portrait of Williams that was also commissioned for the Hayes-Taylor YMCA. On behalf of the Class of 1974, the University Archives would also like locate this painting or acquire images of the inside of the cafeteria from its earliest years, so that we may know what this portrait looked like.
The University Archives and Special Collections also houses materials about Williams Cafeteria and other dining spaces like Brown Hall and Memorial Student Union. We also have the F. A. Williams Travelogue which is a collection of Dr. Williams photos and papers from his travels to the Middle East.
If you have any information about the whereabouts of the 1974 Williams portrait, fond memories of Williams Cafeteria or would like more information about A&T history please email libraryarchvies@ncat.edu
By James R. Stewart Jr., Archives and Special Collections Librarian, F. D. Bluford Library.
