South Hall was constructed in 1872 for student housing and a dining facility and has been known by that name since 1906. In 1882, art and music courses were taught in some vacant rooms, and by 1891 the building, then called Conservatory Hall, had been remodeled into classrooms, laboratories, and offices that served generations of students in the college and academy. At various times it housed most of the college's academic departments, and in recent decades it became the center for the English and Politics departments. For nearly thirty years beginning in 1920, the American poet Carl Sandburg visited South Hall each year, encouraging a strong tradition in letters that continued at Cornell College. During 1981, South Hall was completely renovated and redecorated, and on June 12, 1982, one hundred and ten years after its construction, it was rededicated to the highest educational ideals of Cornell College.