McConnell Hall was named in honor of William C. McConnell, an Asheville businessman and Mars Hill College trustee from 1909 to 1936. The building committee served from 1914 to 1924, and it was designed by Smith and Carrier, architects, including Richard Sharp Smith, chief architect of Biltmore House, during the presidency of Dr. Robert Lee Moore. Its uses included a gymnasium from 1924 to 1965, offices and classrooms from 1924 onward, a swimming pool from 1932 to 1952, handball courts from 1952 to 1965, the Department of Education from 1972 to 1996, The Loft from 1968 onward, and the Bailey Mountain Cloggers Dance Center from 1996 onward. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 12, 2006.