UT was constructing Barbara Blount Hall as a dormitory for women in 1900, when the UT Chapter of Chi Omega was established. Upon completion of the building in 1901, Chi Omega was provided with a room in which to hold meetings of its chapter. Establishment of additional sororities (AOPi, 1902; Zeta Tau Alpha, 1904; Phi Mu, 1908) exceeded the ability of the institution to provide chapter rooms in Barbara Blount Hall, and when Humes Hall was converted from a men’s to a women’s dormitory in 1917, additional chapter rooms for sororities were allocated in the basement of Humes Hall. In December 1930 James D. Hoskins, dean of the university, explained in an Orange and White article that sororities would not be allowed to have chapter houses for several reasons, two of the most important being the upkeep and the promotion of more expensive social activities. The latter, he said, was not in keeping with a state university, since it might keep students away who would not come to school unless they could “stand the pace.” In keeping with the decision not to have houses, additional sorority chapter rooms were allocated in Henson Hall when that new dormitory for women was completed in 1931. Most sorority chapter rooms were then consolidated in the former Cowan residence, known as West Strong Hall. Sororities vacated this structure in 1939 because of safety issues and rented chapter rooms in town.
With the 1940 opening of the additions to Sophronia Strong Hall, the 1925 portion of the facility was converted (1940) into a Panhellenic building with chapter rooms for nine sororities. There were three chapter rooms on each of the three floors, and there was a kitchenette and bath on each floor. The first floor had a central reception room, quarters for the hostess (Mrs. M. T. McMillan) and chapter rooms for Chi Omega, Delta Delta Delta, and Delta Zeta. On the second floor were Phi Mu, Alpha Delta Pi, and Sigma Kappa, and quarters for Wilma Stanley, graduate student and assistant hostess. Kappa Delta, Zeta Tau Alpha, and Alpha Omicron Pi had rooms on the third floor of the house, where the Panhellenic Council room was also located.
When the facility opened, men could be entertained in the reception room from 4:00 p.m. until closing (if only one couple was in the room, the door to the hall had to remain open). Callers had to be presented to the hostess, who was accorded the courtesy of head of the house.
In 1960 the Panhellenic Council sent a resolution to President Andy Holt detailing the “gross inadequacies of existing space” in Sophronia Strong Hall—the spaces were too small, and the number of sororities exceeded the number of available chapter rooms assigned to sororities. Dr. Holt appointed a committee to study the matter, and the committee reported to the board of trustees in April 1961 that “it is not the appropriate time to enter into a program of individual sorority houses” and recommended building a new Panhellenic building in the future. Upon hearing the report, the board of trustees passed a resolution stating that “it is the policy of this Board that all sororities on the campus of the University of Tennessee at Knoxville be housed in a Panhellenic Building.” Construction of a Panhellenic building was approved in 1962.