The residence facilities were opened in 1966 as part of the Presidential Complex of housing and food service facilities. They were the second and third structures on campus to be named for President Carrick. (The first was destroyed by fire in 1942.) Carrick Halls were originally called New Hall North and New Hall South.
The buildings were constructed in suites, with each suite having a telephone rather than a buzzer system. The buildings were constructed by the lift slab method, in which the steel poles were raised and the concrete was poured on the ground and then lifted to fit the poles. Melson Contractors of Shelbyville was the contractor, and Painter, Weeks McCarty was the architectural firm. In August 1968 a 3,050-lb. slab of concrete fell from the 12th floor of Carrick South. The slab measured about 20 feet long, 2 feet wide, and 6 inches thick. In response, UT tested every stone and installed additional anchors as needed. (Angled clips and bolts secured the stones.)
In 2013 the university announced that its master plan for student residential facilities would replace the 1960 dormitories of the Presidential Complex, as well as Morrill Hall and the Apartment Residence Hall. The Fred D. Brown Hall and new halls on the former site of Bill Gibbs Hall and Shelbourne Towers Apartment Building would allow the 1960s’ halls to be razed and replaced by smaller, better-designed residence halls.