Student centers provide a central hub for student affairs and activities. On the campus of Sam Houston Normal Institute the Austin College Building was first used as a student social center - among other things - around 1919.
Fast-forward two decades: the student population had increased in size and a push for a new, larger student center began. The 1950 Alcalde notes that as far back as 1947 both current and former students began collecting funds for such a structure [1]. Their efforts helped in the construction of the Student Union Building (SUB).
When the union outgrew these premises, and the Lowman Student Center became the modern home for student activities, this building was renamed Music 2 complete with classrooms and performance areas for the Department of Music. Its counterpart, Music 1, makes up half of today's Evans Complex.
During the 1980s some of the buildings used for multiple departments and programs were rechristened as generic academic buildings; this building became Academic Building Two (AB2).
The June 2009 assembly of the Board of Regents approved the renaming of the building to honor Margaret Houston for her "contributions to our state and her family's legacy, and...as one of the most significant women in Texas history. [2]"
Incidentally, the 1988 edition of the Campus Master Plan called for the demolition of AB2. In its place was to be the eastern entry to an underground pedestrian walkway below Sam Houston Avenue; the western entrance was to be on the site of the demolished Jackson-Shaver dorm. According to the document, the planned execution of this was to be in 2007. Nineteen years after that document both buildings still stood on campus.
