Woods Building
The Geography-Sociology building was originally a two-story structure located on the west side of the campus between University Avenue and Sam Houston Avenue. It stood between the West Plant and Evans Complex. The Criminal Justice program, originally part of the Sociology Department, was housed here until the completion of the Criminal Justice Center in 1976. An addition completed in 1970 added a third story to the quickly cramping building, though there was no internal staircase to this story. One had to go outside the second floor to a staircase to reach the third floor. Its proximity to Sam Houston Avenue was probably its greatest downfall, with its front doors exiting almost out into the street. During the 1980s there was a push to make the main quadrangle more visible from Sam Houston Avenue and things in the way - notably the Woods and Halley buildings as well as the Ag Lab - were razed. Writing in SHSU 2000, the 1982 update to the Campus Master Plan, architect and planner Ralph Spencer says, “Maybe we should save this building, and include it in the Historical District proposed. As an example of what is possible when the technical skills are irrationally challenged, and how capable such skills are of doing really strange things, the Woods Building might be considered classic.”
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