Herron Gymnasium was a gymnasium and classroom building on the Miami University campus in Oxford, Ohio. Later known as Van Voorhis Hall, it was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in November 1979. Originally conceived in 1893, it was constructed in 1897 and named for John W. Herron, a Miami alumnus and Cincinnati judge. It was Miami University's first gymnasium, and would serve as the main recreational center until the construction of Withrow Court in 1932, which led Herron to become a women's gym. Except for an interlude during World War II when it served as a Navy barracks, it served as a women's gym until the construction of "New Herron" (now Phillips Hall) in 1962. In the late 20th century its use diminished to AFROTC and men's intramural sports, and the gymnasium was demolished in 1986 and replaced with a parking lot. History The idea for a gymnasium first came about at an 1893 meeting of Miami University's Board of Trustees. John W. Herron, an 1845 Miami graduate and Cincinnati lawyer who served as president of Miami's Board of Trustees (and eventually became the facility's namesake), served alongside two other men on a committee to plan the facility's construction. In February 1893, the school received $2,500 (approximately $67,000 adjusted for inflation) from the state to furnish the gymnasium. After planning throughout 1896, Miami finally built the gymnasium in 1897, naming it after Herron, who was so modest that he refused to have his name adorn the building; the building's exterior instead read "The Miami Gymnasium". The building, a rectangular, two-story Romanesque revival-styled building with a truss roof, was constructed by F.E. Townsend, an architect selected by John Herron from nearby Hamilton, and was the school's first gymnasium. The first recorded game at Herron Gymnasium was a 1904 basketball game between the university team and some amateur players. The amateurs won, 13 to 8. Despite that game being the first one officially recorded, the Student notes that women's basketball became organized as early as 1902, between students at the Ohio State Normal School (later to become Miami's College of Education) and regular Miami coeds, though it does not specify where the games were played. In 1923, the building was moved 522 feet east to facilitate construction of Ogden Hall, a new dormitory. Its final site was near the present-day Roudebush Hall, along Oxford's High Street. Herron Gymnasium's remains