Martha Cook opened in the fall of 1915 as the first dormitory for women at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Inside this building live approximately 140 women pursuing undergraduate and graduate degrees, and women may live here through all of their years of study — a feature that sets this dormitory apart from other housing options. Martha Cook opened in the fall of 1915 as the first dormitory on campus for female students.
It was originally built for approximately 110 young women; today more than 140, from first-year students to graduates, call it home. Martha Cook is also one of three all-female residence halls on campus. The house life here is rich with tradition: weekly teas on Fridays for residents and their guests, an International Tea in early spring that welcomes all members of the public, the Dinner for New Women, the Handel's Messiah Dinner, and weekly themed buffet dinners.
The building even has its own Dining Hall, private to those who live in the building, and the pantry has been updated. Notice the pointed arches and carved stone tracery framing Martha Cook's entrance, unchanged since the women who first called it home in 1915.