The original Library was constructed in 1930 at a cost of $200,000. In addition to serving as a library and classroom space, the building hosted social functions such as campus dances in the large reading room. From the 1930s to the 1960s, the top floor housed a local history museum. After the current Velma K. Waters Library was constructed, the Library was converted to the Hall of Languages. The open two-story reading room was divided to create a third floor. The building originally contained seven classrooms, eight seminar rooms, offices, stacks space for 115,000 volumes, and a large reading room. In 2017 the Hall of Languages was rededicated as the David Talbot Hall of Languages in honor of Dr. David Arlington Talbot, the first Black professor at East Texas State University. David Talbot Hall of Languages is located on the corner of Stonewall and Monroe Streets.