Students first occupied Wilson Hall (Quad 9), one of ten residence halls that made up the Dickinson College’s Fraternity Quadrangle, in September 1964. It originally served as the residence of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity, and when the fraternity relocated, the building became a general residence hall. The building was named in honor of James Wilson, a signer of the Declaration of Independence who was an original patentee of the Carlisle Grammar School and a founding trustee of Dickinson College.

The building was designed by Howell Lewis Shay and Associates, and constructed at a cost of approximately $200,000.