The first women students at the school that became UConn were commuters: Nellie Wilson and Louise Rosebrooks lived in Mansfield, and technically weren’t allowed to attend the school that had been set aside for males when they enrolled in 1891. Once Storrs went coed, it wasn’t long before a residence hall for women was needed, and on September 8, 1896, Grove Cottage was dedicated. Standing roughly where Hawley Armory is today, along with dorm rooms, it included classrooms and even a gym, where the very first UConn women’s basketball game was played in 1902 (a victory for UConn, naturally). Until the early 20^th century, monthly receptions at Grove Cottage were the only institutionally sanctioned form of socializing for the women students, who were banned from attending local dances, while women who weren’t students were free to attend. In July 1919, a worker’s forgotten lantern sparked a blaze that destroyed the cottage, forcing women students to find “makeshift housing” until Holcomb Hall was built in 1921.  All the first-floor furnishings from Grove Cottage were saved from the blaze, and became the first furniture brought into Holcomb Hall.