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Its name was once the Silliman University Mission Hospital but was changed into the Katipunan Hall when hospital operations were discontinued and the building was then converted into learning classrooms. Katipunan Hall is located at the corner of Langheim Road and Hibbard Avenue.
Most of the original structure of the Mission Hospital has been retained which makes the building very interesting. One can still make out the initial floor plan and lay out from the emergency room right down to the morgue. Many a haunting tale has been whispered around in the campus – ghost sightings, eerie sounds and happenings – but this only adds up to the fascinating history of Silliman. In the late 1980’s, the Katipunan Hall was even used as the Horror Booth venue during the university Founder’s Day.
The Mission Hospital was founded in December of 1915 and formally inaugurated on February 26, 1916. An American doctor, Dr. Langheim, together with his wife who was also a medical practitioner, took care of the general day to day operations in the hospice. The Langheims were the pioneers of Missionary Medical Work in Negros Oriental.
Dr. Langheim not only dedicated his service to the mission hospital but to the whole province as well. He also taught at Silliman Institution and served as a member of the Board of Trustees. In 1947, the Board approved the plan for the hospital to become part of a medical union with the insistence that it retain its name and institutional identity. Thus it became part of a bigger organization under a Hospital Advisory Committee and continued to serve and operate under the watchful eyes of medical professionals until it earned recognition for their concern and regard toward the health and medical conditions of the general public.
At present, the Katipunan Hall houses the offices of the guidance counselor of the College of Arts and Sciences, the Department Offices of Languages, English, History and Political Science, Philosophy and Religion, as well as the offices of the Center for Women’s Studies and Development and the Southeast Asian Studies Program on the ground floor. The College of Education, Department of Sociology and Anthropology and the Department of Speech and Theater Arts are found on the second floor.