Built in 1904 by contractor Albert Byrnes for $22,500, the original Engineering Hall was south of Old Main and stood where the Honors College wing of Gearhart Hall is today. The architect was Frank W. Gibb of Little Rock. Professor William N. Gladson was named superintendent of construction. There were insufficient funds to finish out the sub-ground-level floor or furnish the desired equipment, but the Legislature two years later added $8,000 to complete these items. 

In a history of the Engineering Hall, Don Schaefer wrote that the building was three stories, measuring 150 feet across and 58 feet deep, with a hipped roof. The first story, partially underground, was of native sandstone and the upper stories were of red brick with limestone trim. It was located south of Old Main and faced north. When finished, the building had 32 rooms.

The sidewalk leading to the entrance to the original Engineering Hall south of Old Main. (Razorback Yearbook)

All departments of engineering at the time were housed in the Engineering Hall — civil, mechanical and electrical engineering. Some mechanical engineering operations were still located in the Mechanical Shops just to the west. The finishing-up work was done on Engineering Hall with the $8,000 appropriated in 1905 included furnishing an electrical laboratory, adding electric power, and connecting the building to a central heating plant. The Physics Department was also housed in the first floor from 1909 to 1917 after its building burned and prior to another being built. 

When a new engineering hall, now known as the John A. White Engineering Hall, was finished in 1927, the entire College of Engineering moved into it. The old Engineering Hall was then turned over to the newly established School of Business Administration, which then filled most of the hall's space, although there were still other departments in the building, including buildings and grounds. It was renamed the Commerce Building.

In 1940, the College of Business Administration expanded into the newly finished "Classroom Building," the present-day Gearhart Hall, and opened up some space in the Commerce Building. The Army ROTC unit moved into the basement. 

During World War II, the Army Specialized Training Unit occupied the building. After the war, the Army ROTC unit was joined by the new Air Force ROTC unit, and they took over more of the building with Army ROTC occupying the first floor and Air Force ROTC on the second floor. In 1945, professor Walter J. Lemke wrote about finding the "huge wings of an Army airplane" in the attic. Perhaps these wings were left over from the engineering students' interest in aviation. What became of them is a mystery. 

In the summer of 1988 the old Engineering Hall was torn down. Twenty-five years later in 2013, the Honors College wing of Gearhart Hall was opened, covering most of the footprint of the first Engineering Hall.