On the basement floor of Palmer Hall was a major lecture hall called the "Pit", located in the middle of the north side (Palmer 16 and 18). The nationally known mathematician George Birkhoff lectured in the "Pit" when he visited the college in 1924. With the major remodeling in the early 1960's, the floor was leveled making more room underneath for two useable areas: a classroom and a storage area which became a computer room. Through the early 1990's, the computer room evolved into the Mathematics Computer Lab.

A class convenes in the Pit (circa 1947):