After a severe fire destroyed the auditorium portion of the building in 1953, a new Phi Beta Kappa Memorial Hall was opened in 1956.

A. C. Chandler, the President of William & Mary, proposed the construction of Phi Beta Kappa Memorial Hall in 1919 and the college's Board of Visitors approved the plan in 1923.

[3] W. A. R. Goodwin, a professor at the college and the Episcopalian rector of the nearby Bruton Parish Church, had envisioned a restoration program in Williamsburg to promote a homogenous interpretation of American history since at least 1905.

In February 1924, Goodwin met philanthropist John D. Rockefeller Jr. (who had been a member of PBK at Brown University) at a banquet for Phi Beta Kappa in New York City.

[2]: 8, 17–18 [4]: 28 The cornerstone of Phi Beta Kappa Memorial Hall was laid on June 3, 1925, during a ceremony which featured a Masonic rite.

Partially convinced by Goodwin's plan, Rockefeller agreed to fund sketches by the architects of Perry, Shaw & Hepburn of possible restoration work.

Ewell, who is buried on the college's campus, had served in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.

College president Katherine Rowe defended the decision, saying "Ewell’s story is one we should honor and share because of his actions, over many years, to resist Secession and undo the depredations of slavery, before and after the war".

[1] Prior to the construction of the now-Ewell Hall and its auditorium, the Wren Building's chapel was where the college's theater productions were staged.