During the early mid-1880s, the Holy Cross priests experimented with private rooms for upperclassmen with high academic grades and the results were positive.

Originally intended to be called Collegiate Hall, when the cornerstone was uncovered for the ceremony, Father Sorin discovered that the dormitory was to be named in his honor.

The first student to reserve a room in the hall was Joe Cusack, who played halfback for the inaugural Notre Dame football team and varsity quarterback a year later.

[16] Space for the law department, founded in 1866, was situated on the south side of the first floor; classes had previously been taught in the Main Building.

Professor “Colonel” William Hoynes, chair of the law department and one of the early bachelor dons, was housed to the south of the front door.

He once happened to be the target of one of the numerous student pranks in the early 1900s who dumped buckets of water on people leaving the building.

All four of the famed Four Horsemen (Harry Stuhldreher, Don Miller, Jim Crowley, and Elmer Layden) lived in Sorin Hall for at least one year during their college careers.

[22] The coat of arms features a blue field with a chevron between a sun, a scallop, and a crown and an otter on a chief flory-counter-flory.

"Although traditionally a wanderer on the ND campus, Father Sorin's present disappearance has lasted so long that concern is arising that it may be a permanent one" [Scholastic issue 01/16/1953, page 13].

The statue claimed to have attended some of the year's most important events such as Dwight D. Eisenhower's Inauguration, Queen Elizabeth II's Coronation, and Joseph Stalin's funeral.

I'd heard he'd even had an audience with the Pope, and that he'd returned of the back of an elephant," said alumnus Pat Williams, class of 1963, in a 1984 Notre Dame Magazine article.

The hollow statue was filled with concrete and connected to a base with steel rods, which were in turn soldered to the floor in the main entrance.

[25] The Otters stated that this was in protest of changes to the rally format brought on by commercialization and a desire to include alumni in what was once mainly a student activity.

Sorin is the only dormitory on campus to have its own walking tour, highlighting many of the historically interesting rooms and areas that throughout the course of its history have either been the home to important Notre Dame individuals, as with room 011, the "Captain's Corner," or institutions, as with the first-floor wing that at one time housed Notre Dame Law School.

Many Otters participate in Bengal Bouts, the university boxing program that raises money for Notre Dame charities in Bangladesh.

In 2022, as part of the hall's extensive renovation, a student-operated food sales establishment was introduced in the 1st-floor lounge, offering a convenient dining option for Notre Dame students.

Named "Eddy's Late Night Eats" in honor of Edward Sorin, the food sales caters to late-night cravings, operating during the hours of 11:30 p.m. to 2:15 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.