George Washington Wilson was born 27 March 1845 in Montery, Highland Virginia. He traveled out West to seek his fame and fortune. Married Martha Viola Potter Atkinson(1859-1888) 25 December 1875 in San Bernardino, San Bernardino, California. They had six children William Robert Wilson(1875-1956), Bertha Viola Wilson(1877-1910), Clara Olive Wilson (1879-1967), George Washington Wilson Jr(1881-1925), Maude Wilson(1883-1940), James Elbert Wilson(1888-1963). He died 27 February 1916 in Florence, Pinal, Arizona and is buried in the Tempe Arizona Double Butte Cemetery.

Around 1883, Tempe’s town fathers, including Judge Charles Trumbull Hayden was first lobbying the Territorial legislature for a normal school, he knew that his chances would improve if the land for the proposed school was a gift to the territory. The bill to create the normal School would provided $5,000 for construction and $3,500 for two years operation expenses. However, the community of Tempe had to donate a site to the Territory for the school. The land Hayden wanted belonged to pioneer George Washington Wilson, a Tempe butcher of modest means who kept cattle on a 20 acre pasture awaiting slaughter. Hayden felt this was the perfect site for a normal school-five acres just south of Eighth Street (today’s University Drive). The five-acre plot, which was described as “a half-cleared patch of ground watered by the original Wilson Ditch…with a little trampled and thirsty alfalfa on it and plenty of cactus, creosote and mesquite grove,” was part of Wilson’s 20-acre pasture. Originally the bill had required a donation of only 5 acres. Funds were raised by the townsfolk in Tempe to purchase five acres of the pasture of George and Martha Wilson for $500. But apparently unknown opponents to the idea of a normal school raised the requirement to 20 acres before the bill was finalized. In the spirit that has characterized so many of the citizens of Tempe, then and throughout the history of Tempe, the Wilsons gave up their entire 20 acres. In reality, they endowed the new school with 15 acres. Thus allowing 33 students to meet in a single room.

The institution opened the doors to it's four room school building for the first class of 33 students on February 8, 1886. The Normal School's original mission was to train teachers to serve in Arizona's public schools, and graduates were awarded a teaching certificate. Tuition was waived for all students who would sign a contract promising they would seek employment at those institutions.

Without George Washington Wilson, there would be no Wilson Hall today—and there would be no ASU. Their cattle grazed on the school grounds for several years after the school opened in 1886, and Wilson strengthened his ties with the future university by working as maintenance supervisor for 25 years, until his death in 1916. During his years as caretaker—and security officer—he built a corral for the horse teams of the Normal School students. Tragedy struck the generous butcher in 1885, when the Wilson’s two-story house at the foot of Hayden Butte burned, and again in 1888, when his wife died in childbirth and left him to rear their six children alone.

In 1956, Wilson Hall was dedicated as a women’s residence and memorial to ASU's first benefactor. Just as progress changed pastureland to campus, growth transformed Wilson Hall from dormitory to office and classroom building in 1972. Today Wilson Hall houses offices for the College of Public Programs and the Graduate College. There’s a bronze plaque at the entry to the College of Public Programs commemorating the dedication of the building.