Miner Hall was constructed in 1891 to serve as headquarters for the School of Theology. It was named for A.A. Miner, second president of Tufts College and the major donor to the project. Miner had donated $40,000 to Tufts in order to build an adequate home for the School of Theology, which had previously been squeezed into Ballou Hall. The sole stipulation of the grant was that funds be raised for an accompanying dormitory, and the subsequent drive resulted in the construction of Paige Hall, immediately next door.
The School of Theology would remain in Miner Hall until 1910, when it was converted to house all of the Jackson Colleges facilities, and Theology was moved out of the building. With the onset of World War I, Miner and many other buildings on the Tufts Campus, were given over to the United States military for use in the war effort and were not returned to Tufts until the end of the war.
Between 1927 and 1929, Miner was again renovated and the newly remodeled first floor was designated as the home of the Crane School of Religion. Miner remained home to Crane until 1955, when the building was split to include space for the Department of Modern Languages, which would later be moved to East Hall. Since then Miner has also served as home to part of the History Department, which vacated its offices in Miner when the opening of the Olin Center freed up additional space in East Hall. Surviving a slew of renovations and even a small fire in 1991, Miner remains in use today. It currently houses the Departments of Philosophy and Religion, and also serves as headquarters to the Experimental College.