Engineering Shops (1885—1916)

First Engineering Shops, no later than 1909. Square smokestack at left is of the first boiler house, beyond. Photo Credit: Beal, p. 148.

The Land Grant Act of 1862 had specified the teaching of “such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts,” but it was not until 1885 that the Michigan Agricultural College initiated a two-year course in Mechanic Arts. This soon expanded into a four-year Mechanical course, which ultimately evolved into the Department of Mechanical Engineering.

To support the Mechanic Arts program, a sizable complex of Engineering Shops, also known as the Mechanical Building, was assembled. Professor Rolla Carpenter designed and supervised construction of the shops in 1885, and took part in planning the course of study for the new mechanical course. He designed the iron and wood shops “as places where students might learn by actual practice more than by demonstration,” and even supervised the afternoon sessions. At first, the work had a self-stoking character:

The shops became a factory engaged primarily in the production of new tools for the shops. In the first year, students began with a few sets of hand tools, a drill, a shaper, a planer, lathes, and a twelve horse-power steam engine. In the next ten years they created larger lathes, a band saw, a dynamo to light the building, an electric motor, a traveling crane and hydraulic hoist, forges for the blacksmith shop, a twenty horse-power steam engine, and, in 1894, an 8x13x12 compound [steam] engine.[Kuhn, p. 148]

The shops caught fire on March 5, 1916, burning to the ground and taking the nearby Engineering Building (built 1907) with them. “Salvage was negligible. From the older shops a few lathes were saved. The rest was ashes and twisted metal.”[Kuhn, p. 266]

Engineering Shops (1916—1966)

That same year, thanks to the generosity of Ransom E. Olds, new buildings for the Shops as well as the Forge and Foundry were built along with the new Olds Engineering Hall. All were designed by Edwyn Bowd.

The main Engineering Shops replacement, built 1916. View is from the north, with Olds Hall at right. Although this image appears in the M.S.C. Properties Survey of 1934, it is older than that since the square chimney of the first boiler house was torn down around 1923. Photo Credit: M.S.U. Physical Plant.

Replacement Forge and Foundry, circa 1934, viewed from the railroad spur trestle. In the background are the rear (south) faces of 2nd Wells (left) and Olds Hall (center). At far right is the two-story south wing of Olds, added 1932 and demolished 1968. Photo Credit: M.S.U. Physical Plant.

These replacement buildings were, for the next five decades, at the heart of an extensive engineering and industrial complex to the east and south of Olds Hall. The complex also included the third Power Plant, separate labs for Chemical Engineering and Electrical Engineering, Stores warehouses and a service garage, and the offices of the Grounds Department and Campus Police. Most of these were torn down during 1966–68 to clear the area for the Hannah Administration Building. Only Olds Hall and the Electrical Engineering Building, now called the Computer Center, remain.