Category: M.A.C. Buildings

When College Hall was built, it was intended as one wing of a more substantial edifice, “with a large central structure and two detached wings.” Limited funds led to the construction of only the west wing in 1856. It was soon discovered that experiments and demonstrations conducted in the chemistry lab, in the north end of College…

The first Veterinary Laboratory was built in 1885 on a site about where the intersection of West Circle Drive and Auditorium Road is today. It was designed by William P. Appleyard, who submitted plans for the Armory and Faculty Row № 10 at that same time. On its first floor was an operating room where students received clinical instruction. The second…

Soon after the completion of its first Veterinary Laboratory in 1885, the Michigan Agricultural College pressed for “a curriculum leading to the degree of Veterinary Surgeon. The Board asked for an appropriation of $10,000 for a veterinary infirmary in 1891 in order to expand the clinical work for such a curriculum. The appropriation failed and the project…

Experimentation was a fundamental part of the Michigan Agricultural College from its founding, even more so when the Reorganization of 1861 “expressly provide[d] for agricultural experiments and for reports concerning them.” Subsequent legislation built on this premise: the Morrill Land-Grant Act of 1862 provided “for the purchase of experimental farms, and for reports of experiments,” and in…

The first Botany Lab was built in 1880 on the north side of the Botanic Garden, on a site just east of where Circle IM stands today. It was the first building erected in the United States expressly for the purpose of botanical study, and was designed by the architectural firm of Watkins & Arnold, which had previously…

When the Lansing City Electric Railway Company extended its streetcar tracks onto campus in 1897, the College built a small waiting room at the terminus north of Faculty Row № 6. It was a necessary expedient but woefully undersized, particularly when the streetcar service saw its ridership rapidly increase thanks to its improved convenience for students. The “Post Office and…

Liberty Hyde Bailey is often credited with designing this building, the first separate horticulture laboratory in the United States. Even the historic marker mounted by the front entrance makes this claim. However, this is not exactly true. Professor Bailey provided the general design concepts for the laboratory, and then a professional architect—William P. Appleyard—incorporated those elements…

Horticulture arose at the Michigan Agricultural College as a subdiscipline of botany, and was first separated as its own department in 1883 under Professor James Satterlee (M.A.C. ’69, M.S. ’74). After two years Satterlee resigned and was replaced by Professor Liberty Hyde Bailey (M.A.C. ’82, M.S. ’86), “who later became known as the ‘Dean of American Horticulture.’” The department undertook research into…

The first student dormitory on campus, this building did not have an official name during its lifetime and was variously known by such generic terms as “the hall” and “the home.” The name “Saints’ Rest,” after a popular religious book of the time,† was not applied to the building until after it burned down during the…