{"id":1214,"date":"2024-04-26T20:11:52","date_gmt":"2024-04-26T20:11:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kevinforsyth.net\/ELMAC\/?p=1214"},"modified":"2026-04-02T19:51:43","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T19:51:43","slug":"station-terrace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kevinforsyth.net\/ELMAC\/station-terrace\/","title":{"rendered":"The Experiment Station (1888) and Station Terrace (1892–1924)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Experimentation was a fundamental part of the Michigan Agricultural College from its founding, even more so when the Reorganization of 1861<\/a> \u201cexpressly provide[d] for agricultural experiments and for reports concerning them.\u201d Subsequent legislation built on this premise: the Morrill Land-Grant Act of 1862 provided \u201cfor the purchase of experimental farms, and for reports of experiments,\u201d and in 1885 an act of the state Legislature formally authorized M.A.C. to issue and distribute bulletins that reported the results of its experiments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it was the federal Hatch Act of 1887 that shifted agricultural research in the United States into high gear, when it provided $15,000 per year to each state that would create an agricultural experiment station as an adjunct to its land-grant agricultural college. On February 6, 1888, \u201cthe experiment station at the Michigan Agricultural College was organized under the provisions of the Hatch bill. Since then the experiment work which had been carried on by the College, has been conducted by the station.\u201d In addition to its on-campus work, the Experiment Station operated numerous test sites around the state including substations at Grayling and South Haven, among others.1<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Streetcar<\/a> waiting room (left) and Station Terrace (right), 1901. The following year, the waiting room was replaced by a larger \u201cPost Office & Trolley Station<\/a>.\u201d View is from the south. Image source: MSU Archives<\/a><\/span>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Thanks to its newfound funding and more unified status within the College, it became possible for the Experiment Station to provide housing for its research assistants. The result, Station Terrace, was designed by Edwyn Bowd<\/a>\u2014one of his earliest creations for the college, along with Old Botany<\/a>\u2014and built in 1892 at a cost of $3,500 in Experiment Station funds. It stood in the midst of Faculty Row<\/a> between the homes of the Professor of English (\u2116 6) and the Professor of Agriculture (\u2116 8), about where the southern end of the Abbot Entrance median is today.2<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Station Terrace had eight single rooms for its residents. As the majority of the researchers were unmarried men, the house was frequently referred to\u2014in print, at least\u2014as the \u201cbachelors\u2019 hall.\u201d In conversation it was often known by its nickname: the \u201cBull Pen.\u201d3<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On January 24, 1903, Station Terrace was severely damaged by fire caused by a defective chimney on the west end of the building. No one was injured, and although most of the damage was contained in the attic and the framing adjacent to the chimney, the building required extensive renovation. At the next meeting of the Board, Secretary A. M. Brown recommended conversion to a family house, and was tasked with investigating \u201cthe feasibility of fitting up Station Terrace so that it could be used by two families.\u201d The Board \u201cwent as far as to have the college architect [Bowd] prepare a sketch for the remodeling, but ultimately decided that they would derive more revenue and benefit from restoring the building to its former state with several apartments.\u201d4<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Station Terrace aka Post Office, 1912. The pre-addition roofline is visible in the differing shingle color above the projecting gable. Note how the addition, toward the left, stands in place of the west chimney which had caused the 1903 fire. Image source: MSU Archives<\/a><\/span>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In the summer of 1910, a new addition was added to the west side of Station Terrace, and later that year the U.S. Post Office moved from quarters in the nearby\u00a0trolley station<\/a>\u00a0and rented the entire first floor. This provided ample space for up to seven hundred post boxes, four customer service windows, and a separate sorting room to handle distribution of Experiment Station bulletins and other bulk mail. Upstairs, the Professor of Military Science and Tactics was assigned a pair of rooms, and the remainder were available to rent. At this point, given its main floor usage and that its upstairs residents were no longer exclusive to the Experiment Station, Station Terrace lost its original moniker and began to be known as \u201cthe post office.\u201d5<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1923, the Post Office\u2019s lease expired and it moved to a storefront at 211 E. Grand River Avenue<\/a>, where it remained until the\u00a0Old Post Office<\/a>\u00a0on Abbot Road was built.\u00a0This was in anticipation of a major campus beautification project the following year, when boulevards along the main highway (see\u00a0\u201cThe Elms\u201d<\/a>) and a new, formal north entrance (now Abbot Entrance) were constructed. Along with the campus\u00a0streetcar<\/a>\u00a0spur, built in 1897, several frame buildings stood in the path of progress including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n