Horticultural Building — “Old Horticulture” (1925)

Horticulture Building, rear view with greenhouses, as seen from the roof of Agriculture Hall in an undated photo. The water tower on the horizon is supplying the Strathmore subdivision, new in 1925. Photo Credit: M.S.U. Archives.

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 a wide range of subdisciplines such as pomology, floriculture, and landscape gardening, and its graduates carried their knowledge throughout the nation with professorial appointments at the agricultural colleges of more than twenty states from Maine to Washington. Continuing that tradition, Harry J. Eustace (M.A.C. ’01, M.Hort. ’11, Chair of the Horticulture Department 1908–1919) contributed his expertise in fruit storage and transport to the Perishable Food Division of the Federal Food Administration during the First World War.[Minutes, 11 Nov 1874, p. 265. MSU Hort.. MAC Record, 24(29), 9 May 1919, pp. 4–5]

After the war, the early 1920s was “a time of expanding markets for perishable fruits and vegetables.” But M.A.C., already on the forefront of research in that area, needed new facilities to keep pace. The original Horticulture Lab, today named for Professor Eustace, was much too small and outdated. M.A.C. President David Friday, a month into his term in 1922, announced:

The next Legislature will be asked to appropriate funds for the construction of a new Horticultural Building, including cold storage facilities and commercial greenhouses. In the older fields of instruction the work in horticulture and in economics will be reorganized and expanded with a view to making the Michigan Agricultural College a leader in both these fields in the United States.[MAC Record, 27(30), 19 May 1922, p. 4]

This effort succeeded when the 1923 Legislature provided the College with a $400,000 appropriation. The building was designed by Edwyn Bowd and Orlie Munson, one of the earliest commissions for the new partnership along with the Library Building. The 40,000-square-foot building in a simple Collegiate Gothic style was ready for occupancy in 1925 and was completed under budget. A substantial complex of greenhouses was included behind the main building, extending south nearly to the Second Dairy Building.[Stanford, p. 75. Physical Plant Data Book, p. 42]

“By 1925 the horticulture department offered twenty-two full-term courses, including three-term sequences in commercial floriculture, herbaceous crops, and advanced pomology.” The department granted its first doctorate in 1927, to Howard Dexter Brown whose thesis was on “Effects of Paper Wrappers on the Physical and Chemical Properties of Fresh Horticultural Products.”[Widder, p. 122. Minutes, 23 Jul 1927, p. 714]

The Horticulture Department remained here until the completion of the Plant and Soil Sciences Building in 1986, at which time this building was renamed as “Old Horticulture.” Several smaller departments, such as Romance Languages, made their homes here. The greenhouses were razed in 1998 for a parking lot, but the site has since been replanted as an expansion of Benefactors Plaza, which stands where the horticulture department’s demonstration gardens were formerly sited.

In 2012, Romance Languages moved to the current Wells Hall to join the other language departments. The Department of History, in December of that year, moved into Old Hort from Morrill Hall, the last to vacate that building before it was razed five months later. After the move, the department’s website posted this mixed review:

Old Hort lacks some of the charm of Morrill. Gone are the high ceilings, hardwood floors, large windows looking out at the green, and spacious offices. But Old Hort has proven to have some advantages. The heating system works well, there are no rats, bats or birds inside the building, and the offices, though smaller, are comfortable and roomy enough for multiple bookcases.[MSU History dept.]