CHEMICAL AND PHYSICAL LABORATORY

This building stood at what is now the south end of Pearson Hall.

The first request for a separate laboratory was made by President Elect Welch in 1868 when room arrangements for the Main building were still being developed. He expressed the need again in 1870:

The Sophomore Class, 80 in number, will commence the study of Chemistry next spring and continue (general and analytical) through the year. There is an appropriation of $2,000, made by the Trustees at the annual meeting, for Chemical apparatus, but no room in the building for a laboratory. Indeed there is no proper place for a laboratory in a building in which students eat and sleep.

The only relief from this dilemma that I can devise is to fix up a rough structure which stands near Prof. Jones house and is now used as a Carpenter Shop and to occupy it temporarily for a laboratory until a small brick building convenient for the purpose can be put up.¹

An appropriation of $5,000 provided for the “small brick building”. It was described as follows: “This building, 30 x 60 feet, one story high, with a basement fitted up for lecture-rooms, and with convenient rooms above was entirely finished for $4,996.40. The walls are made thick, so that the roof may be raised for an additional story when the necessary means are provided.”²

In November of 1871 the Trustees appointed a committee “to examine all of the expenditures and bills for the erection of the Chemical Laboratory.” It can be assumed that the building was then completed.

In the same year the President requested funds for construction of a Physical Laboratory. It was 1872, however, before funds became available, and then an inadequate sum for the finished building. During that year the basement and foundation were excavated, a start was made on the stone foundation walls, and some site drainage work was accomplished. In May 1874 the Trustees authorized President Welch to contract for brick and stone for the building.

In July 1874 bids for construction of the building were received. Hugh Brown’s low bid of $13,500 was accepted. In November an additional $110 was authorized for the steps and portico.

The new Physical Laboratory was erected at the east end of the Chemical Laboratory, with the main entrance facing east. At the completion of the new section, in January 1875, the Board authorized the expenditure of an additional $500 “For the purpose of bringing the old laboratory building into proper working connection with the new”.³ Total cost for the building came to $24,850, just $150 below the authorized appropriation.

The building is described in the 6th Biennial Report (1874-75):

In size it is seventy feet long, by forty in breadth, and three stories and a half high, including the basement. This building, together with the old laboratory which joins it, affords commodious apartments for the purpose for which it was designed.

The basement of the new portion contains a boiler for heating the entire building, and valuable machinery for working in iron; power being transmitted from the workshop by means of an endless wire rope. The old laboratory and the first floor of the new, are occupied solely by the department of Chemistry. The rooms are furnished with tables; gas, water, and all conveniences needed in a first class chemical laboratory. The second floor is occupied by the department of Physics. An excellent lecture room well furnished, occupies the south half of the floor, and rooms for the physical cabinet and private work the remainder. The upper floor is lighted by skylights from the roof, and furnishes an excellent drawing room for the Mechanical Department, and a room to be used as an observatory.

In 1891 a second floor was added to the original building, built by W.B. Christie, a Des Moines contractor. This provided space for Electrical Engineering as well as added space for the Mechanical and Chemistry departments. The following year steam heat was brought to the laboratory.

Repairs and improvements were made in 1903. By 1909 the building was overcrowded and requests were made for additional space for Chemistry. The following year the Board authorized a third floor on the west wing.

On the night of March 25, 1913, fire of undetermined origin totally destroyed the laboratory.