EMERGENCY HALL

Built south of Old Main, west of English Office Building.

When Old Main was largely destroyed by fire in December, 1900, it became immediately necessary to provide new classroom space. On December 21 the State Executive Council appropriated $10,000 for a temporary building. A contract was awarded to H.W. Schleuter on January 3, 1901, for $8000.¹ Work was completed in March and a contemporary account describes the activity:

One bright morning, early in the new year, forty men gathered on the spot west of the president’s office, and by night the foundation for a new building had sprung up. The next day, and still the next, was the work continued – each day with a crowd of men that reminded the interested spectators of a raising bee in “ye olden times”, when all of the neighbors came from miles around to lend a helping hand, Finally, at the end of thirty days, a long, low building was the latest addition to the campus. Almost immediately it was christened Emergency Hall; but it has since been re-christened and nicknamed until almost any strange name is supposed to belong to it. To those who still retain a trace of the “blanket stage” it is known as “The wigwam”, while others call it “Prexie’s greenhouse”.

This building was erected at a cost of $10,000, and is but a temporary structure, planned to be used about two years, or until the magnificent new recitation hall can be erected upon the site of Old Main. The cost was great because of the limited time required for its construction. According to the contract for each day the building was completed before a certain date the contractor received $50. Four days before the specified time the building was finished and, according to agreement, the contractor received $200.

The building is 170 feet long and 52 feet wide, and contains ten large rooms, three of which are used as offices. It is heated from Old Main and is wired for electric lights. Each room is furnished with neat “black-boards”, which are made of paper and covered with prepared slating; likewise with new chairs, teachers’ desks and tables. The principal features of recommendation are its convenient arrangement and good lighting.

Although Emergency Hall is but a temporary structure, and not particularly pleasing in appearance, it furnishes a home for the classes and tells louder than words could do of the energy and push of the college in overcoming difficulties.²

Mr. Schleuter’s bill for $8200 was approved by the Board on March 13, 1901.

When the second fire completely destroyed Old Main in August 1902 it became necessary to add more classrooms to Emergency Hall. Quick action followed with award of a contract to Schleuter for $4675 for eight classrooms and an additional $150 to include two offices.³ The ISC Student for Sept. 13, 1902 reported:

An addition consisting of six large recitation rooms has been added to Emergency Hall and will be ready for occupancy about the first of the week. The west end of the building has been extended and now reaches within thirty feet of the Physics Building. The building as it now stands is about 270 feet long. Fortunately, the heating plant at the west end of Old Main was not damaged by the fire and Morrill Hall and all of Emergency Hall will be heated from the old plant.

The building was far from satisfactory as is pointed out in the Biennial Report for 1902-03:

“Emergency Hall” is rightly named for it is the cause as well as the result of emergency. Its walls are unplastered and its rooms are narrow and noisy. At times during the day no less than six hundred students gather in the main hall preceding class hour, unavoidably making much confusion and disturbing classes in session. The classes reciting in emergency hall have a total enrollment of 2,979. The efficiency of the work is thereby crippled, and the wear on the patience and energy of the teacher as well as students is great. We must get out of “Emergency Hall” and into the new central hall now building at the earliest possible moment.

After the building was torn down in 1906 a poem appeared in the ISC Student, of September 10, 1906, that serves as an epitaph.

TO "EMERGENCY" HALL

Let others sing of marbled halls,
Of oaken stairs and pictured walls;
But dearer far it is to me
To praise despised "Emergency."
Long and narrow, worn and low,
With its windows all arow,
There it stood, the scorn of all,
Waiting for its own down-fall.

Daily thru its echoing halls,
We've heard the voices and foot-falls
Of Seniors wise and Freshmen green,
Of Juniors, and Sophomores serene.
Here Seniors met to walk and talk,
And Sophomores went to get their "calk",
Juniors, to lecture and debate,
And Freshmen, to learn to demonstrate.
You tell me it has only served its day!
I know it, and you may have your way'
But remember this if you are wise,
"Great men from Emergencies arise."

An Alumnus.