SWEENEY HALL

The first unit of the complex now called Sweeney Hall was the south section known for years as the Chemical Engineering Building. It was built in 1927 at a cost of $55,000. Before that date the curriculum had been taught in Engineering Annex and in the basement of Gilman Hall. The original building is described by Lionel K. Arnold:¹

The new building was a two-story concrete and steel structure, about 100 feet long by 70 feet wide, faced on the outside with red brick with white stone trim and finished on the inside with concrete bricks. The center part of the building extended up through the second floor with a total height of thirty-five feet. Except for a narrow row of laboratories across the west end and another laboratory on part of the north side, the second floor formed a balcony around the open space in the center. Several points in the design were put in at Dr. Sweeney’s insistance. The balcony around the first floor center allowed the use of tall equipment for pilot plant work. The unpainted concrete bricks on the interior provided good acoustics. A firehouse-type brass pole allowed quick access to the first floor from the balcony. To ensure good drainage part of the first floor was slanted towards the floor drains to such an extent that it was very noticeable to a person walking over it. There were no classrooms in the building which was designed primarily for research.

In 1930 it was reported that “A wing of the Chemical Engineering building was built in 1926-27 when 139 students were enrolled in the department. Last year the enrollment had grown to 244 and it is impossible to carry on the teaching and the research in agricultural waste utilization in this building.”² The following year the sum of $15,000 was made available to provide an addition to the building.

Construction of the new wing to the north was started in July 1931 and completed that fall. It is a one story building, without basement, and provided a “general laboratory, a smaller research laboratory, a classroom, three office rooms, and a chemical storage room.”³

In 1958 an appropriation of $2,500,000 was requested for an Engineering Building. In 1961 the legislature made an appropriation of $1,255,000 for the project. The architect was retained in August of that year; construction contracts were awarded in July 1962. Acceptance of the building from the contractors was formalized on March 13, 1964.

On that same date the Board named the new building “Orland Russell Sweeney Hall”. Since then the name Sweeney Hall has been extended to include the earlier parts of the building.

The new building was designed and built to allow for a possible addition of three more floors.⁴ It was dedicated on May 23, 1964.