Historical Buildings- Geology

History

To counter increased enrollments brought about by the influx of military trainees on campus during World War I, the federal government appropriated funds for constructing barracks. Generally, the government expected the barracks to be semi-temporary wooden structures. President Peterson, however, convinced Utah Governor Simon Bamberger to augment the federal appropriation with additional state funds for the construction of permanent brick buildings. The Governor and Legislature agreed with the President’s assessment that the brick buildings could easily be renovated for classroom use following the war, and authorized the expenditure of $80,000 to erect the Engineering Building, later named for Dean of the School of Agricultural Engineering Ray B. West, and the Plant Science Building, now Geology, located at the northeast corner of the Quad. The Legislature had already appropriated $55,000 for the Animal Science Building, to the west of Plant Science. By 1920, all three buildings were available for use by the College. This infusion of brick and mortar nearly doubled the size of the campus, and according to historian Joel E. Ricks “definitely anchored the College on the Hill.”

Students studying animal husbandry, dairying, and range management moved into the Live-stock, or Animal Science building, while agronomy, botany, plant pathology, and horticulture students occupied the Plant Industry Building. Much more spacious and modern than the previous cramped quarters of Old Main, these new facilities, coupled with the existing barns, Stock Judging Pavilion, Poultry Yard, greenhouses, and orchards, rivaled any in the western United States.