History of the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology

Morrill Hall
1868 - 1870

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"The first laboratories of chemistry at Cornell were in the basement of Morrill Hall. There appears to be now no available information as to the precise amount and arrangement of the space or as to the equipment, although it is known that the space was very limited and was poorly designed for use as a laboratory. The light was poor, the ceilings were low, and the ventilation was bad. Individual experimentation was reduced to a minimum; the class cooperated in making experiments and analyses. It is probable that the close association of students with one another and with the professors compensated in large measure for the handicaps imposed by inadequate space and equipment. Perhaps the limitations of space and supplies were a factor in leading Professor Caldwell to work with minimum amounts of material and thus to become one of the pioneers in the development of what we now call semi-micro analytical methods.

The Universi ty Library was also in Morrill Hall, on the floor directly above the chemical laboratories. It is recorded that the smells from the laboratory caused considerable complaint by the users of the library. This may have been one of the reasons why other quarters for chemistry remote from the library were soon provided." (Chamot and Rhodes, 1937)

" In a report from the building committee to the Board Of Trustees dated March 4, 1886, it is stated that:

As to Laboratories, the university will undoubtedly, at an early period, be obliged to erect a separate building on a large scale. Into the department of chemistry nearly all of the branches of the university converge. It is common to the departments of agriculture, mechanic arts, mining, civil engineering, and general science. The institution must possess one of the largest and best, and, if possible, the largest and best laboratory in the country. It should be constructed under the guidance of the head of the department of chemistry.

Two of the four signatories of that report were Andrew D White and Ezra Cornell, which indicates the elevated importance with which chemistry was viewed from the earliest beginnings of the University. Their view explains why two of the first four professors hired were the chemists James M. Craft and George C. Caldwell. The report went on to recommend that this grand building be postponed and that the department of chemistry be housed in temporary quarters.

White had graduated from Yale in 1850 and while there developed an intense dislike of the square and stiff brick-factory style prevalent in its older buildings. Before he graduated, Yale had rejected its earlier design esthetics and moved to stone Gothic Revival construction. White embraced this change and he was determined that Cornells buildings would follow it.

The contract for construction of Morrill Hall, known at the time simply as Building No. 1, was let in March, 1866. It was completed in 1868 at a construction and outfitting cost of $63,575. Even if this amount is converted to 2001 dollars, the equivalent cost of ca. $650,000 is still incredibly cheap and attests to the buildings limitations. Morrill Hall contained about 40,000 gross square feet divided between dormitory space and class rooms. Following the concept introduced at Yale, the teaching space was placed in the center third of the building in order to reduce the interaction between the dormitory rooms and the mischief, it was believed, that proximity would engender. There was no running water it had to be hauled from the campus well. There was no central heating and no central building ventilation and of course no electricity. Morrill Hall is split level with steps that lead up to first floor and steps down to the basement rooms. The University library was on the first floor in the center section. The basement space below it was used for chemistry laboratories. Ventilation was possible through the windows at ground level and openings into the library and reading rooms above. The façade follows the Gothic Revival style.

It has been written that Crafts left Cornell in 1869 after one year because of the difficult winters in Ithaca. Perhaps the real motivation was the difficulty in carrying out in these facilities the metallo-organic reactions that interested him and that eventually made him world-famous." (Wilcox, 2004)