Grainger Library and the Early History of the University of Illinois

Mechanical Building

The history of the site of the Grainger Engineering Library Information Center is intertwined with the history of North Campus, the cradle of the University of Illinois itself. One of the first buildings on campus, Mechanical Building and Drill Hall , was erected in 1871 on the spot where Grainger sits today. The above photograph was taken in the late 1880s, with the camera facing east along an unpaved Springfield Avenue. As the name implied, Mechanical Building and Drill Hall served a dual function: the lower floor was an industrial shop, whereas the upper floor provided the Department of Military Science with space for military drills, which were required at all Land Grant Universities. The interior shot below shows men at work in the shops on the ground floor of Mechanical Building (as it was known 1887-1891) in the late 1880s

Woodshop

The building underwent several name changes; however, its functions remained largely constant until June 1900 when fire destroyed the structure. Because the spacious gallery on the second floor had hosted many commencements, almost overnight the University had to devise an alternate site for the commencement exercises of 1900.

Even before fire razed the Mechanical Building and Drill Hall, North Campus and the University at large were growing and changing. Construction on Engineering Hall began in 1893 and was completed in 1895. Engineering Hall increased classroom and office space for North Campus; furthermore, it provided quarters for the Engineering Library for many decades. Architecturally, the new building provided a focal point for North Campus around which future construction would be planned. Below one sees Engineering Hall under construction, with Mechanical Building and Drill Hall, New Drill Hall (today Kenney Gym Annex) and the Arboretum are in the background.

Engineering Hall

The tremendous growth on North Campus at the turn of the century signified that even at that time science and technology programs were top priority at the University. From the beginnings of the University to the present, the faculty and administration, with occasional help from the commercial sector, have lobbied the General Assembly of Illinois for funds to expand scientific programs at the University to keep them competititve. Humanity of the last decades before World War I believed in progress, which was well exemplified at the University of Illinois, especially on North Campus. The next two photographs recall the optimism and faith in industry that drove the men and women of this period to lofty achievements that made the University of Illinois great.

Locomotive Laboratory

Although the Locomotive Laboratory , built in 1912, was not a fancy building, it offered researchers first-rate opportunities to study railroading, revolutionary transportation that had sharply cut travel time and transformed nearby Chicago from a sleepy lakefront burg into a major city and seat of industry in and increasingly populous state. The Metal Shops, pictured below at the end of World War I, allowed students and faculty to study the properties of metals, the quintessential raw material of the industrial era.

Metals Shop

A picture of the Ceramics Building below in 1918 brings this recollection to a close. As the University has grown, more buildings have appeared on campus with very specific functions. Standing today, the Ceramics Building depicts continuity between past and present: students of the 1990s study ceramics within its brick walls as did their predecessors, albeit with far more sophisticated equipment. Moreover, like their predecessors, the scholars within this building constitute part of a larger community on North Campus, and the University of Illinois as a whole, that have formed a heritage of excellence that the Grainger Engineering Library Information Center has inherited.

Ceramics Building