3 BUILDINGS AND BUDGETS 



/k 



61 





Old Main in 1888. It was constructed for a total cost of $1,652 in just under three months' time. MBL Archives. 



success. These trustees, who had made themselves legally and financially 

 responsible for the Laboratory, worried about Whitman's enthusiasm for 

 expansion. Only later did the Laboratory begin to acquire other gifts of land, 

 including their first piece of wateriront property in 1902. After that, various 

 gifts and purchases, most notably from Charles R. Crane, extended the MBL 

 holdings cind made expansion more secure. 



Besides augmenting the MBL's operating budget, Crane also donated 

 funds to the MBL to construct a new laboratory building, the Crane Build- 

 ing, which was erected in 1913-1914 as the first permanent (brick) MBL 

 structvire. In the dedication speech for that new building. Crane also 

 proudly referred to the spirit of research that inspired him to want to 

 contribute. "Without that spirit no amount of bricks and mortar and 

 organization would be of any great service, but with that spirit the laboratory 

 has been able to accomplish a great deal with very simple means." That 

 spirit represented ft-eedom and cooperation and democracy. Crane con- 

 tinued, and the time had come to give it "a more substantial body." 



