XVI MAINE AGRICUI.TURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 



HOLMES HALL (EXPERIMENT STATION BUILDING) 



The Maine Fertilizer control and Agricultural Experiment 

 Station was established by the Maine legislature of 1885, which 

 appropriated the sum of $5,000 a year for its maintenance. No 

 provision, however, was made for a building for its accom- 

 modation. Although it was established as an independent insti- 

 tution, the trustees of the State College offered it quarters. The 

 Board of Managers gladly accepted the offer. A laboratory was 

 provided in Fernald Hall and an office in Wingate Hall — the 

 wooden building, since burned, which stood where the present 

 Wingate Hall is located. This State Station was maintained 

 until the passage by Congress of the Hatch Bill in 1887 plac A 

 at the disposal of the University the sum of $15,000 annually 

 for the maintenance of an Agricultural Experiment Station, 

 after which it was discontinued. 



The increase in the funds available for th'e support of a sta- 

 tion permitted a considerable increase in the staff of investiga- 

 tion, and a consequent increase in its work, which made in- 

 a'eased laboratory and office facilities imperative. To meet this 

 demand, it was decided to erect a new building for the exclu- 

 sive use of the Station, to be located upon the slight elevation 

 to the east of Coburn Hall, one of the very best sites upon -he 

 campus. This building was constructed in 1887. It was built 

 of brick with granite trimmings, and was two stories in height, 

 with a one-story ell. In 1899 the building was enlarged by add 

 ing a wing to the south side, thus providing much needed space 

 for food laboratories and the director's office. In the latter 

 was placed the greater part of the station library of about 1,700 

 volumes. 



In accordance with the plan when the building was enlarged 

 in 1899, a wing was added on the north side in 1903. This addi- 

 tion restored the symmetry of the building from the front. 

 The structure thus completed was in the form of a rectangle 

 46x82 feet with a reentrant angle at the southeast corner. This 

 north wing was used for a time as a recitation room by the Col- 

 lege of Agriculture. With the passage of the Adams Act in 

 1906 the increase in the staff necessitated the Station occupying 

 the whole of the building. 



