In Morrill Hall, where history associate Professor Anne Meyering spends most of the day preparing her lectures, there lies a history more than a century old.
The 107-year-old building where Meyering works wasn't always used for professors' offices and for the history and English departments.
It once was the home of 120 women — the first place on campus built for them to live.
"Before that, women could attend Michigan State and could take courses, but there was no housing for them," Meyering said.
And the words Morrill Hall weren't always written above the door.
At the turn of the 20th century, MSU students knew it as the Women's Building, cheekily nicknamed "the coop" because it housed only women.
While the historic building's past is certain — retold in black-and-white photographs or documented in history books — its future is not so clear.
By 2020, Morrill Hall is slated for possible demolition because the wooden beams and pillars holding up the building are lik Achilles' heel," said Jeff Kacos, director of campus planning and administration.
"We expect the decision to be made to remove it," Kacos said. "When you look at the wood frame structure, it's a fatal flaw."
'More than a relic'
More than a century ago, the first group of women moved into Morrill Hall.
In 1896, MSU was a college with a student population of fewer than 400, said East Lansing historian Keith Widder. Yet by 1900, Morrill Hall was at the heart of campus.
"It's one of the most significant buildings because of the story that it holds," said Widder, who spent three years writing a book, "Michigan Agricultural College."
That story tells how women began fitting into college life for the first time once they had a dormitory of their own.
"A lot of the history of women at MSU is in this building," Meyering said.
Before Morrill Hall, enrollment numbers for women remained low because of the lack of housing options.
But after the Women's Building was finished, the number of female graduates rose, increasing from three in 1900 to 45 three years later, according to the catalogues of the State Agricultural College — records now held at University Archives and Historical Collections.
By 1920, 66 women were enrolled in the summer session alone, according to a report in the college's 1919-20 catalogue.
Inside the all-female dormitory, women could listen to piano concerts or lectures in the second-floor parlor, play basketball in the gymnasium and attend classes, Widder said.
Morrill Hall even had a woodworking shop and classrooms to teach women how to manage their households — from eating the right foods to caring for their sick families.
A class schedule might have included cooking and sewing — even physics, botany or chemistry, which men and women would have studied together.
"It offered a chance for women to get a scientific-based education they could use, whether it was in the home or in the workplace," Widder said. "Women who took this course could go out into the world and make a career of their own if they chose to."
In 1937, when West Circle Complex was completed, Morrill Hall no longer was used as a dormitory, said Linda Stanford, an art and art history professor, who co-authored the book "MSU Campus: Buildings, Places and Spaces."
Since then, Morrill Hall has been converted into a few classrooms and office space, which includes the English and history departments.
Compared with the newer buildings, Morrill Hall has character, professors who work in the building say.
The dark red building remains an important part of MSU's early history, when women were first integrated into the college.
"It's more than a relic — it's a symbol of the historical tradition of Michigan State," history Professor Jane Vieth said.
End of an era?
What happens next is uncertain.
Some professors, including Meyering and Vieth, hope Morrill Hall is refurbished instead of torn down.
But university engineer Bob Nestle said that requires gutting the building to update everything inside, including the roof, the interior walls and the wood floors — a project he estimated would cost in the millions. Only the brick exterior would be left standing during the refurbishing process.
"That would be extremely expensive, much more expensive than building a new building," said Nestle, adding that demolishing Morrill Hall would cost $500,000.
"It's not in danger of falling down, but that wooden structure isn't designed to carry the load," he said, adding that he thinks Morrill Hall was originally built to carry about 50 pounds per square foot.
"Anything we would build on campus (today) would be designed to carry at least 100 pounds per square foot."
But some professors argue that the building is working now, and has for the last 107 years.
Meyering said the amount of furniture putting a strain on the floor is just going to get lighter in years to come.
"As we go to the electronic office, it's not like there's going to be more filing cabinets and bookshelves," she said.
Currently, there aren't immediate plans to remove Morrill Hall, Kacos said, but demolition could be accelerated by any number of catalysts.
"Buildings require maintenance," he said, referring to their heating, electrical and plumbing systems. "As those systems begin to wear out, you have to decide if you're going to replace them.
"It's hard to say if some boiler fails … or some other major building expense were to happen — suddenly those are things you can't predict. That might be enough of a trigger to cause an evaluation."
But some MSU professors, whose offices are located in the four-story building, worry that demolishing the building also will destroy part of MSU's history.
When Vieth walks into her office, she says she feels the legacy of the building.
It's not difficult to imagine her office as a dorm room because of its small closet — which looks fit to hold clothes — that she uses as extra storage.
"I have a sense of feeling connected to the past," Vieth said. "I don't want to see that uprooted."
"(Morrill Hall) reminds me of a great lady, a genial lady who has fallen on bad days, but it has a remarkable history."
