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Virtual Historical Tour
24.
McMillan Chemical Laboratory
 The
original chemistry laboratory had been in North Hall and moved to the
ground floor of the Central Building previous to 1891. The Central
Building at that time also housed everything from the sciences and the
museum to the literary society rooms and a sorority hall. On January 6,
1892 a fire broke out in the chemistry lab, which, had it been
discovered five minutes later, could have easily taken down the entire
building. Because it was found quickly, there was minimal damage done to
the lab and only the hall of the Alpha Chi Omega Sorority was damaged
from smoke. But the threat of future fires spurred on the effort to
obtain the funds necessary to build a proper chemistry lab.
A single donor, James McMillan, a
United States Senator with no ties to Albion, presented the College in
June of 1892 with the funds necessary to build a new Chemistry facility
- a windfall that had been previously unheard of in College history.
After legal squabbles concerning the feasibility of further western
campus expansion, building of the McMillan Lab began in the winter of
1893. Construction of the Lab was completed by November of 1893,
despite difficulties Senator McMillan had with making payments on his
gift due to the Depression of 1893. (Fennimore, pp.295, 300-01, 304-05)
At the dedication ceremony for
laying the cornerstone of the Lab, President Fiske filled a copper box
with items chosen by the entire College: a description of the new
laboratory, contributions from each of the ten campus literary
societies, copies of current issues of The Pleiad, the New Testament,
the New York, Northwestern and Michigan Christian
Advocates, The Epworth Herald and Handbook, The Albion
Evening Recorder and The Mirror, a copy of the city charter,
the college's YMCA constitution and membership list, and a program of
the dedication events, complete with the autograph of Bishop H.W.
Warren, the speaker for the occasion. The
box was then sealed and placed in the cornerstone to await
another generation...
In January of 1970, the McMillan
Chemical Laboratory was razed, assumingly due to, what was then, a brand
new Science Complex.
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