Morrill Hall (Alumni Center) - University of Nevada, Reno - People-Named Places on Waymarking.com

The Place:
Located in the southern part of the University of Nevada, Reno campus is a stately-looking three-story brick and wood building named Morrill Hall Alumni Center. The building is named after Justin S. Morrill a senator from Vermont. The building is in excellent condition and has wonderfully-made wooden staircases leading up upstairs to the second and third floors. There's also a bell tower that once housed a bell but the bell is gone and has been replaced by a speaker that chimes every fifteen minutes across the campus. Hanging near the front entrance to the Morrill Hall Alumni Center on the campus of the University of Nevada is a historical marker that reads:

A very nice writeup on the history of this building from the NPS.gov website reads:

Morrill Hall was the first building of the University of Nevada-Reno campus. This academic building, a three-story Second Empire style edifice, was constructed after the University of Nevada was relocated from Elko to Reno in 1884. Relatively few Second Empire style buildings remain in Reno, and it may be that Morrill Hall was a rare example of this particular type of Victorian building constructed in the city. The cornerstone was laid on September 12, 1885, and the building was ready for occupancy on February 15, 1886. Constructed of two-story brick walls, a third story was formed by the typical Second Empire style mansard roof. A deep basement provided additional space.

Originally called State University, the building housed administration offices, classrooms, and dormitories. At the time it was built, Nevada was little more than a collection of rough mining camps and railroad towns. The new university hall symbolized the determination of the people of Nevada to provide educational opportunities for themselves and their children. Currently, the Alumni Association, University Foundation and the University of Nevada Press occupy the building. ~source

The Person:
Wikipedia has a nice writeup of the life of Justin Smith Morrill and an excerpt regarding the congressional act that he's famous for reads:

Justin Smith Morrill is most widely known for sponsoring the Morrill Act, also known as the Land Grant College Act. This act was signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln in 1862. This act established federal funding for higher education in every state of the country. In his own words:

"This bill proposes to establish at least one college in every State upon a sure and perpetual foundation, accessible to all, but especially to the sons of toil, where all of needful science for the practical avocations of life shall be taught, where neither the higher graces of classical studies nor that military drill our country now so greatly appreciates will be entirely ignored, and where agriculture, the foundation of all present and future prosperity, may look for troops of earnest friends, studying its familiar and recondite economies, and at last elevating it to that higher level where it may fearlessly invoke comparison with the most advanced standards of the world."
—1862, as quoted by William Belmont Parker, The Life and Public Services of Justin Smith Morrill

Many colleges established under this act have a 'Morrill Hall' named in honor of Justin Smith Morrill's contribution to higher education. In 1999, the U.S. Postal Service issued a 55¢ Great Americans series postage stamp of Morrill to honor his role in establishing the land grant colleges, the forerunners of many state universities.

---

• Please post a comment and distinct photo.
• A "visited" only remark will be deleted.
• A "visited" remark by the 'Waymark Owner' at the time of posting is not appreciated and won't be accepted. If visiting at another time a "Visit" would be acceptable.