Apperson Hall - Oregon State University - Corvallis, OR - American Guide Series on Waymarking.com

APPERSON HALL, erected in 1908 and rebuilt in 1920, adjoins the Mechanical Arts Building. It is named for a regent of the college and is devoted to the department of civil and electrical engineering.

Apperson Hall (first referred to as “Mechanical Hall”) was constructed as a classroom building primarily to house the School of Engineering, although other subjects, such as botany, woodworking, and millinery, were taught there. The building replaced the first Mechanical Hall, which a fire destroyed in 1898. The quality of the new building was such that a biennial report from 1899 stated that it was expected to greatly improve engineering scholarship and training at the college. The college catalog from the same year called the structure one of the most substantial and elegant on campus. The name, “Apperson Hall,” was assigned to the building after the third story was added in 1920. It was named for Honorable J.T. Apperson, an early member of the Board of Regents of OAC, who died in 1917. The remodel was the consequence of increasing enrollment—it took place in part to meet the needs of the large number of students who had joined the college in the fall of 1920. During World War I the regular building program of the college had been delayed and modified. Therefore, by 1920, Mechanical Hall was due for an update. A complete renovation of Apperson’s interior began in 2007 and resulted in a modern facility for OSU’s cutting-edge engineering programs. The building was renamed Kearney Hall to honor Lee Kearney, a recent significant donor and an OSU engineering alumnus.