Morrill Plaza (on West Circle Drive) is the site dedicated to the Women's Building completed in 1900 and renamed Justin Morrill Hall in 1937. It was demolished in 2013 and the plaza dedicated on February 11, 2014. The plaza includes historical markers and kiosks with digital exhibits about faculty members. If the kiosks are not working the information about the faculty and staff members featured can be found at this website https://morrillplaza.msu.edu/kiosk/web.html#
Side 1 "Women’s Building Justin Morrill Hall In 1870, what was then called State Agricultural College admitted its first 10 women, offering them the same physically and academically demanding courses offered to men.
The Women’s Building was completed on this site in 1900. Wood framed and faced with Lake Superior red sandstone, the neoclassical structure provided living quarters for 120 women, including staff. It featured a two-story gymnasium, a dining room, cooking and sewing laboratories, a woodworking shop, and music rooms.
The building supported a women’s course of study, which was established in 1896. While retaining many of the classical and scientific elements of the standard curriculum, the “domestic economy” course replaced the agricultural focus with courses in both the domestic arts, such as cooking, sewing, and music, and the domestic sciences, including nutrition, sanitation, first aid, and physiology.”
Side 1 contains a photograph of the exterior of the building with the captioned “The Women’s Building, circa 1907.”
Side 2 "Over time the number of women on campus approached that of men and, combined with the expansion of women’s courses, diminished the building’s unique purpose. When a new women’s dormitory opened in 1937, the Women’s Building was renovated to classroom, office, and laboratory space. Its name was changed to Justin Morrill Hall to honor the sponsor of the federal act of 1862 that established the nation’s land-grant college system.
The building would house a wide variety of academic departments in the ensuing years, providing students and faculty with fond memories of high ceilings, broad halls, handsome woodwork, and a home for their intellectual lives at Michigan State University.
Structural deterioration finally rendered the building unsuitable for occupation, and rehabilitation was determined to be prohibitively expensive. It was razed in 2013, and this marker commemorates its many years of service to the pioneers and scholars who lived and pursued knowledge under its roof."
Side 2 contains two photos: a photograph of women in a classroom captioned “Studying physics in a Women’s Building laboratory.” And a photo of women sewing by hand in a parlor like classroom, captioned “Sewing was part of the domestic arts curriculum.”
Situated on 677 acres extending south of the plank road from Lansing, the campus took shape under the axes and spades of students themselves – between classes in chemistry, English, mathematics, and agriculture. A women’s course focusing on “domestic economy” was added in 1896.
Democratizing higher education on a rapidly developing frontier, the college quickly became a national model and was cited by advocates for a system of federal support.
U.S. Representative Justin Smith Morrill of Vermont won congressional approval of such a measure as civil war splintered the nation.”
Side 1 shows an image of a stained glass window with the US Capitol, Abraham Lincoln at a desk, the White House, and the words Morrill Act. It is captioned “President Lincoln signing the Morrill Act. Stained glass, Alumni Memorial Chapel.”
Designated Michigan’s Morrill Act beneficiary in 1863, the institution that became Michigan State University introduced the nation’s first course in scientific agriculture in 1865. It was an early milestone on a continuing journey of knowledge discovery and its application to everyday life.
The Women’s Building, which included a dormitory and was completed on this site in 1900, was converted into strictly instructional space in 1937 and named in Morrill’s honor. In 2013, it was razed due to structural deterioration, and Justin Morrill’s name was given to the university’s historic Agriculture Hall.
Side 2 includes two photographs, one of male students working a shop captioned “Mechanical Course students work at iron lathes, 1882. And female students working in a field with buildings in the background captioned “Students tend to a vegetable garden, circa 1910. The Women’s Building is seen in the background.”