THE FARM COLLEGE
ITS LATEST IMPROVEMENT

The New Chapel for the State Institution at Amherst

The  new chapel and library building at the Massachusetts Agricultural College in Amherst  will be completed by next commencement and it is to be a notable architectural contribution to the spacious campus, as will be seen by the above cut the style  Romanesque. The appropriation of $25,000 made by the last Legislature for this building did not prove to be equal to the demands and it bas been decided to delay the completion of the tower for the present. The money was granted with the provision that the structure should be made of brick or stone, so that no one will be surprised find that the appropriation is insufficient. Despite the intelligent care with which President Greenough has expended it. Money is needed also to furnish the building but the law-makers at Boston will have this all explained to them when it comes time to make appropriations.

The new Chapel has a basement of 74 by 64 feet. The first story is designed for the college library including a reading-room librarian’s office and a library-room 60 feet long. The chapel is in the second story, the open pine timber roof, which is now being put on, rising to the ridge some 33 feet high. The platform, organ and choir occupy the north end of the audience room, and there is a gallery at the South end. With a brown ash interior, Pelham granite walls and Long Meadow brown-stone dressings and a backing of brick the building is happily arranged for its double purpose of library and a place for religious services.

The alumni of the College have lately been taking a deal of interest in the project of building a larger selection of books. President Greenough has secured $7,000 in pledges for a permanent library fund provided it reaches $10,000, and the prospect of raising this to $15,000 is considered good. The library now contains about 3000 volumes and by the time of the dedication of the chapel building next June a library fund of  $10,000 ought to be an assured fact. Stephen C. Earle of Worcester is the architect of the chapel building, and John Beston of Amherst is Contractor.

The grounds of the college are gradually being improved each year. The president’s house which was finished last August at a cost of $10,000  stands on a rise of ground near the plant-house and is not far from this is the $1,400 barn built from the savings of the $6,000 appropriated for the furnishings of North College. The membership of the  college and in fact the general character of the work have improved during the administration of President Greenough and it can be said that the crisis hour of the college is now safely over, and that the lines of its work will be found to be steadily running in the direction of scientific agriculture and the broader field of industrial education.