Slocum Hall
Formal Authorization of Building: December, 1915
Ground Broken: Spring 1916
First Occupied: Spring 1918
Completed: 1919
Architect: Earl Hallenbeck
Style: Modified Renaissance
Materials: Moosebeck granite and Indiana limestone; basement and trim of pink granite
Dimensions: 185 feet long and 130 feet wide
Cost: $400,000.00
Notes:
In Fall 1915 Mrs. Russell Sage informed Chancellor Day she would donate $300,000 to the University for the erection of a building to house the Joseph Slocum College of Agriculture, as a memorial to her father, former State senator from Onondaga County and a pioneer in urging systematic and scientific agricultural education. In 1912 Mrs. Sage had given the University $83,000 in honor of her father for the use of what was then the division of agriculture. The division was thereafter called the Joseph Slocum Division of Agriculture until it became a college.
Construction began in April 1916, but due to the war and labor conditions it was not completed until October 1918. Formal dedication was postponed because of the Spanish influenza epidemic and the quarantine placed on the University. The original $300,000 was not enough to complete further work on the building, so Mrs. Sage made another contribution, bringing the total cost to approximately $400,000. When the building was opened, the College of Agriculture was not the only occupant. The newly created School of Home Economics was placed on the second floor and in 1919 when the School of Business was created, it moved into the building. The Department of Architecture, which had formerly been located in Crouse College and Bowne Hall, also moved into the new building. When the College of Agriculture was discontinued in 1933, the College of Business Administration, the School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, College of Home Economics, the Department of Architecture and the University cafeteria were housed in the building. In 1934 the Margaret Olivia Slocum Teachers College was organized into the School of Education and moved from Yates Castle to Slocum.
In October and November 1953 the lettering "The Joseph Slocum College of Agriculture" was removed from the facade of the side of the building facing College Place. The lettering "Slocum Hall" that was supposed to replace it was never added.
