Morrill Hall at the University of Nevada

View north over the Old Quad from the second-floor balcony in Morrill Hall. The Mackay School of Mines building is on the far side of the quad. The chairs are set up for spring graduation. slgwv (Atlas Obscura User)

View of Morrill Hall from the north, from the Old Quad. The chairs are set up for the spring graduation ceremony. slgwv (Atlas Obscura User)

Morrill Hall from the south. slgwv (Atlas Obscura User)

Morrill Hall, from the southwest. slgwv (Atlas Obscura User)

The south (main) entrance of Morrill Hall. slgwv (Atlas Obscura User)

Contemporary sign. slgwv (Atlas Obscura User)

From the south balcony on Morrill Hall, looking toward downtown Reno. slgwv (Atlas Obscura User)

The large double staircase in Morrill Hall. slgwv (Atlas Obscura User)

The large double staircase in Morrill Hall, looking up. slgwv (Atlas Obscura User)

The large double staircase in Morrill Hall. slgwv (Atlas Obscura User)

Sign by the entrance to the Walter Van Tilburg Clark room. slgwv (Atlas Obscura User)

The Walter Van Tilburg Clark room, another view. The portraits are of previous presidents of the University. slgwv (Atlas Obscura User)

The Walter Van Tilburg Clark room. The portraits are of previous presidents of the University. slgwv (Atlas Obscura User)

When the University of Nevada was moved from Elko to Reno in 1885, the first building constructed on the new campus was Morrill Hall. It remained the only building until the Mining Hall, which no longer exists, was built in 1889.

The building is named for Justin Smith Morrill, Congressman (and later Senator) from Vermont. Why was the original building at the nascent university named after a politician on the other side of the country? Morrill was the author of the Morrill Land-Grant Acts, the Congressional acts that authorized using funds from the sale of public lands to finance institutions of higher learning, and the University of Nevada was a land-grant institution.

The Land Grant Acts had effects far beyond the obviously important one of making higher education available to a much broader swath of the public. The Acts specifically mandated instruction in the “mechanic arts”–i.e., engineering and (later) science. Before this, higher level education in engineering was uncommon, being largely confined to the military academies, as traditional universities were still focused on “classical” instruction. The new engineering graduates from the land-grant colleges easily found careers with the burgeoning industrialization in the US in the latter 19th century, and in fact contributed to that industrialization.

Morrill Hall remains in use today, although scheduled classes no longer meet there. It is used for offices, such as the Alumni Center, and for special events. Of particular interest is a large meeting room containing portraits of the various university presidents over the years. It is named for the author Walter Van Tilburg Clark. Clark had grown up in Reno, and from 1962 to his death in 1971 he was writer-in-residence at the University of Nevada in Reno. He was (and is) most famous for The Ox-Bow Incident, a bleak tale that is considered by many to be the first “modern” Western. In 1943 this short novel was made into a movie starring Henry Fonda, Dana Andrews, and Mary Beth Hughes.

Know Before You Go

Morrill Hall is at the south end of the Old Quad, at the southern edge of the modern campus. As at many college campuses parking can be a problem. There are a few metered parking places in a small parking lot at the south end of campus, right in front of Morrill Hall, off 9th Avenue. However, a new parking structure south of 9th Avenue should have much more parking available. Although a longer walk is required, a bridge over 9th Avenue connects directly to the campus so that at least you don't need to deal with traffic. The walk comes out right in front of Morrill Hall in the small parking lot.

Unless a special event is occurring Morrill Hall is accessible to the public. A large staircase, consisting of alternating wide (in the middle) and split (on the sides) sections, goes up the center of the building. Such a design is not generally used in modern buildings, because in the event of a fire the staircase would tend to funnel smoke and hot gases up through the building. However, it is grandfathered in here. The staircase thus provides an unusual perspective on the interior of the building.