Similar to many other buildings at the University of Rhode Island, the Morrill science building has a fascinating history behind its namesake, Justin S. Morrill, a senator who served from 1867-1898.
Among various other endeavors, he created and passed the Morrill Act of 1862, which established and funded land grants for colleges to grow and improve.
“The Morrill land grants laid the foundation for a national system of state colleges and universities,” according to the National Archives and Records Administration.
These land grants made public colleges possible and gave these schools the opportunity to expand their programming and enrollment. Since land grants during this time were mainly for schools built on agricultural land, URI was directly impacted by this act as it was what allowed them to go from being “Rhode Island College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts” to “Rhode Island’s Land Grant College,” according to www.uri.edu’s detailed history page.
Due to Morrill and his creation of land grants, the foundation was laid for URI to be as successful as it is today, with a multitude of different options for degrees and career paths.
On their website, Britannica said that Morrill was “the Father of Agricultural Colleges, many of which have become leading institutions.”
Without Morrill’s involvement in education and promoting diverse areas of study, many colleges and universities may not have flourished in the way they did. When URI opened in 1892, the 17-member graduating class had studied agriculture, as this was the only option at the time. However, in just four short years, the college entered an agreement with Brown University, a school that had previously benefited from land grants. URI then became a land-grant college that had the ability to expand its physical grounds. In turn, this allowed more programs than agriculture to be opened up. The larger campus space combined with more areas of study contributed to greater enrollment.
To commemorate these acts and the person who set the stage for the URI of today, the Justin S. Morrill science building was built, opened and dedicated in 1966 and remains open as a science center. Morrill Hall is located on Lower College Road across from the Memorial Union.