College of Engineering >> About Engineering >> History >>

1900 - 1929

1903: First full course in mining added to curriculum

1904: Departments of Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering formed

1905: New building (now the music annex) constructed to house power house machinery and steam and electrical labs

1906: Engineering Hall constructed and is dedicated exclusively to the teaching of engineering

Mechanical Arts Laboratory Machine Room

1908: College of Engineering and Mines formed to administer four departments: civil engineering, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering and mining engineering as well as drawing, metallurgy, mathematics, physics, mechanic arts and architecture; J.J. Wilmore named first dean of engineering, a title he held for 35 years; Added courses in telephone engineering, sanitary engineering and hydraulic engineering, reflecting technological advances; Auburn provides surplus energy to town of Auburn and begins to address city's water problems

1910: Engineering Hall triples in size and is renamed Broun Hall

Mechanical Arts Laboratory Wood Room

1912: Department of Chemical Engineering formed

1913: Thomas Edison's chief engineer, Auburn alum Miller Reese Hutchison, donates wireless telegraph to the college, prompting a course offering in wireless telegraphy

 

1918: Auburn designated as vocational education site to train soldiers in wireless telegraphy and signaling, auto mechanics and driving, general mechanics, blacksmithing, carpentry, pipe-fitting, and electricity and sheet metal work

1923: Maria Rogan Whitson earns bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, making her the institution's first female engineering graduate

1924: L-Building constructed by faculty and staff

1925: $100,000 gift from Erskine Ramsay provides seed money to construct Ramsay Hall

1926: College reorganized into the Division of Engineering which included the School of Engineering, the School of Architecture and Allied Arts

Textile Engineering building cornerstone

1927: Textile Engineering and the Engineering Experiment Station open; Textile engineering building opens

1928: Department of Aerospace Engineering formed.

1929: Chemical building opens (Ross Hall). Department of Industrial Engineering established