A Multi-purpose building

The Massachusetts Agricultural College was founded in 1863 and the Old Chemistry Laboratory (also known as College Hall) was one of the first buildings erected on the campus. The Chemistry Laboratory, built in 1867 and later expanded two years later, was located where the west end of Machmer currently resides.

Although known as the Old Chemistry Laboratory, the building was used for a variety of purposes over the years. The Handbook of Amherst, which was published in 1891, states that the first floor consisted of a chapel used for morning prayers as well as laboratories for the zoological and chemistry departments.  The second floor contained additional rooms for the physical, mathematical and chemical departments, while the third floor had a collection of agricultural equipment from Japan. When the building was first erected the top story was unfurnished and used as a drill hall, but by 1891 it housed a temporary museum.

By the turn of the 20th century, the building was far from excellent condition and was considered somewhat of a joke amongst the faculty and students. Made entirely of wood, the building was not safe to house laboratories and in 1922 plans were put in place for a new chemistry building, which we know today as Goessmann Laboratory.