Marshall Hall

Construction on Marshall Hall at the University of Massachusetts, then called the Massachusetts State College, began in 1915 and was completed in 1916. Built on the west side of what is now Thatcher Road, the building was designed to house the microbiology department. Known simply as the Microbiology Laboratory until it was renamed twenty years later, the structure’s three floors, contained the Microbiology Department’s academic offices, classrooms, and research laboratories.

Two decades after it was built, the university renamed the first space on campus dedicated to the study and research of microbiology after a man who had provided leadership for department. The Microbiology Laboratory was renamed Marshall Hall in 1935 after former professor of microbiology, Dr. Charles Edward Marshall, who had passed away in 1927. Dr. Marshall had also served the university as the first head of department of Bacteriology, director of the graduate school, and the director of the experiment station. His views on the purpose of the study of microbiology also fit in well at Massachusetts State College: in his 1911 book, Microbiology: A Text-book of Microorganisms, General and Applied, he urged microbiologists not to simply describe how microbiology can be useful to other disciplines, but to infiltrate other programs, especially agricultural and domestic science programs.

As the school began to expand after World War II, so did the microbiology department. In 1947, the Marshall Annex was built for additional research space, specifically for the Microbiology Department. Marshall Hall was demolished in 1996, followed by the Marshall Annex ten years later to make way for new construction. The new Integrated Science and Laboratory Science buildings now stand in the place of Marshall Hall and Marshall Annex. Though Marshall Hall is no longer extant, its story plays an important role in the history and expansion of the University of Massachusetts Amherst.