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Item set Campus Buildings
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  • 601 W. Forest (Brinkerhoff-Becker House)
    This 2 1/2 story Queen Anne structure was built between 1863-69 for insurance and real estate agent Hezekiah Brinkerhoff. The Brinkerhoff's owned the home until 1890. In 1891, it was purchased by Charles J. Becker who remodeled it to include the prominent tower. Eventually, the home was purchased by John M.B. Sill who was the Principal of the Michigan State Normal School from 1886-1893. The home is currently owned by EMU and is split into four different apartments that students over the age of twenty can rent during the school year.
  • Alexander Music Building
    Construction was finished on the Alexander Music Building in 1980, and was named for Frederick M. Alexander who was the head of the Music Department from 1909-1941. The entire building was designed with the needs of the music department in mind, consisting of 86,000 sqft. with practice rooms, an organ recital room, and a large recital hall containing a stage and seating for 150 people. Unique features of the building include instrument repair rooms containing equipment to re-plate brass instruments. Special resilient caulking and sealant were used in place of a traditional mortar to ensure that sound would not be transmitted throughout the structure. Since solid walls tend to transmit sound vibrations like a tuning fork, solid walls were broken up, and practice and recital rooms were designed with non-parallel walls.
  • Best Residence Hall
    Eastern's enrollment grew rapidly in the post-World War II years, resulting in high demand for on-campus housing. After Goddard Residence Hall opened in 1955 construction began almost immediately on a new housing complex. This time, plans called for four buildings surrounding a central dining facility. When completed, the new complex would contain space for approximately 1,200 students in the geographical heart of campus. Best opened for student residence in the 1960s. The residence hall is named for Martha Best who was a professor of Biology and Bacteriology from 1924-1952.
  • Bob's Lake House and Pond
    The pond and Lake house were constructed as part of an 11-acre, $1.5 million project to create an outdoor recreation area connected to the Olds-Robb center. The man-made pond is six feet deep, and intended for year-round enjoyment. In the winter, the pond was designed to be used as an outdoor ice skating rink. The Lake house provides a place for students to relax. The outdoor complex, of which the pond and Lake house are a part, also includes volleyball courts, running trails, and a picnic area with horseshoe pits. The project also featured an 800-seat amphitheater. Based on student requests for a safe outdoor area for jogging at night, the designers lighted the one-mile long jogging trail.
  • Boone Hall
    Boone hall was constructed in 1914 on the site of the former Conservatory. The building was originally called the Administration Building, but served as a multipurpose space. Administrative offices were housed on the first floor which was shared with the Modern Language Department, drawing classes and studios were upstairs, and the Manual Training Department and the YMCA had spaces in the basement. By the 1950s, administration moved out of Boone, and it became the Arts Building, a name it held until 1968 when it was renamed for Richard Gause Boone who served as the ninth president of the Michigan State Normal College (1893-99). In 1992, the Art Department moved to Sherzer, and Boone became the home of Continuing Education courses and other offices, which continues to be the function of the building today.
  • Bowen Fieldhouse
    Bowen was the second field house built on Eastern's campus. It was constructed in 1955 during a period of growth for the university. Briggs Fieldhouse was simply too small to accommodate the needs of the growing campus population. Bowen Fieldhouse was built as the first stage of a full-scale physical education facility. Later additions to the building would include a gymnasium, swimming pool, additional locker rooms and classrooms (See Warner Gymnasium and Olds-Robb Rec/IM). The 88,000 square foot building cost $1.25 million to construct. When Bowen was built, it was one of the largest facilities in the country including basketball, track, and baseball practice areas, also included facilities for outdoor activities like tennis and badminton. It also has indoor classrooms. There was permanent seating for 1,200 spectators and theoretically, additional seating capacity for 6,000. The building also included an 8-laps-to-the-mile track, a hard surfaced infield, a lounge, and a physical therapy room. Bowen Field House saw 351 wins in its 43 years as the home of Eastern's basketball team. Cheering and applause echoed from the steel beams of the building leading a radio announcer on WEMU to refer to the building as "The Old Barn" and the name stuck. Originally, the basketball court was located in front of the balcony and the baskets were at the east and west ends of the court. The floor later switched to north/south direction in 1960. "The Old Barn" still serves as an exercise facility for the EMU community.
  • Briggs Hall
    President John Munson placed a gymnasium on his list of priority buildings for construction in the early 1930s. Munson found little support from the Michigan Legislature to fund such a project during the Depression. Munson turned to his personal friend and Ypsilanti native, Walter O. Briggs, Sr. for funding. Briggs, then owner of the Detroit Tigers, was deeply interested in physical education and willing to financially support the construction of the facility. The new field house, which opened in 1937, faced the back of McKenny Union at the heart of the social center of campus. Inside it contained lockers, showers, training rooms, and offices of officials. A large practice room with a dirt floor provided space for vaulting and other winter activities. It also acted as a gateway to Briggs Field which housed a 300 seat stand for football and another for baseball. Today, Mark Jefferson Hall, Strong Hall, and the parking lot cover the athletic park. With the need for additional classroom space on campus in the early to mid 1960s, Briggs Hall was repurposed, initially for the Mathematics Department and then for the Art Department. Athletics were moved out of the center of campus with the construction of Rynearson Stadium in 1969 and the baseball Stadium in 1971.
  • Bruce T. Halle Library
    The Halle Library is the third library building on campus following R. Clyde Ford Hall, and what is now the Porter College of Education Building. The earliest library on campus was a single room in the administration building, known as Old Main. Ford Hall was built as the first library building in 1929 and Porter was built in 1966 - 1967 as a replacement. By the early 1990s, the library in Porter had become over-crowded, and strong student activism in 1992 provided the impetus to begin a drive to build a new and larger library. The new library, built on the site of the old physical plant, was designed and built to state-of-the-art specifications and cost $41 million to complete. The dedication program described the Halle Library as a library pointing to its close ties to modern information technology. The library is 270,000 square feet and contains close to a million volumes split between a browsing level and an automated retrieval system (ARC). The ARC was the second of its kind to be placed in a university library, but was part of a national trend towards condensed shelving and automatic access storage systems. Books that have not been checked out in the last five years are placed in the ARC. The carillon, donated by E. Gregg Liechty, has been brought into the 21st century through digitization. A computer produces the sounds of cast bells, but without the $1 million price tag and the stress of cold winters on fragile cast-iron bells. Instead, two keyboards, an auto bell console, and an organ console, are played and the songs saved on a sound card for later replay. Four speakers in the tower can send the sound 1.5 miles on a misty day. The library is not solely a computerized wonder; more traditional collections include the University Archives, the Map Library, a traditional periodicals collection, and a browsing collection on the third floor. Over the summer of 2024, the first floor of the Halle Library was renovated as a result of Eastern Michigan University receiving a generous gift from the Diane & Bruce Halle Foundation to upgrade and modernize the library. The goal of the renovation is to create spaces for the campus community to gather for collaboration and instruction. The renovation brought the University Archives down to the first floor, and provided office spaces for the Center for Jewish Studies and the Center for Social Justice. There is also a gallery space available for students and the community to showcase exhibitions.
  • Buell Residence Hall
    Eastern's enrollment grew rapidly in the post-World War II years, resulting in high demand for more on campus housing. Goddard Residence Hall opened in 1955, and construction began almost immediately on a new housing complex. This time, plans called for four buildings surrounding a central dining facility. When completed, the new housing would contain space for approximately 1,200 students in the geographical heart of campus. Buell was constructed in in 1958. Buell and Downing could each house approximately 300 students. The building was named for Bertha Buell, who served the Normal College as a professor of History, English, and Political Science from 1899-1937. Currently, Buell is open for upperclassmen and transfer student residence.
  • Coatings Research Institute
    The Coatings Research Institute (CRI) was founded in 1985, and performed contract as well as grant research by the resident faculty. In 1990, Eastern Michigan University obtained a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to establish a new Industry/University Research Center (I/UCRC) in Coatings. The Surface Science Research Center was established in 1993. April 2000, EMU received its largest single gift ever - coatings patents from the ExxonMobil Chemical Company appraised at $16 million. The patents involve materials used to create industrial paints. "There are only a few undergraduate coatings programs in the country and we are proud and excited that ExxonMobil chose to donate these patents to our Coatings Research Institute," said President William E. Shelton at an April 17, 2000, press conference. The gift included 20 issued U.S. patents and five pending U.S. patent applications. It also included more than 50 worldwide patent and patent application counterparts. EMU's Dr. Frank Jones and students of Eastern Michigan assisted ExxonMobil with the development of five of the U.S. patents. "We are in the best position to do something with the patents because we know the technology," said Jones. "This will give EMU faculty and students an opportunity to be involved with exciting new area of coatings technology and to potentially produce income that will help the coatings program at EMU." The CRI is still used today to develop and expand on the science and technology of polymers and other materials.
  • Cornell Courts Apartments
    In 1960, 90 units were built to serve as married housing. The one bedroom units originally rented for $67, and the two bedroom units rented for $77. The units were available beginning September 1, 1960. The second phase of Cornell Court Apartments began in 1966; expanding the capacity of married housing. Cornell Courts still offers one and two bedroom units, now available for all upperclassmen over the age of 20 regardless of marital status.
  • Downing Residence Hall
    Part of the four-building complex of Downing, Best, Buell and Wise Halls; surrounding the dining commons. Originally Downing Residence Hall, constructed in 1957, was an all-female dormitory. Today, the residence hall accommodates male and female students which are divided into same-gender suites.