Infinite Possibilities

William Henry Welch

In 1926, the long-held dream of William Henry Welch was transmuted into bricks and mortar at 615 N. Wolfe Street, courtesy of a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation. This first footprint of the School went unchanged for years; in fact, a grassy plot on the School’s north side provided pasture for sheep until the 1950s. A burst of construction in the 1960s added the Hume and Stebbins wings’ badly needed classroom and laboratory space. The 1990s saw an explosive growth in School facilities, as new façades reflected the School’s state-of-the-art research. By the time the School celebrated its progress with a 2004 rededication ceremony, the Wolfe Street Building alone encompassed almost 1 million square feet of classroom, laboratory and administrative space.