Case steamer sitting in the Engineering Building.

View of Chemical Engineering Lab with equipment; located in Engineering Building.

Sheep grouped together in a pen. University (Main) Barn, Engineering Building and other campus buildings in background.

Sketch of proposed Engineering Building.

Bio/historical note: The original Engineering Building was destroyed by fire on Friday, 13 March 1925.

Damage done to the Engineering Building by a hailstorm; several people standing in doorway.

Bio/historical note: The original Engineering Building was destroyed by fire on Friday, 13 March 1925.

Laying the foundation of the first Engineering Building.

Bio/Historical Note: The original Engineering Building was designed to house the Agricultural Engineering Department, though it would eventually be home to the Department of Field Husbandry as well. The redbrick exterior was largely constructed during the summer of 1911 while the interior work was completed during the winter of 1911-12. The Engineering Building was designed by the original campus architects, David Brown and Hugh Vallance, and made allowances for the great variety of work within the field of agricultural engineering: the lower floor was designed for use in blacksmithing, cement work, engine construction and heavy farm machinery. The second floor contained a lecture room as well as room for woodwork, carpentry, pumps and farm-barn equipment. The third floor was devoted to a draughting room and light farm equipment. The main entrance to the building opened into the blacksmith’s forge. In 1913 a second wing was built with Brown and Vallance again serving as chief architects, as they would again in 1920. By December 1923 a final addition, designed by Saskatoon architect J. K. Verbeke, was completed by Bennett & White Construction for $8,800. At approximately 3 a.m. on the morning of Friday, 13 March 1925, a fire broke out in the north end of the building's Tractor Laboratory. In less than three hours everything but the Ceramic Lab had been completely destroyed. The fire came as a shock to many, as the entire building had been subjected to a rigorous fire inspection only a day prior to the blaze. Plans for a new Engineering Building to be constructed on the original foundation were promptly issued, and other building projects, including the long-anticipated Arts Building, were postponed.

Group of men picking carrots in a field. Buildings in background (l to r): Power House, Engineering Building, and Livestock Pavilion.

Bio/Historical Note: This field was where the Physical Education building was later located in the 1940s. During World War II and for some years after crops were grown on campus.

Image of participants in the Gasoline Traction Engine Course, standing in front of two tractors parked in front of the Engineering Building.

Bio/Historical Note: This was the first class ever conducted on campus; classes began in the new College Building that fall.

A large crowd of engineering alumni facing a stage watching a man speak at a podium. The engineering crest is hanging on the wall behind the speaker.

Numbered concrete bricks or blocks sitting in a pile in front of the Engineering Building. Information from A-4756: "Original blocks put in at site 1st Ave - 22nd-23rd taken out in 1928 when Massey Harris Bldg put up."

Bio/Historical Note: A three-storey concrete Massey Ferguson farm machinery warehouse operated in Saskatoon from 1929-1959 at 105 1st Avenue North. The building served a number of other uses until it was demolished in 1973. The Hilton Garden Inn Hotel now stands (2020) on the site.

Internal framing being erected for the new Engineering Building.

Bio/Historical Note: The original Engineering Building was designed to house the Agricultural Engineering Department, though it would eventually be home to the Department of Field Husbandry as well. The redbrick exterior was largely constructed during the summer of 1911 while the interior work was completed during the winter of 1911-12. The Engineering Building was designed by the original campus architects, David Brown and Hugh Vallance, and made allowances for the great variety of work within the field of agricultural engineering: the lower floor was designed for use in blacksmithing, cement work, engine construction and heavy farm machinery. The second floor contained a lecture room as well as room for woodwork, carpentry, pumps and farm-barn equipment. The third floor was devoted to a draughting room and light farm equipment. The main entrance to the building opened into the blacksmith’s forge. In 1913 a second wing was built with Brown and Vallance again serving as chief architects, as they would again in 1920. By December 1923 a final addition, designed by Saskatoon architect J. K. Verbeke, was completed by Bennett & White Construction for $8,800. At approximately 3 a.m. on the morning of Friday, 13 March 1925, a fire broke out in the north end of the building's Tractor Laboratory. In less than three hours everything but the Ceramic Lab had been completely destroyed. The fire came as a shock to many, as the entire building had been subjected to a rigorous fire inspection only a day prior to the blaze. Plans for a new Engineering Building to be constructed on the original foundation were promptly issued, and other building projects, including the long-anticipated Arts Building, were postponed.

Group of men standing in front of Engineering Building before a formal photograph has been taken; first class ever held on the campus.

Looking east at Engineering Building at left and Livestock Pavilion at right. At centre in background is the University farm foreman’s residence at left and the boarding house for farm workers at right.