Artillery+Garage+(1918+-+1928)

The artillery garage was built in 1918, after the collapse of College Hall. The garage was built on top of the foundations of College Hall, with the floor at the former basement level. Judging by the only photo we have of the artillery garage, it seems as if some of the remains of College Hall's walls were used in the construction of the garage. The window areas seem to have been filled in with brick; most likely the bricks from College Hall were recycled and used in constructing the garage. The building had eight double stalls for the sixteen army trucks that were to be stored there. The artillery garage was torn down in 1928 in order to make way for Beaumont Tower, which commemorates the site of College Hall.

Our excavations at the Beal Street site revealed a 2m thick layer of brick. The subsequent discovery of a piece of plaster with the letters "Moor" written on it served as our evidence linking the brick rubble to the artillery garage and College Hall. This revelation came while doing research in the MSU Archives, where a picture of student graffiti written on one of College Hall's basement walls was found. The graffiti commemorated the work that seven students had done repairing part of College Hall, between May 13 and 20, 1887. The first listed name was of A. Moore. The piece of plaster with "Moor" written on it matched up perfectly with the name "A. Moore" in the photo, linking the brick deposited at Beal Street with the demolition of the artillery garage in 1928. For further discussions on our findings, read Campus Archaeologist Terry Brock's blog post.