Business Bldg. towers over campus
The tallest building in Cache Valley is part of Utah State University’s campus. Reaching a height of about 150 feet, the Business building houses classrooms, department offices, conference rooms, administrative offices and one auditorium, according to the Campus Planning and Engineering department.
Dedicated in 1970, the building was created to house the College of Business, the first four-year business program west of the Mississippi.
“It was one of the first times in the valley that a building grew up instead of out,” said Evelyn Lee, the assistant for the Dean of Business. “It was easy to give people directions because you could just tell them to go up 400 North and look for the tallest building.”
The construction was funded by private donations, particularly from George S. Eccles, the president and chief executive officer of First Security Corporation at the time, according to the dedication program.
The first three floors in the building are dedicated to classrooms and administration, Lee said. The fourth through the eighth floors, otherwise known as the tower because of the difference in width, are used for department offices.
The ninth floor is one of the building’s most outstanding features, Lee said. This richly decorated floor is an open room used by organizations on campus as a meeting place for special events. Windows wrap around three sides from almost floor to ceiling. This, plus the building’s height, results in a view that reaches almost to Richmond, Lee said.
“It’s sometimes hard to hold meetings in there because people’s eyes tend to wander,” Lee said. “It’s beautiful in any season.”
Lee said one of the old traditions was for students to drop things off the top of the building. The Physical Plant has a key to the outside of the top floor, and cover the bottom windows for the these events.
Everything from couches, to watermelons, to milk and to refrigerators have been dropped off the building.
“I can’t figure out how it never hurt the concrete,” Lee said.
Students would gather at a safe distance to watch as things were bashed into bits on the cement.
The building holds one of the original computer labs on campus in the basement.
The walls are covered in walnut paneling, which was very popular when it was built.
“The heating system is terrible,” Lee said. It’s common to see space heaters in offices and classrooms.
Recently, the Eccles Foundation donated $770,000 for the College of Business to update its technology in classrooms and labs. Lee said this money will be used to get new equipment and make improvements like elevating the floors in classrooms so students will have a better view of their professors.
Currently, the student population has grown so much that the building is “exploding at the seams,” Lee said. Plans for expansion may be necessary in the near future, she said.