Bolz Hall
Formerly known as the Civil & Aeronautical Engineering Building, the building was completed in January 1960. The building was called the Civil and Aeronautical Engineering Building until May 4, 1989, when the Board of Trustees chose the official name of Bolz Hall.
Dr. Harold A. Bolz directed much of the College of Engineering’s expansion. Bolz was born on May 27, 1911, in Cleveland. He attended the Case Institute of Technology (later known as Case Western Reserve University), where he attained his bachelor of science degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1933 and his master’s degree in 1935, also in mechanical engineering.
Bolz took a position with the Weatherhead Company of Cleveland for three years, before he took a teaching position at Purdue University. He came to Ohio State as an associate dean in 1954 after eight years teaching at Purdue; he was named Dean of Ohio State’s College of Engineering in 1958. He held that position until his retirement in 1976, at which point he was named Dean Emeritus. After his retirement, he briefly served as interim president of Ohio Northern University in 1979.
Bolz Hall was named in his honor ten years later, in 1989.
Harold Bolz was a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the American Society for Engineering Education, of which he served as president.
His wife, Harriet, was a composer, and of his three sons, two became surgeons and one became an electrical engineer. Bolz himself was described as a family man, but also a poet, avid reader, and horticulturist. Dr. Bolz passed away at the age of 88 on October 27, 1999.
more information:
John H. Herrick Archives: Bolz Hall
