Boyd Laboratory
In 1931, the Board of Trustees approved a proposal by the State Highway Department to build an addition to the Engineering Experiment Station (later known as Haskett Hall). Finished in 1933, the three-story first housed offices of Division Six of the highway department as well as its testing lab.
The University took possession of the building in August 1961, and remodeling began in 1964. That same year, it was renamed the James Ellsworth Boyd Laboratory, after the engineering professor who taught at OSU for nearly 50 years.
Boyd first began his OSU career as a student, living in the Old North Dorm until his graduation in May 1891. He immediately received a job teaching physics at his alma mater. By 1901 he was an associate professor of mathematics. Sometime during this period Boyd took a year off teaching and went to Cornell to receive his master’s degree in mechanical engineering.
In 1906 Ohio State’s Board of Trustees established the department of mechanical engineering, appointing Boyd as its first chairman, a position he held until his “official” retirement in 1938.
At the June Commencement in 1938, Boyd was awarded the Lamme Medal, the University’s highest honor for engineers, for “meritorious achievement in engineering.”
Retirement did not interfere much with his schedule: He continued to teach, was given emeritus status in 1947, and continued to hold office hours almost every day until 1948 when his health began to fail. He passed away at the age of 86 on May 10, 1950.
more information:
John H. Herrick Archives: Boyd Laboratory
