DUANE
Duane's take
Well, the marker's the one tellin' this story, and I'm just the voice it travels through — here's what it says about George W. Carroll Science Hall at Baylor University. Now, picture a businessman and philanthropist named George Washington Carroll.
Not the kind of man who does a thing halfway, mind you. Carroll didn't just write one check to Baylor University — he wrote two. Sixty thousand dollars the first time, and then, as if to make sure everybody understood he meant it, fifteen thousand more.
That kind of generosity doesn't go unnoticed. In 1902, the university's senior class affectionately dedicated their yearbook to the man. Affectionately.
That word is right there in the record, and it tells you something about how people felt. Then in 1903, the building named in his honor was completed, and what a building it was. Three floors and a basement, holding laboratories and classrooms for chemistry, physics, biology, geology, and astronomy.
The basement even served as one of the many homes of Baylor's museum. The architect was a man named S. Wemyss Smith, and he came to work in the Beaux Arts style — large rusticated limestone blocks with beaded mortar joints on the first story and basement, upper brick floors mingling with limestone string courses, lintels and sills, four Ionic columns standing proud above the front entry pavilion, and around back, a rounded extension on the rectangular plan that gives the whole thing a kind of quiet drama.
It's a building that knows it has something to say. Now, time has a way of reshuffling the furniture of purpose. When Baylor expanded through the twentieth century, the Sid Richardson Science Building and the Goebel Science Building both went up in the 1960s, and just like that, Carroll Science Hall found itself without the mission it was built to carry.
Lesser buildings might have faded into irrelevance. But starting in the mid-1970s, a series of major interior renovations got underway, and by the early 1980s those old laboratories had been remade into traditional classrooms. Central heat and air conditioning arrived — which, in Texas, is no small miracle.
Today the building is home to the Department of English, which means the halls once filled with the smell of chemistry and the hum of physics now echo with literature and language. The name, though — George W. Carroll Science Hall — that name stayed.
And maybe that's the whole point. The man gave seventy-five thousand dollars and his name to something meant to endure, and here it stands, a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark as of 2009, firmly rooted, the marker says, in the history and traditions of Baylor University. Carroll bet on the future, and the future kept his name on the door.
What the marker says
GEORGE W. CARROLL SCIENCE HALL CARROLL SCIENCE HALL WAS NAMED IN HONOR OF BUSINESSMAN AND PHILANTHROPIST GEORGE WASHINGTON CARROLL, WHO GAVE TWO SEPARATE DONATIONS OF $60,000 AND $15,000 TO BAYLOR UNIVERSITY FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF A HALL DEVOTED TO SCIENCE. IN 1902, THE UNIVERSITY’S SENIOR CLASS “AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED” THE YEARBOOK TO CARROLL, IN RECOGNITION OF HIS DONATION. COMPLETED IN 1903, CARROLL SCIENCE HALL BOASTED THREE FLOORS AND A BASEMENT CONTAINING LABORATORIES AND CLASSROOMS FOR THE INSTRUCTION OF CHEMISTRY, PHYSICS, BIOLOGY, GEOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY, AS WELL AS ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICES. THE BASEMENT SERVED AS ONE OF THE MANY HOMES OF BAYLOR’S MUSEUM. DESIGNED BY ARCHITECT S. WEMYSS SMITH, THE BEAUX ARTS STYLE BUILDING FEATURES LARGE RUSTICATED LIMESTONE BLOCKS WITH BEADED MORTAR JOINTS IN THE FIRST STORY AND BASEMENT, WHILE THE UPPER BRICK FLOORS MINGLE WITH LIMESTONE STRING COURSES, LINTELS AND SILLS. THE FRONT ENTRANCE INCLUDES FOUR IONIC COLUMNS ABOVE AN ENTRY PAVILION, WHILE THE REAR OF THE RECTANGULAR PLAN BUILDING HAS A PROMINENT ROUNDED EXTENSION. AS BAYLOR EXPANDED DURING THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, CONSTRUCTION OF THE SID RICHARDSON SCIENCE BUILDING AND THE GOEBEL SCIENCE BUILDING IN THE 1960s LEFT CARROLL SCIENCE HALL WITHOUT ITS ORIGINAL PURPOSE. HOWEVER, A SERIES OF MAJOR INTERIOR RENOVATIONS BEGUN IN THE MID-1970s AND COMPLETED IN THE EARLY 1980s CHANGED LABORATORIES AND OTHER OUTDATED FACILITIES INTO TRADITIONAL CLASSROOMS, WHILE ADDING ESSENTIAL NECESSITIES SUCH AS CENTRAL HEAT AND AIR CONDITIONING. ALTHOUGH THE BUILDING IS NOW THE HOME OF THE UNIVERSITY’S DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH, IT RETAINS ITS ORIGINAL NAME, FIRMLY ROOTING IT IN THE HISTORY AND TRADITIONS OF BAYLOR UNIVERSITY. RECORDED TEXAS HISTORIC LANDMARK – 2009