Demolition On Hold After MSU's Morrill Hall Catches Fire
EAST LANSING (WWJ/AP) - Demolition of a 113-year-old building on Michigan State University's campus is on hold after a fire burned through its roof.
The fire was reported Wednesday evening at Morrill Hall on the north end of campus. It took crews about two hours to extinguish the fire. No one was injured and the building was empty at the time.
East Lansing Deputy Fire Chief Troy Brya said the fire appears to have started in debris on the roof, part of which collapsed.
Demolition work started on the building in March and was expected to be completed in August. It's unclear how long of a delay the fire will cause to construction dates.
Nicknamed "The Coop," Morrill Hall once was a dormitory for female students and also housed home economics classrooms. In the 1930s, it was converted to classroom space and named for Justin S. Morrill, a former U.S. senator who pushed to establish land grant universities.
In 2010, the school's Board of Trustees approved a plan to take down the building and move the departments housed there into a Wells Hall addition and a renovated Old Horticulture Building. Demolition and walkway construction will cost about $1 million, MSU said.
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