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understanding of the needs of the school, however, and gave much study
to possible means of meeting them. The results of this study were
communicated to Dr. Fuller soon after his return to Worcester, and
they collaborated on a report which was submitted to the trustees in
April, 1883.
The plan called for an enlargement of the plant and an increase in its
endowment. It was proposed that Boynton Hall be extended forty-five
feet on the west end, in order to double the size of the chapel,
provide rooms for Physics, Civil Engineering, Drawing, a library, and
classrooms for more and smaller divisions. The addition was designed
by Stephen Earle to conform with the original architecture, except for
a squat circular tower at the southwest corner. The construction cost
was estimated to be $14,300.
Another addition was to have been a chemical laboratory, 86 by 45
feet, two stories high, to be erected just north of the Boynton Hall
extension, the site later chosen for the Mechanical Engineering
laboratories. It was the intent to move to that building all chemical
instruction, thereby freeing Boynton Hall of the disagreeable odors
that pervaded it. The cost, including equipment, was modestly set at
$21,500. An addition of $110,000 to the endowment of the school and of
$100,000 to the endowment of the Washburn Shops was also included in
the plan, which with sundry other needs, brought the whole project to
$250,000.
The trustees heartily approved the plan, and directed that it be
published and used as a basis for the solicitation of funds. The
pamphlet setting forth the needs of the Institute and the plan for its
enlargement also contained convincing arguments concerning the value
of the school to Worcester and to Massachusetts. One of the
significant facts announced was that during its first fifteen years
the Institute had given $136,000 in free tuitions, of which
Worcester's share had been 61 per cent. It also pointed out that
without added endowment the Shops must make a 34 per cent profit on
gross receipts in order to pay operating expenses.
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