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in wire goods and textile industries, prominent in State and National
politics. Lincoln N. Kinnicutt, Worcester banker and brother of
Prof. Leonard P. Kinnicutt, was chosen to fill Senator Hoar's place,
and was immediately elected treasurer to succeed Mr. Washburn. The
meeting place of the Board was changed from the Antiquarian Society
library to Mr. Washburn's office, which in 1906 was headquarters of
his campaign for a seat in the 59th Congress.
The financial prospects of the reorganized Board were somewhat
brighter than they had been the previous year, when Dr. Engler had
submitted to them a fall report covering needs for equipment,
expansion of plant, and increases in faculty salaries. At that time
they had reluctantly approved the expenditure of $19,000 that he
requested for changes in heating and power equipment, including the
installation of new vertical boilers. His plea for enlargement of the
Electrical Engineering facilities, at an estimated cost of $150,000,
had seemed visionary then, but when Stephen Salisbury's legacy was
announced, the trustees showed little hesitation in deciding how it
would be used. Within two weeks after the will was published,
Dr. Engler was instructed to prepare plans for an Electrical
Engineering building.
For four years, Prof. H. B. Smith, as able a tactician as he was an
engineer, had been pressing the needs of his department upon President
Engler, who had faithfully relayed them to the Trustees. Preliminary
plans for the building had been made long in advance, and Professor
Smith was ambitious to have it excel the electrical facilities of any
other college. On the basis of preliminary estimates, the trustees
authorized the executive committee to expend not over $180,000 for the
building and attendant changes in the Salisbury Laboratories, and to
pledge securities to secure a loan for immediate construction.
Plans prepared by a Boston firm of architects placed the proposed
structure at the comer of West and Salisbury
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