The Pearsons Hall of Science was built in 1892 on the campus of

Beloit College Beloit College is a private liberal arts college in Beloit, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1846 when Wisconsin was still a territory, it is the state's oldest continuously operated college. It has an enrollment of roughly 1,000 undergradua ...

Beloit, Wisconsin Beloit ( ) is a city in Rock County, Wisconsin, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 36,657 people. Beloit is a principal city of the Janesville, Wisconsin, Janesville–Beloit metropolitan statistical area (Rock Co ...

. It was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1980 because it was designed by the firm of

Daniel Burnham Daniel Hudson Burnham (September 4, 1846 – June 1, 1912) was an American architect and urban designer. A proponent of the ''Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts'' movement, he may have been "the most successful power broker the American archi ...

and because it marks an expansion of the science curriculum at the college.

History

The hall was built using funds donated by and named after Dr. D. K. Pearsons, With . a

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

man from Pawnee, Illinois. Pearsons had once passed through Beloit on the way to

Janesville, Wisconsin Janesville is a city in Rock County, Wisconsin, United States, and its county seat. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 65,615, making it the List of cities in Wisconsin, tenth-most populous city in Wis ...

and saw the college being built. He was so affected by the sight that it inspired him to donate $100,000 to the school nearly forty years later. The hall was used as the school's science center until 1968. Currently, the hall houses meeting rooms, dining facilities, student lounges, student service offices, a mailroom, a radio station, a computer and printing lounge, student government, publication offices, and Grace's Place. It was officially renamed the Jeffris-Wood Campus Center, named after attorney and business man Pierpont J. E. Wood and his wife, Helen Jeffris Wood. On campus, it is still generally referred to as Pearsons Hall.

Renovations

Renovations to wiring, plumbing, flooring, ventilation, and equipment occurred in 1931. This renovation also saw the addition of a skylight. A second renovation in 1985 by architect Edward Ware was completed and the building was rededicated as the Jeffris-Wood Campus Center. The bookstore was moved from Smith building to Jeffris-Wood Campus Center after this renovation.{{Cite news, url=https://www.beloit.edu/campus/news/fwf/?story_id=363088, title=Fridays with Fred: Student entrepreneurs found original bookstore, newspaper=the Terrarium, access-date=2017-02-15, language=en In the summer of 2024, the first floor of Pearsons was renovated to reopen DK's, a grab-and-go style dining facility. As of September 2024, the renovations are complete.

References

Beloit College Buildings and structures in Beloit, Wisconsin Schools in Rock County, Wisconsin University and college buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Wisconsin Burnham and Root buildings Romanesque Revival architecture in Wisconsin School buildings completed in 1893 National Register of Historic Places in Rock County, Wisconsin 1893 establishments in Wisconsin