Sesquicentennial Stories: The Promise of UK #121

Margaret Ingels was born on October 25, 1892 in Paris, Kentucky.  She came to the University of Kentucky hoping to study architecture but there was no degree granting program on the campus during that time.  Dean F. Paul Anderson persuaded her instead to pursue a degree in mechanical engineering and in 1916, Margaret Ingels became the first woman at UK to earn a Bachelor’s of Mechanical Engineering. Upon graduation, she accepted a position in the engineering department of the Chicago Telephone Company. After a brief term of employment, she joined the Carrier Lyle Heating and Ventilation Corporation, New Jersey. She left Carrier to return to the University of Kentucky in order to finish a Master’s degree in engineering, graduating in 1920, again as the first woman. Ingels was the second woman engineering graduate in the United States and the first woman to receive a professional degree of Mechanical Engineer.

At the forge, circa 1916

After graduation, Margaret Ingels was asked to work at the United States Bureau of Mines at the Pittsburgh Laboratory. Dr. F. Paul Anderson, Dean of the University of Kentucky Engineering School, was the director of the lab. In 1921, he asked Ms. Ingels to work with other members of the American Society of Heating and Ventilating Engineers. Her assignment included field tests for the New York Commission on School Ventilation, 1927. It was during this time that she perfected a new portable machine that determined the amount of germ-laden dust in schoolrooms and public places. Returning to Carrier in 1931, Ms. Ingels helped perfect the sling psychrometer, which is used to read the relative humidity of the air. She worked in several departments including public relations until her retirement in 1953. After her retirement, she lived in Lexington, Kentucky, and authored a book about a colleague, Willis Haviland Carrier: Father of Air Conditioning.

Because of her achievements, both educational and occupational, Margaret Ingels was chosen, along with Eleanor Roosevelt, as a recipient of the 1940 Women's Centennial Congress. She was also awarded an honorary law degree in 1957 by the University of Kentucky. The University of Kentucky College of Engineering inducted Margaret Ingels into its 1993 Hall of Distinction.  A University of Kentucky alumnus and a pioneer in the air conditioning industry, Margaret Ingels passed away in Lexington, Kentucky on December 13, 1971. 

Graduation, 1916.

In 2005, a new dormitory, named Ingels Hall, opened as a living-learning community that included specialized programming for a cluster of female engineering students living in the Women in Engineering Wing.  The Margaret Ingels papers and photographs are preserved at the University of Kentucky Libraries Special Collections.

Sesquicentennial Stories: The Promise of UK #122

The Ezra Gillis building is the second oldest building standing on UK’s campus, predated only by the Main Building.  Over the past 120 years, the Gillis building has been home to many collegiate activities. One of the principles of a land-grant institution was that they provide agricultural support for the surrounding community and state.  In the mid 1880s, the Executive Council of the Board of Trustees passed a resolution to establish an agricultural experiment station as quickly as the college could accommodate one.  

Early photograph of the Gillis Building

In May of 1888, the College accepted a bid on the construction of the Station and ground was broken in June.  The new Experiment Station would be three stories (counting the basement) and was 70 long by  54 feet wide.  Its front entrance would face west and be graced by an archway fifteen feet wide.  Just north of the entrance, a tower would spiral skyward beyond the roof.  On the building’s north side would be an octagonal projection 18 feet by 18 feet.  It would be located just south of the Main Building. 

Botany Laboratory in the Gillis Building

Construction on the Experiment Station lasted roughly a year and the building was ready for occupancy in time for the fall 1889 semester.  The five basement rooms, designed originally as store and work rooms for the station, would first be home to the department of natural history.  The eight rooms on the main floor consisted of offices, a library, and chemical, botanical, and etymological laboratories of the Station.  The top floor was occupied by the department of chemistry, under the direction of Professor Kastle.  It held a large lecture hall that could accommodate about 75 students, several labs, and a balance room.  The octagonal room, designed with a sky light, was used as the department’s photographic room.  

Floor plan of the Gillis Building

The building was largely gutted by fire on February 23, 1891 with the most significant loss being two years’ worth of experiment and analysis records.  The building was rebuilt to the same floor plan and was completed in 1892. 

Ezra Gillis in the King Building

The Gillis building has housed natural history, chemistry, law, hygiene, public health, an infirmary, and the registrar's office through the years. It was long known as the Chemistry Building and later the Administration Annex. In 1978 it was named to honor Ezra Gillis, the first university registrar, who served from 1910 until his retirement in 1937.

Sesquicentennial Stories: The Promise of UK #123

The Golden Jubilee, October 12-14, 1916, celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of classes on the Woodlands-Ashland campus.  The act establishing the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky was passed by the Legislature in February of 1865, but the actual operation of the school did not happen until October of 1866, hence the celebration in October, 1916.  The only person who was present on both occasions was James Kennedy Patterson.

       

Tug of War

   

Events for the Golden Jubilee included a tug-of-war between the freshman and sophomore classes (the freshmen won), an alumni smoker at the Phoenix Hotel, an alumnae dinner, the “K” dance at the armory to benefit the Kentuckian, and a parade of the classes and faculty.  There were also speeches and burgoo before the dedication of Stoll Field and the football game against Vanderbilt.

 

During the parade on Main Street there was a competition among the classes to come up with the most original and novel ideas.  The freshmen typified childhood, the sophomores staged a Kentucky circus, the juniors represented important events, and the seniors represented themselves. 

  Seniors as diplomas - costumes reached 8 feet high

 The juniors captured the $100.00 prize by illustrating the changes and happenings of the University’s fifty years.

Junior parade entry - 1880 was the year women were admitted

 After the parade, the students and faculty convened in the chapel for speeches and honorary degrees.  Among the fifteen recipients were Thomas Hunt Morgan, James Lane Allen, and Henry Watterson.  Thomas Hunt Morgan became a Nobel Prize winner in Medicine in 1933 for his contributions to science – he developed the gene theory of heredity.

Dr. James K. Patterson delivered an address, “Fifty years of the University” and Charles W. Dabney, president of the University of Cincinnati, spoke on “The University and the State.”  The Alumni Association presented a portrait of Dr. Patterson.