Heating Plant and smokestack, 1928
From CSU's Sense of Place: A Campus History of Colorado's Land-Grant University, by James E. Hansen, Gordon A. Hazard, and Linda M. Meyer. Fort Collins, CO: Colorado State University, 2018.
Architects – James W. Lawrence, Babcock & Wilcox of Charlotte, North Carolina, William C. Muchow & Associates, Inc. of Denver, Cator, Ruma & Associates of Lakewood, Colorado, Michael L. Aller, David Lingle and Bradley Massey
Builder – Chicago Cement Construction Company built the smokestack
880 Oval Drive, 951 South Mason Street and 204 West Lake Street
Construction began in early October 1915 on the building and its landmark 185-foot-tall smokestack. The smokestack rose an additional 7.5 feet each day as it was built by the Chicago Cement Construction Company. In early December 1915, the construction of the towering smokestack was completed as the most visible part of the coal-burning Central Heating Plant.
Professor James W. Lawrence worked with architects Babcock & Wilcox of Charlotte, North Carolina to design the building and its smokestack. Professor Lawrence discovered that 12 feet below the ground surface was more than 12 feet of solid sandstone. This natural foundation is credited for the smokestack not moving at all during the floods of 1938 and 1951. Fifty feet higher than the campus flagpole by Spruce Hall, the towering smokestack purposely lacked a ladder to prevent students from climbing the structure. The original idea of painting green and gold bands at the top was also nixed by the administration.
The smokestack immediately became a landmark and icon of the campus. It stood for the next 74 years until October 1989 when it was torn down rather than spending money to keep it maintained. The first aerial photographs of the campus were taken from the top of the smokestack just as it was being completed and there was still access to the top of the structure in December 1915. The Central Heating Plant was located on the lowest part of the campus because steam rises, and the returning water runs downhill. This eliminated the need for pumps to move the returning water to be reheated.
Brought on-line for the fall of 1916, the new Central Heating Plant was described in the catalog as being constructed of concrete, brick, and steel and was considered to be practically fireproof since no wood was used except for the window and door frames. The ground floor contained the boilers and coal bunkers. The boilers were the very latest design of Sterling Water Tube boilers. Each was rated at 234 horsepower and equipped with an automatic coal stoker. Located in the basement were the receivers and their pumps which took the water returned from the buildings and injected it back into the boilers. From the basement were two tunnels leading off to all of the buildings on the campus. The boilers, coal handling machinery, pumps and other equipment were designed so that tests of each part could easily be made by the students in mechanical and electrical engineering.
The years went by, and the campus grew. Completed in 1955 was the installation of a new $125,000 boiler that provided two-thirds more steam than the two original 1915 vintage boilers it replaced. This boiler worked with whole lump coal rather than the more expensive pulverized coal required by the old boilers. It took a full year to construct and install the new boiler that was needed as the campus was expanding westward with many new buildings being constructed.
In the fall of 1959, the process to convert the fuel from coal to natural gas with oil back-up started with the installation of five 12,000-gallon oil storage tanks by the railroad tracks and north of Johnson Hall. The conversion was completed in early 1961. Natural gas was the preferred fuel with oil only being used as an emergency back-up fuel. In the summer of 1984, a new addition was constructed around a massive new boiler that replaced two older boilers. William C. Muchow & Associates, Inc. of Denver designed this addition to the Heating Plant Building.
In the fall of 1997, the “District Cooling Utility Plant No. 1” was built near the south end of the Central Heating Plant, now referred to as the “District Heating Steam Plant”. Located at 951 South Mason Street, “DC Plant No. 1” provided chilled water to allow air-conditioned buildings on the Main Campus. This utility was started in the fiscal year 1998 with 1,500 tons of cooling capacity to serve seven buildings. By fiscal year 2006, this utility expanded to 5,165 tons of cooling capacity serving 31 buildings. Campus growth was anticipated to continue with projected loads of 7,500 tons of cooling power serving over 50 buildings.
In December 1997, work began on the old 1955 vintage electrical substation on Pitkin Street. It was replaced with new equipment to handle the increased electrical demands of a growing campus. Design of the project was by Cator, Ruma & Associates of Lakewood, Colorado. This electric substation is now situated between the Botany and Chemistry Research Buildings.
Located at 204 West Lake Street, “District Cooling Utility Plant No. 2” was placed into service in 2008. This addition to the campus HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) system was built to keep the temperature in the growing number of university buildings comfortable. “District Cooling Utility Plant No. 2” and its support building are in the southwest corner of the Transportation Services vehicle parking area. It has a 2,000-ton chiller designed to meet future load growth and capacity requirements. The location of the “District Cooling Utility Plant No. 2” is directly south of the “District Cooling Utility Plant No. 1” on the east side of the Oval. This location is considered ideal because it increases system reliability and redundancy in case of localized power failures, pipe ruptures, flooding, or other catastrophes around DC Plant No.1. The architectural firm of Michael L. Aller, David Lingle and Bradley Massey designed this project.
The District Cooling utility concept provides substantial capital and operating cost savings to CSU. The capital cost to build the utility is at least 30% less than installing chillers in each building, primarily because of the load diversity. Since not all of the building cooling loads peak at the same hour of the day, the total chiller capacity of the District Cooling utility is approximately 70% of what the total firm capacity would be with chillers installed in each building. This diversity ratio has been measured. In addition, fewer large chillers cost less than many small chillers. This strategy also eliminates the noise, space, and associated cost for locating chillers, towers, pumps, and power in new buildings. Operational savings occur through reduced maintenance staff and lower utility bills because of a more efficient system with variable flow pumping capabilities.
Before “District Cooling Utility Plant No. 2” was placed into service, the District Cooling utility capacity barely met peak loads during summer. There were no backup chillers to provide firm capacity. Firm capacity, by definition, provides peak cooling with the loss of the largest chiller within the system. The largest chiller was 2,000 tons. The District Cooling utility now has been expanded to provide more capacity for new buildings already funded and under design, as well as to accommodate the 20% of existing buildings that lack cooling thus impacting their use.
In June 2007, the Board of Governors approved spending $700,000 to install a biomass boiler fueled by wood chips at the District Heating Plant at the Foothills Campus. The Biomass District Energy facility located at 3135 Rampart Road became operational in the fall of 2009 and was designed to heat the Animal Reproduction and Biotechnology Lab and the Judson M. Harper Research Complex. It was paired with the new Solar Power Plant that was dedicated in January 2010. A composting plant is also part of this operation to handle food waste, animal manure and other compostable materials coming from the campus. In early 2017, an expanded composting operation using the Windrow method began, increasing the amount and types of materials that can be composted at the Foothills Campus site.
The South Campus is served by the “MCS Chilling Plant”. This utility is located just north of the hay storage sheds at the Voss Veterinary Teaching Hospital complex. This is “Building N” of the buildings at 300 West Drake Road.
Sources by Gordon A. Hazard
State Board of Agriculture Minutes, August 29, 1884, page 196.
State Board of Agriculture Executive Committee Minutes, April 30, 1912, page 259, vol. Dec. 1905 - Dec. 1916.
State Board of Agriculture Executive Committee Minutes, June 30, 1912, page 272, vol. Dec. 1905 - Dec. 1916.
State Board of Agriculture Minutes, June 2, 1915, page 345.
State Board of Agriculture Executive Committee Minutes, August 28, 1915, pages 345-346, vol. Dec. 1905 - Dec. 1916.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, September 16, 1915, pages 1 and 5, vol. XXV, number 2.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, October 7, 1915, page 2, vol. XXV, number 5.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, November 4, 1915, page 5, col. 3-4, vol. XXV, number 9.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, November 11, 1915, page 5, col 4, vol. XXV, number 10.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, December 30, 1915, pages 2 and 6, vol. XXV, number 16.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, February 17, 1916, page 2, vol. XXV, number 23.
State Board of Agriculture Executive Committee Minutes, February 25, 1916, page 366, vol. Dec. 1905 - Dec. 1916.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, March 30, 1916, page 1, vol. XXV, number 29.
State Board of Agriculture Executive Committee Minutes, April 5, 1916, page 369, vol. Dec. 1905 - Dec. 1916.
State Board of Agriculture Executive Committee Minutes, June 30, 1916, page 376, vol. Dec. 1905 - Dec. 1916.
State Board of Agriculture Executive Committee Minutes, July 1, 1916, page 377, vol. Dec. 1905 - Dec. 1916.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, September 7, 1916, page 1, vol. XXVI, number 1.
State Board of Agriculture Executive Committee Minutes, September 23, 1916, page 383, vol. Dec. 1905 - Dec. 1916.
Thirty-eighth Annual Register of the Officers and Students of the Colorado Agricultural College, Prospectus for 1917-1918, page 28, Series XVII, Number 3.
State Board of Agriculture Executive Committee Minutes, August 31, 1917, page 28, vol. Jan. 1917 – Aug. 1930.
Rocky Mountain Collegian March 28, 1918, pages 1, 5 and 6, vol. XXVII, number 28.
State Board of Agriculture Executive Committee Meeting Minutes, February 27, 1920, page 102.
C.A.C. Alumnus, August 1920, page 4, vol. 2, numbers 2 and 3.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, December 2, 1920, page 1, vol. XXX, number 12.
State Board of Agriculture Executive Committee Minutes, July 20, 1921, page 156.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, December 14, 1926, pages 1 and 3, vol. XXXVI, number 15.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, February 22, 1927, page 6, col. 4-5, vol. XXXVI, number 22.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, January 16, 1929, pages 1 and 4, vol. XXXVIII, number 16.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, January 14, 1931, page 4, vol. XL, number 18.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, January 27, 1932, page 1, vol. XL, number 19.
State Board of Agriculture Executive Committee Minutes, July 24, 1935, page 286.
State Board of Agriculture Minutes, December 11, 1935, page 250.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, December 18, 1935, page 6, vol. XLV, number 16.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, February 12, 1936, page 6, vol. XLV, number 22.
State Board of Agriculture Minutes, April 22, 1936, pages 294-295.
State Board of Agriculture Minutes, May 22, 1936, pages 304-306.
State Board of Agriculture Minutes, June 26, 1936, pages 312-313.
State Board of Agriculture Minutes, July 28, 1936, page 330.
State Board of Agriculture Minutes, August 28, 1936, page 340.
State Board of Agriculture Minutes, September 25, 1936, page 350.
State Board of Agriculture Minutes, October 30, 1936, page 358.
State Board of Agriculture Minutes, September 18, 1937, pages 436 and 438.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, March 17, 1938, pages 3 and, vol. XLVII, number 26.
State Board of Agriculture Minutes, July 29, 1938, page 507.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, September 9, 1938, page 1, vol. XLVIII, number 1.
Summer Session Newsletter, October 1938, vol. 1, number 1, page 1, col. 1.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, October 20, 1938, pages 1 and 6, vol. XLVIII, number 7.
State Board of Agriculture Minutes, November 2, 1938, page 546.
State Board of Agriculture Minutes, November 19, 1938, pages 547-549.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, May 4, 1939, page 5, vol. XLVIII, number 31.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, September 8, 1939, vol. XLIX, number 1.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, September 21, 1939, page 1, vol. XLIX, number 3.
State Board of Agriculture Minutes, February 3, 1940, page 119.
State Board of Agriculture Minutes, May 8, 1940, page 146.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, December 19, 1940, page 1, col. 3-4, vol. L, number 16.
State Board of Agriculture Minutes, December 8, 1943, page 533.
State Board of Agriculture Minutes, April 9, 1947, page 214.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, October 24, 1947, page 10, col. 1, vol. LVII, number 4.
“Long Range Development Program”, Report to the Colorado State Planning Commission, March 1952, pages 12, 21 and campus maps.
State Board of Agriculture Minutes, February 5, 1954, page 300.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, February 26, 1954, page 6, vol. LXIII, number 21.
State Board of Agriculture Minutes, March 12, 1954, page 315.
University Historic Photo Collection, images B5563 A, B, dated April 1954.
University Historic Photo Collection, images B5785 F, G, and B5822 H, I, J, K dated July-August 1954.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, January 28, 1955, page 6, vol. LXIV, number 16.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, March 4, 1955, page 1, vol. LXIV, number 21.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, May 5, 1955, page 12, vol. LXIV, number 28.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, February 26, 1957, page 1, vol. LXVI, number 36.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, May 6, 1958, page 7, vol. LXVI, number 51.
State Board of Agriculture Minutes, September 12, 1958, page 387.
State Board of Agriculture Minutes, July 24, 1959, page 520.
The Colorado Aggie Alumnus, September – October 1959, page 3, col. 3, vol. 35, number 5.
Colorado State University Collegian, October 20, 1959, page 5, vol. LXVIII, number 9.
Sources by Gordon A. Hazard
Colorado State University Collegian, February 12, 1960, page 5, vol. LXVIII, number 32.
Colorado State University Collegian, October 5, 1960, page 1, col. 2-4, vol. LXIX, number 7.
Colorado State University Collegian, October 9, 1962, page 1, vol. LXXI, number 10.
State Board of Agriculture Minutes, September 23, 1965, pages 452 and 453.
State Board of Agriculture Minutes, October 22, 1965, pages 463 and 464.
State Board of Agriculture Minutes, September 23, 1966, page 138.
Colorado State University Collegian, March 29, 1967, page 5, vol. LXXV, number 80.
CSU Collegian, November 6, 1967, page 5, vol. LXXVI, number 27.
CSU Collegian, January 19, 1970, page 3, vol. LXXVIII, number 57.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, January 5, 1973, page 3, vol. LXXXI, number 55.
State Board of Agriculture Minutes, September 21, 1973, page 403.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, November 5, 1973, page 1, vol. LXXXII, number 38.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, November 19, 1973, page 1, vol. LXXXII, number 47.
“A History of Colorado State University 1870 – 1974”, by James E. Hansen II, 1974.
State Board of Agriculture Minutes, April 25, 1975, page 42.
State Board of Agriculture Minutes, July 8, 1975, page 91.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, December 1, 1975, page 1, vol. LXXXIV, number 70.
CSU Comments, April 15, 1976, pages 1 and 6, vol. 6, number 31.
Fort Collins Journal, November 17, 1976, page 3, vol. LXXXV.
Fort Collins Journal, April 15, 1977, page 1, vol. LXXXV.
State Board of Agriculture Minutes, September 9, 1977, page 100.
“Democracy’s College in the Centennial State – A History of Colorado State University” by James E. Hansen II, 1977, pp. 200, 222.
The Rocky Mountain Collegian, November 14, 1980, page 5, vol. LXXXIX, number 43.
Colorado State University Comment, October 6, 1983, page 1, vol. 14, number 8.
State Board of Agriculture Minutes, October 18, 1983, page 5-5a.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, September 19, 1984, page 13, vol. 93, number 37.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, September 28, 1984, page 1, vol. 93, number 44.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, February 1, 1985, page 1, vol. 93, number 105.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, March 29, 1985, page 1, vol. 93, number 140.
State Board of Agriculture Land: Chuck Terrell Interview, June 1986, page 4.
Comment, April 6, 1989, page 11, vol. 19, number 12.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, April 12, 1989, page 1, vol. 97, number 147.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, April 14, 1989, page 4, vol. 97, number 149.
1989 Silver Spruce yearbook, vol. 85, pages 34 and 35.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, August 29, 1989, page 5, vol. 98, number 15.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, December 8, 1989, page 6, vol. 98, number 83.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, November 30, 1992, page 2, vol. 101, number 68.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, September 30, 1993, page 1, vol. 102, number 42.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, February 23, 1994, page 1, vol. 102, number 115.
State Board of Agriculture Minutes, October 11, 1994, 1-8a-z 1-1u-w.
State Board of Agriculture Minutes, May 2, 1995, 1-12a-aa,1-1u-v.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, March 22, 1996, page 2, vol. 104, issue 122.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, December 3, 1997, page 1, vol. 106, issue 68.
Comment, April 15, 1999, pages 1-2, vol. 29, number 27.
Comment, September 13, 2001, page 3, vol. 32, number 4.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, July 28, 2004, pages 1 and 3, vol. 112, number 166.
Board of Governors Minutes, June 22, 2006, page 7.
Board of Governors Minutes, December 6, 2006, C-1-B, page 6, G-6.
“Democracy’s University – A History of Colorado State University 1970 – 2003” by James E. Hansen II, 2007, pp. 5, 230.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, March 30, 2016, page 4, vol. 125, number 138.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, April 14, 2016, page 8, vol. 125, number 47.
Connect with library staff via chat, email, phone or text.
