This was the first building constructed on the present School of Mines campus. The original section (on the left) was built in 1879. New sections were added in 1882 (middle) and 1890 (right-hand end). It was demolished in 1956. (Source: Rocky Mountains to the World: A History of the Colorado School of Mines by Wilton Eckley)
The building that replaced it opened in 1958. It was called “the Metallurgy Building” for several years, until it was officially named “Nathaniel P. Hill Hall” in 1964.
Hill (1832-1900) was a founder of the smelting industry in Colorado. He served on the original Board of Trustees for the School of Mines, spent six years in Washington D.C. as a Senator from Colorado, and in later years taught classes at the School of Mines. (Sources: Colorado Transcript and National Mining Hall of Fame website)
Many thanks to the Golden History Museum for providing the online cache of historic Transcripts, and thanks to the Golden Transcript for documenting our history since 1866!
