engineering

Irvin Hall

Irvin Hall is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Irvin Hall rather than just read about it. In short: Irvin Hall was the first permanent building at Highland University in Highland, Kansas. It is the oldest building in Kansas still used for higher education.

Key takeaways

Irvin Hall belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Irvin Hall to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Irvin Hall from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Irvin Hall was the first permanent building at Highland University in Highland, Kansas. It is the oldest building in Kansas still used for higher education.

Planning The Highland Town Company offered to give the university forty-eight additional lots and a sum of $1,200 if the board of trustees would construct a building within a three-year time span at a cost of greater than or equal value of $6,000. Samuel Irvin's plan was for the university to sell the lots at $100 per lot to get $4,800 in addition to the $1,200 provided by the company to cover the cost of the building. The building committee designed an enormous structure of four stories in the center and three stories on the wings of the building. The planned structure was to be 180 feet by 40 feet. The Bricks of the building were sourced from the old gates farm just north of highland and lumber was sourced from St. Joseph, Missouri and Doniphan, Kansas.

Groundbreaking The Corner Stone for Irvin Hall was laid on May 11, 1858, accompanied by speeches by local leaders. One of Highland University's founders Samuel Irvin said at the laying of the cornerstone that only a few years had passed that "savage Indians" had roamed the area. he also added in his speech "now with the laying of the cornerstone civilization and education have taken the place of savagery and debauchery... he saw no reason why a Harvard or Yale College should not be built here..." The first floor of what was supposed to be the east wing of building was completed as a one-story classroom building in 1858 in time for the school year that fall. The second floor was not finished until 1860. The rest of building was never completed as a due to lack of funds. The total cost ended up being almost double the original plan at $10,000. The Overspending on the hall put the college in debt and while it was the first financial burden on the college it certainly wouldn't be the last.

The University Building The two-story red brick building is described as an excellent example of the Plains Vernacular style. The facade uses flat stone lintels over the windows and doors, with pilasters and a brickwork pattern on two side. The other elevations are plain in character. A flat-topped wood frame bell tower is situated on the east end. On the ground floor the university building had two 20x40 foot classrooms, two recitation rooms, apparatus room, library and an entrance hall. On the second floor that was completed in 1860 was a 40x40 foot chapel that was used by the Highland Presbyterian Church for worship until 1888.

Iterations post 1900 Irvin Hall was rented to highland high school in 1913 for 1,750 dollars a year due to size constraints imposed by the expansion of the high school curriculum from 2 to 4 years. This agreement was ended in 1923 when the new high school was finished. The university building was officially renamed Irvin Hall in 1925 named for Rev. Samuel M. Irvin, a missionary at the Iowa and Sac & Fox Mission State Historic Site and a founder of Highland Community College (Kansas). Irvin Hall was also renovated again in 1925 changing the floorplan to have a dining hall on the second floor, and a chem lab and a science classroom on the first. 1944-1954 Irvin was primarily used as a storage structure and the roof was allowed to degrade. The roof was replaced in 1954 and the building was electrified. The first floor was decorated to become a student union. during the renovation there wasn't enough paint to cover all the walls of the north room in the building resulting in each wall being painted a different color giving it the name of "the rainbow room". in 1959 the library was moved from the administration building to Irvin's upper level. After the construction of the new library building in 1966 students formed a human chain from Irvin Hall to the new library passing each book one by one down the chain. Irvin hall was again remodeled with the arts and crafts classes being moved to Irvin's ground floor and the music department being moved up to its second floor. Around the mid 1970s Irvin was extensively renovated with the first floor of Irvin being converted into a G.E.D. and developmental reading program classroom. The second floor being remodeled and converted into offices for the coaching staff. The present-day interior has been extensively altered since the building's completion in 1860. Irvin Hall was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on February 24, 1971.

References

External links Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) No. KS-9, "Highland Junior College, Irvin Hall, Highland Junior College Campus, Highland, Doniphan County, KS", 3 photos, 5 data pages

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Irvin Hall

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Irvin Hall claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Irvin Hall before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Irvin Hall ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Irvin Hall

In research: Irvin Hall appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Irvin Hall in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Irvin Hall is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Buildings and structures completed in 1859, Buildings and structures in Doniphan County, Kansas, Historic American Buildings Survey in Kansas, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Irvin Hall outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Irvin Hall” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Irvin Hall in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Irvin Hall means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Irvin Hall out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Irvin Hall in simple terms?

Irvin Hall was the first permanent building at Highland University in Highland, Kansas. It is the oldest building in Kansas still used for higher education.

Why does Irvin Hall matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Irvin Hall?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Irvin Hall.