Repository: UIHistories Project: Dedication - Natural Resources [PAGE 6]

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for a modern, adequately equipped building to house the State Geological Survey and the State Natural History Survey has been apparent for years. Inadequate equipment and cramped quarters in numerous widely separated buildings limited the extent of the investigational programs and interfered with the efficiency of the staffs and their public service. These conditions were widely recognized by many important industrial, agricultural, and conservation groups, and their interest in improving these conditions aided in bringing to realization the new Natural Resources Building. The first formal request for the present unit of the Natural Resources Building was made in October 1934 at a conference of the building committee of the Board of Natural Resources and Conservation with Governor Henry Horner. As a result of this and later conferences, the General Assembly of the State of Illinois, on June 28, 1937, passed a bill appropriating $300,000 for erection of a building for the Geological Survey and the Natural History Survey which was promptly signed by Governor Horner. The bill contemplated additional funds from Federal sources, and applications were accordingly made. In July 1938, a grant of $245,454 was allowed by the Public Works Administration. Later an amended grant provided an additional appropriation of $22,909. For equipment and furnishings of the building, the General Assembly of the State, in July 1939, appropriated $200,000. In accordance with the Civil Administrative Code, the University of Illinois has provided the building site on the campus, shared in the expense of extending certain services, and henceforth assumes the maintenance and servicing of the structure. Work on the foundation of the building was begun in the fall of 1938, but the superstructure was not started until the following spring. By mid-July 1940 the present unit of the building was nearing completion, and sections of the Geological Survey had begun moving into the new offices and laboratories, to be followed a few days later by sections of the Natural History Survey. Dedicated to research in the innate wealth of the State, the Natural Resources Building is constructed largely of Illinois

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