The cornerstone for “Science Hall” was laid on Wednesday, June 17, 1914. The building was dedicated almost exactly one year later, in a ceremony held Tuesday, June 16, 1915.
The building was known simply as Science Hall until early 1962, when it was renamed “Berky Science Hall” to honor Herbert Weller “H.W.” Berky, who served as professor of chemistry from 1913-1958.
Science Hall was the fourth campus building when it opened. College Hall was first, and then the original portion of Ropp Hall opened as a women’s dormitory during the 1914-15 school year (officially dedicated on February 10, 1915). A central heating plant opened right around this time, also. Ropp Hall, Science Hall, and the Heating Plant were constructed at a combined cost of about $100,000, according to the 25th anniversary college history book.
Science Hall was primarily used for classroom and laboratory space for the natural and applied sciences through the years. This included agriculture, mathematics, botanical and zoological studies, and domestic sciences to start, but future activities and programs evolved as the institution’s curriculum evolved, and classes from all academic disciplines took place in the building during its usage tenure. The 25th anniversary college history reported that in the building’s earliest years, the top floors provided meeting space for student literary societies. In 1939, the Thespian Dramatic Society opened the Tom Thumb Theater on the top floor and presented productions there for several years. The first floor was home to the college’s home economics (later, family and consumer sciences, including nutrition and dietetics) department, with offices, classroom space, and teaching kitchens. A greenhouse had been constructed at one end. Campus lore suggests that M’Della Moon, the faculty member shown in this image, used to keep a pet alligator in a bathtub somewhere in Science Hall. The campus radio station operated from the top floor for several years.
Eventually, the very top floor of Berky Science Hall was deemed unsafe and was closed for regular use. The remaining three floors of the building were in service until the Knowlton Science Center opened in fall 2023. Demolition of Berky Science Hall began on May 27, 2025. Steps from the building were salvaged and repurposed at the Swiss Community Historical Society’s new Heritage Center, as reported by the Bluffton Icon.
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Carrie Phillips, Library director | Archives & Special Collections librarian, July 23, 2025
Berky Science Hall cornerstone time capsule contents
(as best as could be determined while unboxing the contents on June 5, 2025.)
Contents listed in order of appearance from the lid downward into the box:
1) Unknown folded document
2) May 1913 issue of The College Record; annual catalogue number including 1913-14 class schedule; second folded document underneath
3) Rolled paper invitation to “exercises” tied with purple and white ribbons (possibly graduation or some other ceremony; paper is too brittle to try to unroll)
4) June 1914 issue of The Witmarsum; labeled “Bluffton College Annual” (first “yearbook” of the institution)
5) One or more folded documents with metallic fasteners
6) Typed document, “Extract from minutes,” from May 1913, Warsaw, Indiana, meeting, leading to the creation of Bluffton College and Mennonite Seminary
7) Two typed folded documents with rusted fasteners; one is titled “Co-operation in Mennonite Education”
8) Letter from Central Mennonite College President S.K. Mosiman to members of the Educational Committee of the General Conference of the Mennonite Church of North America
9) Resolution establishing Bluffton College and Mennonite Seminary, May 1913.
10) Central Mennonite College catalog, 1900-1901
11) Central Mennonite College catalog, 1901-1902
12) Lima Republican Gazette, Saturday morning, April 11, 1914
13) Bluffton College Bulletin, April 1914 catalog number
14) Bluffton News, February 26, 1914
15) Bible with cloth-covered binding
16) 1857 Flying Eagle penny
