• The current master plan was adopted in 2003
  
  
• Developed by Jackson-based Foil-Wyatt Architects & Planners, PLLC
  
  
• Plan provides guidelines for orderly growth and development of campus
  
  
• Providing a pedestrian-friendly experience is a priority
  
  
• Plan allows flexibility and a vision for the future to influence decisions about road and street development, building site selection, and expansion of the utility and I.T. infrastructure

• The expansion and renovation of Mitchell Memorial Library started in 1992 nears completion
  
  
• A tiling project closes Humphrey Coliseum’s outer concourse to walkers during the facility’s first facelift since it was built in the 1970s
  
  
• Chadwick Lake is drained for maintenance and improvements to make way for the $19-million Sanderson Center indoor recreation complex
  
  
• Construction of the Bryan Athletic Administration Building is completed
  
  
• More than 20 parking meters are installed along Lee Boulevard to allow open, short-term parking for The University Florist, State Fountain, and other offices

Source: MSU Memo archives, http://www.msstate.edu/web/employees/search.php

• A new athletic dorm, McArthur Hall, is dedicated Oct. 10, 1970, and the old dormitory in Memorial Hall is turned over to Continuing Education
  
  
• The 1970s saw construction of a number of iconic campus buildings, including Allen Hall, McCool Hall, Cobb Institute of Archaeology Building, and Humphrey Coliseum
  
  
• MSU Physical Plant Department develops an energy consumption manual in response to the national energy crisis
  
  
• The decade sees the university purchase the old Buck Creek Cotton Mill, now known as the Cooley Building and home to Facilities Management
  
  
• December 1977, a new four-laned Highway 82 opens between Starkville and Columbus

Primary Source: "People's University: The Centennial History of Mississippi State"

• The campus continued to change through the challenges of the World War II years and the opportunities of the post-war return of thousands of soldiers and sailors and the expansion of higher education
  
  
• The late '40s and 1950s saw the establishment of a unified plant maintenance department serving the entire campus, construction of sidewalks and curbs, and the paving of many streets
  
  
• Campus landscaping was reworked “amid a mighty hewing down of trees, rooting up of ancient shrubbery, and the felling of dilapidated outhouses”
  
  
• A master plan for future campus improvements was drafted
  
  
• On October 24, 1950, six new buildings were dedicated: the new library, the agricultural engineering building, Patterson engineering laboratories, Garner Hall (then a dormitory), the physical education building, and the dairy building (Herzer Hall)
  
  
• The Mississippi State campus changed forever when Old Main dormitory burned Jan. 23, 1959. The massive structure housed 1,500 at one time

Primary Source: "People's University: The Centennial History of Mississippi State"

• This illustration shows significant campus growth through the 1920s and into the '30s in spite of the financial plight of the state and the Depression years
  
  
• The college received its first accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools in 1926
  
  
• After a delay in the mid-'20s, the buildings program was revived in 1927
  
  
• Construction of a system of concrete drives on campus started in 1928
  
  
• The Great Depression dealt a blow to academic life and saw the deterioration of the physical plant and grounds because of the dire financial situation
  
  
• In 1932, the Legislature renamed A&M as Mississippi State College
  
  
• The mid 1930s saw construction and repair work return to campus as federal funds from the New Deal became available

Primary Source: "People's University: The Centennial History of Mississippi State"

• A worldwide influenza pandemic and the end of World War I marked 1918
  
  
• This image illustrates a changing campus footprint as the country raced into the Roaring Twenties
  
  
• Carpenter Hall and the new dormitory (the northeast wing of Old Main) were completed during the war years, along with the iconic Y.M.C.A. building
  
  
• A major improvement to the grounds took place in 1913 with the construction of sidewalks on campus

Primary Source: "People's University: The Centennial History of Mississippi State"

• The Agricultural and Mechanical College of the State of Mississippi opened its doors to students in the fall of 1880
  
  
• Created in 1878 by an act of the Legislature
  
  
• The Alumni Association was founded June 17, 1885, by the first three graduating classes
  
  
• The campus footprint of the 1880s included the original academic building, as well as the first dormitory, a mess hall, hospital, home for the president, and two-story chemical laboratory building, among others
  
  
• Landscaping the early campus moved at a slow pace

Primary Source: "People's University: The Centennial History of Mississippi State"