Towns and Nature: West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Heating Plants

Wednesday, February 21, 2018

West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Heating Plants

Purdue University has gone through a progression of heating plants as the campus grew and the technologies changed.

It was founded in 1869, but I can't find when their first heating plant was built.

The second plant was built in 1903.

Construction from Purdue Archives

1903 Heating Plant from Purdue Archives

Then the first plant was was demolished in 1904.

Demolition from Purdue Archives

This 1912 map shows that the power plant, #6, was built on the north side of the campus along a railroad track that came up on the west side and then turned east towards Grant Street.

1912 Map from Purdue Archives

1924 saw the third plant, North Power Plant, completed with a 250' smokestack. (The smokestack was lowered by 11' in the mid-1960s and by 16' more in 1984.) [A Century and Beyond: The History of Purdue University]

In the 1923 aerial view below, the 1924 plant must be nearly done because we can see it across the tracks from the 1903 power plant.

Aerial view of campus, 1923.
Smokestack seen in upper left.

A University of Tradition: The Spirit of Purdue agrees about the removal of 16' in 1984. The reason was "to safeguard against falling debris from the weather-ravaged top of the chimney." But this book says 18' was removed in 1972 because of deterioration from sulfur. It was torn down in 1991 because all heat generation had been transferred to the Wade Utility Plant (see below). "The smokestack would have rapidly decomposed had it been left standing when the North Power Plant closed." The Class of 1948 provided lead funding for the construction of the Bell Tower that was dedicated at Homecoming of 1995. As did the old smokestack, I presume the Bell Tower provides a highly visible landmark that allows one to orient oneself among all of the similar looking brick buildings.

www.purdue.edu reports that the 15-by-250-foot smokestack was demolished in 1992. That web page has more details about the boilers. The plant provided electricity as well as centralized heating. When I got my masters from Purdue in 1971-73, this North Power Plant was a long ways from the north side of the campus. It was more like the middle of campus.

The following is an excerpt from Google Earth with the time slider set to 5/2012. I included the Purdue Engineering Mall and the Elliott Hall of Music to help orient the location. The red rectangle highlights the heating plant. Note the circle in the middle of the roof. I presume that was the base of the smokestack. I put an orange rectangle around the Bell Tower.

Gooble Earth Pro at 5/2012

The heating plant, along with the Engineering Administration Building, was torn down in 2014 to make room for the Active Learning Center. A time lapse video of the demolition of the Engineering Adminitration Building. Unfortunately, the action is so fast that it is hard to see how the crane is wrecking the building. I paused it several times, and twice I think I saw a wrecking ball hanging from the cable.

3D Satellite
The blue building is the ACL under construction and the Bell Tower is to the west of the ACL.

Wade Utility Plant:

3D Satellite

The plant has been converted to natural gas because the former coal storage piles are empty and the railroad tracks are now used to store covered hoppers rather than deliver coal cars. [Confirmed by StanleyConsultants]

Also note the coolers in the upper-right corner. This is an indication that the utility plant provides chilled water, as well as heated water, for the campus buildings. In fact, they have a 5 million gallon thermal energy storage tank so that the water can be cooled at night when electricity is cheaper. [power-eng]