The 1880 Agricultural Building, named Morrill Hall upon its 1888 expansion, was renamed Carrick Hall in 1908 when the new Agricultural Building was constructed on the Hill and named Morrill Hall. The building was on the south side of Science Hall. The facility was variously used following the completion of the new Agricultural Building (Morrill Hall) but was being used principally by the Department of Civil Engineering when it burned in December 1942.
One evening in December 1942, students leaving a class saw smoke from the fire and called for help as they reentered the building and carried out the transits—some of the more valuable equipment in the building. What was not lost to the fire was lost from water damage. Professor Nathan Dougherty was able to save only one-half dozen unusually valuable books from his library of two thousand or so volumes. Civil Engineering Professor Roy T. Brown, “THE authority at UT on the slide rule,” lost most of his extensive collection of slide rules and rulers in the fire.
At the time of the fire, the building was valued at $20,000 to $25,000. Insurance repaid $8,000 for the building and $3,500 for the building contents, but the personal belongings of professors were not covered.