The heart of NMSU’s agricultural district turns 60 years old this year. Completed in 1963, the three-story Gerald Thomas Hall contains more than 143,000 square feet of space and houses more than 300 spaces for classrooms, offices and laboratories, including a student-run restaurant.
The origins of Gerald Thomas Hall go back to the 1950s. By then, the New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts – now NMSU – had been without an agriculture building for many years after Wilson Hall burned down during the 1930s. Plans for a new building got underway in 1955. At the time, the NMSU Board of Regents signed off on a $2 million “hollow square” facility with four wings, and construction began around 1962. But only one wing was built at a cost of $624,177.
In 1988, NMSU formally named the building after Gerald W. Thomas, who served as the university’s president from 1970 to 1984. The dedication ceremony included a non-traditional “barbed wire” cutting at Thomas’ suggestion, according to a report from the Round Up.
“To … name this building in my honor is just beyond imagination,” Thomas said at the time.
A version of this story first published in the fall 2023 issue of ACES Magazine. For more stories, visit nmsu.news/aces-magazine-fall-2023.