Editing Russell Sage Laboratory (section)

=Early Days=
Sage Lab began construction in 1907 and was officially opened and dedicated on June 15th 1909[5], it initially cost $405,000, around $12 million in today's money. The building was designed by Lawlor & Haase and was constructed of Harvard brick with limestone trimmings. It included 3 main sections: the east wing for the electrical engineering department, the west wing for the mechanical engineering department, and the in-between for use by both departments. 

The middle section contained a large lecture hall, seating up to 400 people, which is still there today and many students have class in. It also contained a large drawing room, a reference library, a museum, a janitor's quarters, and a laboratory which contained nearly 600,000 pounds of equipment designed to test construction materials. 

The mechanical engineering wing included five levels. The basement and subbasement contained several labs including a steam engine lab, a hydraulic lab, and a gas engine and refrigerator lab, as well as a blower room. The first floor included 2 private labs for department staff and space for testing various apparatuses. The second and third floors were set up the same, each including three topic rooms, a lecture room, a drawing room, and two offices.[6]  

The electrical engineering wing consisted of only four stories. its basement level had a dynamo lab, electrochemical rooms, a generating room, a blueprint and photographic room, and an instrument shop. The first floor had two lecture rooms, a topic room, the department office, and a private lab. The second floor contained several labs as well as an instrument calibration room, and two research rooms. The third and final floor had a physics lab, rooms for doing physical research, and a drawing room.[6]

The resources Sage Laboratories offered allowed for engineering students to get hands-on experience. The first degrees for Electrical and Mechanical engineering were given out in 1911, 9 students  and 3 students, respectively, thanks to the Sage Lab.