A lightning strike in 1987 might have been the first indication that E. B. Fred Hall had expired its tenure at the University of Wisconsin. The harbinger of destruction for the 50-year-old building, even though it came more than 10 years before the deconstruction date, added to the building’s odd appeal, as did the leaky ceilings and the extremely loud heat radiators.

“It kind of was an ugly building,” said Gary Roberts, a bacteriology professor who worked at Fred Hall for years.

A catered picnic Saturday gave faculty who worked in Fred Hall, past and present, a chance to reminisce about their goings on in the historic building. An auction was held so staff members could take home a piece of Fred home with them. Some of the items up for bid were tin cups, old glassware and pieces of scientific models.

Many UW staff members had favorite Fred Hall quirks, but Roberts’s favorite part of the building was not very quirky at all. Roberts preferred the Fred Hall staff’s ability to adapt to its outdated nature.

“The building was really built for pre-World War II science,” Roberts said, indicating that after WWII, the science world drastically changed in ways the building was not equipped to. “But people did get the science done.”

Fred Hall is named after longtime member of the bacteriology department Edwin Broun Fred. Fred started with UW in 1913. He became dean of agriculture in 1943 and became president of UW in 1945, a post he occupied until 1958. The Bacteriology building was renamed after Fred in 1977.

The building is being torn down for a new Microbial Sciences Building. It will house food microbiology and toxicology and medical microbiology and immunology, in addition to the bacteriology department.

Funding for the $104 million project is coming from three places. Some money is coming directly from the state under a plan called Biostar. Tommy Thompson passed the plan during his term as governor of Wisconsin. Another substantial portion comes from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation. The remaining part comes from additional fundraising and donations.

Fred Hall’s first home was in Agriculture hall, taking up a third of the premise. From there, the hall found a new home at the Bacteriology building and once again will find itself at yet another location.

The new building will be 330,000 square feet and taller than the Russell Lab building across the street from it. The new building will extend north of its predecessor’s boundaries into a parking lot and south and west into a now grassy lawn.

The microbiology staff has been relocated to a number of different buildings, a majority going to the old section of the biochemistry building.

“It wasn’t so much the building that made it great,” Roberts said, “it was the personal friendships.”