Cary Hall

Dr. Charles Cary, a native of Iowa and graduate of Iowa State in 1887, came to Auburn in 1892 and taught the first class of veterinary medicine at Alabama Polytechnic Institute. Called the Father of Veterinary Medicine in the South, he helped establish the first meat and milk inspection system in the United States in 1896, became Alabama's first State Veterinarian in 1905, and in 1907 became dean of the newly formed College of Veterinary Medicine at Auburn, the first in the South. His accomplishments included campaigns to eradicate bovine tuberculosis and Texas tick fever, as well as work with brucellosis. He served as President of the American Veterinary Medical Association and as Executive Secretary of the Alabama Veterinary Medical Association, Alabama Livestock Association, and United States Livestock Sanitary Association. His practical teaching methods included performing animal surgery under a campus shade oak to instruct students, and his Saturday clinics and summer institutes taught farmers how to prevent and treat animal diseases. When he was nominated to the Alabama Hall of Fame in 1957, it was said that he had done more for Alabama livestock production and for protecting the purity of food products than any other man of his time. Built as a memorial to Dr. Cary in 1940, Cary Hall displays classical revival architecture with a symmetrical design associated with academic and governmental buildings of its era, four Tuscan style columns at the stair portal, a recessed door with Ovum trim and Scotia stone accents at the top, and stone quoins at the building's vertical recessed steps.

Auburn, Alabama · United States