By 1905, with 10 courses and a variety of “excursions” and evening lectures being offered at the summer Bio Lab, the number of attendees was growing. Mrs. Eugene Blackford (nee: Frances L. Green) had offered to erect a substantial building to accommodate the faculty, their families and the young women studying or conducting research at the Lab. It was to be a memorial to her husband, Eugene G. Blackford, one of the founders of the Biological Laboratory and president of the Board of Managers from its inception in 1890 until his death in 1904. Once Mrs. Blackford was assured that the combined dormitory and dining hall was vital to the Lab and that it was the Board’s intention to “secure a lease of the grounds for fifty years,” negotiations were completed and plans for the building proceeded. Her contribution of more than $25,000 served to fund the construction and furnishing of Blackford Hall, dedicated on June 1, 1907.