This greenhouse complex was part of an expansion of college agricultural facilities that began in 1889. Standing on the right is George Coote, instructor in horticulture. The Administration Building (Benton Hall) is in the background.
The 1891-92 catalog, in which this photograph is published, described the greenhouse as "large and well supplied with many varieties of choice plants." Students were required to work five hours per week without pay; additional labor was paid at the rate of fifteen cents per hour. George Coote was born in Kent County, England in 1842 and (according to Lucy Skjelstad) worked as the gardener for Charles Darwin before emigrating to America. He arrived in Corvallis in 1877 via the Isthmus of Panama and farmed in an area west of Corvallis near Yaquina Bay until his appointment to the College faculty in 1888. He laid out the college grounds, erected and supervised the greenhouses, and taught in the Horticulture Department until 1908 when failing health forced him to take a leave of absence. He died several months later in November 1908. One of his daughters was married to Emile Pernot, the college photographer.
