CAMPUS TURNS ON FULL POWER

Lights out.

It was common for the lights to be turned off at night in the women's dormitories at Southeast Missouri State University during 1949 and 1950.

It was a major complaint of those living in the dorms, the lack of electricity 24 hours a day.

In those days, lights in the women's dorms were turned off at 11 each night.

The campus had full power only from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily.

"The only lights were in the halls and if girls wanted to study it was necessary to sit in the halls after lights out," former history professor Arthur Mattingly wrote in his book, "Normal to University: A Century of Service."

The university in those days was much smaller. The campus involved only a few buildings, clustered around Academic Hall.

The campus power plant was in the basement of the Serena Building, just to the north of Academic Hall.

Coal had to be fed by hand into stokers.

The college ran on direct current instead of today's alternating current.

In 1949, construction began on a new power plant north of the Serena Building.

The plant, with its bare concrete walls, was built by college employees. A St. Louis engineering firm provided technical assistance.

In December 1951, the new coal-fired plant went into operation, bringing with it electricity 24 hours a day.

"This change was made possible because the power plant's steam turbine operated more efficiently when running constantly," Mattingly wrote.

Vincent Seyer began working at the university in 1949. He served as physical plant director for 17 years, retiring in 1992.

Seyer said the campus had to be rewired to handle alternating current after the new power plant was built.

In addition to electricity, the power plant also provided steam for the heating system.

The power plant has been expanded over the years and new equipment installed.

In more recent years, Southeast relied less and less on its own power, preferring instead to buy power from AmerenUE.

Southeast quit generating electrical power entirely the last few years.

But in mid-January, the university started generating much of its electrical power after spending about $7 million to upgrade the plant and the campus electrical distribution system.

The power plant doesn't get the publicity that the university's academic structures do.

But Seyer said it would be costly to replace the plant. To Seyer's thinking, the plant is irreplaceable.