Academics; once known as Dairy Husbandry Building. Completed July 1931. Cost $150,000; 31,043 sq. ft.
The dairy building was named Saunders Hall in 1949 for William Dabney "Buttermilk" Saunders. He was Director of the Creamery from 1896 to 1911, a professor from 1896 to 1908 and from 1914 to 1922, and an Extension Specialist from 1920 to 1945. Dairy industry pioneer Saunders worked for Virginia Tech for more than 40 years, interrupted by serving as Virginia's first dairy and food commissioner. A tireless worker, he established a system for testing cattle for tuberculosis that virtually eliminated the disease in Virginia dairy cattle. During his tenure at Virginia Tech, Saunders invented a cheese that sold "like wildfire," according to Ellison Smyth Jr. (EE, 1922) in his book, Retrospect. Saunders would go around town with a lump of cheese in his pocket, periodically peeling off the outer layer with a knife and offering a piece of cheese to whomever might be in his vicinity. Saunders died in 1955.
Address: West Campus Drive (Ag Quad) | Map Grid: K-6
Originally Built: 1931 | Abbreviation: SAUND