Babson Builds its Campus
Babson transforms farmland into a new campus

Once upon a time, Babson wasn’t a college and didn’t have a campus. When the Babson Institute was founded in 1919, the school was housed at Roger and Grace Babson’s home on Abbott Road in Wellesley. The following year, the Institute expanded to a three-story brick building on Washington Street—what is now the Stuart Building. Then, in November 1921, Roger purchased a 69-acre plot of farmland from Edward Lyon. In 1922, he hired Boston architect George F. Marlowe to design the first buildings, in the Georgian style, and John Nolen to plan the campus grounds. After a year of construction, the campus opened with four buildings: the Administration Building (renamed Mustard Hall in 1975), Bryant Hall, Lyon Hall (renamed Luksic Hall in 1996), and Knight Auditorium.