Morgan Hall, on South Pleasant Street in Amherst, was built in 1852-1853 and was Amherst College’s first library building. Designed by Henry Sykes, it was the campus’ first building made of stone. It was expanded in 1882-1883, at which time the building was officially named for New York Banker, Henry T. Morgan. Melvil Dewey served as Acting Librarian from 1874 to 1877, during which time he applied his decimal library classification system to the college’s collection. William Isaac Fletcher, Librarian from 1883 to 1911, was a nationally known bibliographer, educator and author of Public Libraries in America (1894). With the construction of the Converse Memorial Library in 1917, Morgan Hall was converted to classroom nd administrative use (it houses several college departments). In 1960, Astronomy Department’s Bassett Planetarium was installed, the gift of Preston Rogers Bassett. On the lower floor of Morgan Hall is a cannon from the 1862 Civil War Battle of New Bern, North Carolina. It is a memorial to President William A. Stearns‘ son Frazar Stearns, who was killed in the battle.