A year after the May 1950 groundbreaking, construction of the new library was progressing rapidly. Washington Street, now just a dirt strip for construction equipment, was located where the row of power poles is shown. President Henry Bennett had developed a 25 Year Plan for campus development, which called for the campus to center around a new library. President Bennett worked closely with the library director, Edmon Low, on plans for the new building. The pair toured other university libraries and reviewed plans for the new building as it developed. It is even rumored that they were moving markers in the middle of the night before the ground breaking in 1950.