The Great Depression and WWII during Phase III significantly impacted campus construction and energy concerns. The Great Depression reduced the college enrollment rate and building resources. As a result very little construction and improvements occurred immediately before the war, with no new academic buildings erected since 1929, and almost no construction took place on campus through WWII. The war created energy, food, and other material shortages and by 1945, with the instillation of the GI bill, an expansion of the power plant was desperately needed.
In 1948 the Shaw Lane Power Plant was constructed, this plant is the location of the now famous M.S.C. smokestack, currently involved in a highly debated deconstruction.
This aerial photo was taken in 1962 during the Purdue football game, smoke can be seen coming from the Shaw Lane Power Plant to the upper left of the stadium.