In 1955, the F. W. Olin Science Building was competed and dedicated on September 28. The building was erected and equipped with a grant of $900,000.00 from the Olin foundation. It contained six physics laboratories, eleven chemistry laboratories, and space for part of the Mathematics Department. In 1959, a two-story addition was completed which provided space for the entire Mathematics Department.

In 1965, Olin Science housed the Departments of Chemistry, Mathematics, and Physics. Classrooms and offices for the Mathematics Department were in the rear part of the building. Physics occupied the entire ground floor and half of the first floor, and the Department of Chemistry, the remainder of the building. The air-conditioned building contained a lecture hall, which seated two hundred and fifty students.