The central steam plant has gone through many changes over the past decades. The first plant building was at the east end of the Mall and was finished in February, 1901. By 1903 the plant consisted of three 100 horsepower boilers, three steam engines, and two dynamos. More equipment was added in 1905. Again, in 1909, one 180 kilowatt electric generator and two 300 horsepower engines were added to the plant, replacing the old steam engines.
From 1918 to 1922, with Byrd Broce as plant superintendent, the power plant was relocated and remodeled. In 1919 a new brick stack was built and new boilers were installed at a new power plant location on the Upper Quadrangle. In the following year new engines, generators, and electric equipment were purchased and installed. Also, two new motor-generator sets were installed in 1922. These may have been the first three-phase generators used at VPI.
Soon after the work was completed on the plant, operations were begun to replace the individual heating systems of the campus with a central heating system that could expand to all future buildings. In 1924 two 250 horsepower boilers were added to the plant, and another in 1927. The underground steam tunnels were expanded to all campus buildings by the 1928-29 school year.
Before the heating system was finished, work had begun on a new power plant building. Construction was completed in 1930, at which time the power plant was relocated from the mechanical laboratories (now the print shop) to the new building across the street. Some old equipment was added to the new equipment already in place, which included a Westinghouse turbine generator and two new 350 horsepower boilers. The stack, the most noticeable feature of the new plant, was built as a separate unit. It is made from a special radial chimney brick and is 180 feet high with an inside diameter of ten feet and an outside diameter of 18 feet, nine inches at the bottom.
Several new boilers were purchased and installed by 1970. The four original boilers were removed to make room for boilers five, six, seven, eight, and nine. Boiler five was removed to make room for boiler ten. Work in the mid-1970's included the installation of a new turbine-generator rated at 6250 kilowatts and 12470 volts. As part of the installation, boilers seven, eight, nine, and ten were upgraded from a operating pressure of 250 to 600 pounds per square inch gage and 825 degrees Fahrenheit, with associated equipment also being upgraded.
From 1982 to 1985 transformers were replaced and the main switchgear and all motor controls were moved out of the boiler room to a dust free area. All major electrical equipment was rewired and boiler controls were upgraded to electronic controls. The removal of the 4160 volt switchgear which was originally used to feed town and campus circuits occurred in 1988. This space was renovated to provide office space for power plant personnel.
As the demand for steam increased over time an additional coal fired boiler, boiler number eleven, was added in 1997. This boiler was equipped with a scrubber and baghouse system to control both particulate and acid gas emissions. Coal boiler number seven boiler was modified in 2007 and equipped with a scrubber and baghouse similar to number eleven boiler.