John Motley Morehead III(1870-1965) and the Morehead Chemistry Lab
Completed in 1985, the Chemistry Lab bears the name of John Motley Morehead III. In 1946, Morehead presented the university with one million dollars to build and equip a planetarium, which opened in 1949. He also created the Morehead Scholars program and donated funds for the Morehead-Patterson Bell Tower. Morehead’s fortune came mainly from his father, James Turner Morehead (1840-1908), a North Carolina businessman who made advances in the manufacture of acetylene gas and steel alloys. Morehead’s companies eventually became part of a 1917 merger that created the Union Carbide and Carbon Corporation.