Montana State University Wool Lab Moves to New Location After More than 75 Years

BOZEMAN — The Wool Lab has been on the Montana State University campus for more than 75 years, but no one seems to know what’s going on inside. I asked a few people nearby if they knew anything about the wool lab.

“I mean, we walk by this building every day, almost every day,” said one passerby.

“Do you know what’s going on inside?” I asked. “No, not really. I have no idea,” he replied.

I asked another person, “Do you know about the wool lab?” She said, “Yes,” but when I asked, “Do you know what’s going on there?” “No,” she says.

You might recognize this mysterious white building on the corner of 11th and College. That building is the Montana Wool Lab. Built in 1947, it is the only university-affiliated wool laboratory in the country.

I asked Brent Roeder, an MSU wool and extension specialist, “Can you tell me what you do here at the wool lab? He told me: “Mostly what we do here is take wool samples to help growers capture value-added processing.”

In simpler terms, this lab researches wool quality for wool producers across the country and region so they can create sustainable wool clothing. Brent worked in the wool lab for 30 years. Is he telling me the problem he’s trying to solve?

“We import approximately 8.5 billion pounds of plastic per year into the United States. That’s about £25 per person per year. That fabric takes about 10,000 years to decompose.”

That’s why The Wool Lab works to create 100% American made, biodegradable and sustainably produced clothing options.

But Brent tells me it was hard to do research in a building that’s over 75 years old. Especially when wool testing is such a complicated process and the humidity has to reach certain levels. So what did they do to solve this problem?

“So every morning we load our buckets with hot water and place them around the room. The temperature starts to drop or the humidity starts to drop, we have to fill them up again.”

Says Liz Maxwell, a co-manager of the Wool Lab. She tells me, the researchers also mop the wooden floors to gain moisture. Which is a bummer, and why everyone involved in the wool lab couldn’t be more excited about the new Combined State Labs building.

On Friday afternoon, a groundbreaking ceremony was held for the new labs on the Montana State University campus. This multipurpose agricultural building will house the Montana Animal Department Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, the Montana Department of Agriculture Analytical Laboratory and the MSU Wool Laboratory.

“To me personally, it means that the state and Montana State University are investing in the future of Montana’s wool industry. I’m not building it for myself. I’m building it for my grandkids and my friends’ grandkids,” says Brent.

The new lab is expected to be completed by 2026. The wool lab will completely pull out and move into the new building. What will be done with the over 75 year old relic it is now in? That remains unknown.