History

Fifth Field Engineering
Company, est. 1909

The Campus Bookstore and Fifth Field Company (Tech Supplies) were established in 1909 by two engineering students who were attempting to offer their peers more reasonably priced supplies than could be found in downtown Kingston. Today, the Bookstore and Fifth Field Company are still owned and operated by students under the auspices of the Queen's University Engineering Society Services Incorporated (QUESSI). We are a not-for-profit corporation who endeavours to distribute required course material at the lowest possible price to students, while operating a comprehensive University bookstore for the Queen's community. We fulfill our mission by utilising the input we receive from the market we serve, and by applying the highest quality of management and service at every level of the operation.

Technical Supplies, an earlier name of the Bookstore, soon found its accommodations in Fleming Hall to be inadequate for its growing needs. In 1921, the Fifth Field Company voted to donate its entire pay for one full year, to establishing a fund for building a permanent home for Technical Supplies. Construction began in the spring of 1951, and by the fall of that year, Technical Supplies was serving students in Clark Hall, dedicated to Dean A. L. Clark, and costing a grand total of $94,546.99. Half the building was set aside for a bookstore while the other half was to be used for a student clubroom. The Bookstore area has steadily grown to become what you see today: currently one of the largest bookstores between Montreal and Toronto. The clubroom area has grown into Clark Hall Pub (the oldest pub on campus) and the EngSoc (the Engineering Society offices) which encompasses many of the Engineering life activities including the Golden Words. Outside of Clark Hall, you will find the permanent home of the four Year Crests of the Current Faculty of Applied Science.