Did
You Know?
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...the
official colors of North
Dakota State University
are
Green and Yellow. The official colors were originally ratified on April
9th 1909.
This record can be found in the NDSU Faculty Minute Book:
“Professor Keene
moved that green, number 65 and yellow number 140 of the color card be
made the
official colors of the institution. Seconded by Prof, Weeks, Motion
prevailed.”
...NDSU
was originally known as North
Dakota Agricultural College.
The bill establishing NDAC was signed into law on March
8, 1890;
seven
years after initial plans to start an agricultural college in the
northern
portion of the Dakota
Territory.
...it
is
tradition to wear yellow to sporting events. Students are also
encouraged to
stand during sporting events (IE: Football), especially when any of the
school
songs are played.
...a
bell chimes a school song everyday at 9am, noon,
and 5pm. Students are to remove their hats and are encouraged to sing
along.
...The
Yellow and the Green
is NDSU's school song. The verses
were
written in 1908 by Archibald E. Minard and the music
was
written by Dr. Charles S. Putnam.
...the
Bison were originally known as the Farmers in the 1890s.
...Old
Main
was
originally known as College Hall and construction was completed in 1892.
...NDSU
contains 16.7 miles of sidewalks and 5.8 miles or streets.
...NDSU's
Fight Song is On
Bison.
...the
NDSU History and Traditions Council was formed in February of 2007.
...the
Bison sports teams are also known as the Thundering Herd
...Thunder Radio is
a student run radio
station that is geared towards the NDSU community.
...Dr.
Joseph A. Chapman is the President of NDSU. President
Chapman’s Alma Mater is Oregon State.
...NDSU’s
total enrollment as of Fall 2006 was 12,258. This includes 10,596
undergraduates and 1,662 postgraduates.
...NDSU’s
main Fargo
campus includes 258 acres. In all NDSU encompasses over 22,053 acres.
...NDSU
has its own zip code: 58105
...NDSU
Library collections include nearly 1.4 million volumes, including over
400,000
books in the main library
...NDSU’s
official student-run school newspaper is The
Spectrum. The Spectrum began in 1896, just six years after
the university
began operations.
...Ceres
Hall was not the first name choice for the building. Administrators
wanted to
name it after the first female student at NDSU, Jessie Slaughter.
However, the
administrators did not feel it was appropriate to name the dorm
"Slaughter
House" or "Slaughter Hall."
...in
1964 one of the rules for the girls in Burgum Hall was - "...all drapes
be
drawn by 7:00
pm."
...the
U.S. Army used the Benson Bunker Fieldhouse during WWII. In 1942 the
Fieldhouse
was used for a 12 week officer candidate school. The 1st class in 1942
had 335
candidates; when the program ended in 1943 a total of about 1600
candidates had
participated in the program
...the
original purpose of the Art Building
(demolished in 2004) was to serve as the office of the Naval Reserve
Headquarters,
Fargo Division. This included training facilities for the Navy's
Deep-Sea
Program
..."Noble's
Golden
Marguerite was the most famous Jersey Cow owned in North
Dakota
and the only cow to be formally
buried on any college campus." (Buried in 1932) Golden Marguerite is
still
buried under the lawn of Engineering Technology (Dairy Building)
...from
1983 to 2002 an Air Force F-104
was displayed on campus north of the Engineering Complex. All that
remains is
the place marker.
...the
military gun outside of Bentson Bunker Fieldhouse is a 90mm
WWII Anti-Tank Gun. It was acquired through the A.C. Vets Club and the
NDAC
ROTC
--NEXT-- NDSU had
many students that fought in the
Spanish-American War (1898). There is a memorial on campus to honor
these
students. The memorial
was the idea of President John Worst (1895-1916). Worst had a tree
planted for
each student that was in the war along with an engraved stone. The
Worst
Memorial (the stone) has been moved several times but currently is in
the
arboretum near the main gates
...there
is a log cabin in Old Main. On the third floor of Old Main
is
the "Lincoln
Log Cabin"; it includes 2 large rooms and a kitchen. The
cabin was
built in Old Main in 1923. It is currently available for small groups
through
the President's Office.
...the
Little
Country Theatre was originally located in Old Main on the
third floor. The
seating capacity was 350 (originally 200) and included a 30 ft wide and
20 ft
deep stage.
...that on January 14, 1889, a bill was introduced
to locate the North Dakota Territorial Agricultural College at Valley City.
16 days later another bill was introduced to
locate the college in Fargo.
Both bills were sent to
committee and the majority report favored Valley City, was adopted and
the bill passed both the Council and the House.
A group from Fargo went to the governor
to persuade him to veto the bill, which he did, and
several others, on the grounds that they carried appropriations
exceeding the
resources of the Territory.
...that the City
Council of Fargo, on December 12,
1889, resolved “that we cordially endorse the action of
Honorable J.E. Haggert
in introducing the bill providing for the issuance of Bonds for
building the
Agricultural College at Fargo.”…
In
January of 1890, a bill for the creation of the North Dakota Agricultural College and Agricultural
Experiment Station at Fargo was introduced and it
passed both Houses and was signed by the Governor
on March
8, 1890.
...that the first
permanent structure on campus was
College Hall (Administration Building), but more commonly
known as Old Main.
In February of 1891, the
North
Dakota State Legislature appropriated $25,000 to erect the structure. The cornerstone was laid
in 1891 and
construction was completed by the end of 1891 and on January 3, 1892, the institution
opened its regular work in its permanent home, and
enrolled 123 students for the term.
Prior to the construction of Old Main, classes
were held in leased space
at Fargo College Fargo (a private college, affiliated with the
Congregational
Church that existed in Island Park area – south
of downtown Fargo, between 1887 and
1922).
...that football was
introduced to North Dakota by Professor H.
L. Bolley, one of the first professors at NDAC, specialties in botany
and plant
pathology and Purdue’s first quarterback.
In 1890, Professor M.A. Brannon of UND, a Wabash University graduate and a
past football opponent of Bolley’s, challenged NDAC to a
football game. As
Bolley related, it took him three years
before he could get enough students for the game.
NDAC won both games in 1894 (both of which
UND protested) and split in 1895.
...that the motto of
the Agricultural Club, which
was founded
in 1899 was Keep Back
the Weeds and their yell was:
Sowing seeds; Fighting weeds; Farmers, farmers, yes are we; Hurrah! Hurrah! Old A.C.!
...that student
rowdiness is not new. The
Spectrum reported that
“Washington’s birthday was celebrated this year in
a way that will not soon be
forgotten. The
sophomores decided to
pre-empt the college flagstaff for that occasion and took possession of
the
approaches on the night of February 21, 1899.
[The flagstaff they are referring to was
located on the top of the tower of Old Main]
The other classmen, being off their guard,
offered no resistance, so the sophomores slept behind their
fortifications in
the little tower room in peace. The
morning of the 22nd was cold and windy, but by 8 o’clock a.m., the colors of 1901
were to be seen proudly floating beneath ‘Old
Glory’
from the top of the flagstaff. Shortly
thereafter the other classmen prepared to assault the sophomores.
… “As
the remaining sophomores were few in
number and small in stature they decided to defend only the last
approach to
their flag. Although
this approach,
commonly called a ladder is steep and narrow, the assailants planned to
force
an entrance one at a time. A
tall and
muscular junior led the charge but as soon as his head and hands
appeared
through the trap door he was vigorously prevented from going any
farther by the
heels of his opponents.”
So, the
besiegers, from a position on the roof, endeavored to shoot the flag
down. Armed with
Springfields and thirty rounds of
ammunition they opened up. The only result of this experiment were
numerous
bullet holes which both flags received.
...that Minard Hall was
originally named Science
Hall, and was built in three phases?
The
first section was built in 1901. The
central portion, was built in 1917-1918, and the final section in 1930.
As part
of the Commencement in June 1951, Science Hall was rededicated and
named Minard
Hall in honor of Dean A.E. Minard, who gave 46 years of service to the
College
...that the Bjornson
Memorial Obelisk,
located in front of Old Main, between
Putnam and Burgum Halls, was dedicated on the morning of Tuesday, May
17, 1904.
The Bjornson "bauta sten" which had been placed on the A.C. grounds
in honor of Bjornson, the great Norwegian poet, playwright, Norwegian
nationalist, social critic, and Nobel Prize winner, was formally
unveiled. The
buildings were all tastily decorated with
bunting and the flags of Norway and the United States. A large crowd,
variously estimated at three to five thousand, was on
the grounds at 10 o'clock waiting for the
program to begin.
...that Putnam Hall was
originally the college
library? “In
1905 President Worst was
successful in securing from Andrew Carnegie funds for the construction
of the
library. He received $15,000 for a building and later Carnegie added
$3,400 for
its completion. In 1906 the Carnegie Library was dedicated and 8,000
volumes
were transferred from the main building [Old Main]”.
...the yell of the
Pharmaceutical Club of 1906 was:
Chills, fevers and kindred ills; We are the guys that make good pills
...about the Chemical Building that blew up? Located between Old Main
and South
Engineering, the Chemistry Building, had been built in
1905, and was entirely destroyed on the evening of December 24, 1909. The fire was first
discovered at about 6:45
pm, but by the time
the fire department arrived the fire had gained such headway that
nothing could
be done but prevent it from spreading. The firemen were further
hampered by the
fact that one of the hydrants at the corner of the campus was frozen
and very
little water was available. The flames [were] accompanied by a constant
series
of explosions of more or less violence as the fire reached the various
chemicals. Several times windows were blown out while one explosion
took off
the entire roof and another, probably from the storerooms blew out the
west wall.
Fortunately the wind was from the northwest at the time of the fire so
that the
only other building endangered was the Library [Putnam Hall]. A constant shower of
burning brands fell on
the Library roof, but these were extinguished as fast as they came and
the
danger was finally averted.
...that Ceres Hall,
which was built in 1910, was not
the first name choice for the building?
In April of 1950, Mrs. Jessamine Slaughter
Burgum wrote "When the
question came up to build Ceres Hall, it was suggested to name if after
the
first girl student, who had enrolled from Bismarck. It was agreed,
and one trustee asked, 'What was her name?' 'Why, Jessie Slaughter,
from Bismarck.' 'Oh, then the
students will be calling it 'the Slaughter House' instead of Slaughter
Hall,'
so they decided to call it Ceres Hall after the Goddess of
Agriculture." Did
you know that
there was once a cafeteria in Ceres – where the current
Registrar’s Office is?
...that the Campus
Gates (southeast corner) were
built in 1912-13, and the student fund drive to have them erected was
spearheaded by Mark Keller, a 1912 NDAC graduate, who later lost his
life in
WWI as a Captain in France, trying to save one of his men lying wounded
in No
Man’s Land. These
gates served as the
main entrance to campus well into the 1950s, when Old Main was the
focal part
of the campus.
.....that the Student
Life Train, manned and
operated by students left on Monday, February 10, 1913 for three days, and 30 North
Dakota towns and
cities promoting NDAC. . On board were exhibits
from all departments
of the college, President and Mrs. Worst were the major chaperons,
students
from the Cadet Band, the Crack Squad (rifle team), the College
“Y” quartet, two
casts from the Edwin Booth Dramatic club, the college Orchestra, and
student
demonstrators.
... that the Little
Country Theater was located in
Old Main? The
Little Country Theatre
(LCT) was dedicated at North Dakota Agricultural College on February 10, 1914.
LCT ‘s existence is due to Alfred G.
Arvold,
originally hired in 1907 as an Instructor in English and Oratory and
rising to
the rank of Professor of Speech and Chairman of the department, which
he held
until his retirement in 1953. The
chapel
in Old Main was not being used and Arvold decided that was the place to
create
a theater. Primarily
through his
efforts, the chapel was transformed into a theater. The State
Legislature
appropriated $3,000 to enlarge the seating capacity.
The seating capacity was 200, later expanded
to seat 350. The stage was 30 feet wide and 20 feet deep. Within ten
years the
theater plant had grown and occupied most of the second and third
floors of Old
Main. Believe it or
not, the Stage is
still there and can be seen if one lifts a ceiling tile in the Graduate
School
Office and looks south.
...that in 1915, all
freshmen had to wear a green
cap (beanie), which were purchased from the Bookstore and had to be
worn from 8
am - 6 pm everyday. Originally
this was
from the opening day until November 1st, but was
changed to the end
of the NDAC vs. UND football game.
Beanies were still being worn into the early
1970s. This photo
is from the 1950s.
...that until early
February of 1922 we were known
as the Aggies. In
early February of
1922, the lettermen organized a new club, the N.D. club and proclaimed
that
“the college athletic teams in the future will no longer be
famed as the
fighting Aggies but as the Bison, the new and official name....The name
will no
doubt sound “queer” to us for a while, but when we
become use to its usage we can
be proud to have our teams play under the name of the staunchest and
most
persistent fighters of the plains in the early days
...that in March of
1922, the Weekly Spectrum printed
ballots for students to vote to change the
name of the college. The
results of the March
31, 1922 showed that:
“Overwhelming majority desires name of North Dakota State
College. Final
count gives 437 for State College.
By the end of the 1920s, that everything,
except official college business had North Dakota State or North Dakota
State College on it – student publications, letterhead,
pennants, mugs, team
uniforms, cheer leading uniforms, etc.
...about the Lincoln
Log Cabin, located in Old Main?
The Weekly Spectrum,
dated Oct.
31, 1923, carried a front-page
story announcing "Lincoln Log Cabin New
Addition to L.C. Theatre." In it the editor describes the rough-hewn,
half-log walls, wrought iron door hinges made by Prof. Haile Chisholm
and
furniture made of hickory and oak. Prof. Arvold and his students went
to northern
Minnesota to obtain logs for the
walls. The
finished cabin consisted of two large rooms and a kitchen. The Lincoln Log Cabin was
a unique place used
for dinner festivals at Christmas, and a banquet on Lincoln’s birthday. In the 1950s, due to
Arvold’s retirement and
a new directions by Dr. Frederick Walsh, who
took over the theatre program, use of the Log
Cabin as a place for
entertaining ended, and the space was used primarily for costuming,
building
sets, grad student offices, etc. It still exists and small groups do
use it for
meetings today.
...that the headlines
for the March 13, 1924 Weekly
Spectrum read: "Barred Escapes and Locked Doors Force Ceres
Girls to
Stay In and Fight Fire" Excitement ran high at Ceres Hall Wednesday
night
about midnight when some of the late burners of the oil discovered the
halls
blue with smoke and a smell of burning wood somewhere. The House
President and
a few of her trained sleuths began an investigation and after several
frantic
trailings thru the labyrinths of attic and basement found a rubbish box
in the
Home Economics Cooking Locker room blazing merrily. The fire department
had
been called by one of the girls. Others who came first on the scene
unrolled a
few hundred yards of fire hose and extinguished the blaze. The fire
department
on arriving in full force found the doors securely locked against all
invaders
and a group of girls in the lobby. Before finally gaining admittance
the
chief’s first query was, ‘Well, if
there’s a fire why aren’t you girls outside?
The group answered in chorus ‘We can’t get
out!’ Windows, doors, and fire
escapes at Ceres have all been carefully screened and barricaded this
year for
fear of some truants getting in or out unofficially---but little
consideration
was taken of the fact that at some time these fire escapes might be
their only
possible exit.
...that the
“The first [hockey] team to represent a
North Dakota college in outside competition was that of
the A.C. leaving shortly after Christmas for
a two weeks trip to Northern Michigan and Minnesota (1927 yearbook) - we lost every game on
the trip.
…that the
students published something called the Bull
Bison (: April
1930 ISSUE)
and we find in the College Council Minute Book, April 17, 1930, p. 354. Dean Minard moved that
the journalistic organization of Gamma Tau Sigma be informed that the
publication of the “Bull Bison” and all similar
publications is to be
discontinued. Seconded
by Professor
Munro. Motion
carried. The
publication continued into the 1940s.
...that we lost
accreditation in 1937 due to the
infamous purge of ’37..
Basically we
controlled over $1 million of federal funds, the governor wanted
control, he
couldn’t control the top administrators, they were fired on a
Saturday morning
in July and given 4 hours to vacate the premises.
We lost accreditation shortly
thereafter. What
the Governor hadn’t
counted on were the students and alumni who mounted a vigorous
campaign. Within
a little over a year, there was a new governor in office, the
independent Board
of Higher Education which exists today was created, we had a new
president, and
we were reaccredited.
... we
almost lost Old Main in
1938? If not for
the quick thinking and
actions of a group of five freshmen in 1938, Old Main may have been
lost. On September
18, 1938,
while walking about campus at about 10:25
p.m., the
five freshmen heard a window
break in the Little Country Theater seminar room and saw flames in the
interior. Three of the freshmen rushed over to Ceres Hall, where they
notified
the director, who turned in the alarm. The other two climbed a fire
escape,
broke another window and held the fire in check until the firemen
arrived.
Paint soaked rags, left in the seminar room, may have started the fire,
either
by spontaneous combustion or through contact with a hot radiator,
firemen
believe. Damage was estimated at $300. (The Spectrum, September 23,
1938, p. 1)
...that
in
1946, Trailer City
appeared. This
consisted of 88 trailers
for married veterans, their wives and children.
You can also see the Dakotah Stadium, the back
of Ladd Hall. This
whole complex was in where the Union
and the Quad are now
...about the tornado of
June, 1957? In
addition to destroying the YMCA [where the
Conoco station on University and 12th now stands], blowing out numerous
windows, tearing off part of Festival Hall’s roof, destroying
the entrance
gates, wrecking "Silver City" (prefabricated homes for faculty on
13th St.), it took out about 200 elms that were planted years ago in
the
southeast corner of campus.
...that
we became North
Dakota State University
on December
8, 1960.
...about the VW in
Ceres? “Ceres
Hall residents had an awkward time
getting out of the building Monday (April 1, 1968) morning. Seems the
head resident's Volkswagen was parked inside, wedged
tightly in the first floor hallway. Business Manager Ron Corliss
announced
Monday, effective immediately, the fee for inside parking spots will be
$50.
...that in May of 1973 the
first diploma awarded from
NDAC on June
26, 1895 to Robert B. Reed was
returned to NDSU.
Since it was in bad shape we took it down to Minneapolis to a conservator
and had it restored. It is now in safe keeping in a
temperature-controlled
vault at the State Historical Society in Bismarck.
The diploma measures 14x11.
...that in the 1970s NDSU
had a summer touring company called the Prairie Stage.
Shows included: You’re a Good
Man,
Charlie Brown; The Fantasticks; Pinocchio; The Sunshine Boys and many
others
...that in 1986 Old Main,
South Engineering, Minard,
Putnam, and Ceres were entered on the National Register of Historic
Places.
...that the School of Forestry in Bottineau,
which was established by referendum in 1894, was affiliated with NDSU
from 1968
until 1996 when its affiliation changed to Minot State.
