University of North Dakota - Dacotah Yearbook (Grand Forks, ND)

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Walls are built of a handsome. dark red. Vitrified brick of great durability. 1edf0rd stone has been used for the entrance easement, window sills, gable eorniees. and a narrow belt course between the basement and the upper Hoor. This building furnishes for the hrst time, adequate facilities for up-tO-date instruction in the important department of physical education. The new Library building. for which Mr. Carnegie, upon solicitations from President Merrifield, contributed $30,000, was occupied for the first time during the past school year. It is the handsomest building architecturally, as it is the richest in its construction, of all buildings on the University campus. It is. indeed, unquestionably. the handsomest state-owned public building in North Dakota. although not the largest. A photo shown on a following page will give some idea of this handsome building. abs campus The new campus. consisting of twenty acres of land lying to the east of the 01d campus, has been laid out in drives and walks corresponding to those in original campus. President Merrifield presented this addition to the Uni- versity and his gift wil make the enlarged campus one of the largest and most beautiful in the west. About 2,500 trees have been planted since the last Daeotah was issued. A double blackthorn hedge has recently been planted along the entire front of both the 01d and the new campus. Many hundred feet of cement sidewalks have been laid. Prof. VVyman 0f the University of Illinois, who holds the chair of landscape architecture in that institution. has recently Visited the U. N. D. to advise with the authorities in regard to further improvement of the campus. The last legislative asembly appropriated $5.000 for improvement of campus during the next biennial period. Donations Pres. Merrifield has recently given $1,000 to make permanent the two prizes for excellence in oratory which he has given eaeh year for many years past. The Class of 1907 presented therUniversity with an oil painting of Presi- dent Merrifield as a class memorial, the artist being Miss Margaretha Heisser of Minneapolis. The class of 1908 left, as its memorial, a beautiful bronze seal of the University, mounted on an ebony background. The design which, it is safe to say, is one of the handsomest possessed by any American University, originated with the class of 1908.

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eromtb of the animosity UE to the fact that the state has begun to realize that the University is its chief institution of learning, the U. N. D. fared well at the hands of the last legislature. The appropriation allowed exceeded that of any other institution in the state and it argues well for the future that this University is beginning to receive the attention given other Universities by their states. The last legislature appropriated $190,000 for improvements and supple- mentary maintenance. Of this. $60,000 is to be used in the erection of a Teach- ers College building, $40,000 for a new Commons building, $20,000 for a power plant building, $12,000 for a Mining Sub-Station at Hebron, $18,000 for en- larging the School of Mines and $9,000 for a Biological Station at Devils Lake. The remainder is to be used in repairing other buildings and in improving the campus. attennance Never before have scholarship requirements been as high as now and the U. N. D. is in the very front rank of Universities demanding thoroughness and efficiency. In spite of the fact that the Winter School for Teachers has been abolished. and the School of Commerce merged into the Model High School, the student enrollment has increased from 854 to 906, since the last issue of the Dacotah. The University now offers no short courses, so the total enroll- ment practically marks its average attendance. The University continues to enroll a considerably larger number of students above high school grade than all the other institutions in the state combined. whether they be state or de- nominational. The most accurate test of the, real growth of an institution is the annual increase in the number of its graduating class. At the last coni- mencement the University graduated 93 students as against 72 at the close of the last previous biennial period. 1mm 1Builnings Three new buildings have. been erected since the last Dacotah was issued. The first of these to be completed was the School of Mines building for which the legislature appropriated $20,000 at the 1907 session of the legislature. This building is two stories in height above a high basement, and is built of pressed brick in mission style, with gray stone trimmings. It is fairly adequate to present needs. The School of Mines is now recognized as one of the most efficient in the country and students have come to it from some of the oldest and best known mining schools in the United States. The second of the three buildings to be completed was the University Gymnasium. This building is 53 feet by 110 feet in its main dimensions and consists of a basement and a high iirst Hoot opening into the roof. lts outer

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- WA V N.x VT M 4r TED: imrary HE new library building, for which Mr. Carnegie gave the University $30,000, was completed in the summer of 1908. It is architecturally very handsonr and has the equipment of the best modern Jibrary buildings The whole building, with the exception of two class rooms. is used for library purposes. 011 the first floor are two attractive reference rooms. where reference hooks and bound periodicals are shelved. To the rear of these is the main stack room. The library numbers about twenty-eight thousand volumes. of which ap- proxinmtely twenty thousand are in the library buildinfr. seven thousand in the Law library, and one thousand in the various departmental libraries. The Scandinavian collection, which was a gift from Scandinavian citizens of the state, now numbers more than two thousand volumes and is receiving constant additions. It is one of the best collections of the kind in the United States. The collection of books upon railroads, for which James J. Hill gave the library $4.000. will, upon its completion also be a collection worthy of notice. The library is very popular among all book lovers and there are also cer- tain secluded corners which are very attractive to those who cannot be classed as mere book lovers.