University of Wisconsin Madison - Badger Yearbook (Madison, WI)

Page 22 text:

 o 0 °c

Page 24 text:

 In The Beginning There Was Bascom Hill ... Feature By Londa Guerin The students and faculty members who occupied Bascom Hall (then called Mam Hall) in the 1860s testified loudly that it was neither comfortable nor convenient. To keep warm in the winter they built fires on the floors in the basement, igloo-style, using wood from trees they had chopped down on Bascom Hill. A careless cigarette has been blamed for the fire that destroyed the large ornate dome on Bascom Hall on October 10. 1916. Most of the 4.868 students then in residence swarmed up the hill to save the building. They insisted on carrying out university President Charles Van Hise's office furniture, files, and papers, and dumping them into heaps on the ground. The original construction of Bascom Hall, a noted symbol of the University of Wisconsin, began in 1857. The doors were offically opened on August 10. 1859. The ninth annual report of the University Board of Regents declared that Bascom Hall's completion and occupation will consitute the true beginning of the university era.” The final cost of the building amounted to $63,200. Three years after the 1916 dome fire the state gave funds to the university to build the exedra. the semi-circular stone seat and steps which now decorate the lawn in front of the entrance to Bascom Hall. When the workers were digging the foundation of the exedra they uncovered the bones of two men. at first thought to be American Indians. When workers later found traces of cloth, buttons, and wooden caskets, someone remembered that University Hill had been the first Madison cemetery. The bones were eventually identified as those of Samuel Warren of Middlesex. England, who was killed by lightning June 15. 1838. while working on the first state capitol. His companion was a man named Nelson, who had died in 1837. The bones were carefully reburied and are marked by two grooves in the cement at the top of the south stairway of the exedra. During President Edward Birge's administration, a trend was started to name campus buildings for past presidents of the university. Florence Bascom. daughter of ex-President John Bascom. who served the university from 1874-1887. wrote sorrowfully from the East about meetings in Philadelphia of the ridiculously young” alumni of the University of Wisconsin. It seemed that the name of John Bascom was quite unknown among them. However, on June 22. 1920. Florence was pacified when on that day Bascom Hall was formally named and dedicated in the memory of her father. The Bascom Hill Historic District — including such 20