University of Denver - Kynewisbok Yearbook (Denver, CO)

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 there’s no good The University of Denver, it appears, has always been in need of new facilities, though the situation is not as bad as in 1884 and 1895 when the College of Liberal Arts graduated one senior or during the post World War 11 years when an 11,000 plus enrollment forced the construction of many of the temporary buildings which now spot the campus. It did not take Colorado Seminary long to outgrow its first building located at 14th and Arapahoe where overcrowding forced the institution to teach four classes in the same room simultaneously. Sticking with the downtown area, the University moved into what was to become the Haish School of Manual Training in the mid 1880’s. While medical and dental students liked the downtown location, the liberal arts students felt the need for more secluded surroundings, resulting in the University’s relocation in southeast Denver. University Hall began its amazing career as a sanctuary of learning in April of 1890 and was completed by 1892. Its basement provided space for the athletic facilities, while the chapel and the University's offices were located on the first floor. Classrooms and the library could be found on the second floor with the third floor containing the laboratories. Just as University Hall was seeing the light of day, work began on the Iliff School of Theology, sparked by a $50,000 grant from William Iliff. Expansion at DU continued apace with the establishment of a law school and an extension program. Two years later the young university granted its first doctoral degree and opened the Chamberlin Observatory then equipped with a telescope which had been displayed at the Chicago World’s Fair the year before. Enrollment growth was significant during the decade of the 1890’s. The schools of Oratory and of Pedagogy were established during the mid 90’s at a time when the University’s fees amounted to $10. The University’s growth proved too much for the limited facilities of University Hall. By World War I the University Park Campus consisted of six buildings, all of them still in use today. The Alumni Gymnasium was used as a barracks for student soldiers during the war years, while Buchtcl Chapel replaced the house of worship in the first floor of old Main. DU, like many other institutions, received its Carnegie Library while Science Hall was being built. Old Main and the Iliff building completed the main campus. Meanwhile, the downtown campus became overcrowded and the business school was moved to a new location at 20th and Glcnarm in the early 1920’s. Up to this point in time there had been little attempt to follow any master architectural plan. Old Main and llift were similar structures while the other four buildings on the main campus were united only in their lack of distinction. If any single aspect of the 1920’s distinguished American higher education, it was the construction of the huge football stadiums. Denver, as one might imagine, was no exception. Hilltop Stadium was the site of the fleeting glory experienced by DU’s football teams alternately known as the “Ministers” and the “Pioneers”. The stadium was one of the few structures at the University of Denver ever to come down. This made way for expansion of the intramural facilities. Probably the most “collegiate looking” buildings on campus arc Mary Reed Library and Margery Reed Hall. Proclaimed “a most important milepost in the progress of the University,” these two buildings were to mark the first major attempt to develop a master plan in building style for the University. The desire was expressed at the time the two Reed buildings were constructed that all future buildings be constructed in the “collegiate gothic style.” As far as students are concerned, the most important facilities on the campus arc the dormitories. Originally, the University of Denver provided housing only for its women students, leaving the men students to shift for themselves. The first dorm was a converted seminary building at 14th and Arapahoe. As far as the University Park campus was concerned, Templin Hall, now home of the graduate school of social work, served the housing needs of students for the first half of the 20th Century. The post Second World War era saw the establishment of some of the strangest housing the University has experienced. Pioneer Village consisted of quonset huts and house trailers while Buchtcl Village centered around a scries of metal barracks. The 1950’s saw the building of the seven apartment hall camplex, the first modern housing in almost half a century. As the University strove to shed its “Tramway Tech” image and attract a national constituency, the need for