The Union 75
by John Lucas
At the three-quarter-century mark for the Memorial Union, we offer seventy-five things we bet you didn't know about the University of Wisconsin-Madison's "living Room."
At the three-quarter-century mark for the Memorial Union, we offer seventy-five things we bet you didn't know about the University of Wisconsin-Madison's "living Room."
Porter Butts disliked pinball
The legendary Wisconsin Union founder and director resisted putting the popular machines into Memorial Union because he felt that they compromised the Union's highest mission: providing productive and satisfying uses for leisure time.
Pinball, to his mind, was a game without skill that cut off interaction with others. After all, the Union's motto is “Societate Crescit Lumen” or “Light [learning] enhanced by human relationships.”
“It was like the English department recommending comic books or dime novels,” he said in 1979, although he eventually relented after learning that the machines raked in fifty to sixty thousand dollars in quarters. Butts '24, MA'36 decided that the money could help fund other worthy Union pursuits.
The love-hate affair with coin-operated machines is just one of the quirky bits of lore that have made the Wisconsin Union — including the seventy-five-year-old Memorial Union and its younger sibling, Union South — what it is today. On this anniversary, On Wisconsin dove headlong into the Union's eminent history, with the assistance of the Union, UW Archives, and the archives of the Daily Cardinal, Badger Herald, Capital Times, and Wisconsin State Journal. The list here is by no means comprehensive or complete, but just a few points of light from the Union's history of nurturing human relationships.
Pinball, to his mind, was a game without skill that cut off interaction with others. After all, the Union's motto is “Societate Crescit Lumen” or “Light [learning] enhanced by human relationships.”
“It was like the English department recommending comic books or dime novels,” he said in 1979, although he eventually relented after learning that the machines raked in fifty to sixty thousand dollars in quarters. Butts '24, MA'36 decided that the money could help fund other worthy Union pursuits.
The love-hate affair with coin-operated machines is just one of the quirky bits of lore that have made the Wisconsin Union — including the seventy-five-year-old Memorial Union and its younger sibling, Union South — what it is today. On this anniversary, On Wisconsin dove headlong into the Union's eminent history, with the assistance of the Union, UW Archives, and the archives of the Daily Cardinal, Badger Herald, Capital Times, and Wisconsin State Journal. The list here is by no means comprehensive or complete, but just a few points of light from the Union's history of nurturing human relationships.
1. The favorite meals of UW-Madison students, as served by the Wisconsin Union, circa October 1947: hamburgers, spaghetti, baked beans, pork chops, pot roast, and Swiss steak.
2. At the 1939 World's Fair in San Francisco, the Wisconsin Union Theater was voted “one of the twenty-five most distinguished contemporary buildings in America” in an architectural competition. Sinclair Lewis called the building the “most beautiful theater with the most beautiful site in the world.”
3. Only in Wisconsin (and maybe Germany): For a time beginning in 1934, on the Rathskeller's annual “Cheese Night,” a fifty-pound wheel of cheese was moved into the center of the room and put under a spotlight. A chef cut free slices in honor of the German tradition of consuming beer with cheese.
4. * 574 * Number of “sunburst” chairs on Union Terrace.
2. At the 1939 World's Fair in San Francisco, the Wisconsin Union Theater was voted “one of the twenty-five most distinguished contemporary buildings in America” in an architectural competition. Sinclair Lewis called the building the “most beautiful theater with the most beautiful site in the world.”
3. Only in Wisconsin (and maybe Germany): For a time beginning in 1934, on the Rathskeller's annual “Cheese Night,” a fifty-pound wheel of cheese was moved into the center of the room and put under a spotlight. A chef cut free slices in honor of the German tradition of consuming beer with cheese.
4. * 574 * Number of “sunburst” chairs on Union Terrace.
5. * 5,091,294 * Number of people who passed through Memorial Union and Union South's doors in 2002, an average of 97,910 people per week.
6. * 1,000 * Number of goldfish Hoofers dumped into the fountain on Library Mall in 1978 as part of “The Great Goldfish Giveaway.” No figures were available on how many survived.
7. Until the early 1980s, most pieces in the Union's art collection could be rented for fifty cents per semester as part of the “Art-to-Go” program.
8. The late Lewis “Bus” Topp was the Union's one and only barber for more than fifty years. Topp noticed a decline in business as many men wore their hair longer in the 1960s and 1970s. “I don't think it'll ever go back to where it was, because wives and girlfriends go for this long hair,” he said in a 1974 interview with the State Journal. “It'll take some guys with prestige to get the ball rolling on short hair again.”
9. On the brink, part I: The Union's Music and Entertainment Committee booked the Tar Babies in 1990. Their opening act, a little known group called Smashing Pumpkins, was paid only seventy-five dollars for the gig.
6. * 1,000 * Number of goldfish Hoofers dumped into the fountain on Library Mall in 1978 as part of “The Great Goldfish Giveaway.” No figures were available on how many survived.
7. Until the early 1980s, most pieces in the Union's art collection could be rented for fifty cents per semester as part of the “Art-to-Go” program.
8. The late Lewis “Bus” Topp was the Union's one and only barber for more than fifty years. Topp noticed a decline in business as many men wore their hair longer in the 1960s and 1970s. “I don't think it'll ever go back to where it was, because wives and girlfriends go for this long hair,” he said in a 1974 interview with the State Journal. “It'll take some guys with prestige to get the ball rolling on short hair again.”
9. On the brink, part I: The Union's Music and Entertainment Committee booked the Tar Babies in 1990. Their opening act, a little known group called Smashing Pumpkins, was paid only seventy-five dollars for the gig.
10. * 580 * Number of annual events in the Wisconsin Union Theater, which draw 127,000 patrons.
11. No bugs here: The Union's kitchens are so clean, it was said in a 1947 State Journal story, that they typically carry a bacteria count “as low as one,” while other restaurants average between five hundred and ten thousand.
12. Gemütlichkeit: German for a feeling of well-being or congeniality, the principle on which the Rathskeller was founded.
13. During the campaign to build Memorial Union, UW President Glenn Frank said, “The Memorial Union building will give us a ‘living room' that will convert the university from a ‘house' of learning into a ‘home' of learning. It is worth any sacrifice that we may be called upon to make in order to bring it to completion.” Roughly half of UW-Madison students in the 1920s pledged fifty dollars or more (the equivalent of more than five hundred bucks in today's dollars) to pay for a building that they would never get to use as students.
11. No bugs here: The Union's kitchens are so clean, it was said in a 1947 State Journal story, that they typically carry a bacteria count “as low as one,” while other restaurants average between five hundred and ten thousand.
12. Gemütlichkeit: German for a feeling of well-being or congeniality, the principle on which the Rathskeller was founded.
13. During the campaign to build Memorial Union, UW President Glenn Frank said, “The Memorial Union building will give us a ‘living room' that will convert the university from a ‘house' of learning into a ‘home' of learning. It is worth any sacrifice that we may be called upon to make in order to bring it to completion.” Roughly half of UW-Madison students in the 1920s pledged fifty dollars or more (the equivalent of more than five hundred bucks in today's dollars) to pay for a building that they would never get to use as students.
14. School ties: Today, one out of every five UW-Madison alumni takes out a Union membership within a year of leaving Madison. The Wisconsin Union has more than eighty thousand lifetime members worldwide.
15. In 1932, the ping-pong room in Memorial Union was renamed the “Katskeller” by the Women's Affairs Committee to protest the male-only Rathskeller. During World War II, when female students outnumbered males by nearly four to one, the “men only” signs came down.
16. * 24 cents * Average price of meals at Memorial Union during the Great Depression, when the Union Council voted to reduce prices to help students afford to eat.
17. Among the Union issues investigated by the alumni association and state legislature in the 1930s: “Do you cook with Wisconsin butter or Crisco?” and “Why does the Union have dining rooms competing with private restaurants?” The Union Council responded that such questions were “implicit in the nature of a democratic institution and necessary to its effective functioning.”
15. In 1932, the ping-pong room in Memorial Union was renamed the “Katskeller” by the Women's Affairs Committee to protest the male-only Rathskeller. During World War II, when female students outnumbered males by nearly four to one, the “men only” signs came down.
16. * 24 cents * Average price of meals at Memorial Union during the Great Depression, when the Union Council voted to reduce prices to help students afford to eat.
17. Among the Union issues investigated by the alumni association and state legislature in the 1930s: “Do you cook with Wisconsin butter or Crisco?” and “Why does the Union have dining rooms competing with private restaurants?” The Union Council responded that such questions were “implicit in the nature of a democratic institution and necessary to its effective functioning.”
18. The Union's first twenty-five years were dramatized in a color film titled Living Room of a University. The effort won a Hollywood Screen Producer‘s Guild Award.
19. Women in the picture: The Union had its first female president in 1943–1944. Also in 1943, the Union hired a female student to run the projector in the Play Circle Theater. She was believed to be one of only three female projectionists in the country at that time.
20. Ever visited in January?: In 1948, Time magazine praised Memorial Union, saying: “It's almost impossible not to have a good time at Wisconsin.”
21. Rufus Rollback: The fictitious chef of the 1950s, who cut food prices to pre-World War II levels on certain menu items each day. In 1952, between nine thousand and ten thousand meals were being served daily.
22. Intercollegiate billiards: Founded at Memorial Union in the 1930s, the game was first played by telegraph, and only later face-to-face.
23. Hula fever: Classes in hula were offered twice weekly in Memorial Union in 1951.
19. Women in the picture: The Union had its first female president in 1943–1944. Also in 1943, the Union hired a female student to run the projector in the Play Circle Theater. She was believed to be one of only three female projectionists in the country at that time.
20. Ever visited in January?: In 1948, Time magazine praised Memorial Union, saying: “It's almost impossible not to have a good time at Wisconsin.”
21. Rufus Rollback: The fictitious chef of the 1950s, who cut food prices to pre-World War II levels on certain menu items each day. In 1952, between nine thousand and ten thousand meals were being served daily.
22. Intercollegiate billiards: Founded at Memorial Union in the 1930s, the game was first played by telegraph, and only later face-to-face.
23. Hula fever: Classes in hula were offered twice weekly in Memorial Union in 1951.
24. Bermuda shorts were unwelcome dress in Memorial Union until the late 1950s.
25. * 780,000 * Number of popcorn kernels popped in an average week at the Stiftskeller (which amounts to six hundred pounds of popcorn).
25. * 780,000 * Number of popcorn kernels popped in an average week at the Stiftskeller (which amounts to six hundred pounds of popcorn).
26. Not everyone appreciated Memorial Union's architecture, designed by Arthur Peabody to evoke the feel of Italian lakeside palaces. In 1932, one fellow architect slammed the concept, saying: "Yes, it speaks Italian, extremely bad Italian, and very difficult to understand." The critic's name: Frank Lloyd Wright.
27. Luminaries: Martin Luther King, Jr., John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, Eleanor Roosevelt, Jawaharlal Nehru, Saul Bellow, and Carl Sandburg, among others, appeared or spoke at Memorial Union.
25. * 780,000 * Number of popcorn kernels popped in an average week at the Stiftskeller (which amounts to six hundred pounds of popcorn).
25. * 780,000 * Number of popcorn kernels popped in an average week at the Stiftskeller (which amounts to six hundred pounds of popcorn).
26. Not everyone appreciated Memorial Union's architecture, designed by Arthur Peabody to evoke the feel of Italian lakeside palaces. In 1932, one fellow architect slammed the concept, saying: "Yes, it speaks Italian, extremely bad Italian, and very difficult to understand." The critic's name: Frank Lloyd Wright.
27. Luminaries: Martin Luther King, Jr., John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, Eleanor Roosevelt, Jawaharlal Nehru, Saul Bellow, and Carl Sandburg, among others, appeared or spoke at Memorial Union.
28. * 1,000 * Gallons in the world's largest milkshake, mixed in 1978 for the fifty-year anniversary of the Union. No word on how many straws it took to slurp up the drink.
29. * 42 * Number of years Porter Butts served the Union, before retiring in 1968. Ted Crabb, previously a member of Butts's staff and director of the UW-Milwaukee Union, became the second director, but served a mere thirty-three years.
30. * 6 * Number of female students appearing nude in a 1967 production of Peter Pan in the Fredric March Play Circle Theater, which was canceled due to campus outcry.
31. On the brink, part II: In spring 1960, Madison author and historian Ronald Radosh was friendly with an aspiring folk singer who frequently played at a State Street coffeehouse called The Pad. One day, Radosh and the singer sat together on the Union Terrace, playing guitar.
The singer: "I'm going to be as big a star as Elvis Presley."
Radosh: "Singing Woody Guthrie songs?"
The singer's name: Bob Dylan.
32. The Union was officially designated as the "Division of Social Education" by the Board of Regents in 1935, in accordance with Butts's ambition to see the Union serve as a focal point for out-of-class learning.
29. * 42 * Number of years Porter Butts served the Union, before retiring in 1968. Ted Crabb, previously a member of Butts's staff and director of the UW-Milwaukee Union, became the second director, but served a mere thirty-three years.
30. * 6 * Number of female students appearing nude in a 1967 production of Peter Pan in the Fredric March Play Circle Theater, which was canceled due to campus outcry.
31. On the brink, part II: In spring 1960, Madison author and historian Ronald Radosh was friendly with an aspiring folk singer who frequently played at a State Street coffeehouse called The Pad. One day, Radosh and the singer sat together on the Union Terrace, playing guitar.
The singer: "I'm going to be as big a star as Elvis Presley."
Radosh: "Singing Woody Guthrie songs?"
The singer's name: Bob Dylan.
32. The Union was officially designated as the "Division of Social Education" by the Board of Regents in 1935, in accordance with Butts's ambition to see the Union serve as a focal point for out-of-class learning.
33. * 14 * Years before Memorial Union opened that the UW's Union Board helped found the Association of College Unions. Wisconsin's student president returned from that group's first national conference with renewed determination to have a dedicated Union building on campus.
34. Fasching, a German drinking festival akin to Mardi Gras, was held at Memorial Union annually between 1959 and 1980. The Daily Cardinal lamented its end with the headline, "No Drunkfest at the Union this Year."
35. After visiting the legendary Stiftskeller St. Peter in Salzburg, Austria, Butts named Memorial Union's Stiftskeller, which means "cellar of the founders."
36. Taming of the Shrew was the opening act for the Wisconsin Union Theater on October 9, 1939. The performance, headlined by Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, was written up by the New York Times.
37. The wreck of the Queen Ann: The Union was once home to a "fleet" of tour boats: the Dana and the Queen Ann. The latter sank in a storm in 1972, and the former was sold soon after, when it was determined the Union couldn't afford to continue operating the boat.
34. Fasching, a German drinking festival akin to Mardi Gras, was held at Memorial Union annually between 1959 and 1980. The Daily Cardinal lamented its end with the headline, "No Drunkfest at the Union this Year."
35. After visiting the legendary Stiftskeller St. Peter in Salzburg, Austria, Butts named Memorial Union's Stiftskeller, which means "cellar of the founders."
36. Taming of the Shrew was the opening act for the Wisconsin Union Theater on October 9, 1939. The performance, headlined by Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, was written up by the New York Times.
37. The wreck of the Queen Ann: The Union was once home to a "fleet" of tour boats: the Dana and the Queen Ann. The latter sank in a storm in 1972, and the former was sold soon after, when it was determined the Union couldn't afford to continue operating the boat.
38. "Save the Stones": Rallying cry of the Daily Cardinal, trying to save the rough flagstones of the Terrace from renovation during the mid-1960s. Notorious for tipping tables and turning ankles, the stones were replaced by cut stone and colored cement.
39. Before the Union, there was Dad Morgan's, a State Street malted-milk shop and billiards hall where campus men congregated in the late 1920s. Despite the fact that the Union essentially put Morgan out of business, he donated a famous oak table to the Rathskeller, where it was prominently displayed.
40. * 1933 * Year the Rathskeller began serving 3.2 beer, following the repeal of Prohibition, becoming the first college union in the nation to do so. The brew was legally classified as "non-intoxicating."
41. "Fewer Walls, More Bridges": Theme under which Union South opened on November 10, 1971. The building was dedicated as a peace memorial.
42. * 27,000 * Campus room reservations scheduled by the Union's central reservations office per year.
43. On the brink, part III: Ever heard of the Indigo Girls, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, the BoDeans, or Phish? Not many people had when those acts played the Unions during their early, pre-fame days.
39. Before the Union, there was Dad Morgan's, a State Street malted-milk shop and billiards hall where campus men congregated in the late 1920s. Despite the fact that the Union essentially put Morgan out of business, he donated a famous oak table to the Rathskeller, where it was prominently displayed.
40. * 1933 * Year the Rathskeller began serving 3.2 beer, following the repeal of Prohibition, becoming the first college union in the nation to do so. The brew was legally classified as "non-intoxicating."
41. "Fewer Walls, More Bridges": Theme under which Union South opened on November 10, 1971. The building was dedicated as a peace memorial.
42. * 27,000 * Campus room reservations scheduled by the Union's central reservations office per year.
43. On the brink, part III: Ever heard of the Indigo Girls, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, the BoDeans, or Phish? Not many people had when those acts played the Unions during their early, pre-fame days.
44. The Royal Order of Catering Waiters: An elite team of Union waiters known for their speed, timing, and use of hand signals. "If the backfield of the football team can shift and run like those waiters," remarked football coach Ivy Williamson in 1949, "we won't have to worry on the football field."
45. The late artist James Watrous '31, MA'33, PhD'39, who painted Memorial Union's murals of Paul Bunyan from 1933 to 1936, had to return several times to repair the eye of Babe, the blue ox, which was cut out by souvenir-seeking students.
46. "It is the custom here at the Union that he who eats and drinks also pays for it. Such a guest is dear and cherished, who promptly pays for what he gets."
— Translation, from German, of the Rathskeller motto.
Tooting the horn for Louis Armstrong, 1957.
47. Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Dave Brubeck, Miles Davis, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Vladimir Horowitz, Duke Ellington, Itzhak Perlman, Wynton and Branford Marsalis, Uta Hagen, Henry Fonda, Anthony Quinn, and Paul Robeson, among many others, all performed as part of Union Theater-sponsored programs.
45. The late artist James Watrous '31, MA'33, PhD'39, who painted Memorial Union's murals of Paul Bunyan from 1933 to 1936, had to return several times to repair the eye of Babe, the blue ox, which was cut out by souvenir-seeking students.
46. "It is the custom here at the Union that he who eats and drinks also pays for it. Such a guest is dear and cherished, who promptly pays for what he gets."
— Translation, from German, of the Rathskeller motto.
Tooting the horn for Louis Armstrong, 1957.
47. Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Dave Brubeck, Miles Davis, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Vladimir Horowitz, Duke Ellington, Itzhak Perlman, Wynton and Branford Marsalis, Uta Hagen, Henry Fonda, Anthony Quinn, and Paul Robeson, among many others, all performed as part of Union Theater-sponsored programs.
48: The 770 Club, so named for the Union's old address at 770 Langdon Street, was the nation's first collegiate nightclub in 1933. It lives on at Union South as Club 770, an alcohol-free entertainment venue.
49. Bummelling: A German university tradition dictating that students must lounge, dance, drink, and sing before getting down to serious study. "Die Rathskeller Bummel" was a popular promotion for a time in 1939.
50. The name "Hoofers" was established in 1931 from a similar group at Dartmouth known as the "Heelers." At the UW, "Heelers" served as apprentices to the upperclassmen "Hoofers" who managed the outdoor activities group.
49. Bummelling: A German university tradition dictating that students must lounge, dance, drink, and sing before getting down to serious study. "Die Rathskeller Bummel" was a popular promotion for a time in 1939.
50. The name "Hoofers" was established in 1931 from a similar group at Dartmouth known as the "Heelers." At the UW, "Heelers" served as apprentices to the upperclassmen "Hoofers" who managed the outdoor activities group.
51. * 1,400 * Gallons of milk served weekly in the Rathskeller in 1967, compared to 190
gallons of beer.
52. "The Battle of Beer and Wine," a mural in the Stiftskeller, is modeled after one in Munich, Germany. Painted by Milwaukee artist Kurt Schaldach in 1978, the full verse (translated from German) goes: "When wine and beer make war on each other, who will win and who will lose?"
53. * 110 * Number of colleges and universities from around the nation that sought assistance from Butts in establishing their own unions. In 1964, he visited twenty universities in Asia to aid in the development of their union programs.
54. * 8 * Number of blind students who enrolled in a special Union ballroom dance class offered in 1940, believed to be one of the first of its kind.
55. The name Memorial Union was chosen when fundraising for the new campus student center was insufficient to complete the job. Advocates for the campus center joined with those promoting a World War I memorial, hence the Union's designation as a "living memorial." Purdue and Indiana Universities followed suit.
56. * 700 * Number of puppets brought for a performance by the Salzburg Marionette Theatre in 1951.
gallons of beer.
52. "The Battle of Beer and Wine," a mural in the Stiftskeller, is modeled after one in Munich, Germany. Painted by Milwaukee artist Kurt Schaldach in 1978, the full verse (translated from German) goes: "When wine and beer make war on each other, who will win and who will lose?"
53. * 110 * Number of colleges and universities from around the nation that sought assistance from Butts in establishing their own unions. In 1964, he visited twenty universities in Asia to aid in the development of their union programs.
54. * 8 * Number of blind students who enrolled in a special Union ballroom dance class offered in 1940, believed to be one of the first of its kind.
55. The name Memorial Union was chosen when fundraising for the new campus student center was insufficient to complete the job. Advocates for the campus center joined with those promoting a World War I memorial, hence the Union's designation as a "living memorial." Purdue and Indiana Universities followed suit.
56. * 700 * Number of puppets brought for a performance by the Salzburg Marionette Theatre in 1951.
57. "Reunion at the Union": Title of a popular song written by two Truax Field airmen during World War II. The Union published the song and sold out almost immediately. During the war years, the Union never closed for one day.
58. * 10 * Number of wheels for making ceramic pottery in the Union's craftshop, which also includes woodworking tools, a darkroom, an art metal shop, and equipment for making batik.
59. The Union Theater wing was financed with $585,000 from a loan, $266,000 from the Public Works Administration, and $135,000 from gifts and Union operating surplus.
60. * 97 * Number of Picasso etchings displayed in 1959. The works of other artists, including Diego Rivera and Georgia O'Keeffe, were also displayed.
61. "The old Rat is dead!"
— Editorial in the Daily Cardinal in the early 1960s, after the Rathskeller food counter was converted to self-service and "hostesses" began checking ages and asking patrons to take their feet off tables.
62. Barefoot: Joan Baez performed, sans shoes, before a sellout Union Theater crowd in the early 1960s. The Daily Cardinal raved: "Joan Baez — soon this is all we will need to say when this plaintive little girl presents an evening of folk songs about frustrated love."
58. * 10 * Number of wheels for making ceramic pottery in the Union's craftshop, which also includes woodworking tools, a darkroom, an art metal shop, and equipment for making batik.
59. The Union Theater wing was financed with $585,000 from a loan, $266,000 from the Public Works Administration, and $135,000 from gifts and Union operating surplus.
60. * 97 * Number of Picasso etchings displayed in 1959. The works of other artists, including Diego Rivera and Georgia O'Keeffe, were also displayed.
61. "The old Rat is dead!"
— Editorial in the Daily Cardinal in the early 1960s, after the Rathskeller food counter was converted to self-service and "hostesses" began checking ages and asking patrons to take their feet off tables.
62. Barefoot: Joan Baez performed, sans shoes, before a sellout Union Theater crowd in the early 1960s. The Daily Cardinal raved: "Joan Baez — soon this is all we will need to say when this plaintive little girl presents an evening of folk songs about frustrated love."
63. The original Union Terrace chairs were made of wicker, far less sturdy than the current "sunburst" variety. However, when the company that manufactured the metal chairs went bankrupt, the Memorial Union Building Association purchased the tool and die so that chairs could be made in the future.
64. $135,200: Projected annual take in quarters from "Dance Dance Revolution," the Unions' most popular arcade game.
65. I will have a dream: In Martin Luther King, Jr.'s 1962 speech at the Union Theater, he proclaimed, "We've come a long way, but we've got a long, long way to go" in the struggle for integration. He told segregationists, "We will wear you down by our capacity to suffer."
66. "I found the students at Wisconsin alert, intelligent, and uninhibited. It was a most stimulating meeting for me."
— then-Senator John F. Kennedy, after his May 16, 1958, speech at the Union Theater.
67. "Let's Dig": The drive to raise money for Memorial Union was the first university effort to solicit pledges from alumni. Prior to the drive, alumni were never asked, as they expected tax dollars to fund university needs.
64. $135,200: Projected annual take in quarters from "Dance Dance Revolution," the Unions' most popular arcade game.
65. I will have a dream: In Martin Luther King, Jr.'s 1962 speech at the Union Theater, he proclaimed, "We've come a long way, but we've got a long, long way to go" in the struggle for integration. He told segregationists, "We will wear you down by our capacity to suffer."
66. "I found the students at Wisconsin alert, intelligent, and uninhibited. It was a most stimulating meeting for me."
— then-Senator John F. Kennedy, after his May 16, 1958, speech at the Union Theater.
67. "Let's Dig": The drive to raise money for Memorial Union was the first university effort to solicit pledges from alumni. Prior to the drive, alumni were never asked, as they expected tax dollars to fund university needs.
68. * 80 * Number of gallons of tomato and chicken soup - the most popular choices at the time - produced each day by Union kitchens in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
69. * 1,500 * Number of students to volunteer at more than twenty sites around the country as part of the Wisconsin Union Directorate's Alternative Breaks program.
70. * 4 * Number of future Olympians who trained on the old Hoofers ski jump on Muir Knoll in the early 1930s.
71. Memorial Union hosted the university's first lecture-discussion series on courtship and marriage in 1938.
72. * 1,300 * Pieces in the permanent Union Art Collection, first established upon the opening of Memorial Union as one of the first collegiate art galleries. Today, more than 75 percent of the works are on display in Memorial Union or Union South.
Students at work at Union73. * 900 * Students employed annually by the Wisconsin Union.
74. During the early 1950s, Oxford Union-style debates were held regularly. The first focused on a resolution stating, "The University of Wisconsin would have achieved greater fame if women had been excluded." The women won.
69. * 1,500 * Number of students to volunteer at more than twenty sites around the country as part of the Wisconsin Union Directorate's Alternative Breaks program.
70. * 4 * Number of future Olympians who trained on the old Hoofers ski jump on Muir Knoll in the early 1930s.
71. Memorial Union hosted the university's first lecture-discussion series on courtship and marriage in 1938.
72. * 1,300 * Pieces in the permanent Union Art Collection, first established upon the opening of Memorial Union as one of the first collegiate art galleries. Today, more than 75 percent of the works are on display in Memorial Union or Union South.
Students at work at Union73. * 900 * Students employed annually by the Wisconsin Union.
74. During the early 1950s, Oxford Union-style debates were held regularly. The first focused on a resolution stating, "The University of Wisconsin would have achieved greater fame if women had been excluded." The women won.
75. All of this history and more is being preserved by the Wisconsin Union and the UW Archives. An ever-expanding collection of photographs is now available online; visit http://webcat.library.wisc.edu:3200/ and click on, "Select a database," then "The University of Wisconsin Collection."
The Union's Next Era
As Memorial Union began marking its seventy-fifth anniversary, writer John Lucas talked with Mark Guthier, right, who in November 2001 succeeded Theodore (Ted) Crabb '54, becoming only the third director of the Wisconsin Union. Guthier came from Indiana University, where he served as assistant director of its college union for nearly ten years. He talks about the Wisconsin Union's history — and what the UW's beloved institution will reach for next.
What do you think has been the Union's biggest accomplishment?
The greatest accomplishment for the Wisconsin Union over the last seventy-five years is what it will continue to do for the next seventy-five years, and that's to be the one place that students, faculty, staff, alumni, and Madison community members all have in common — the one home for UW-Madison. And it does that in a way unlike any other college union in the country. We'll always be about bringing all those constituents together. That's one of the Union's great strengths.
What do you think has been the Union's biggest accomplishment?
The greatest accomplishment for the Wisconsin Union over the last seventy-five years is what it will continue to do for the next seventy-five years, and that's to be the one place that students, faculty, staff, alumni, and Madison community members all have in common — the one home for UW-Madison. And it does that in a way unlike any other college union in the country. We'll always be about bringing all those constituents together. That's one of the Union's great strengths.
In what ways do you think the Union will change or evolve?
Sometimes we think of students as the piece that changes the most. We've also seen the needs and tastes of faculty change over the years. For example, faculty dining clubs aren't the big things they were in the twenties, thirties, and forties. Today, it's grab-and-go dining, and we've changed to meet that. I can't tell you right now what the dining preference will be in ten years, but we will be ready to serve it.
In entertainment, perhaps in 1939, when the Union Theater was built, classical entertainment was in its heyday. This type of programming still has an important part to play in what we offer to the campus, but it's probably not central to the mission of the theater anymore. As campus interests change, the type of entertainment will change, but our commitment to offering first-class quality entertainment will still be there. The same might be true of Hoofers. The ski jump came down off Muir Knoll in the thirties and forties, and that's not there anymore. Now we have scuba diving and horseback riding. Those are just a few examples.
What kinds of physical changes do you envision for the Union buildings?
We're very close to finishing an overall long-range facility master plan that takes into account the rehabilitation, restoration, and expansion of Memorial Union and Union South and begins to ask the question about the possibility of other locations and the possibility of building a third union someday.
Sometimes we think of students as the piece that changes the most. We've also seen the needs and tastes of faculty change over the years. For example, faculty dining clubs aren't the big things they were in the twenties, thirties, and forties. Today, it's grab-and-go dining, and we've changed to meet that. I can't tell you right now what the dining preference will be in ten years, but we will be ready to serve it.
In entertainment, perhaps in 1939, when the Union Theater was built, classical entertainment was in its heyday. This type of programming still has an important part to play in what we offer to the campus, but it's probably not central to the mission of the theater anymore. As campus interests change, the type of entertainment will change, but our commitment to offering first-class quality entertainment will still be there. The same might be true of Hoofers. The ski jump came down off Muir Knoll in the thirties and forties, and that's not there anymore. Now we have scuba diving and horseback riding. Those are just a few examples.
What kinds of physical changes do you envision for the Union buildings?
We're very close to finishing an overall long-range facility master plan that takes into account the rehabilitation, restoration, and expansion of Memorial Union and Union South and begins to ask the question about the possibility of other locations and the possibility of building a third union someday.
When you look at walking distances from our two main facilities, you begin to see there are sections of campus that are not within a ten-minute walk. That gets us thinking about whether we need an additional location to reach the areas of campus we don't currently touch.
In addition, our facilities and physical surroundings need to change to meet current needs, tastes, and desires. They must be more tech-savvy than they were ten or twenty years ago. How people proceed through a building is different from how it was ten or twenty years ago, so corridors and wayfinding and paths and lighting and those types of things must continue to be improved.
When Memorial Union was built, it served a campus community of eight thousand people. Union South was added at a time when the campus community — including students, faculty and staff — was close to forty thousand people. We now serve a campus community of sixty thousand, and that doesn't begin to add in the Madison community. We are beginning to outgrow our facilities. Through the master plan, we've examined to what extent we can add facilities for additional meeting space, entertainment space, and food space. At Memorial [Union], we're hemmed in in a lot of ways, so we'll need creative solutions to add space. [Union] South's the same way. We're looking at underground options and the possibility of other ways to expand.
In addition, our facilities and physical surroundings need to change to meet current needs, tastes, and desires. They must be more tech-savvy than they were ten or twenty years ago. How people proceed through a building is different from how it was ten or twenty years ago, so corridors and wayfinding and paths and lighting and those types of things must continue to be improved.
When Memorial Union was built, it served a campus community of eight thousand people. Union South was added at a time when the campus community — including students, faculty and staff — was close to forty thousand people. We now serve a campus community of sixty thousand, and that doesn't begin to add in the Madison community. We are beginning to outgrow our facilities. Through the master plan, we've examined to what extent we can add facilities for additional meeting space, entertainment space, and food space. At Memorial [Union], we're hemmed in in a lot of ways, so we'll need creative solutions to add space. [Union] South's the same way. We're looking at underground options and the possibility of other ways to expand.
What about a proposal for the west end of campus?
Currently, the Union doesn't really serve the west end of campus well, as far as being within close walking distance. The students, faculty, and staff who study and work on the far western edge of campus need convenient dining opportunities, meeting rooms, possible program space to support conferences, student organization space. A new west-campus Union could, out of all three facilities, serve a grad school population more directly than the other two, which would make it somewhat unique.
A master plan is a long-range document. How do you prioritize which improvements come first?
The consulting team that worked with the Union to develop a master plan has organized the elements of the plan into what we'd call "doable chunks." Beginning with the seventy-fifth anniversary through the hundredth anniversary, in that twenty-five year span, if we were going to do something every three to five years, what would it be? How would we go about raising the funds for each of those initiatives? We're looking at different funding models — our own operations, plus some level of support from students, as well as donor support.
Currently, the Union doesn't really serve the west end of campus well, as far as being within close walking distance. The students, faculty, and staff who study and work on the far western edge of campus need convenient dining opportunities, meeting rooms, possible program space to support conferences, student organization space. A new west-campus Union could, out of all three facilities, serve a grad school population more directly than the other two, which would make it somewhat unique.
A master plan is a long-range document. How do you prioritize which improvements come first?
The consulting team that worked with the Union to develop a master plan has organized the elements of the plan into what we'd call "doable chunks." Beginning with the seventy-fifth anniversary through the hundredth anniversary, in that twenty-five year span, if we were going to do something every three to five years, what would it be? How would we go about raising the funds for each of those initiatives? We're looking at different funding models — our own operations, plus some level of support from students, as well as donor support.
How could Union South become more integrated into the campus community?
The key to [Union] South is to think of it as a wonderful union in its own right and to do something there that allows it to stand on its own and not be compared to Memorial. It needs to have its own sense of place and identity. Something that makes it a point of destination, like the Terrace. It also needs to be more transparent - the master plan includes ideas for opening up the space so that you can see the activities going on inside.
Do you have any "high concept" ideas for Union South at this point?
A coffeehouse-cyber café concept is one thing that's being talked about. Instead of trying to replicate the Rathskeller, let's go the other direction and have it spill out onto an urban terrace and amphitheater.
How about Memorial Union?
One of the things we want to do with Memorial is to renovate spaces and bring them back to the aesthetic quality they had when the building first opened. One example of that is what we did with the renovation of the Main Lounge, thanks to a gift from the Class of 1950. That project, which included adding central air conditioning into the space, was not so much a historic preservation project, but a historic rehabilitation. That is a good example of what we want to have happen throughout the building.
The key to [Union] South is to think of it as a wonderful union in its own right and to do something there that allows it to stand on its own and not be compared to Memorial. It needs to have its own sense of place and identity. Something that makes it a point of destination, like the Terrace. It also needs to be more transparent - the master plan includes ideas for opening up the space so that you can see the activities going on inside.
Do you have any "high concept" ideas for Union South at this point?
A coffeehouse-cyber café concept is one thing that's being talked about. Instead of trying to replicate the Rathskeller, let's go the other direction and have it spill out onto an urban terrace and amphitheater.
How about Memorial Union?
One of the things we want to do with Memorial is to renovate spaces and bring them back to the aesthetic quality they had when the building first opened. One example of that is what we did with the renovation of the Main Lounge, thanks to a gift from the Class of 1950. That project, which included adding central air conditioning into the space, was not so much a historic preservation project, but a historic rehabilitation. That is a good example of what we want to have happen throughout the building.
Another thing is that the main entrance used to be the entrance off the second floor. People went in that way and down into the building. The Rath was in the basement. But that's changed over the years. Can we design entrances that are grand, much as you got when you entered on the second floor? Can this be done in the other two entrances off Langdon and Park Streets?
The redo of the Lakefront Café — soon to be called Lakefront on Langdon — will be the most visible change immediately, right?
Lakefront on Langdon will be an example of what we hope to do with all of our food service outlets, which will be to modernize them and make them more customer friendly. It'll be a "market" concept, and we'll be able to change our food concepts more quickly - without having to wait ten or twenty years to gut the whole thing again.
What big-ticket items could be in the future for Memorial Union?
One example would be the Wisconsin Union Theater wing — there's a possibility of adding space on the north side to support receptions and catering. Or a ballroom with a wonderful view of the lake, in addition to a new entrance on the south side and an expanded box office.
There are ideas for expanding the Terrace to go from the Union across the East Campus Mall (and the current parking lot), across the Red Gym and to the Alumni Center. Can we start to think of the Terrace as being larger than just the space behind Memorial — that it would encompass Lake Street to Park Street — creating a neighborhood of sorts?
The redo of the Lakefront Café — soon to be called Lakefront on Langdon — will be the most visible change immediately, right?
Lakefront on Langdon will be an example of what we hope to do with all of our food service outlets, which will be to modernize them and make them more customer friendly. It'll be a "market" concept, and we'll be able to change our food concepts more quickly - without having to wait ten or twenty years to gut the whole thing again.
What big-ticket items could be in the future for Memorial Union?
One example would be the Wisconsin Union Theater wing — there's a possibility of adding space on the north side to support receptions and catering. Or a ballroom with a wonderful view of the lake, in addition to a new entrance on the south side and an expanded box office.
There are ideas for expanding the Terrace to go from the Union across the East Campus Mall (and the current parking lot), across the Red Gym and to the Alumni Center. Can we start to think of the Terrace as being larger than just the space behind Memorial — that it would encompass Lake Street to Park Street — creating a neighborhood of sorts?
What are the top two or three things you hear when you're out talking to people about the Union?
The Union is the heart and soul of the campus. People love the fact that it has such a history about it, and that it's always been here, and it's this common thread. Whether you came in 1928 or graduated in 2002, you have something in common with everyone in between, because you've all shared the Wisconsin Union.
The other thing that I hear is that we need to take care of the Union. And that we can't allow it to deteriorate. I probably hear that more from people who go away and come back, because if you're here every day it's kind of like you don't notice yourself growing old. But see someone you haven't seen for ten years — they look different to you.
UW alumni love this place and have fond memories, but they also notice that we need to take care of it. We want it to be as everybody remembers it, and for a lot of those people, it was this shining jewel for the campus. That's really what this master planning process has been about — to identify ways we can do that, celebrate that, in the years to come, so students will come in 2028 and have the same experience students had in 1928.
The Union is the heart and soul of the campus. People love the fact that it has such a history about it, and that it's always been here, and it's this common thread. Whether you came in 1928 or graduated in 2002, you have something in common with everyone in between, because you've all shared the Wisconsin Union.
The other thing that I hear is that we need to take care of the Union. And that we can't allow it to deteriorate. I probably hear that more from people who go away and come back, because if you're here every day it's kind of like you don't notice yourself growing old. But see someone you haven't seen for ten years — they look different to you.
UW alumni love this place and have fond memories, but they also notice that we need to take care of it. We want it to be as everybody remembers it, and for a lot of those people, it was this shining jewel for the campus. That's really what this master planning process has been about — to identify ways we can do that, celebrate that, in the years to come, so students will come in 2028 and have the same experience students had in 1928.
