The University of North Dakota’s Memorial Union is a hotspot for students and Grand Forks residents across the board. With a food court, a handful of meeting rooms and ballrooms, three floors of study space, and a basement with games and activities, the Union provides opportunities for everyone.
Being a student on campus, I have heard the question be asked several times, “why is the Memorial Union called the Memorial Union?” For a place that is so well-known on campus, one might think this question would be easy to answer. However, there are many students who are unaware of the Union’s extensive history.
In May of 1951, the Memorial Student Union opened their doors for the first time, marked as a space dedicated to university students who died in World War II.
Upon its campus debut, the Memorial Union looked much different than it does today. The space included ballrooms, meeting rooms, and lounge spaces just as it does today, but there was also a bowling alley, gift store, and snack bars. It was in 1962 that a newly formed Student Union Expansion Committee saw their dreams for a remodel start to come to life. Now, the Union included a new game room, recreational activity areas, the “Terrace Room” cafeteria and dining space, a barber shop, and rooms dedicated to listening to music and watching television. While the North Dakota Museum of Art has its own building today, their art exhibits originated on the Union’s third floor. Also notable, spaces for the Dacotah Annual and the Dakota Student were established so that the prints could continue creating their publications.
During the remodel, students found themselves spending their days at a spot called Princeton Hall instead. Today, it would be better known as Squires Hall, though Squires has since been demolished. During this time, the space was renamed University Center, though the Union would be reverted to its original name of Student Memorial Union in 1978, a name that would stick ever since.
In 1988, the Memorial Union faced damages due to a fire that seemed to have started in the bookstore. The 1997 infamous flood left its mark on the entire Grand Forks region, and the Memorial Union was not spared from this damage. It was 2002 when major renovations ensued, and 2004 was the year that doors reopened for the place that many called the heart of campus. Since then, renovations continued to be steadily underway as gradual improvements were made to the space.
The Union’s most recent major renovation was proposed in 2018, creating the Memorial Union that we know today.
Ava Stockstad is a Dakota Student General Reporter. She can be reached at [email protected].
