University of Minnesota Athletics
Memorial Stadium Exhibit Opens Today at McNamara Alumni Center
9/13/2004 12:00:00 AM | Athletics
"With momentum for a new on-campus stadium growing, the time seemed right to develop an exhibit of Memorial Stadium," said Steve Boyd-Smith, Heritage Gallery curator. "Historical exhibits remind us of our shared past and inspire us to dream new dreams and rally around new goals."
Visitors to the Heritage Gallery will first pass through the reconstructed Memorial Stadium arch. Engineers from BKBM Professional Engineers, the firm that oversaw the stadium's demolition, took painstaking care to label each brick, store, and reconstruct them in the McNamara Alumni Center when it was built in 1999.
"It was important to the partners who built the McNamara Alumni Center that we included the Heritage Gallery in our plans, because we all felt that the University needed a singular place to showcase its memories, traditions, legends, and heroes," said Margaret Sughrue Carlson, University of Minnesota Alumni Association executive director. "And for many alumni, their dearest memories from their college years center around the pride, spirit, and community that were so much a part of Memorial Stadium."
Once inside the Heritage Gallery, the stadium exhibit uses photos, quotes, and memorabilia to take visitors through the three chapters of the stadium's life: the campaign and construction in the 1920s, a place of community gathering until 1981, and its demolition in 1992.
The first chapter begins on May 14, 1921, when the alumni association proposed the idea of building a stadium. With the financial support of 8,525 alumni, students, faculty, and friends of the University, that idea was transformed into the "Brick House," which was dedicated on November 15, 1924 in honor of the Minnesotans who died in World War I. Surprisingly, the exhibit doesn't focus on football as much as you would expect, when it covers the life of the stadium.
"Stadiums are first-and-foremost about community and celebrating great traditions," said Boyd-Smith. "We wanted to capture in words, photos, and memorabilia, the total collegiate experience from marching bands, to bonfires, to tailgating parties, to the wearing of mums on game day."
While the third chapter of the stadium history covers its demolition in 1992---68 years after it was built---Boyd-Smith is quick to add that he included an epilogue for the new stadium initiative.
"We're especially excited about that epilogue," said Carlson. "The University of Minnesota Alumni Association was the first organization to take a stand to bring Gopher Football back to campus and the first to give $1 million. The alumni association is ready to once again help bring Gopher Football back to campus."
In addition to the Memorial Stadium exhibit, the gallery has a number of permanent exhibits, including a historical timeline; a wall of books written by University, alumni, faculty, staff, and students; kiosks profiling famous people from the University's past; and a new exhibit on the mascots of the four University of Minnesota campuses.
The Heritage Gallery is owned and managed by the University Gateway Corporation, a private partnership comprised of the University of Minnesota Alumni Association, University of Minnesota Foundation, and the University of Minnesota Medical Foundation. The University Gateway Corporation built the McNamara Alumni Center in 1999 with private funds.
What: New Memorial Stadium and U of M mascots exhibits at The Curt and Arleen Carlson Heritage Gallery.
Where: On the main floor of the McNamara Alumni Center, 200 Oak Street S.E. on the Minneapolis campus of the University of Minnesota.
When: New exhibits opened September 13. The gallery is open weekdays 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Cost: Free
