{"id":31104,"date":"2023-07-11T16:50:35","date_gmt":"2023-07-11T21:50:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/und-today\/?p=31104"},"modified":"2024-08-08T12:15:05","modified_gmt":"2024-08-08T17:15:05","slug":"the-very-foundation-of-und","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/und-today\/2023\/07\/the-very-foundation-of-und\/","title":{"rendered":"The very foundation of UND"},"content":{"rendered":"

Excavation reveals part of Old Main, University\u2019s first building constructed in 1883<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Old
Darin Buri collects bricks not seen for 140 years from the foundation of Old Main, UND’s first building constructed in 1883. Part of the foundation was uncovered during renovations to Merrifield Hall. Photo by Patrick C. Miller\/UND Today.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For Darin Buri<\/a>, the opportunity to see the foundation of UND\u2019s very first building \u2013 Old Main \u2013 and to collect, analyze and save brick samples from it was an experience he wasn\u2019t sure he\u2019d ever get.<\/p>\n

The building\u2019s foundation had a history all its own, proving incapable of supporting the structure\u2019s weight and ultimately leading to Old Main’s demolition in 1963. \u00a0Buri<\/a>, facility and geology library manager at the\u00a0College of Engineering & Mines<\/a>,\u00a0has made it his mission to preserve remnants of UND\u2019s past<\/a> that lie just below the surface.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy dream was to be able to see, photograph and maybe even collect samples and touch the footings that failed under Old Main,\u201d he said. \u201cThese footings were inadequate. It was one of the reasons the building didn\u2019t last as long as hoped. It started to settle almost immediately, and by the 1920s, they had to remove the top two floors to reduce the weight<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is where UND all started, and it\u2019s part of the story,\u201d he continued. \u201cIt\u2019s a human story, and it\u2019s not always a success. Sometimes there are failures, but it\u2019s where we are today.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Old
At the time it was built in 1883, UND’s Old Main was the largest building in the northern Dakota Territory. UND archival photo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Old Main, as it became known, was built in 1883 along the banks of the English Coulee, located between what are now Merrifield and Twamley halls. It was demolished in 1963 with its location on campus marked by the Eternal Flame sculpture and Memorial Plaza.<\/p>\n

Last month, the dream finally came true for Buri. There, at the bottom of a trench dug to install a new water main to Merrifield Hall, sections of the brick foundation that hadn\u2019t been seen for more than a century lay exposed. The backhoe used to dig the trench also had brought bricks and small sections of the foundation\u2019s brick walls to the surface.<\/p>\n

The grin on Buri\u2019s face said it all as he picked up bricks, studied the excavated remnants and chatted with construction workers about the building\u2019s history, making sure they understood the significance of what they\u2019d uncovered.<\/p>\n

Among them was Derrick Deering, project manager for PCL\/Community, a joint venture, the construction manager for the Merrifield Hall renovation project. He holds bachelor\u2019s and master\u2019s degrees in civil engineering from UND.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing an alum and knowing this was the original building on campus, it was really neat to uncover it,\u201d Deering noted. \u201cDarin came out and told us more about the history of the building. It was really fun to hear.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Old
While excavating a trench for a new waterline to Merrifield Hall, workers uncovered part of the foundation along Old Main’s west side. Photo by Patrick C. Miller\/UND Today.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Matt Fohr<\/a>, senior project manager with UND Facilities Management, compared uncovering the brick foundation from Old Main to discovering a hidden treasure.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s well known that the Memorial Plaza was constructed over the Old Main site, but to see the bricks in the ground was awe-inspiring,\u201d he said. \u201cThey were placed there 140 years ago, before North Dakota was even a state, and no one has seen a part of this building since it was razed 60 years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Old
Freshwater shell in mortar on brick<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Buri spotted some of the same characteristics he\u2019d seen in the bricks and mortar used on other University facilities built in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The mortar contained tiny shells from freshwater mollusks in the Red River. The bricks made from local clay showed the finger and thumbprint indentations of the workers who made them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s another part of this whole thing that puts a human face on it,\u201d Buri said. \u201cIn 1883, somebody in the Grand Forks area made and handled that brick. Now we\u2019re looking at an imprint that\u2019s survived all these years. It\u2019s a connection to the humanity that was in this building.\u201d<\/p>\n

In less than a day, the line for the new water main had been installed and the exposed foundation on the west side of Old Main had been reburied. But it may not be the last time part of the foundation is uncovered. Deering said in the fall, work is expected to begin on a skyway connecting Merrifield and Twamley halls.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe anticipate exposing more of the Old Main foundation when we put in the skyway because we think that footing and foundation goes back between Merrifield and Twamley,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

The skyway and the Merrifield renovation project are scheduled to be finished in the fall of 2024, according to Deering.<\/p>\n

Although Old Main was in use for the first 80 years of UND\u2019s history, the building had its troubles, first being heavily damaged by a tornado in 1887 and then falling victim to the sometimes unpredictable and problematic glacially formed geology<\/a> of the Red River Valley. One geologist went so far as to suggest that building cities in the Red River Valley was a \u201cmistake\u201d because the terrain is \u201cfriendly to agriculture but highly unfriendly to human settlement.”<\/p>\n

\"Old
Bricks and small sections from Old Main\u2019s foundation are shown with the original blueprints for UND\u2019s first building. The bricks are being stored in the geology library in Leonard Hall. The blueprints have been digitized for preservation. Photo by Patrick C. Miller\/UND Today.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Originally, Old Main was simply called the Main Building. For a time, it was called Merrifield Hall after Webster Merrifield, UND\u2019s third president (1891-1909). The name Old Main came into use during the 1930s after the present-day Merrifield Hall was built in 1928.<\/p>\n

A 2010 publication in UND\u2019s Scholarly Commons titled \u201cUND Housing: Serving You for 125 Years<\/a>\u201d noted that when Old Main was built in 1883, it was the largest structure in the northern part of Dakota Territory.<\/p>\n

The publication said in its early years, the Main Building was used for classrooms, laboratories, offices, library, museum, gymnasium, chapel and for faculty, staff and student housing. The president and his family lived in the west side of Old Main until 1887, the year a tornado destroyed that side of the building and took off part of its roof.<\/p>\n

\"Old
Darin Buri, head of UND\u2019s geology library, visits with Carlos Acosta, project engineer with PCL Construction, about bricks uncovered from Old Main\u2019s foundation. Photo by Patrick C. Miller.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Initially, living conditions within the building left much to be desired. In his 1958 book \u201cUniversity of the Northern Plains<\/a>,\u201d Louis Geiger wrote, \u201cLacking a furnace and storm windows, the building was exceedingly uncomfortable. Until November, the only heat was supplied by three stoves in the study rooms; neither classrooms nor bedrooms were heated.\u201d<\/p>\n

The book \u201cReshaping the Tornado Belt<\/a>,\u201d published in 2011 and co-authored by meteorologists Vince Godon and Nancy Godon \u2013 both of whom earned atmospheric science degrees at UND \u2013 with Kelly Kramlich, demonstrates that tornado alley extends farther north than commonly believed.<\/p>\n

It was also intended to dispel the myth that Grand Forks is protected from tornadoes by the fork formed by the Red and Red Lake rivers. The June 16, 1887, tornado not only damaged Old Main, but also went on to heavily damage parts of Grand Forks and East Grand Forks, killing three people.<\/p>\n

The extensively researched book is full of historical background on the founding of Grand Forks and East Grand Forks, as well as the establishment of UND. It also provides a detailed account of the construction of Old Main.<\/p>\n

\"Old
Students attending class in Old Main about 1895. UND archival photo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Old
In June of 1887, Old Main was hit by a tornado that destroyed its west side and tore off part of the roof. UND archival photo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Old
UND President George Starcher, right, assists workers in removing items from Old Main\u2019s cornerstone prior to its demolition in 1963. UND archival photo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Old
Looking toward Twamley Hall, students watch Old Main being torn down in 1963. UND archival photo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Excavation reveals part of Old Main, University\u2019s first building constructed in 1883<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":201,"featured_media":31113,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[19,1127],"class_list":["post-31104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-around-und","tag-engineering","tag-discovery"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe very foundation of UND - UND Today<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"For the first time in 140 years, part of the foundation of Old Main, UND's first building, was uncovered during a construction project.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/und-today\/2023\/07\/the-very-foundation-of-und\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The very foundation of UND - 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