On the daily trudge up Bascom Hill, although students may not realize it, they are passing a National Historic Landmark. Tucked between Bascom Hall and the Education building sits the first building erected on the University of Wisconsin campus: North Hall.
Completed in 1851, the quaint four-story building is often lost among the giant buildings surrounding it. North Hall originally functioned as a dormitory, museum, mess hall, and library for its 30 live-in students and three faculty members.
'The entire university was held there,' said UW-Madison senior and Campus Tour Guide Ankur Patel.
Built one mile from the original 14-year-old city of Madison, students hiked through thick wooded terrain along Lake Mendota to reach civilization. The outdoor environment surrounding the university was inviting to nature enthusiasts, among them the legendary John Muir.
Before inspiring President Theodore Roosevelt's National Forest conservation policies in the late 1800s, Muir was enrolled at UW-Madison in the fall of 1860. Surprisingly, he did not graduate and disembarked on his wilderness excursions without having received a degree.
According to Jay Roth, author of the website devoted to North Hall's history, Muir's dormitory was rumored to have been on the northeast corner of the first floor. Although the exact room is unknown, Roth said he 'filled it with specimens, laboratory equipment, and strange wooden clocks which he built himself.'
For Muir and his fellow classmates 'food was a problem,' Roth said. Raising livestock outside North Hall came to a halt in 1861 when the UW Board of Regents enacted a law forbidding the upkeep of animals on campus. When funds were low, particularly during the Civil War, some students cut their own wood from the surrounding forests to burn in the furnaces. Others, however, preferred tipping over and burning the wooden outhouses for warmth outside the all-purpose school building.
The construction of South Hall and Bascom Hall followed within the decade, providing space for the growing student population and eventual integration of women on campus. Co-ed dorms, however, were not in the works for these students. Men were housed in North Hall while women lived in South Hall. This presented a few obstacles in the dating scene.
'In order to spend any time together,' Patel said, 'both the girl and the guy were accompanied by professors to meet somewhere in-between the buildings.' This short time was their only chance for contact with the opposite sex. On top of that, curfew was set at 9 p.m. for all students. Late night co-ed fun was left to the animals.
Although much has changed since the early days of the university (tuition is no longer $8 a semester) many modern amenities have been reluctant to make their way into this historic building. UW-Madison Political Science Professor Kenneth Mayer, whose office is located on the fourth floor, said he hears many students 'huffing and puffing' up the stairs due to the lack of elevators. The 'ancient' heating and ventilation system allows chilly drafts constant in the cold winter months. Even after 154 winters, some things never change.
