Changes maintain traditions
Preserving Union's character is important part of renovation
By Carla Krause Kansan staff writer
Baptized with the ashes of World War 1 in 1926 and ravaged by the flames of an arsonist's torch in 1970, the Kansas Union has tempered 62 years of campus transformations.
Now, in the blazing heat of the summer, the traditional ties between today's Union and that of yesterday's is being traced back and strengthened by the renovation of the Union's second third and fourth floors continues
Jim Long, director of the Kansas and Burge Unions, said that one of the goals in the renovation project was to preserve as much of the original building as possible while bringing it up to date in terms of style and function.
The historical bond that union directors are trying to leave unsevered is a long one. The Kansas Union is one of the oldest unions in the country and the oldest in the Big Eight. The site for the Union was chosen in 1924, ground was broken on Commencement Day in May 1925, and the cornerstone was laid April 20, 1926. Thirteen years later, in 1939, the last room in the original building, the Kansas Room, was completed.
"We've designed a creative use of space, while still keeping an allegiance to tradition," Long said. "We've taken advantage of the architectural theme of the original building, with a lot of use of brick, hard oak in various colors, parquet floors and the use of arches."
Students had tried to set up a Union long before that. The Student Council of 1914 rented and furnished a house at 1200 Tennessee St. The effort failed a year later, however, because not enough people went there and the rent couldn't be paid.
The post-World War I days saw a renewed interest in building a student union, in part because of the University's rapidly rising enrollment. A Million Dollar Drive was initiated in 1921 to collect enough money to build the Kansas Memorial Union, Memorial Stadium and statue of Uclep Jimmy Green, now in front of Lippincott Hall, in remembrance of the 129 KU students who died in the war. Pledges for the projects came from students, alumni and friends of the University.
Construction plans for the original building included a cafeteria and three private dining rooms in the basement, lounge rooms for men and women and game rooms for men on the first floor, a 50-by-135-foot assembly hall on the second floor and dormitory rooms for visiting alumni
on the third floor.
Directors of the drive were emphatic in their determination to remember the "soldier-scholar"; in one of the many articles published on the significance of the memorial campaign, Chancellor E.H. Lindley wrote, "By virtue of these memorials, Mount Oread is to be a great state shrine celebrating patriotism, sacrifices and gratitude for sacrifices."
In 1926, Myers Hall (religion), Dyche Museum, Spoonther-Thayer Art Museum, Green Hall (now Lippincott Hall), old Fraser, the journalism building (now the east wing of Watson Library), Watson, old Snow Hall, the commones (where Wescoe Hall is), Fowler Shops (then a workshop, now Staufer-Flint Hall), the chemistry building (now Bailey Hall), Strong Hall, old Robinson Gymnasium, Haworth Hall (geology) the biology building and Marvin Hall (physics) lined Jayhawk Boulevard from the Union to the Chi Omega circle.
The streets had been paved for four years, and a trolley car still rolled along its course down Mississippi Street, behind the Spencer Museum of Art, up between Bailey and Strong halls, across the boulevard and back across the dirt road behind the maintenance shops to downtown Lawrence.
As the years passed, the campus grew, and with it, the Union underwent a long history of changes and additions. Two new wings, added in 1948 and 1952 for $1.5 million, more than doubled the building's original size. More additions were made between 1960 and 1969.
In 1967, the University created the Centennial Room, on the sixth floor of the Union, in honor of the University's centennial celebration. The room was made with paneling, windows and trim and ceiling molding from Old Fraser Hall.
Three years later, on Monday, April 20th, the Centennial Room was the only room in that part of the building that wasn't destroyed by a fire that flashed through the top two floors of the Union.
At the time, racial and anti-war tensions in the city were at a peak. Fires, bomb threats and fights were a daily occurrence; classes at city schools were canceled the Friday before the fire because of the mounting tensions. The day after the fire, Gov. Robert Docking issued a curfew from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. and declared a state of emergency for the city and an area within three miles of its borders.
The fire in the Union was set near the Pine Room, on the top floor of the original 1926 section, and spread around the upper floor and roof of the original unit and the 1852 addition. The fire was so large that we heavily damaged by water and smoke. The loss, completely insured, was set at more than $1 million.
Speculation at the time was that the fire was a result of the city's racial conflicts, but public officials were quick to discount that theory and ruled it as the work of an arsonist, using the disturbances in the city as a cover. No one was prosecuted for setting the fire.
The words of William Allen White, longtime publisher of the Emporia Gazette and KU alumnus, in his 1927 Union dedication speech took on a new meaning the night of the fire as students worked alongside firefighters in an attempt to recover furniture and artwork. His speech, in part, said, "This may well be called the temple of your democracy. Here rich and poor, black and white, wise and foolish, the grave and gay may meet and temper each other's wisdom in the fires of a common experience."
5
Now, the Union is undergoing yet another series of alterations so that it can keep up with the increasing student population and its needs.
According to the master plan for the renovation, all food services have been moved together onto the third floor, the two bookstores will be together on the second floor by the time students arrive for registration and a student activities and organizations center will be in the place of the Oread Book Shop by January.
Union director Long said that farther down the road, the main lobby would be renovated to give students a better-organized and bigger area.
"We're going to wait several years for the second phase of the renovation to begin," Long said. "We want to give the patrons some breathing time between renovations so that the traffic can be established into a natural pattern."
Long said that various shades of the school colors, crimson and blue, were being used throughout the building to keep the traditional atmosphere of the building. The mosaic Jayhawk on the second floor will remain in front of the bookstore, and memorabilia and pictures of the past have been maintained for display on the second floor.
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