Campus Buildings Directory

1450 Memorial Drive 66045

Pronounced: CARE-uh-lawn, camp-uh-NEE-lee or camp-uh-NEEL

A badly needed fieldhouse was among the proposals for a commemoration to honor members of the university community and alumni who died in World War II. Chancellor Deane Malott and others were determined to build a structure that was purely a memorial and was not designed to fill a need of the university, as had been done after World War I with the stadium and the union. A bell tower, also among the earlier suggestions, was decided on, and a fund drive began as World War II ended. The campanile was dedicated May 27, 1951. Engraved on tablets in the Memorial Room at its base are the names of 277 KU alumni, students, faculty and staff who died in World War II. The ornamental bronze doors are by sculptor-in-residence Bernard “Poco” Frazier.

Designed by architect Homer F. Neville, a student in the 1920s, and Edward B. Delk, it is 120 feet high and built of Kansas limestone. The carillon, played by keyboard-operated hammers, has 53 bells cast by an English foundry established in the 1360s. The bells chime the quarter hours and hours; concerts are performed by the university carillonneur, students and guest artists. A major renovation of the bells, the campanile and the grounds was completed in 1996.

See Memorial Drive in our Markers & Memorials Directory

1101 Maine St. 66045

In 1889 students and faculty members organized the University Athletic Board to oversee competition in football, baseball and tennis with nearby colleges. KU’s games were played on city fields at a park on Massachusetts Street, and the board began trying to raise interest in a university stadium and a gymnasium. After Col. John James McCook, a Harvard-educated New York lawyer, gave the commencement address in 1890 and watched a faculty-student baseball game at the park, he donated $2,500 for a university playing field.

The university bought 12 acres in a gully northwest of the small campus from Charles Robinson, and grading and construction began in spring 1892 on a regulation field running east-west and surrounded by a fence. The first football game at McCook Field was played Oct. 27, 1892, watched by spectators on the sidelines and in an 800-seat grandstand that was gradually expanded to seat about 10,000. A nearby hall was a dressing room for home and visiting teams.

By 1920 the facilities were rundown and inadequate, and Director of Athletics Forrest C. “Phog” Allen toured several other universities to gather ideas for a new facility. This coincided with the desire for a building or other facility to honor the 130 students and faculty members who died in World War I, including Lt. William T. Fitzsimons, an alumnus and doctor who was the first American officer killed in action.

The Million Dollar Drive fund-raising campaign began Nov. 18, 1920, just after KU’s football team—coached by Allen for this one year—came from behind to tie Nebraska 20-20. Invigorated by this amazing feat, students and others donated nearly $225,000 within a few weeks, and plans were made for a stadium, a student union and a statue commemorating “Uncle Jimmy” Green, the longtime law school dean who had died in 1919.

Allen liked the horseshoe-shaped stands, football field and track at Princeton University, and LaForce Bailey, professor of architecture, and Clement C. Williams, professor of civil engineering, designed a similar dual-purpose stadium. On May 10, 1921, about 4,000 male students and faculty tore down the rickety McCook stands and fence, and Chancellor E.H. Lindley broke ground for the new field, which ran north-south. The stadium was dedicated Nov. 11, 1922, before kickoff of the Kansas-Nebraska football game (Nebraska won 28-0). In April 1923, the first Kansas Relays, an invitational track and field event, were held.

Two seating sections were added to the original six in 1925, and in 1927 the “horseshoe” on the north end was closed, covering the site of McCook Field and making the capacity 35,000.

Large spaces underneath the stands were used to house students immediately after World War II and later as art studios. In the 1960s additions to the stands raised the seating capacity to 51,500. In 1969 the track was named for Jim Hershberger, a track star, 1953 alumnus and university donor who is a member of the KU Athletic Hall of Fame. He donated $125,000 to replace the original cinders with an artificial surface. In 1970 artificial turf replaced the original grass field.

In 1997 a two-year, $26 million renovation designed by Glenn Livingood Pezler Architects of Lawrence and HOK Sports of Kansas City, Mo., began. Funded largely by ticket surcharges, it included a new concourse, concession stands and restrooms; permanent light standards; new home locker room; new press box and media facilities; 36 suites; new elevators; and a video board. The stadium capacity now is 50,071.

In August 2008 the $31-million Anderson Family Football Complex opened adjacent to the stadium. Its name honors major contributions to the project from Dana and Sue Anderson and their son, Justin, and his wife, Jean.

View Photo Library images of Memorial Stadium

See also: Anderson Family Football Complex

1520 Summerfield Hall Drive 66045-7554

Construction began in spring 1941 on the Works Progress Administration project and was completed by legislative appropriations after the WPA was disbanded. The building—faced with stones from old Snow Hall, demolished in 1934—was completed Nov. 1, 1943. It houses the military studies departments of military science, aerospace studies, naval science and the ROTC programs affiliated with them; a rifle range and artillery storage; a drill room; classrooms; and offices.

1518 Lilac Lane 66044-3128

In 1936 Elizabeth Miller Watkins donated $75,000 to build a twin immediately south of Watkins Scholarship Hall, which she had financed in 1925. It was named for her brother, Frank C. Miller, a KU student in the 1880s. As she had before, Watkins oversaw the decorating and furnishing of the yellow-brick, colonial-style hall, designed by Thomas Williamson, which opened in 1937 and now houses 49 women. Like Watkins Hall, Miller is partly maintained through a trust she established.

See also: Watkins Scholarship Hall

1261 Oread Ave.
North of Kansas Union at 13th Street

Opened in August 2000, it has 818 stalls on several levels and entrances on Mississippi Street and Oread Avenue.

Kansas Geological Survey Complex
1930 Constant Ave. 66047-3724

This building, housing the Kansas Geological Survey, was designed by Thomas, Johnson, Isley and dedicated Feb. 2, 1973. It is named for Raymond C. Moore (1892-1974), state geologist, KGS director 1916-54 and a faculty member 1916-62; he was a Summerfield Distinguished Professor, chair of geology and a leading scholar/editor in invertebrate paleontology. It houses the KGS geohydrology and exploration services sections, along with Public Outreach and administration.

Hambleton Hall
This 1983 addition to Moore Hall includes an auditorium seating 45 and is named for William W. Hambleton, alumnus/faculty member, state geologist and KGS director 1970-87. It houses the Publication Sales division of the KGS, the Data Access and Support program and public data and library services.

Parker Hall
This building, also attached, was dedicated March 26, 1968, as a U.S. Geological Survey facility. The USGS moved to other offices in 1989, and Parker now houses KGS offices including energy research and stratigraphic research. It is named for Glenn L. Parker, an alumnus and chief hydraulic engineer for the USGS 1939-46.

Pronounced: OR-ee-ad

The curving limestone ridge where KU’s main campus was built received this name from Ferdinand Fuller on Aug. 1, 1854. He was in the first contingent of New England Emigrant Aid Society settlers sent by abolitionists to the Kansas Territory to ensure that it joined the Union as a free state. Fuller named the hill after the Oread Institute in his hometown, Worcester, Mass.; in Greek mythology an “oread” is a mountain nymph. An architect, Fuller designed several Lawrence buildings and the first university hall, North College, a three-story stucco structure of brick and stone, 50 feet square. Construction began in 1865 on the original eight-acre campus site, and the university opened Sept. 12, 1866; It had a chancellor, R.W. Oliver; three faculty members; a lecturer in hygiene; and a janitor. All 55 of its first students were enrolled in preparatory classes. After University College—later named Fraser Hall—was completed in 1872, North College was vacant for several years, then used as a state school until 1889, by the School of Law (1889-93) and by the School of Fine Arts (1893-1917). It was demolished in 1919. The parking lot for GSP/Corbin occupies the site; a small monument includes the original threshold.

Elevations at various campus and city locations, compiled from topographical maps:

Between Joseph R. Pearson Hall and Carruth-O'Leary Hall: 1,037 feet
At Fraser Hall: 1,031 feet
At Lippincott Hall: 1,027 feet
At Strong Hall: 1,025 feet
At 14th and Tennessee streets: 900 feet
At Ninth and Massachusetts streets: 846 feet

See Sabatini Multicultural Resource Center

2030 Becker Drive 66047-1620

Construction began on the $40 million, three-story research center in fall 2004, and it was dedicated March 6, 2006. Housed in its 106,000 square feet are about 200 researchers, faculty, students and staff in engineering, chemistry, biology, geology and other natural sciences who do collaborative research in bioinformatics, drug discovery and nanoscience, among other fields. The triangular building also houses laboratories; workrooms, offices and conference rooms; and research support spaces. The building was financed by bonds issued by the Kansas Development Finance Authority and funded by the KU Center for Research. Cannon Design of St. Louis was the architect, and KU Endowment gave the land.

1530 Naismith Drive 66045-3103

The School of Fine Arts was founded in 1891, combining the Department of Music, established in 1877, and the Department of Art, established in 1885. Between 1893 and 1917 the school was housed in the increasingly decrepit North College, the university's first building, until it was declared unfit for occupation.

Rooms in the basement and first floor of the new Administration Building (later Strong Hall) were used by music; visual art had studios and classrooms on the top floor. The theatre department performed in Old Fraser’s auditorium, and its organ was used for recitals. Hoch Auditorium also was used for concerts and theatre performances. By the early 1970s Bailey Annex, Memorial Stadium, Flint Hall, Chamney House and Barn, the Wesley Building and a duplex on 14th Street also were used by music and art students.

A long campaign for a dedicated building for the performing arts ended when the music and dance departments moved into the new Murphy Hall in 1957. It is named for Franklin Murphy, chancellor 1951-60 and a generous patron of the arts. The yellow-buff brick and crab-orchard limestone building was designed by Brinkman and Hagan of Emporia and dedicated Nov. 10, 1957.

It consolidated studio, rehearsal and performance space; costume and stage shops; a recording studio; music therapy labs; and faculty and staff offices for the music, dance and theater departments. The administrative offices for the School of Fine Arts were also in Murphy.

In 2009, an administrative reorganization created the School of Music, housed in Murphy Hall; and the School of the Arts, affiliated with the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and comprising the departments of dance, film and media studies, theatre, and visual art. The offices for these departments remain in Art & Design or Murphy. Several design programs are now affiliated with the School of Architecture, Design and Planning but remain housed in the art building.

A $9.8 million addition to Murphy Hall, designed by Horst, Terrill and Karst of Topeka, was completed in 2001. Its centerpiece is the Thomas A. Gorton Music and Dance Library, named for the dean of fine arts 1950-75. Also in Murphy are the Richard M. Wright Jazz Archives and James Seaver Opera Archive, together making up the KU Archive of Recorded Sound; and the Kansas Center for Music Technology.

See also: Art & Design Building; Budig Hall/Hoch Auditoria; Fraser Hall; Oldfather Studios; Strong Hall; Courtyards and Fountains: Judith Harris Murphy Court

Performing spaces
Crafton-Preyer Theatre: Capacity 1,188
Named for Jesse Allen Crafton (1890-1966), founder of the Department of Speech and Drama, and for Carl Adolph Preyer (1863-1947), pianist/composer and faculty member for 56 years. Plays, musicals, opera, concerts

Swarthout Recital Hall: Capacity 335
Named for Donald Swarthout, dean of fine arts 1923-50. Faculty and student solo and chamber-music performances

William Inge Memorial Theatre: Capacity 125 (variable)
Named for playwright William Inge (1913-73), 1935 theatre graduate; “Picnic” (Pulitzer Prize and Drama Critics Circle Award), “Splendor in the Grass” (Academy Award for screenwriting), “Come Back, Little Sheba,” “Bus Stop.” Plays and showcases

Robert F. Baustian Theatre: Capacity 125
Named for the director of orchestra and opera, 1957-66; gift of David and Deborah Holloway; dedicated Dec. 2, 2004. Opera and Musical Theatre Complex has black-box theatre, classrooms, dressing rooms, shop areas.