What's in a Name?
(Webmaster's note: The following information was originally culled from a 1994 campus publication. Some campus building descriptions have been added since then. However, a full update of this Web site will be completed by April 15, 2006.)
Buildings and Areas on the Campus of the University of Wisconsin-River Falls
by Wayne Wolfe and Walker D. Wyman
University of Wisconsin-River Falls, 1994
Across the campuses of America there are hundreds of academic buildings, student centers, residence halls, libraries and other structures, all bearing names that had meaning at the time of the dedication, but with the years, memory of the reason for the original name has faded.
Such is the case at UW-River Falls. There are 20 buildings, several rooms and Ramer Field carrying the names of regents, faculty and students who in some way contributed to this University's reputation as a place where teaching has always been important. Only a few campus buildings carry names such as Centennial Hall or South Hall.
Last winter Chancellor Gary Thibodeau wrote one of the authors calling attention to the need for information of where the campus buidings' names orginated. He said that there are many faculty who have no knowledge of who "Hathorn" of Hathorn Hall was and a host of students who may spend four years in May or McMillan Halls or go to the Blanche Davis Theatre in the Kleinpell Fine Arts building and never know just who Kleinpell or May or McMillan or Davis were or what they did to make this institution what it offers students today.
The authors have been members of the University faculty for many years and are now retired. Dr. Wolfe was professor of journalism and Assistant Chancellor and Dr. Wyman was professor of history and Honorary Folklorist for Wisconsin for many years. They have known a number of the people whose names appear on buildings and rooms, and readily accepted Chancellor Thibodeau's suggestion to answer "What's in a Name?".
The authors are indebted for the assistance of Stephanie Zeman, Director of the Archives, for being extremely helpful and for providing the records on which these pages are based. For reading proof we are indebted to Wilma Thoreson and Helen B. Wyman and, for supervising and expediting the printing, to Elizabeth Oostendorp. If there are errors in trying to inform readers "What's in a Name?," only the two retired professors can be held responsible, for to them much of the research and writing was a walk down memory lanes.
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