Remembering UMD's Old Main....

Today's Duluth News Tribune Attic (Area Voices blog) features a great history piece about the Old Main Building on UMD's former lower campus. Check it out HERE to see all the old pictures and stories about the weathered old building (1980) and of the Feb 23, 1993 fire that demolished it. Of course all that's left now are those famous arches used to enter the vintage college building. In honor of 18th year anniversary of the famous Old Main fire, I took this opportunity to reminisce on the DNT site about my experiences as a college student attending classes at Old Main (also see below). I know that many of the readers of this blog have connections to Duluth and UMD and I welcome your comments and memories here on the blog as well. What do you remember?

Remembering Old Main...
(Comments made by Jim Heffernan on the Duluth News Tribune's Attic on February 14, 2011)

When I started UMD in the fall of 1957, all of my classes were in Old Main. The “upper” campus was being developed, but it was pretty sparse. The “new” library (which has now been replaced) opened about a year before, and Kirby Student Center was quite new, maybe two years old. Otherwise, just a Science Building and the Phy-Ed Building (now Romano gym) were all that I recall up there at the time. Old Main had a decent-sized auditorium with a full stage where most of the college’s theatrical productions were staged. A memorable production of the musical “Guys and Dolls” in 1958 or ’59 starred students Jerry Music and Myrna Johnson, who later became his wife. Jerry went to Hollywood, changed his first name to Lorenzo, and had a good career before dying a few years ago. He was the voice of Carleton the Doorman on the “Rhoda” sitcom and also the voice of Garfield the Cat in that animated series.