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A STROLL AROUND RING ROAD’S MEMORY LANE
GUSTAVUS QUARTERLY | WINTER 2020
Gustavian Weekly cartoonist Lori K. Nelson ’76 drew this campus map in 1974. Much of what’s on it you’ll find on campus today. On what’ s been lost, here’s some brief history (known and lesser known).
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1 Wahlstrom Hall | Built in 1948 with federal funding, it first
Swedish House is attached to the Carlson International Center.
housed veterans. It was joked that even a bomb couldn’t take it
4 Classroom Annex East and West | One was a refurbished
down. When the time came (in the 2005–06 academic year), it
war surplus building. The other was a woman-only space for
did take a wrecking ball five days.
gymastics, training, and sports rehab (though football players
2 Johnson Hall | An all-women’s dorm known for its red brick
once left a Volkswagen Beetle in the gymnastics studio).
and its nickname: The Fortress. Men had to formally check in
5 Myrum Field House | It had an African teak basketball court
and out. Later, it housed international students. It was deemed
that sat on a water base. Around it was dirt, with netting at
unsalvageable after the 1998 tornado and replaced by the
each end so players wouldn’t hurl themselves into the stands.
Carlson International Center.
3 Holly House + Wolf House | Holly House was the Swedish
6 Ice Rink | The humble precursor to Lund Center. 7 Water Tower | A gathering spot when the legal drinking age
Language House from 1972 to 1976. Then Wolf House became
was 18. Tour guides would note to prospective students that
the Swedish House (repainted yellow and blue in 1990) until it
this was where you lined up for the buses to beer busts.
was lost in the tornado. Holly House continued to change focus;
8 Amphitheatre | The theatre department put on outdoor
it was the Asian Culture Club and the Russian House, among
shows here, including Shakespeare in the spring. It was also a
others. It too was lost in the tornado. Today the Barbro Osher
major makeout spot.
