Site of Old Main

‘Old Main’ as it is known now, was the first Grand Forks University building built to hold lecture classes for students. The building was built in the flat plains of Grand Forks near the Red River of the North, which separated the states of Minnesota and the Dakota Territory.

Grand Forks University first opened for classes in 1883, soon after the completion of the building. The first class graduated in 1889, six years after the establishment of the university and five months before North Dakota became a state. Changing from Grand Forks University to what it is known as today, the University of North Dakota.

Grand Forks University was the first college campus in the (now) state of North Dakota. As more buildings were built around campus, Grand Forks University's original building was renamed Merrifield Hall after the third University president. Grand Forks University became the overall name for the establishment until the Inauguration of Statehood for North Dakota, then officially renamed to the University of North Dakota.

UND was initially organized as a College of Arts & Sciences, with a Normal School for the education of teachers. The original college building (Old Main) name was changed from Grand Forks University to Merrifield Hall in 1909 after the third university president Webster Merrifield (1852-1916), who led the university from 1891 to 1909. President Merrifield established new programs and colleges at the University, including the School of Law and the School of Medicine. He devoted much of his energy toward improving North Dakota's secondary school system and was well known for his devotion to high academic standards and quality education.

In 1929, next to the Merrifield Hall lies the new Merrifield Hall. Turning the old Merrifield Hall in Old Main once again, before its demolishment in 1963. After the remains of Old Main were removed from campus, the Campus designed a memorial to honor the building that started it all. The "Eternal Flame" lies in the original spot of the building. The flame, surrounded by some of the original metals from the original building, burns all day and night no matter the weather.

The campus lore of the flame is, if you stand under the flame on graduation day, you will be blessed with good luck and prosperity.

“The contrast between these earliest universities and those of today is of course broad and striking .... And yet, great as these differences are, the fact remains that the university of the twentieth century is the lineal descendant of medieval Paris and Bologna. They are the rock whence we were hewn; the hole of the pit whence we were digging. The fundamental organization is the same, the historic continuity is unbroken. They created the university tradition of the modern world, that common tradition that belongs to all our institutions of higher learning, the newest as well as the oldest, and which all college and university men should know and cherish.”^[1]

^[1] Charles Homer Haskins, quoted in Geiger, Louis G., "University of the Northern Plains: a History of the University of North Dakota, 1883-1958" (1958). UND Publications. 4. https://commons.und.edu/und-books/4

Old Main, 1886. (1886). photograph, Grand Forks. Retrieved from https://commons.und.edu/archive-photos/988/. 

The First University Plan. (1883). photograph, Grand Forks. Retrieved from https://commons.und.edu/archive-photos/4/.

Tweton, D. Jerome; Wilkins, Robert P.; Howard, Thomas W.; Bohnet, Lee; Vivian, James F.; and Rylance, Dan F., "A Century on the Northern Plains: the University of North Dakota at 100" (1983). UND Publications. 2. https://commons.und.edu/und-books/2

History of the School of Graduate Studies. University of North Dakota. (n.d.). Retrieved May 3, 2023, from https://und.edu/academics/graduate-school/about/history.html#:~:text=UND%20was%20initially%20organized%20as,eight%20students%20graduated%20in%201889.

Wikimedia Foundation. (2021, December 1). Webster Merrifield. Wikipedia. Retrieved May 3, 2023, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webster_Merrifield Past und presidents. University of North Dakota. (n.d.). Retrieved May 3, 2023, from https://und.edu/about/president/past-presidents.html 

Old Main Memorial Sphere. (1965). photograph, Grand Forks. Retrieved from https://commons.und.edu/archive-photos/21/.