Site of Original Winter Sports Building "The Barn"

Built in 1936, the Barn was a popular place for University of North Dakota students and loyal “Sioux” fans. This building, officially known as the Winter Sports Building, developed its nickname “The Barn” because of it being a Quonset. The cost of building the barn was $46,000 and was funded by grants. After more than ten years of operation, the Barn became the original home of UND hockey starting in 1948. For many years it served as a multipurpose building being a great center for people to come together and enjoy various events, but primarily UND hockey.

Although the Barn was built in 1936, it wasn’t until 1948 that it became the official home of University of North Dakota hockey. For more than ten years, the Barn hosted intramural hockey teams, and some of the teams entered into the Northwest Hockey League, but they were not sponsored by UND. Eventually, the University President at the time, Jack West, saw potential for the University to have a strong hockey program, so UND began officially sponsoring the hockey program in the 1947-48 season.

Hockey was not the only event held at the Barn. Other events such as track, football, and army troop training were held there as well. During the time of World War II, the Barn was a great place for the army to train their troops with lots of space for various training exercises to be done. Even though The Barn was a multi-purpose building, it is mostly remembered for being the home of UND hockey. The maximum capacity for the building was 4,000 people, with students hanging from the rafters when the seating space was too full. There was lots of heart and soul in this building, but problems arose that eventually put the building in retirement.

During the building process of the Barn, various problems arose and decisions needed to be made. The Arch Roof and Construction Company was hired to build the roof of the Barn, and originally the plan for the roof was to have wooden arches, however with the advisement from the company, the roof was actually built with steel arches instead for more support. Although the building was built sturdily, the building didn’t block out the cold very well. This presented a problem, especially when temperatures reach frigid temperatures such as -30 degrees in the winter.

The Barn was definitely not a beautiful, functional building like the Ralph Englestad Arena that we know and love today. A man named Al Purpur oversaw maintaining the ice and he did not have a Zamboni. Zambonis are a piece of equipment that drives over the ice and spreads water to smooth out the ice to make it easier to skate on. Instead, he used a device that he made himself that he called the “barrel flooding outfit.”^[1] This device served the function of a Zamboni at a time when they didn’t have Zambonis. Another dysfunctional feature of the arena was that instead of plexiglass hanging to divide the players from the spectators, chicken wire was hung from pipes to serve the same purpose.

Eventually, the program became a much bigger prospect than the Barn could handle. Plans were developed to build a new Winter Sports Building and put the Barn to rest. The last official game held at the Barn was on March 8, 1972. After that, the building served as a storage unit for six years before it was torn down in 1978. The cost of the demolition was $30,000.

The building known as the Barn may be gone now, but its legacy will last forever. Hockey is part of the heart of the University of North Dakota, and it is important to take pride in how it all started. This building holds a lot of historical importance, being around through a World War and many other events. When people attend hockey games now, they can take a moment to appreciate how it all started and how we got here today.

^[1] Dahl, Jim . The Old Barn, SiouxSports.com. 2005. Accessed April 20th, 2023. https://siouxsports.com/hockey/history/oldbarn.htm.

President of Arch Roof Construction Inc. "Proposed Hockey Arena". August 9, 1935. 55 West 42nd Street, New York. Typed letter. Elwyn B. Robinson Department of Special Collections. April 11, 2023.

Winter Sports Building "The Barn". FightingHawks.com. 2018. Accessed April 20th, 2023. https://fightinghawks.com/sports/2010/8/4/20497347.aspx.