Elmhurst University

History

From proseminary to university

Academic buildings and facilities

• The Frick Center houses lounges, a dining hall, E.C. Grille, Frick Center Café, the Game Room, the Spirit Shop, the Central Printing and Mail Room, conference rooms, the university radio station WRSE-FM as well as The Niebuhr Center for Engagement and Reflection, whose stated mission is to provide engaging experiences and meaningful reflection for the community to cultivate a sense of purpose in life. The offices of the Student Government Association, Union Board, the Elms Yearbook, Student Affairs and Student Activities are also in the Frick Center. Built in 1964 and formerly known as the College Union Building, it was renamed in 1994 to honor the university's eleventh president, Dr. Ivan E. Frick and his wife Ruth Hudson Frick. The Frick Center also houses the Blume Board Room, named in honor of former board of trustees member and graduate Allen C. Blume and his wife Phyllis, as well as the Brune Patio, named in honor of graduate and benefactor Joan Brune as a gift to the university from her husband, graduate and benefactor Lester H. Brune.
• The Barbara A. Kieft Accelerator ArtSpace houses a 750,000-volt Cockcroft-Walton particle accelerator. Originally built by Dr. Sam Allison, professor of physics at University of Chicago, it was moved to Elmhurst in the late 1960s and became operational in 1973. The accelerator was deactivated when the building began its new life as an art exhibition space in 2004.
• The A.C. Buehler Library, named in honor of the former president of the Victor Comptometer Corporation and board of trustees member, is home to over 237,000 volumes and a highly regarded collection of Chicago Imagists art. It opened in 1971 and was renovated in 1993 and again in 2002, due to a donation from the estate of graduate Gladys and Ray Robinson. The library now has almost a hundred computers for general use and thousands of audio-visual materials. The library is also home for the Learning Center, the Center for Professional Excellence, which provides career guidance, resume assistance, internships, networking, mentoring and job shadowing opportunities for all students, as well as the Rudolf G. Schade Archives and Special Collections and the Honors Program student lounge.
• Daniels Hall, renamed in 2008 in honor of former Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives and current Elmhurst University faculty member Lee A. Daniels, is home to the computer laboratories, the departments of Mathematics, Computer Science and Information Systems, World Languages, Literatures & Cultures, Intercultural Studies, and Geography and Geosciences. It opened in 1988 as the Computer Science and Technology Center. Daniels Hall is also home to the Graduate Admission office, as well as general classrooms, the Gretsch Recording Studio.
• Constructed in 1911 as a dormitory and named for the fourth president, Daniel Irion, Irion Hall now houses the Music department. The building's 120-seat Buik Recital Hall is used for concerts, recitals and lectures. Buik was renovated in 2013 due to a donation from graduate and benefactor Lori Julian. Irion Hall housed the college's first official library from 1912 to 1922. The building was fully renovated in 1979 and has its own recording studio as well as a choir room, rehearsal hall, percussion room, listening room, two music classrooms, extensive music libraries and individual practice rooms.
• Kranz Forum is the site of a statue of Reinhold Niebuhr, a preeminent 20th-century theologian and 1910 graduate of the Elmhurst Proseminary, and the former site of Kranz Hall, constructed in 1873 and the first building on campus. The Niebuhr statue was sculpted by Robert Berks and has Niebuhr's Serenity Prayer etched on it in two places. Kranz Hall was razed in 1981, and Kranz Forum dedicated in 1982. The plaque noting the location of Kranz Hall is mounted on a base built with stone blocks salvaged from the original building.
• Memorial Hall houses the Deicke Center for Nursing Education. Formerly Memorial Library, the building was named in honor of the 900 young men of the Evangelical Synod who lost their lives in World War I. The original dedication plaques for those lost are still located in the main lobby, which remains as it was when the building opened in 1922. Memorial Library was renovated for its current use and renamed Memorial Hall when Buehler Library opened in 1971. In 2014, the Nursing Simulation Laboratory moved out of Memorial Hall and into its new facility at Elmhurst Memorial Hospital in a collaboration between the two institutions.
• Built in 1878 as a dormitory, Old Main is the oldest building on campus. It houses the departments of Art, Urban Studies, History, Religious Studies, Sociology & Criminal Justice, and Political Science, as well as art studios and general classrooms. Old Main is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was renovated in 1920 after a major fire, and again in 1976 and 1995. At one time or another, Old Main housed the science labs, the college cafeteria, a pipe organ, and a Fumatorium where students in the early 1900s smoked, talked and played chess. Along with Irion Hall, Old Main even served as the university library before Memorial Library was built.
• Mill Theater was acquired by the university in the early 1960s. Before becoming the primary theatrical space for the college, the single story building functioned as the molding mill for the Hammerschmidt lumber operations. The theater itself is a thrust space with seating for 180. With the donations from alumni, improvements were made in 2010 which included a new lighting system, sound system, ventilation, and stage. The summer of 2012 saw a renovation of the lobby, doubling its size, and included the addition of a new box office, public restrooms and renovated theater seating, due to alumna Meredith Wallenberg Morrison's donation through The Wollenberg Foundation. A "black box" style theater like those found in many cities and towns, Mill Theater gives students hands-on experience with all aspects of theater operations, including the opportunity to direct as well as have their own original stage plays workshopped and possibly premiered.
• The Science Center, dedicated in 1966 and renamed the Arthur J. Schaible Science Center in 1994 in honor of an accomplished graduate and benefactor, houses the Biology, Chemistry & Biochemistry, Psychology, and Physics departments, as well as general classrooms and 120-seat lecture room Illinois Hall. It also houses the Bates Observatory, which has a 14" computer-controlled Schmidt–Cassegrain telescope and is named in honor of benefactors Alben F. Bates, an Elmhurst attorney, and board of trustees member Joy P. Rasin. Renovation was completed on the physics labs in 2014, the two main biology labs were renovated in 2015, and in 2016, two chemistry labs were renovated.
• Goebel Hall, which opened in 1928 as the university gymnasium, was renovated in 1978 and again in 1989, when it was converted into an administration building and renamed in honor of the university's third president, Peter Goebel. Offices for Academic Affairs, Advising, Student Financial Services, and Registration and Records can be found there. The lower-level houses the Football locker rooms and offices.
• The Physical Education Center opened in 1983, and was renamed R.A. Faganel Hall in 2000 in honor of graduate Robert A. Faganel. Faganel Hall houses the Kinesiology Department, athletic coaching offices, two basketball courts, two racquetball courts, a dance studio, training rooms, equipment rooms and team locker rooms. The Tyrrell Fitness Center was added on the west side of the building in 2001 and provides weight training and physical fitness facilities for students, faculty and staff. The center is named in honor of former board of trustees chairperson and graduate Tom Tyrrell and his wife Diane Tyrrell, who donated the funds for its construction.
• Hammerschmidt Memorial Chapel, dedicated in 1959 and named in honor of benefactor Louis Hammerschmidt and family, serves as both a place of worship and for public lectures, musical events and other assemblies. The building served as a temporary library in 1993 when the A.C. Buehler library was being renovated, then underwent its own renovation and reopened 1994. It houses the English and Philosophy departments as well as general classrooms. The chapel has two pipe organs, a Moller Opus on the stage in the main auditorium and a smaller pipe organ in the Prayer Chapel. The main auditorium seats about 1,000.
• Lehmann Hall opened in 1951 as a senior men's dormitory, and is named after the university's seventh president, Timothy Lehmann. In 1982, it was remodeled and houses the Office of the President as well as Communication and Public Affairs, Development and Alumni Relations, Office of Campus Security, and academic departments Communication Arts and Sciences, Economics, and Business.
• Jean Koplin Memorial Hall houses the Admission Office, as well as the Speech Clinic, the Communication Sciences & Disorders department, the Education department, and general classrooms.
• The Lester Brune Tennis Courts, built in 2003, are named in honor of graduate and benefactor Lester H. Brune as a gift to the university from his wife, graduate and benefactor Joan Brune.