Aw, the University of Minnesota. In the years since the University was founded, there have been quite a few interesting facts about various buildings on campus. You eat, breathe and bleed maroon and gold, but you may not know as much about the University as you thought you did. Here are 16 facts you may not know about this wonderful school, from a Gopher tour guide.
1. In the Northrop Mall, the buildings across from one another were designed to reflect each other.
2. Scholars Walk spans all the way from the former Freshman Admissions building, Appleby Hall, to McNamara Alumni Center. This is supposed to represent the journey a student takes at the U starting as a freshman and ending as an alumni.
3. Coffman Memorial Union was designed to look like a head of a gopher. Do you see it?
4. Northrop Auditorium was another inspiration for Coffman Memorial Union, as Coffman is supposed to be a modern representation of Northrop. The general shape of Coffman and the pillars outside are supposed to reflect Northrop Auditorium.
5. Have you ever noticed the green dome on the roof of Tate Lab of Physics? Turns out, it’s an observatory. Once the renovations are completed in 2017, students and the general public once again have access to the observatory for free on Friday nights. Talk about a cheap date at Tate!
6. There are 225 owls that can be spotted in Walter Library, one of the 13 libraries on campus. Can you find them all?
7. Do you live in, or spend a lot of time in Dinkytown? There are multiple theories as to how the area got its name. The first theory is based off of how train cars are called “dinkies” and are stored on the train tracks nearby. Another theory is that Dinkytown was named after the University’s theater called The Dinky, because it only had four rows of seats. What story do you believe or do you even care? We all know and love Dinkytown, regardless of how it got its name.
8. Eddy Hall is the oldest remaining building on campus, built in 1886, and is on the National Register of Historic Places.
9. Folwell Hall has a total of 26 chimneys, but only two actually work.
10. STSS, I mean Bruininks, is the greenest building on campus. Have you ever noticed the tiny dots on the windows? Those dots use natural sunlight to produce energy for the building.
11. Amundson Hall is the official nuclear fallout center on campus. You can even see the sign on the side of the building!
12. Rumor has it that Moos Tower was designed to look like two molars.
13. The Weisman Art Museum was designed with tin and brick for a very specific reason. The tin is meant to represent the Mississippi River and the brick represents the University of Minnesota. The combination of materials reflects how the U utilizes the Mississippi River and all its beauty.
14. Have you ever wondered what the structure outside of the Molecular Cellular Biology building is? Turns out, the structure doesn’t actually represent any known molecule!
15. Keller Hall is designed to look like a floppy disc from above.
16. Ralph Rapson Hall is made from the same material as the Statue of Liberty. This means that over time, the copper on the building will oxidize to a green color. If you stop by Rapson, you can already see the process starting on some lower parts of the building.
How many of these facts do you remember from your tour of the University of Minnesota back in high school? Maybe you’re a pro and knew them all or maybe you learned a little lesson about the greatest university in history. Either way, we are all proud to be Golden Gophers.