1/13/2012:
The UND Historic District was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on this date in 2010. The district covers 127 acres of the central and eastern portions of the campus and includes fifty-six properties judged historically significant as “…demonstrat[ing] changes in education from the time it was built in the 1880s through the post-World War II era.” The historical properties include Merrifield Hall, Twamley Hall, Babcock Hall, Montgomery Hall, and the old Carnegie Library. The campus’s first building, Old Main, is no longer around; built in 1883, it had sat between Merrifield and Twamley Halls, but was demolished in 1963. Its location is marked today by the Old Main Memorial Plaza and Sphere.
The National Register of Historic Places is an official federal listing of properties deemed worthy of protection and preservation due to historical significance. The listing was created in 1966 by the passage of the National Historic Preservation Act and is administered by the National Park Service. The listing has now grown to include more than one million properties, with every county in the United States having at least one property listed.
In order to be nominated for consideration, a property has to meet one of four designation criteria demonstrating historical significance. These criteria include association with a historical event, person, design or architectural period, or the potential to provide information about the past. The UND Historic District was placed on the listing as a district expressing a cohesive example of a specific historical time period, especially being representative of late 19th and early 20th century revivalism.
One of the main architects of the historical area of campus was Joseph Bell DeRemer, considered “one of North Dakota’s finest architects.” He was born in New Jersey in 1871, studied at Columbia University, and later moved with his wife to Grand Forks. DeRemer opened a firm in Grand Forks and, along with his son Samuel Teel DeRemer and a staff of architects, designed several noteworthy buildings in the state. He is perhaps best known today for his work on the North Dakota State Capitol in Bismarck, that famous “Skyscraper of the Prairie.”
Founded in 1883, the University was created six years before North Dakota became a state. Its buildings have developed and stood testament to the changes that the campus and the nation have undergone in the last 130 years.
Dakota Datebook written by Jayme L. Job
Sources:
The Bismarck Tribune. “UND Historic District Honored,” in State and Regional. Monday, February 1, 2010.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Register_of_Historic_Places_property_typeshttp:// http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_North_Dakota_Historic_District
http://history.nd.gov/hp/nrndproperties.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Register_of_Historic_Places