When you step into the Maintenance Shop, you’re stepping into a world of a thousand stories told by hundreds of voices. Many of the names in the stories might be found in your record player. Many of the voices telling them belong to people who were students not so long ago.

Like walking through the catacombs of a pyramid, the paintings, photos and stained glass lining the walls capture moments in time and seem to have souls of their own that speak up when you enter.

This school year marks the 30th anniversary of the M-Shop. After 30 years, the venue is a standing monument for all those who hold the it close to their hearts.

After so many years, the M-Shop has developed a reputation with many renowned artists, as well as Iowa State’s student body. M-Shop Director Eric Yarwood says this reputation is what has kept the doors of “The Shop” open for so many years.

“We’ve had some acts that were offered equal amounts [of money] in larger markets, such as Omaha, the Twin Cities, Kansas City,” Yarwood says. “They chose us instead.”

It is not just the building itself that makes the M-Shop stand out as a venue.

“A lot of it has to do with the culture and history here,” says Allen Lundgren, M-Shop co-director.

Things weren’t always easy for the M-Shop. Culture and history take time to develop.

A handful of students in 1974, including Greg Gantner and John Lee, were the primary advocates responsible for transforming the Maintenance Shop into an entertainment venue.

“The students who started The Shop had two interests — they wanted to see if they could put on some theater and they wanted to do some live music,” says Kathy Svec, Memorial Union marketing coordinator.

Svec has been working for the Memorial Union since 1978 and played an active role as the M-Shop program director in the early years.

“John [Lee] felt there should be more opportunities for students to perform,” Svec says. “At the time, ISU was trying really hard to prevent competition between different events. If there was one event on the calendar for a night, no one else could schedule something for the same time. John was really the first one to break some of those barriers.”

Gantner was the man behind the music of the Maintenance Shop at the time.

“I was in charge of showing films in the Union while the Maintenance Shop was still being used as a mechanical room for the Union maintenance crew,” Gantner says. “When we were discussing what we could do with the space, the music idea came up, and I had been into the club scene in Chicago and was very inspired by that, so I fanned the flame as much as I could and we agreed to make it a music spot.”

Countless music venues open and close over the years, but since the beginning, the M-Shop has always had something setting it apart that keeps folks coming back.

“Real musicians love intimacy, and they all started out small,” Gantner says. “We always had two agendas — to make the experience as good for the musicians as it was for the audience. Show ’em something special.”

Something special is exactly what they sought out, and they found it in a place of worship. Greg and the other students found two dramatic, but religiously neutral stained glass windows at a church auction.

“One thing that was driving me was to create an atmosphere… and that window was part of it,” says Gantner of the well known centerpiece, which is as much of an ISU icon to many as the campanile. “It was destined to be in the M-Shop.”

Part of the atmosphere was now in place, but they still had to find musical acts to play the space.

“In Ames, you didn’t have any place doing music every week,” Gantner says. “If I could see good shows weekly in Madison [Wis.] and Champaign [Ill.], why couldn’t we do the same here?”

Just looking at the photos on the walls makes it clear to anyone knowledgeable about music that the shows Gantner was hoping to draw in have indeed taken place, time and time again. Photographs of performers like J.B. Hutto, Koko Taylor, John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters are crowded together, framed in black, facing the stage.

Music was only one of the original gears in the M-Shop mechanism.

“It wasn’t just for music. They used it for everything — forums, music, [Student Union Board] films, theater,” Yarwood says.

At the same time, the space started being used for weekly music events, John Lee began putting on live theater productions in the M-Shop. Memorial Union Resident Summer Theater gave students who wanted to remain independent of the ISU Theater department the opportunity to express themselves in a very personal venue.

“The thing I remember that was special that John Lee and the others did was really using the whole Shop,” Lee says. “The audience would often be kind of in the middle and you’d have to turn your neck to see part of the play going on behind you.”

Unfortunately, the cost to maintain the theater productions was too great for the Memorial Union board, and the program was cut in the late ’80s.

After evolving for the past 30 years, the Maintenance Shop is still putting out quality shows, along with several other services and activities from time to time.

“I’m proud of the people that have kept this thing going and I’m glad that we were able to be the ones to get the ball rolling,” Gantner says. “Culture is very important. Longevity is key to make something special and it has to start on its own.”