Editor’s Note: This is the first in a three-part series about the past, present and future of Iowa State’s Memorial Union.

The Memorial Union began as a sparkle in the eyes of students in 1919.

“Put your mind in the 1920s,” said Kathy Svec, marketing coordinator for the Memorial Union. At that time, World War I had just ended. Students at the time either graduated and went to war or quit school to enlist. Memorials were being built all over the nation, Svec said.

ISU students had many ideas for a memorial on the campus. (A rock with a plaque dedicating the stone to the veterans of the war and an arch were a few ideas that were rejected.)

F.M. Russel, editor of the Iowa State student newspaper at the time, the “Iowa State Student,” favored the idea of what he called a “living memorial.”

He proposed a building to commemorate those who had lost their lives in the war and to serve the social functions of students, Svec said. Russel used the newspaper to gain interest and support from campus, she said.

“The people [who supported the plans for the Memorial Union] had big ideas,” Svec said.

At that point in time, Iowa’s Board of Education, now known as the Board of Regents, restricted any state-funded university from acquiring a loan or debt, said T.J. Schneider, Government of the Student Body president. This meant the university could not fund the memorial.

But Svec said the students wouldn’t take no for an answer.

As a result, a private, nonprofit organization was formed and named the Iowa State Memorial Union Corporation. The corporation was established to borrow money and fund construction of the memorial.

Once the debt was paid, the union was to be transferred back to Iowa State. Since the union was to eventually become part of the university, Iowa State designated the land to be used by the corporation.

Eventually, rallies in support of the building’s construction were held on the chosen site for the Memorial Union.

It took three contractors to choose a design for the union. The first architect resigned and the second was fired because he refused to meet the requests of the corporation.

The third firm to take up the plans for the Memorial Union was Proudfoot, Rawson and Souers, the designated firm for the Board of Education.

The young contractors were having difficulty balancing the large spaces of ball rooms with the small spaces required for meeting rooms. W.T. Proudfoot came out of retirement to design the union, but died before groundbreaking took place, Svec said.

Fund raising began and continued throughout the 1920s. A “life membership” program was created in which donors could pay $100 and were guaranteed discounts and the use of the services found in the completed facility.

To ask for $100 from students was a large commitment in 1920, Svec said. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Inflation Calculator, $1 in 1920 was equal to $9 in 2002.

By 1927, more than $1 million was raised for the Memorial Union’s construction through life memberships and donations, Svec said.

The actual ownership of the land, however, proved to be a problem.

Banks wouldn’t fund a corporation that didn’t actually own the land on which the construction was to take place. Iowa State University Secretary Harold Pride was looking through the Board of Education’s bylaws and found a clause that allowed the university to give the land away if it was no longer being used for educational purposes.

The land was actually signed over to the corporation on the fender of a steam shovel the day of the groundbreaking in 1927.

The Memorial Union was opened to students one year later, on Sept. 23, 1928.

Gold Star Hall is the portion of the union that commemorates the veterans from World War I. Names of veterans from World War II, the Vietnam and Korean Wars have been added as the years have passed, said Mary Jo Mertens, director for the Memorial Union.

“As I watch people in the space [of Gold Star Hall], I see people have a high regard for it,” she said.

The voices of people in the hall lower and property is not intentionally defaced. Mertens said she has heard students talk about what the memorial means to them.

“Whether it be conscious or subconscious,” she said, “I believe students stop and think about the freedom and luxury we have because of the people [whose names are engraved in the wall].”

By the time the building was finished, the student population had grown and there was a need for a larger union, Schneider said.

The union has received 10 renovations, all of which were funded with borrowed money.

“Since it’s conception, the union has been in debt,” Schneider said.