It was a simpler time in 1961.
The frustrations of spotty wifi had yet to emerge, Americans enjoyed bountiful fossil fuels in blissful ignorance and clumsy concrete graphing calculator that is Van Vleck Hall didn’t dominate Bascom Hill.
Van Vleck’s construction marked a new era in architecture for University of Wisconsin. It was the first of the high-rise buildings on campus, with likes of Van Hise and numerous other blocky, skyline-demolishing behemoths following shortly after.
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While this new breed of building afforded spacial efficiency, it would forever disrupt the architectural aesthetic of older, classical-style campus facilities.
Check out the site of the groundbreaking ceremony below:
Photo courtesy of the Wisconsin Historical Society
Marissa Haegele/The Badger Herald
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