Reflections

Reflections

Beauty is a primeval phenomenon, which itself never makes its appearance, but the reflection of which is visible in a thousand different utterances of the creative mind, and is as various as nature herself.  ~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Architectural details on the Memorial Union Building at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wisconsin

Old Red Gym

Red Gym Window

A few photographs of the University of Wisconsin’s Red Gym, now a National Historical Landmark, and one of the most recognizable buildings on campus.

When it was constructed in 1893, it was quite the visionary gymnasium and armory as described in an article printed in The Cardinal, the university’s newspaper. The cost of the building was exactly $122,058.48.

National Historical Landmark

“The gymnasium covers a space of ground 196 feet in length and 106 feet in width. On the first floor on the west side are the commandant’s office, the artillery drill room and the bowling alleys. The office of the commandant is furnished with a fireproof safe for ammunition, etc., and is connected with the gun room on the floor above by a private staircase. The artillery drill room, which opens out of the office, has an unobstructed floor space and can also be used for classes in gymnastics or for a lecture room. On the other side of the building is the locker room which will contain, when completed, about 600 lockers. Back of this room are the bath and the dressing rooms. The center of this floor is occupied by a swimming tank, 80 by 20 feet, and varying in depth from 4 to 6 feet.

Red Castle

“The second floor can be reached by six different stairways. At the front and the west side are the main stairways which are wide enough for the use of the battalion in column of fours. Then a staircase goes up from the east side of the building, near the dressing rooms, and there is the small one from the commandant’s office. The third floor, however, can only be reached by two stairways in the southeast and northwest towers. The drill hall, which occupies nearly all of the second floor, is 160 by 93 feet, and has a clear height of 43 feet. In front of the drill hall is the gun room and a visitors’ gallery, reached by the main staircase, extends along the front of the room.

Looking In

“The gymnasium proper, on the third floor, is 160 by 65 feet. A space in the center of the room where it is 26 feet high is enclosed in netting and used for a baseball cage. Outside of this cage the gymnastic apparatus, the rowing machines, etc., will be placed. On each side at a little lower level are two rifle ranges 160 feet long, and below on the outside is the running track of twelve laps to the mile. All of the available space in the building has been utilized. In the corner towers are several small rooms which can be used for offices, committee rooms, etc. Careful provision has been made for the heating and ventilation of the building. Fresh air will be forced over and between coils of steampipes in the center of the building and it will then be conducted to the various rooms so that the air in the whole building can be changed in a few minutes.”

Sounds just like your modern day health club. Right?

Limestone Tulip

Tulip in Stone

Tulip in stone, a carving in the facade of the University of Wisconsin’s Memorial Union. Building dates from the 1920s.

No tulips of the kind found peeking out of the ground yet. This one will have to suffice ’til then.

In A Crooked Row

On our travels through Iowa last week, we stopped at a mostly hidden cemetery along a highway posted as the “Avenue of the Saints.” (Nothing religious about that name – it is the stretch of highway extending from its most Northern city, St. Paul, MN, to its southern terminus, St. Louis, MO.)

We happened upon Hickory Grove Cemetery, outside of Mount Pleasant, an east-central Iowa town. An old cemetery, it was of some interest because of the variety of memorials we found honoring soldiers and their descendants from many of the United States’ earlier wars. I found it a worthwhile site to visit for awhile because of its historical significance.

In A Crooked Row

Most of the tombstones were slabs or simple carved stones, no fancy angels or hovering figures and few crosses. A few of the sites had flowers and it was a well-tended area, but it felt haunting, standing high on a hill under a stand of old hickories. Most of the tombstones were from the 1800s; only a few were from the 1900s.

A Soldier of the War of 1812

This man fought in the war of 1812, and died on the cusp of another massive war effort, the War between the States.

Division 20 GAR - Mount Pleasant, Iowa

The star marking D Russell’s tomb is marked FORT 20 GAR. He would have been a member of the GAR – the Grand Army of the Republic. This was an organization founded by returning soldiers from America’s Civil War, and was very active in the Midwest’s Northern tier states. FORT 20 refers to the district Russell attended – in Mount Pleasant, Iowa.

Union

Iowa supported the Northern efforts in the Civil War, and a monument to the state’s soldiers stands in the cemetery.

Daughter of a Revolutionary Soldier

This marker does not honor a soldier, but one of the soldier’s descendants. The woman was a member of the Daughters of the American Republic (DAR) which means she was a lineal female descendant of an American Revolutionary Soldier.

Hickory Grove Cemetery is not unique. It is history. This cemetery is representative of the many small town plots in the countryside of the Midwest – all marking in some way the life paths these people took many scores of years ago.

All is a Miracle

Cotton Sky

People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don’t even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child– our own two eyes. All is a miracle.  ~ Thich Nhat Hanh