Featured in this batch of facts: NIU’s first personal computer arrived in 1978: a Commodore PET with a cassette tape drive and 4K of RAM, the Northern Black Choir has been invited to perform across the country and is the oldest non-Greek black student organization at NIU, the Chick Evans Field House has hosted acts like Cheap Trick, The Grateful Dead, Santana and Fleetwood Mac, and more!
Did you know NIU is the only university in the U.S. that offers both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in steelpan? The nation’s first collegiate steel pan band was created right here at NIU in 1973. Now closing in on a 50-year history, the NIU Steelband has performed throughout the United States and across the globe.
Jack Arends was the first chair of Visual Arts at NIU and is widely credited with having built the prestigious program that became one of the largest in the country. In recognition of his contributions, The Visual Arts building now bears his name.
Dedicated as Northern Field House in 1957, it was later renamed Chick Evans Field House after Huskie legend George “Chick” Evans. Playing host to NIU’s NCAA Tournament basketball teams, acts like Cheap Trick, The Grateful Dead, Santana and Fleetwood Mac have all played the venue.
Altgeld Hall originally held eleven “grotesques” placed along the “battlements” and atop the central tower. One now occupies a place in the east garden between Altgeld and Still Hall. Legend has it “Olive Goyle” was struck by lightning and fell from her perch…losing her head in the process in 1973.
NIU’s beloved “Le Baron” sculpture by Alexander Calder was purchased in 1968 to celebrate the inauguration of NIU’s sixth president Rhoten H. Smith and to symbolize NIU’s evolving aspirations. The nickel steel-plate stabile was deconstructed in France, shipped to DeKalb, and then reassembled atop a special concrete pad on the pedestrian quad between Lowden, Davis and Montgomery Halls and the East Lagoon. Calder himself chose the location after studying maps and photos of the campus.
Formed in 1968, the Northern Black Choir, or NBC, is the oldest non-Greek black student organization at NIU. Directed by student volunteers, the choir has been invited to perform across the country, and its members regularly participate in music clinics at other Illinois public universities.
On December 8, 1952, in one of the most memorable events of Northern’s history, hundreds of faculty, staff and students formed a human conveyor to move 83,000 books (estimated weight: 85 tons) from the existing Haisch Library on the second floor of Altgeld Hall into their new home in Swen Parson Hall. President Leslie Holmes led the brigade, and members of The Dames Club set up refreshment stands with coffee and donuts for the volunteers.
NIU’s first public radio station, WNIC, began in 1954 as a tiny 10-watt station with a tower tucked behind Jimmie’s Tea House on College Avenue. The station would broadcast just a few hours a day with announcements of campus events, lectures and music. A decade later, in 1964, the station’s broadcasting power was increased to 2,500 watts, covering DeKalb, Sycamore and most of DeKalb County. Programming evolved as well, focusing more on music and local news.
NIU’s first personal computer arrived in 1978: A Commodore PET with a cassette tape drive and 4K of RAM. It cost $711 new, and now resides in the NIU archives.
Before there was the Holmes Student Center, students gathered at a “handy and pleasant eating establishment” known as Jimmie’s Tea Room. Built on the river bank across the bridge in 1940, Jimmie’s was the place to be for a hamburger, Coke, and conversation. At the end of the war, the university purchased the building, renamed it the College Tea Room, and enlarged it into a student union where dancing and other activities were possible.