8. CENTRAL PARK (picnicking not allowed), Red River bank, S. end of 3rd St., is a beauty spot and playground. The flower gardens, a mass of brilliant bloom, are lighted at night. At the bandstand in the center of the park concerts are presented, usually each week, during the summer months. In front of the bandstand are millstones from the first flour mill in the Red River Valley, which was built on the site of the city waterworks plant in 1877. An outdoor skating rink is lighted for winter skating. The warming house is on the site of the first building erected within the present boundaries of the city. Across the drive from the ball diamond are the toboggan slides, partially hidden from view by evergreen trees and shrubs.
9. UNIVERSITY PARK (playground equipment and supervised play), University Ave. bet. 24th and 25th Sts., has a children's library at the clubhouse, and children's band concerts (weekly, June-July) are given by the university band.
10. LINCOLN PARK (municipal golf links, tennis courts, ski slide, picnic and play equipment), Belmont Rd. at S. edge of city, contains the old Red River Oxcart Trail (see Tour 1) which crossed the little hill on which the clubhouse stands. Later, when the settlement became a stage station on the St. Paul-Fort Garry Trail, the Stewart House was built here and housed Grand Forks' first post office. This old log building is now the kitchen of the clubhouse.
11. UNIVERSITY OF NORTH DAKOTA is at the W. end of University Ave. 2 m. from the principal business section of Grand Forks. (University bus at 3rd St. and DeMers Ave., fare 10c.)
The campus facing the avenue is bordered by a low hedge, and the two main entrances are marked by large brick pylons. Tree-shaded roads wind past the buildings and along the banks of English Coulee. In the spring and summer the wide expanses of green lawn are broken by plots of flowers and clumps of lilacs, spires, and flowering almond. All of the buildings erected since 1910 are in modern collegiate Gothic style, a modification of true English Gothic architecture adapted especially for educational institutions.
The University of North Dakota was established by the Territorial Legislature before North Dakota became a State. The cornerstone for "Old Main" was laid October 12, 1883, on the prairie beside the banks of the winding English Coulee, and September 8, 1884, the university opened classes with 79 students and a staff of 4 instructors. Enrollment now numbers almost 3,000 students and the school has more than 130 instructors.
Selection of a site two miles from the city was opposed by many of the townspeople who thought the university should be located at the south end of Third Street, on the present site of Central Park. During the tornado of 1887 the roof of Old Main, then the only building on the campus, was blown almost to the south end of Third Street. Agitation was begun to bring the remainder of the building to join the roof, but State officials refused to consider the plan, chiefly because the property originally used was school land. Old Main was remodeled and a women's dormitory erected near it. That settled the controversy.
For students who were unable to live on the campus, transportation was a troublesome problem. Only a country road of sticky Red River Valley gumbo connected the campus with the city, and, except for the fortunate few who caught rides on horse-drawn vehicles, city students walked to classes. During severe weather it was often necessary to flag a freight or passenger train of the Great Northern to make the trip to town. About 1900 a trolley line was established to the university, and despite its erratic service it greatly facilitated attendance of nonresident students.
Although given an endowment of 86,080 acres of public lands in 1889 when it became the University of North Dakota, there were many years when the school derived no revenue from this source, but had to depend entirely upon legislative appropriation. In 1895 Governor Allin vetoed most of the appropriation, leaving money for the janitor's salary but none for the faculty. The institution was kept open through private contributions, and President Webster Merrifield and other professors served without salary during a trying two-year period. Despite financial difficulties, attendance at the university in its first 15 years increased more than 40 percent and in 1898 President Merrifield reported to the legislature that the facilities of the institution were inadequate. Continued expansion added law, premedical, and commerce schools, and mechanical, electrical, and mining engineering departments at the university by the end of the 1901 term.