University History Research Guide

Dornblaser Field was the original campus athletic field where competitions were held. It was located behind Main Hall where the University Center and Mansfield Library are today. The field was dedicated in 1919 in memory of university student Paul Logan Dornblaser who was killed fighting in World War I.

Montana artist Rudy Autio designed the iconic bronze grizzly. In 1969, it was installed in the Little Oval.

The original Hello Walk was established in 1924 between the Social Sciences Building and Jeannette Rankin Hall. It was a campus tradition to say hello to anyone you passed along the walk. In 1937 the walk was moved between Turner and Brantly Halls and over time it expanded to include the walkway in front of Knowles Hall. The cement is decorated with autographs of students who live in the buildings and by various campus groups.

James Henry Tremper Ryman Memorial Mall is a brick mall located between the Lommasson Center and Knowles Hall, on what used to be the 600 block of University Avenue. The mall extends east to the Grizzly Statue and west to Arthur Avenue. The mall was created when University Avenue between Arthur and Maurice was closed in 1969 and filled in with brick salvaged from the downtown Missoula business district. Ryman was a member of the local executive committee that helped establish the university.

The Little Oval was a roundabout located at the intersection of Maurice and University Avenues on campus. The roundabout was installed in 1956 after the section of Maurice Avenue running through campus was closed. The Little Oval disappeared in 1969 when the James H.T. Ryman Memorial Mall was installed. Today the Little Oval is home to Rudy Autio’s Grizzly Statue.

The first “M” on Mount Sentinel was created in 1909 and was made of whitewashed rocks. In 1912, a second “M” of wood was installed but it eventually blew off the mountain. In 1915 a third, “M” was constructed by digging out a trench in the shape of the letter and filling it with whitewashed rocks. Over the next fifty years freshman were required to help in the annual white washing of the rocks during Aber Day. In 1968, the university paid to have the current M of cement built on Mount Sentinel.

Memorial Row, also called Memorial Grove, consists of two rows of ponderosa pine trees located in the green space between the Social Sciences Building and McGill Hall. The row honors 37 individuals who died during World War I in combat or in the influenza epidemic. The row was dedicated on May 13, 1919. For more information visit the UM Memorial Row site. 

In the spring of 1915, the College of Forestry and Conservation built a laboratory and fire lookout at the top of Mount Sentinel. The lookout was built with timber collected and prepped by students over the winter break. It was a six-sided, two-story structure with windows encircling the second story. Students staffed the lookout and the structure was maintained by the school. The university had a telephone installed so that fires could be reported. In 1929, the lookout burned down; it was not rebuilt.

Students in the College of Forestry and Conservation built the trail up Mount Sentinel during the summer of 1914. The trail extended from the base of Mount Sentinel 620 feet up the mountain. It had only two switchbacks and ranged from two to four feet wide.

The oval is one of the most iconic features of the UM campus. It was first conceived by university Professor Fredrick Scheuch in an 1895 drawing. The plan called for buildings to be set in a semi circle at the east end of an oval with a wide road surrounding the oval. In 1899, the road around the oval was graveled and a double ring of elm trees was planted around the inner and outer edges. Cars were allowed to drive in and around the oval until 1956 when the road was closed and filled in with grass and cement walkways. In 1981, the brick crosswalks that divide the oval into four separate sections were installed.

The senior bench is located on the west end of the oval at what was originally the western most boundary of the campus. The class of 1910 donated it and chose the location due to the proximately to the trolley stop. From 1910 to the end of World War II only seniors were allowed to sit on the bench. After the war returning veterans abolished the tradition and allowed anyone to sit on the bench.

Spoony Rock is located near the Liberal Arts Building and has “1898” engraved on it. The rock was named shortly after the Women’s Dormitory, now called the Math Building, was completed in 1903. Couples met up at the rock to cuddle or spoon, hence the name.