Gymnasium (1916)

In the early years of the Michigan Agricultural College, organized sports were virtually nonexistent—after all, “students who must work three hours a day in the field found less than the usual time or inclination for systematic athletic competition.” Nevertheless, informal games of baseball, soccer, and rugby frequently arose.¹

A year before the Armory did its part to alleviate the indoor space issue, the College in 1884 participated in its first intercollegiate athletic competition, a field meet at Olivet College. Four years later, it joined with Olivet, Albion, and Hillsdale Colleges to organize the Michigan Inter-Collegiate Athletic Association, which today is “America’s oldest collegiate athletic conference.” The M.A.C. Aggies hosted the first M.I.A.A. Field Day event from May 31 to June 2, 1888.²

Yet even as M.A.C. participated in M.I.A.A. events, the Board of Agriculture was:

not in sympathy with the development of Athletics at the college to such an extent as will lead to public competitive trials between the students of this institution and other colleges, because the Board believes there are pernicious results liable to come from giving so large a measure of attention as will be required by students to prepare for these competitive trials.

Minutes, 6 Apr 1892, p. 620.

In 1892 the Board denied a faculty petition for an indoor gymnasium and a 400-seat grandstand on the drill field west of № 7, and further stated that “the necessity of giving attention to Athletics to contribute to the good health and physical development of students in literary colleges, does not apply to our institution,” clearly considering field work to be sufficient outdoor exercise.³

This seemingly firm stance did not last long. In 1896 the long school vacation was moved from the winter to the summer, a change that promoted the school’s participation in both football and basketball. The Board, ignoring its prior concerns, used the proceeds from the sale of lots on College Delta to purchase thirteen acres of land south of the river for use as an athletic field (now known as “Old College Field”) and had E. A. Bowd design a grandstand for it. Soon, intercollegiate competition, intramural sports, and the school’s increasing size meant that a large, modern Gymnasium was an unavoidable necessity.⁴

The L-shaped building, designed by Bowd in Beaux Arts style of brick and limestone, was built in 1916 on a site between the old drill field (now Walter Adams Field) and the river, west of the Botanic Garden and near the site where the original Botany Laboratory once stood. It contained separate gyms and swimming pools for men and women, as well as other facilities. The new Gymnasium also took over the public events role of the Armory, hosting—among many other festivities—the 1923 commencement ceremonies, which took place in the well-lit main gym on the second floor.⁵

Around 1940, following the dedication of Jenison Fieldhouse, men’s athletics moved to that state-of-the-art facility, and the older building became the Women’s Gymnasium. An addition in the International style to the south façade in 1958 was accompanied by a change in name, if not purpose, to Women’s Intramural Recreative Sports, or Women’s IM. (That same year saw the completion of the Men’s IM, now West IM.)⁶

Today the Gymnasium is known as Circle IM, and continues to host intramural and special-events athletic programming.

1. Kuhn, p. 134. ↩︎
2. Kuhn, p. 157. MIAA website. ↩︎
3. Minutes, 6 Apr 1892, p. 620. ↩︎
4. 37th AR (1896), p. 26. Minutes, 17 Jul 1900, p. 424; 29 Aug 1900, p. 429; 27 May 1903, p. 153. ↩︎
5. Stanford, p. 48. ↩︎
6. Kuhn, p. 361. ↩︎