Memory Lane: Illini Hall—In Memoriam
The corner of Wright and John streets in Champaign will soon be home to a new data sciences center, built as part of the University’s $192 million Altgeld Hall Project. But for 114 years,...
Memory Lane: Let Us Commence
They were the sons of country doctors and farmers, merchants and mechanics, blacksmiths and railroad workers. Some would follow in their fathers’ footsteps, returning to the farm, to the machine shop, to the family...
Memory Lane: Dance Till You Drop
“‘Dance, dance, dance! I have an ache I can’t fake and a pain I can’t explain!’ That was something we shouted all weekend that first year,” recalls Dr. Wayne Goldstein, ’74 LAS. The time...
Baptism by fire
The train from Champaign lumbered through the black Illinois night, just past the witching hour, en route to a city on fire. Nineteen-year-old Dillon Brown, Class of 1875, sat in his seat, smelling the...
Memory Lane: Neat As a (Homecoming) Pin
It couldn’t be simpler. A bit of paper, a bit of plastic, a piece of metal, ribbons in orange and blue. These are some of the raw materials that make up the U of...
Six Generations
This past May, 9,200 students graduated from the U of I, joining a network of nearly 500,000 alumni around the world. One of those graduates, Mariah Jean Guyot, FAA ’21, was already part of...
Quad Day
Quad Day. When you read those words, what comes to mind? A sea of people stretched from Altgeld to the Auditorium, browsing tables and booths? A rock band on an outdoor stage, the Quad’s buildings...
Memory Lane: “Ladies and Gentlemen, the Rolling Stones!”
It was tucked away on pg. 12 of the Oct. 22, 1969, issue of The Daily Illini—a brief notice, just above the classified ads, about one of the biggest rock bands in the world....
Memory Lane: Matinee Idol
In the 1950s, two decades after the end of his legendary football career with Illinois and the Chicago Bears (1923–34), Harold “Red” Grange was still an icon for kids all across America. But not...
Memory Lane: It’s Showtime!
At Illinois, going to a movie theater in town was once nearly as common as going to class. Chris Alix, ’88 RNG, fondly remembers the high spirits at a midnight showing of Blue Velvet...
