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As structures aged, the original half-dozen buildings on the University of Nebraska’s original four-square block campus have been methodically razed and replaced.

Three of the early buildings, remembered by many today, were razed in the late 1950s to be replaced by Sheldon Art Museum. They were Chemistry/Pharmacy, Grant Memorial and the University Museum. All three changed their principal uses through the years with Grant and the Museum most dramatically.

Lt. E. S. Dudley, a West Point graduate, was appointed by Chancellor Edmund B. Fairfield in the 1870s as professor of Military Science and Tactics but because the faculty was frequently pushed outside their principal areas, he also taught civil engineering and surveying.

The Nebraska chapter of the Grand Army of the Republic lobbied the State of Nebraska to dedicate a memorial to Civil War General and U. S. President Ulysses S. Grant in 1887. Lt. Dudley, whose title was Commander of Cadets from 1876 to 1879 and again, briefly, in 1884, suggested a fitting, and much needed building might be named the Grant Memorial Building.

After Dudley lobbied the state legislature on the concept, they appropriated $50,000 for two buildings, Grant Hall to be built north of the Chemistry Building and Nebraska Hall which would sit on the northeast corner of the campus.

Grant Memorial Hall and Nebraska Hall were both completed in 1888 becoming the third and fourth buildings on the campus. In 1899 a wing was added to the west end of Grant Hall and named Soldiers’ Memorial Hall with the entire structure usually simply called The Armory.

The enlarged building also housed physical education and a basketball court. Although there was a balcony on the east end of the open court, spectators were also seated along the basketball floor, right up to the playing area. Never really adequate, this meant players and coaches had to stand directly on the playing floor and quickly move out of the way of oncoming active players. Other schools, like Cotner College in Bethany, complained, some threatening not to play on the Nebraska court until proper facilities could be provided.

In 1891 Lt. John J. Pershing came to the university, fresh from the Sioux Campaign in South Dakota. As Commandant of Cadets, Pershing’s office was also located in Grant Hall. In 1899 Pershing suggested creating a memorial plaque for the wall in Grant Hall, honoring Nebraska students who had served in the Spanish American War. The plaque, partially funded by a $50 donation by Pershing, was on the wall of Grant Hall until 1958 when it was moved to the Military and Naval Hall east of the coliseum.

One of the lesser features of the amazing, 1898 Transmississippi Exposition in Omaha was the music program in the 1,100-seat auditorium located near the east end of the Sherman Avenue entrance.

In the building was a large, three-manual pipe organ around which concerts directed by Willard Kimball from the University of Nebraska were offered. After the “world’s fair� closed, the organ was purchased by a group of Lincolnites, primarily Kimball himself, and installed in Grant Hall where Carrie Belle Raymond, among others, gave recitals. Sadly, as use fell off, the organ fell into disrepair and was ultimately closeted in the hall where over time it became virtually worthless.

In the fall of 1917, the university’s Military Department became the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps or ROT.. In an effort to keep students in classes, the Armory was converted to barracks and a mess hall built off campus near the Temple but that use of Grant Hall/The Armory ended as World War I came to a close.

Women’s basketball began at the University in 1898, then, with the completion of the Coliseum in 1926, Grant Hall, under the direction of Mabel Lee, became the Women’s P. E. Building and featured a class called Rhythm Fundamentals and Body Mechanics. Military classes then moved into the decrepit University Hall, whose upper floors had been removed.

As a new armory became a priority, the Board of Regents sought funding through a WPA program but with opposition from the Methodist Church and others, the request was denied. In 1945 the funding request went to the Nebraska legislature which was granted and led to the construction of the Military & Naval Science building on Vine Street, which was dedicated in 1947. In 2006 the building was renamed the John J. Pershing Military & Naval Science Building.