Buildings come and go on dynamic campuses.
Even as a university razes an old structure in favor of a new one, the memory of the old building remains. Staff who worked there, students who learned there and patients who were treated there carry memories about buildings long beyond the final bulldozer’s work.
Here is a look back at some memorable buildings from UNMC’s past.
The Child Saving Institute once occupied a large building on the east side of 42nd Street beginning in 1911. The institute provided services for children and families, and the College of Medicine doctors and medical students treated the institute’s residents.
UNMC acquired the building in 1975, and, for 30 years, it housed administration offices such as business and finance. Later, this building became the home to Information Technology Services. UNMC demolished the building in 2005. Today, the site of the old Child Saving Institute building is home to the Michael F. Sorrell Center for Health Science Education.
In 1923, Conkling Hall opened as a dormitory for then-School of Nursing students. The building offered a home with comfortable living, studying and recreation spaces. By 1957, the School of Nursing students moved into a new building with classrooms, offices and student facilities.
Conkling Hall then housed various UNMC offices, such as the Alumni Association, Strategic Communications, student admissions, Graduate Studies and Academic Affairs. UNMC razed Conkling Hall in 1996. Today, the space is occupied by the Lied Transplant Center.
In 1948, C.W.M. Poynter, College of Medicine dean, and Henry Doorly, owner of the Omaha World Herald, opened Children’s Memorial Hospital. A community fund drive helped finance the facility’s construction west of the University of Nebraska Hospital. In 1981, Children’s Hospital moved to its current location on Dodge Street.
The building they vacated became Swanson Hall, named for Gretchen Swanson Velde’s philanthropy. Velde’s father was Carl Swanson, founder of the Swanson food company and a member of the original Children’s Hospital Board of Trustees. Led by Velde, the Swanson Foundation facilitated the transfer of the building to UNMC. Swanson Hall was the home of Strategic Communications for more than 20 years. UNMC demolished Swanson Hall in 2013 and constructed the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center in its place.
The Nebraska Psychiatric Institute began as a College of Medicine and state hospital partnership in 1948 located at the Douglas County Hospital. The institute’s building was constructed west of the Children’s Hospital in 1955, offering state-of-the-art psychiatric care. After the institute dissolved in 1985, the building became the Geriatric Center. UNMC razed the building in 2001. Today, the Durham Research Towers stand where the Nebraska Psychiatric Institute once stood.
As UNMC advances and grows, more buildings will be replaced, but the memories of the old structures will endure.