Pointlife
The Lost World of UWSP
The Pointer
jglod170@uwsp.edu
Ever wonder why certain areas of campus are closed to the public? Ever hear a rumor that there is a mysterious tunnel, hallway, floor or room that students aren’t allowed to enter and is closed off for reasons unknown?
Here in The Lost World of the University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point, we do the dirty work for you by exploring those hidden locations on campus that some may not even know exist.
For our first location, we visited an area of UWSP that hasn’t been visited or open to the public in years: the third floor of Old Main. The third floor is accessed by a doorway and stairwell on the western side of the second floor and marked by a sign warning that you’re not supposed to go up to that floor and the door should not be opened.
Originally, Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Bob Tomlinson, Avra Junhke and I were to be the ones travelling up to the mystical third floor. Soon, the word got around Old Main and many administrators sought to get a glimpse at what remains above as well. Our group wound up being considerably larger than expected.
We accessed the third floor through the stairwell by using a special master key. Upstairs we realized that there wasn’t much left of the third floor of the building. We became surrounded by insulation and walked on wooden planks from room to room. The insulation was thick but we were told it could possibly give way and lead to someone falling through to the second floor, so we had to stay on the planks.
Many on the trek recalled what it was like before the walls and floors were stripped bare and tassels hung from the ceiling like a haunted house, when music classes were once taught on this floor.
“I took guitar lessons from a UWSP music student sometime around 1970,” said Jackie Christianson, program assistant to the Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs. “We met in a practice room on the third floor here in Old Main. I do recall there were lots of small practice rooms and lots of student activity on those evenings; students visiting with each other and practicing their instruments.”
“I remember having a ‘music appreciation’ class up there, with listening desks where you would listen to the music from your class assignments [with] big headphones,” said Jean Scherer, Assistant to the Chancellor.
At times, we were forced to crawl around vents, ducts and piping that ran all around certain rooms. At one point, everything opened up to a window facing the front of Old Main. Many expected bats to be present throughout but we only found one bat in a bucket which scared enough people from following us down that walkway.
“Because of the heavy concentration of bats in the third floor during the late 80’s and early 90’s we had a bat proofing done which cut down considerably on the bat population frequenting the rest of the building,” said Greg Diemer, Vice Chancellor of Business Affairs.
The heat in the third floor was also deterring the visitors with us from staying too long as the machinery up there produced a lot of it.
I did have the opportunity to go even further as I climbed a ladder to the attic above the third floor. Filled with cobwebs, dust, and dirt, I was only able to get a few pictures before heading back down. The attic seems to be housing some sort of box shaped oddly like a coffin. I guess we’ll never know if anything is in it.
The third floor was primarily closed off from the general public due to safety issues caused by additions made to the original building. Now, only maintenance workers and those inspecting the building visit the third floor leaving it lost to the general campus.
For suggestions on future The Lost World of UWSP, e-mail me at jglod170@uwsp.edu. Also, check out the back page for more pictures.
