It’s time once again for #FlashbackFriday [#FlashbackAnyday due to the Banner falling behind] with the Whitewater Historical Society. This last post of Old Main on the UW-Whitewater campus, which burned on February 7, 1970, features the east wing, built in 1925.
The east wing was the last addition to Old Main and featured 25 additional classrooms and a fine auditorium. It was lauded as being of “fireproof” construction, a factor that might have helped on February 7, 1970.
Because the fire started elsewhere in the building and because the east wing had a set of fire doors between it and the rest of Old Main, it was subjected to mostly smoke and water damage. While the rest of Old Main had to be demolished, the east wing was renovated and stands today as Hyer Hall, a classroom building that still has its auditorium.
