Celebrate Homecoming -- UW-Stout Style

It’s time to celebrate! Homecoming season is upon us at the University of Wisconsin-Stout and what better way to celebrate UW-Stout Pride than by looking at the history of our Alma Mater school song and the history of the Bowman Hall Clock Tower Bell. The first Homecoming was held March 30-31, 1917, along with the grand opening of the new Domestic Science Building, and many alumni were invited back. Homecoming was not held again until 1922, but has been an annual tradition since.

By 1923, Stout was more than 30 years old, but did not have an official school song. The Stoutonia initiated a school song contest, and a group of four students composed the school’s early fight song.

Oct. 12, 1923, Stoutonia article about school song contest

In 1927, freshmen Lillian Hylland and Jane Hambley created a more solemn and majestic piece appropriate for formal school assemblies. They composed “Alma Mater”, which became the school’s official song for commencements and other events. The brilliant “S” described in the song lyrics stands on the northern face of Bowman Hall’s Clock Tower.

Alma Mater sheet music, Stout Series 96, Music Dept. general files

Alma Mater and school fight song sheet music, Stout Series 96

Feb. 2, 2006, Stoutonia article reflecting on the alma mater song

From 1897 on, a bell rang out from the Bowman Hall Clock Tower, but by 1914, the pneumatic controls had broken. For many decades the bell was rung with hammers by students, but the bell eventually cracked and could not ring. A carillon replaced the bell, and in 1997 the cracked bell was removed and 5 new bells installed, initiated by 1970 alumnus John Meyer. A bell monument was created and dedicated during Homecoming 2005, near Micheels Hall, to memorialize the first bell. Learn more from the bell monument plaque down below.

Bell monument plaque

2005 Bell Dedication

2005  Bell Dedication

Check out the events happening during #Bluetober2021 and Homecoming here: https://www.uwstout.edu/bluetober ; https://www.uwstout.edu/homecoming

Learn more about Stout’s Homecoming and other traditions in An Idea Comes of Age: UW-Stout, 1891-2016, by Jerry Poling. We have them available to sell in the Archives!: https://secure.touchnet.com/C21720_ustores/web/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCTID=2128&SINGLESTORE=true

Celebrate Homecoming -- UW-Stout Style

It’s time to celebrate! Homecoming season is upon us at the University of Wisconsin-Stout and what better way to celebrate UW-Stout Pride than by looking at the history of our beloved mascot Blaze and past traditions like the Homecoming Snake Dance. The first Homecoming was held March 30-31, 1917, along with the grand opening of the new Domestic Science Building, and many alumni were invited back. Homecoming was not held again until 1922, but has been an annual tradition since.

Until 1932, Stout athletic teams were called a range of names like the Manual Trainers, Trainers, Blues, Blue Shirts, Blue and White, Blue Ponies, and Blue Devils. From 1932 to present, the Blue Devils name has been used. Over the years, the Blue Devils Mascot has been depicted in various ways. During the 1950s-‘60s, the mascot was named Johnny Blue Devil with a scary mask and “S” sweater (shown in 1960 Tower Yearbook), and during the 1970s he wore a cape and bib overalls. In the fall of 2011, a new mascot was introduced, after more than 3 decades of an absence of a mascot. A poll was created to pick a name for the mascot and on Feb. 11, 2012, the mascot was named Blaze.

Johnny Blue Devil, 1960 Tower Yearbook, p. 90

Homecoming buttons depicting mascots, 1953, 1964, 1969

Current Blaze, 2018

For many years, Stout students celebrated major football games, such as Homecoming, with a Snake Dance. Students, faculty, and staff walked hand-in-hand with quick, angled steps, in a long chain that whipped and wound around across the football field, while the band marched through.

Homecoming Snake Dance, 1924

Starting in the 1920s, snake dances started at student residences, went up Broadway and Main Streets, and ended with students dancing in the streets downtown. From the late 1920s-1960s, the snake dance ended with a celebratory bonfire at the fairgrounds or on the north campus practice field. Freshman students were given the job of building and guarding the bonfire pile until it was ready to be lit.

1937 Homecoming Bonfire

Homecoming Activities, 1946 Tower Yearbook, p. 36

Discover photos of this and other past student traditions in the Tower Yearbook collection, 1909-1989, online via the Internet Archive:  https://archive.org/details/toweryearbook?&sort=date

Check out the events happening during #Bluetober2021 and Homecoming here: https://www.uwstout.edu/bluetober ; https://www.uwstout.edu/homecoming

Learn more about Stout’s Homecoming and other traditions in An Idea Comes of Age: UW-Stout, 1891-2016, by Jerry Poling. We have them available to sell in the Archives!: https://secure.touchnet.com/C21720_ustores/web/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCTID=2128&SINGLESTORE=true