Every week, we use STATEside to take a look back at the recent and not-so recent past, using the archives at the Vidette.

If you recall any of the campus happenings referenced in our This Week in Illinois State History feature, feel free to post in the Comments below.

10 Years Ago

The Illinois State campus is preparing for the first anniversary of the September 11 terror attacks. A community memorial is now set for Hancock Stadium, with help from local clergy and the Red Cross. The plan is to assemble a 1,300-person “human flag.” “We wanted to keep this away from corporate sponsors,” one organizer says. “No one has given the donation a second thought.”

20 Years Ago

A minor fire at Watterson Towers causes big headaches for firefighters and students, who complain about poor evacuation procedures and alarm malfunctions. The suspicious, albeit minor morning fire in Smith House should have led to a full five-minute evacuation, but ended up being a 25-minute exercise, officials say. Housing officials immediately begin work to fix the problems.

30 Years Ago

Illinois State’s Student Association (SA) and the town of Normal are talking about teaming up to build a new shelter for Normal’s Amtrak stop. The Student Association may kick in as much as $1,000 for the proposed $5,000 project, with the goal of protecting students waiting for a train from winter weather. (A $45 million transportation center, called Uptown Station, opened for business in July 2012.)

The photo from the Vidette, September 1962.

50 Years Ago

A photo in the first Vidette of the 1962-63 school year shows the West Campus construction site, which includes major athletic additions such as what will become Horton Field House, the Hancock Stadium grandstand, and a “unique swimming pool in the shape of a ‘T.'”

Ryan Denham can be reached at rmdenha@ilstu.edu.