Throwback photos: Take a look back at the creation of UW-Madison's Kohl Center
Fans are used to seeing basketball and hockey games at the Kohl Center, but that was only made possible after a large donation and lengthy construction project. On Jan. 17, 1998, the Wisconsin Badgers hosted Northwestern in the inaugural men's basketball home game following completion of the new facility (UW won 53-33). Former U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl, who graduated from UW in 1956, donated $25 million toward the $76.4 million facility. Take a look back at archive photos tracing the construction process.
Kohl Center
Bulldozers razed four buildings on West Dayton and Murray Streets to make way for the Kohl Center.
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The first of eight roof trusses is joined across the Kohl Center in March 1997. Each truss is 265 feet long. A total of 1,100 tons of structural steel was used in the roof of the arena.
Kohl Center
Construction begins as excavation work is completed and concrete is poured for the footings at the Kohl Center in May 1996.Â
Kohl Center
Construction begins as excavation work is completed and concrete is poured for the footings at the Kohl Center in May 1996. Before work could begin, about 200,000 cubic yards of dirt was removed from the site.
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A view of the construction site after a one-day union protest halted construction. About 150 union workers either stayed home or picketed outside the $60 million UW basketball arena to protest a $500,000 contract awarded to Joe Daniels Construction, a non-union contractor that submitted the low bid for cement work around the outside of the center.Â
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Construction of the glass-covered entryway and a UW crest logo near the front.Â
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A crane and semitruck on court level are dwarfed by the expansive $72 million Kohl Center in this interior view from the upper concourse.Â
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Workers atop the center, as seen through a telephoto lens, appear to be close to the Capitol.
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The interior construction site
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Cranes at work inside the Kohl Center construction site
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Union workers walk a picket line outside the Kohl Center, where work was halted for a day in protest over use of a non-union contractor.
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Ironworker Harold Warren looks toward the roof of the Kohl Center.Â
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(Published caption 8/14/97) The inside of the center continues to take shape as the expected completion date of December inches closer. The facility will hold 16,500 fans for basketball, 11,000 for hockey and 15,000 for campus and community events. den
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Kohl Center
Kohl Center
Kohl Center
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Crews install the last of 16,500 seats at the Kohl Center.
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Workers lay cast iron pipes used to make ice for hockey games. The pipes were welded together into a continuous coil, which will carry glycol, a cooling agent.Â
Kohl Center
Kohl Center
Kohl Center
A $25 million donation by Sen. Herb Kohl helped the Kohl Center become a reality.
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Workers install a 45-foot-tall window wall that contains 5,600 square feet of glass.Â
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Bathroom stalls
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Seats behind the baskets are moved at the flip of a switch.
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Reflected in the glass of the Kohl Center, the UW-Madison residence halls in the heart of campus and the Southeast Recreational Facility create a surreal backdrop Tuesday for workers installing decorative bands on the north face of the sports arena.Â
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Kohl Center
Kohl Center
Area media got a glimpse of the finished Kohl Center, at North Frances and West Dayton streets, from interim director Al Fish.Â
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Kohl Center
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The floor is down and the scoreboard is up in preparation for the inaugural men's basketball game against NorthwesternÂ
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The women's basketball locker roomÂ
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Landscaping in front of the Kohl Center.Â
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The pipes for the ice surface's cooling system.Â
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Retired Lutheran pastor Ken Kohl, right, told his Hospicecare workers that his fondest wish was to have his picture taken in front of the Kohl Center with Sen. Herb Kohl. So they called the senator's office and, Friday, he obliged. Here, Ken Kohl's wife, Rose, Herb Kohl and Ken Kohl pose in front of the nearly finished basketball arena on the UW-Madison campus. While the Kohls are not related to the senator, they like to jokingly tell friends that they're helping build the Kohl Center, too. They were featured in a Thanksgiving Day story in the Wisconsin State Journal.
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Workers install one of the windows on the south side of the Kellner Concourse.Â
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The $76 million Kohl Center (center) dominates the landscape in this shot looking toward the southeast. Frances Street runs along the east side (left) of the arena, while Dayton Street runs between UW high-rise dorms (bottom) and Kohl Center. The corner of West Washington Avenue and Regent Street can be seen directly across the railroad tracks above the arena. Attached to the west side (right) of the Kohl Center is the Nicholas-Johnson Pavilion.
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Kohl Center
Benefactor Herb Kohl surveys the new sports arena. "I'm sure it will be at the top of any list of collegiate facilities," he said with pride.
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The UW men's basketball team conducts its first practice at the Kohl Center.
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A sellout crowd of 17,127 was expected when the UW men's basketball team made its debut at the Kohl Center against Northwestern.
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Fans poured into the main lobby of the Kohl Center before the first men's basketball game in the new arena.
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Patience paid off for Darrell Jaeger of Wausau, who declined to buy tickets offered for $125 but eventually found the right offer and his way into the game.
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The first playing of "Varsity'' at the Kohl CenterÂ
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Attached to the west side (right) of the Kohl Center is the Nicholas-Johnson Pavilion.
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Kohl Center
Tony Reinders, administrative assistant for the UW-Madison Athletic Department, is dwarfed by the gigantic, basketball-playing figures in an eternal tipoff on the north side of the Nicholas-Johnson Pavilion, the basketball practice facility attached to the west end of the Kohl Center. Each action shot is made up of two panels that are 28 feet long. The building is named for former UW basketball player Ab Nicholas and his wife, Nancy Johnson-Nicholas. One of the figures wears No. 8 in honor of Nicholas, who donated $10 million to build the Kohl Center.
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Kohl Center
Kohl Center
The WIAA state individual wrestling tournament was held at the Kohl Center for the first time in 1998
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