Staff photo by Fritz Busch New Ulm Mayor Kathleen Backer smiles before taking a sledgehammer swing at bricks at the Old Main Sledgehammering Ceremony at Martin Luther College Tuesday.

NEW ULM — For more than 140 years, Old Main has been the heart of school life for Martin Luther College (MLC) and it isn’t stopping yet.

A 140-year-old staircase will be enclosed and the front entrance will be moved to ground level in a $650,000 project to take place this year.

“Wow. Since 1884, this building has been standing here. It is an icon in the City of New Ulm and all of you. It’s important for this college,” said New Ulm Mayor Kathleen Backer before she whirled a sledgehammer at bricks near the front entrance that will be renovated this year.

“If this building could talk, what would it share with your today? Would it share the different roles it played to support MLC. It was always on the radar of the people of New Ulm. Think of the hundreds of thousands of students that went through this building,” said Backer.

“I applaud those of you with the foresight to restore the entrance before it again becomes to gateway to MLC and Old Main. Thank you for your investment in the community,” she said.

Old Main memories written in the sledgehammer ceremony booklet included doing laundry in the basement. A large, dirt-covered room contained donated vegetables from local farmers.

Students were responsible for cutting wood, stoking their stoves and keeping kerosene lamps in order.

“In Old Main, students slept, ate, studied, played, argued, laughed, cried, got homesick, and nicknamed their teachers,” said Professor Emeritus Morton A. Schroeder.

Clarice Fastenau of New Ulm shared her memories of Old Main. The first floor was a dining hall. Piano lessons were taught on the second floor. A woman’s dorm was on the third floor. Ping pong tables and a snack bar were open every evening in the basement.

Other memories were of sliding down coal chutes while trying to be quiet enough so ladies working in offices overhead didn’t hear anything.

“It was in the dining hall that I daily honed my schmoozing skills, complimenting cooks and asking for recipes in search of more food helpings,” said Nixie Meyer, a 1966 Dr. Martin Luther College graduate.

“The old, Gothic-scary building would have been a great setting for a horror movie,” said 1968 DMLC grad Jon Rupprecht.

“The Old Main girls were sure we had the most muscular legs because of the three sets of stairs,” said Eileen Jacobson, a 1965 DMLC grad.

College president the Rev. Rich Gurgel said the college is thankful for so many people who gave generously to get the project underway.

“We’re thankful to the New Ulm Area Foundation and their gift to us. We thank of our alumni and other donors scattered across the country who gave to this and encouraged others to give, pushing us over our goal. God uses many. It’s a privilege that He does,” said Gurgel.