Carl Sandburg, born in 1878 in Galesburg, was a poet and biographer who is most known for the vivid images projected in his free verse poetry.

He wrote what many people consider to be the most definite biography of Abraham Lincoln.

Sandburg had a storied history; he served with a group of volunteers in Puerto Rico during the Spanish-American War in 1898.

The Carl Sandburg Auditorium at the Holmes Student Center was dedicated on May 24, 1968 – almost one full year to the date of his death.

Those ceremonies were part of a week of activities revolving around the inauguration of NIU’s sixth president, Dr. Rhoten Smith.

Sandburg also was inaugurated as the first “Great American” by the NIU Alumni Association.

“It is fitting that we should dedicate this hall to Carl Sandburg, who wrote of the common people and who identified closely with youth,” Smith said in a quote from the May 23, 1968, edition of the Northern Star.

Today, orientations take place and guest speakers make appearances in the 1,000 seat auditorium.

Design simplicity and colors in the auditorium were things Sandburg liked, Paula Steichen, Sandburg’s granddaughter, said in the 1968 Northern Star article prior to the auditorium’s dedication. The colors, blue and yellow, are Sweden’s national colors, where Sandburg’s parents were born.

Steichen, Chicago folk-singer Win Stracke and radio personality Studs Terkel were part of the ceremonies.

Stracke and Terkel performed songs and read poetry in a tribute to Sandburg.