On Feb. 3, the Illinois Board of Higher Education recommended that the Stevens Building receive a $17.6 million renovation – a figure in stark contrast to the less than $2 million the building originally cost.

Originally known as the Fine Arts Building, the home to NIU’s School of Theatre and Dance and the anthropology department was built in the late 1950s. In the beginning, it also housed the music and art departments, among others.

“This was the first home for visual and performing arts when there was no art building and there was no music building and so on,” said Glen Gildemeister, director of NIU’s Regional History Center and university archivist. “The Stevens Building was the first real identity and anchor for what is now the College of Visual Performing and Arts, which really has its own little campus down along the river, but at that point, that building was it.”

The Fine Arts Building became the Stevens Building in 1974 as part of the university’s 75th anniversary celebration, when several buildings were rededicated. It was named after Thomas Wood Stevens. Stevens, born in Daysville in 1880, was a prominent publisher, critic, art teacher, writer, director and producer in the early 20th century. In 1913, he organized the first collegiate degree granting program in the United States and, over the course of his life, he authored 36 plays.

Gildemeister said the choice to name the building after a playwright was a decision that wouldn’t be replicated today.

“Naming buildings was done differently than it is now,” he said. “Back then, it was done more to honor people it made sense to honor. Even though he had no affiliation with the university, they named it because he was a person from Illinois and famous and it made sense because he was a playwright and strongly advocated for regional theatre. Now it’s done more for corporate sponsorship and political reasons.”

Gildemeister said he is glad that the university named a building after someone less notable than other prominent Illinois personalities.

“There’s a gazillion buildings in the state named for Lincoln, Douglas and Stevenson. I’m glad that we have a building with a name that is a little more personable at Northern,” he said.