Before You Walk Past: 100 Years of Memorial Student Union Tower
If you’ve walked through Memorial Student Union, you’ve probably passed beneath its tower without giving it much thought.
Maybe you were on your way to class. Maybe you were meeting a friend, grabbing lunch or heading to an event. For generations of Mizzou students, the Union has simply been part of everyday campus life- a familiar place to gather, study, celebrate and connect.
In 2026, Memorial Student Union Tower marks 100 years of remembrance and connection. To celebrate the centennial, an exhibition on the first level of the Student Center traces the story of how a planned student gathering place became one of Mizzou’s most recognizable memorials.
And it all began with a different name.
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| Mort's Case, First Level of MU Student Center. |
A Union Before It Was a Memorial
In 1916, the University of Missouri began planning a new student union. The idea was straightforward: create a place where students could gather and connect with alumni and one another.
Then World War I changed everything. As students and alumni left campus to serve, the proposed Missouri Student Union took on a new meaning. Among those who served was Mizzou alumnus Robert McGhee “Peaches” Graham, a College of Agriculture graduate who enlisted in the war. While overseas, Graham and fellow soldiers wrote The Memorial Tower, a poem calling for a tower that would honor those who had fallen. Graham never returned to see that vision realized. He died in battle in France in 1918.
But his words came home. In 1919, Dean of the Graduate School Walter Miller read Graham’s poem at commencement and proposed that it serve as the inspiration for a memorial building. The university embraced the idea, transforming the planned student union into Memorial Student Union.
The tower would become its heart.
A Tower With a Story
Construction began in 1921 following a remarkable campus-wide fundraising effort. Students, alumni and supporters came together to make the memorial possible, ultimately pledging more than $238,000.
The tower may be the oldest part of the story, but Memorial Student Union has never stood still. The building grew around it in stages, eventually becoming the Union students know today. Wings were added, spaces changed, and new technologies, programs, art and traditions found their way inside.
The A.P. Green Chapel brought a quiet space for reflection and ceremony. Student events filled lounges and gathering spaces. Media and digital technology became part of the Union's role on campus. Comedy, art, music and countless student traditions continued to give the building new life.
Through all those changes, one thing remained constant: Memorial Student Union has always been a place where people come together. That is what makes its history so interesting. It isn't only a story about architecture or a tower built 100 years ago. It is a story about people, the students who gathered here, the alumni who helped build it, the Mizzou community members who were remembered here and the generations who continue to make the Union their own.
Take a Look Around
The next time you walk through the first level of Student Center, take a moment to stop at our exhibition.
The photographs and archives offer glimpses into a century of Mizzou history, from the original vision for a student union to the tower's dedication and the many ways the building has evolved since.
You don't have to know the whole story to appreciate it.
Just start with this exhibition. Look at the faces. Notice the building. Read a name. Think about the students who walked these halls before you. Then look up the next time you pass beneath the tower.
For 100 years, Memorial Student Union has been changing with Mizzou while carrying its history forward. A century later, the tower is still here. And so is the invitation to remember.
In 1916, the University of Missouri began planning a new student union. The idea was straightforward: create a place where students could gather and connect with alumni and one another.
 |
| Proposed drawing of the “Missouri Student Union Building” / 1916 |
Then World War I changed everything. As students and alumni left campus to serve, the proposed Missouri Student Union took on a new meaning. Among those who served was Mizzou alumnus Robert McGhee “Peaches” Graham, a College of Agriculture graduate who enlisted in the war. While overseas, Graham and fellow soldiers wrote The Memorial Tower, a poem calling for a tower that would honor those who had fallen. Graham never returned to see that vision realized. He died in battle in France in 1918.
 |
| Robert “Peaches” Graham in dress uniform / published in Missouri Alumnus, October 1952 |
But his words came home. In 1919, Dean of the Graduate School Walter Miller read Graham’s poem at commencement and proposed that it serve as the inspiration for a memorial building. The university embraced the idea, transforming the planned student union into Memorial Student Union.
The Memorial Tower
By Robert “Peaches” Graham and his “Buddies”
Build ye for us an ashlar tower
Four square, with high borne spires;
We ask no more, who died, mayhap in vain.
Braving the blasts of Hate’s Hell-fires.
Build ye for us a rough-hewed tower
With spires that point to Heaven and God;
Such our fate befits, who died
Nor winced neath War’s hot chastening rod.
Build not for us “Memorial Halls,”
Where joy-filled crowds shall dance and sing
Neath War-sad trophies hung ’round the walls,
Thoughtless of us, and pangs of battle’s sting.
Build ye for us a Stadium grand
To view thy school-days’ mimic wars;
Who traffics with our fearful fate
Degrades a holy cause.
Build ye for us a “sacred” shaft,
With spires that point to Heaven and God;
‘Tis all we ask, who died—
Who fell neath Hell’s death dealing rod.
And ye who thread the “Needle’s Eye,”
In base of this rough shaft,
Salute the shades enshrined here;
We, for you, have gall and wormwood quaffed.
The tower would become its heart.
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| Revised design the Memorial Student Union / 1922 |
A Tower With a Story
Construction began in 1921 following a remarkable campus-wide fundraising effort. Students, alumni and supporters came together to make the memorial possible, ultimately pledging more than $238,000.
Five years later, during Homecoming in 1926, Memorial Tower was dedicated. Its arcade walls carry the names of 117 Mizzou alumni who died in World War I. Stone figures of Army soldiers and Navy sailors stand at the tower's corners, their bowed heads reflecting the solemn purpose of the space.
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| Names of alumni who died in World War I are inscribed on the arcade walls / 1926 |
The tower was designed to be more than something to look at. It was designed to be remembered in.
Over the years, traditions developed around the tower. Visitors were encouraged to remove their hats and speak quietly when passing through the arcade. Graduating seniors honored the fallen with a memorial wreath. Today, the Veterans Day wreath-laying ceremony continues that tradition of remembrance.
And then, in 1936, the tower found its voice. The Baird Chimes and Clock were dedicated ten years after the tower's completion, adding music to a space already filled with memory. Decades later, a new carillon brought the tower's sound back into campus traditions, including performances of “Fight Tiger” and the Alma Mater before football games and special events. The tower wasn't simply part of the campus landscape. It became part of its soundscape, too.
Over the years, traditions developed around the tower. Visitors were encouraged to remove their hats and speak quietly when passing through the arcade. Graduating seniors honored the fallen with a memorial wreath. Today, the Veterans Day wreath-laying ceremony continues that tradition of remembrance.
And then, in 1936, the tower found its voice. The Baird Chimes and Clock were dedicated ten years after the tower's completion, adding music to a space already filled with memory. Decades later, a new carillon brought the tower's sound back into campus traditions, including performances of “Fight Tiger” and the Alma Mater before football games and special events. The tower wasn't simply part of the campus landscape. It became part of its soundscape, too.
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| Photograph of the Dedication Plaque for the Baird Chimes, (Courtesy of University Archives, University of Missouri, C:1/141/2) |
100 Years of Becoming
The tower may be the oldest part of the story, but Memorial Student Union has never stood still. The building grew around it in stages, eventually becoming the Union students know today. Wings were added, spaces changed, and new technologies, programs, art and traditions found their way inside.
 |
| The completed Memorial Student Union / 1965 |
The A.P. Green Chapel brought a quiet space for reflection and ceremony. Student events filled lounges and gathering spaces. Media and digital technology became part of the Union's role on campus. Comedy, art, music and countless student traditions continued to give the building new life.
 |
| The completed chapel / after 1959 |
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| Inside, the chapel features wooden pews, exposed wooden roof beams and stained-glass windows / 2021 |
Through all those changes, one thing remained constant: Memorial Student Union has always been a place where people come together. That is what makes its history so interesting. It isn't only a story about architecture or a tower built 100 years ago. It is a story about people, the students who gathered here, the alumni who helped build it, the Mizzou community members who were remembered here and the generations who continue to make the Union their own.
Take a Look Around
The next time you walk through the first level of Student Center, take a moment to stop at our exhibition.
The photographs and archives offer glimpses into a century of Mizzou history, from the original vision for a student union to the tower's dedication and the many ways the building has evolved since.
You don't have to know the whole story to appreciate it.
Just start with this exhibition. Look at the faces. Notice the building. Read a name. Think about the students who walked these halls before you. Then look up the next time you pass beneath the tower.
For 100 years, Memorial Student Union has been changing with Mizzou while carrying its history forward. A century later, the tower is still here. And so is the invitation to remember.
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