An explosion of student enrollment following World War II prompted $30 million expansion

UConn president Albert N. Jorgensen looks at a drawing of the new field house under construction in the background. The building opened in 1950.

The end of World War II marked a significant time in the development of UConn. With the enactment of the G.I. Bill, which provided educational benefits for thousands of returning veterans, college campuses across the nation were exploding with students.

Over the summer of 1945, UConn's enrollment nearly doubled, from 1,735 to almost 3,400 in three months.

Temporary housing was arranged, and extension programs in Hartford and Waterbury were upgraded to become regional campuses.

In 1946 enrollment increased to more than 6,200 and temporary barracks, Quonset huts and apartments in Willimantic were used for housing.

To accommodate some of the overflow, a temporary regional campus was established in a former merchant marine training facility at Fort Trumbull in New London.

In little more than two months, Fort Trumbull was turned into a university facility that operated from 1946 to 1950 as a two-year regional campus for about 5,000 students who ultimately completed their studies in Storrs.

More than $5 million in construction projects had been deferred by the war.

Dozens of newly planned buildings were added to the original expansion plan and from 1946 to 1959, nearly $30 million in new construction was completed-including the North, Northwest, and South campus complexes; the Student Union; the Schools of Pharmacy, Education, and Business; the College of Agriculture; as well as Jorgensen Auditorium and Memorial Stadium. It marked the most significant era of construction at UConn until the $2.3 billion UCONN 2000 program began in 1995.

— Mark J. Roy '74 (CLAS)

The North Campus residence halls in 1949, the year they opened. Legend has it that the antics of some of the ex GIs from World War II and the Korean War led to the nickname “The Jungle.” There is no documentary evidence — and despite the best efforts of residence hall staff, the name has stuck for a half-century.