Much to the confusion of many early UWindsor alumni returning for 50th Anniversary celebrations this year, two separate campus buildings through the years have been named St.Denis, in honour of Reverend Denis O’Connor, founder and president of Assumption College from 1870 to 1890.

The original St. Denis Hall was built in 1915, and was expanded in 1948 to accommodate the growing needs of Assumption University after the Second World War. The building housed a gymnasium, which still exists today, as well as a swimming pool no longer in existence. It was the nerve centre for athletics and recreation and was familiar to students of the day as the place where they stood in line for hours in order to register for classes. The St. Denis gymnasium then, as now, was used as a massive exam hall.

St. Denis Hall played host to countless Lancer men’s basketball victories and was the place where Lancer women’s varsity sport got its start. The old St. Denis Hall saw its last Lancer men’s basketball game February 18, 1981, against the University of Western Ontario Mustangs. Since then, Windsor teams play in what was the newly-completed 63,000 square foot St. Denis Athletic and Community Centre.

The St. Denis Centre of the 1980s is still in use today, and features a seven-lane, 200-metre indoor track; four full basketball courts; six badminton courts; and six volleyball courts. The original St. Denis Hall has been renovated to serve as the University’s Computer Centre, though it still retains its original brick frame architecture.

—Tanya Michel