Kenneth Spencer Research Library

Each week we’ll be posting a photograph from University Archives that shows a scene from KU’s past. We’ve also scanned more than 5,300 images from KU’s University Archives and made them available online; be sure to check them out!

With KU’s Stouffer Place apartments set to close at the end of June, this week we’re sharing some early pictures of the complex, which housed married students and students with children. It opened in 1957.

Ellis B. Stouffer (1884-1965), for whom the complex was named, with his wife Anna and
daughter Jean, 1950s. A mathematician, Stouffer also served KU as
Dean of the Graduate School (1922-1945) and Dean of the University (1945-1951).
University Archives Photos. Call Number: RG 0/22/86 1950s Negatives:
Campus: Buildings: Stouffer Place (Photos). Click image to enlarge.

Stouffer Place residents, 1950s. University Archives Photos.
Call Number: RG 0/22/86 1950s Negatives: Campus: Buildings: Stouffer Place (Photos).
Click image to enlarge.

Aerial view of Stouffer Place looking north, 1950s. Nineteenth Street runs
across the bottom of the photograph; Iowa Street is shown on the left.
Daisy Hill is undeveloped, with only a couple of farm houses.
University Archives Photos. Call Number: RG 0/22/86 1950s Prints:
Campus: Buildings: Stouffer Place (Photos). Click image to enlarge.

View of Stouffer Place from the east, 1959. The truck is likely heading down
Naismith Drive. Note the construction on Daisy Hill. University Archives Photos.
Call Number: RG 0/22/86 1959 Prints: Campus: Buildings: Stouffer Place (Photos).
Click image to enlarge.

Daisy Hill residence halls behind Stouffer Place, 1960s.
University Archives Photos. Call Number: RG 0/22/86 1950s Prints:
Campus: Buildings: Stouffer Place (Photos). Click image to enlarge.

Aerial photograph of Stouffer Place looking east towards campus, 1963-1964.
University Archives Photos. Call Number: RG 0/24/A 1963/1964: University General:
Campus: Aerials (Photos). Click image to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).

Caitlin Donnelly
Head of Public Services

Melissa Kleinschmidt, Megan Sims, and Abbey Ulrich
Public Services Student Assistants