Van Dyke Gymnasium has had both an interesting and varied background of use. Actually before it was built its location was used for the first gymnasium on the campus. The sale of lots 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 of the Lessey Addition between Butler and Millar Streets in August 1901 to Father Bernard H. Pennings from Mr. Daniel Kidney provided the College with its first location for a gymnasium. One of the Kidney Boat Factory buildings, probably the north-south wing, 40'x55' in size, was moved south from its site to the east side of Second Street, renovated and used as a gymnasium. It was used for four years before fire destroyed the gym. On Armistice Day, November 11, 1929, ground was broken for the College's Van Dyke Gymnasium. Completed in 1930, it was known as 'The Gym', until 1945 when it was named after SNC's first student, Frank Van Dyke, an avid backer of sports at the College. When the 1978-79 season's last basketball game was played in the gym, it ended the use of this building for sports. The new Schuldes Sports Center, south of the gym, was the site for future intercollegiate events and other college activities. Between these times several attempts were made to add or use the gym for other purposes. The first was a planned two-story south wing from a gift of $200,000 that was announced at a Monday's convocation by Father Michael J. McKeough, Academic Dean, to the students of the College. The addition was to be used for additional recreation facilities for students. This article appeared on page one of the St. Norbert Times in May 6, 1954. The second planned use came in 1983 when a $200,000 gift to St. Norbert College from the Byron L. Walter Trust for the renovation of Van Dyke Hall was proposed. The total cost of $450,000 was a plan for the hall to become a little theatre complex with seating for 300. It was to be named the "Byron Walter Theater." This was reported in the De Pere Journal of May 19, 1983. These plans were never developed when the Abbot Pennings Hall of Fine Arts made an expansion of the east wing in 1989 and the money was used for a small theatre, the Neil J. and Mary M. Webb Memorial Theatre. In 1979 the gym was renamed Van Dyke Hall and housed the maintenance department of the College until 1999. Finally in 2000 the renovation and addition of 15,000 square feet saw the new Ray Van Den Heuvel Family Campus Center come into being. The Van Dyke name was not lost, however, but transferred to the I.F. Van Dyke Alumni and Parent Relations House on Third Street.