Arthur Dahl

Release Date:  March 14, 2002

Editor's Note: Arthur Dahl, 85, passed away April 25, 2002, in Muscatine, Iowa. He is survived by two sons.

Arthur Dahl of Muscatine, Iowa, retired senior vice president of HON Industries, Inc., has made a commitment of $1.5 million to Monmouth College.

Made in memory of his late wife, Dorothy Peterson Dahl, a 1940 MC graduate and a member of the college’s board of trustees for 11 years, the gift will fund roughly half of a $3 million renovation of the Auditorium, the college’s oldest academic building. Work on the project is expected to start later this spring.

“Renovations to our Auditorium have been needed for some time, and this wonderful lead gift allows us to move forward with our plans to make it a first-class facility for our campus community and for the local community as well,” said college president Richard Giese.

The board of trustees voted at its winter meeting to name the building the Dorothy & Arthur Dahl Auditorium and Chapel.

“The Dahls have been tremendous supporters of higher education in this region, and they both have been generous with their time and support of Monmouth College,” continued Giese. “I can think of nothing more meaningful for me as college president than to recognize them with the naming of this very prominent facility. It ensures that their commitment to Monmouth will be remembered for generations to come.”

The Auditorium will be the second facility on campus to bear the Dahl name. Shortly after his wife’s death in 1994, Mr. Dahl helped secure the funding that led to the Dorothy Peterson Dahl Computer Center in Hewes Library.

Born in Monmouth in 1919, and after her graduation from the college, Dorothy Dahl taught in nearby Reynolds before her marriage in 1944. She maintained a strong interest in education throughout her life, and served on various church and education boards in Muscatine, where she lived for nearly 50 years.

“Although I didn’t attend Monmouth, I’ve maintained an interest in the college due to the strong affection that Dorothy felt for it,” Arthur said. “This gift certainly honors Dorothy’s memory, placing her name on a building that was very meaningful to her in her college years, both as a chapel and as an auditorium.”

Designed by renowned architect Dan Everett Waid in 1896, the Auditorium will be totally renovated internally. In addition to extensive modernization of the lower level, the main level will be restored to its original look. Work will also be done to the balcony, and the building will be air-conditioned. Work should be completed later this year or early in 2003.