From 1929 until 1962, students could visit the “Animal House” on the way to class.

• In the 1800’s, before plans for the Animal House existed, the Fletcher Farm occupied the space it would inhabit (Pettibone; 1854). After which, Dr. Ransom Smith acquired the property and built a house upon it.
• After his death, Ransom’s family donated the property to the University of Michigan. The Homeopathic Medical School first made the house into the Nurse’s Home, where nurses would live while working and studying at the hospital (McRae; 1901).
• In 1929, the University buily the zoo behind the Alexander G. Ruthven Museums Building for the purpose of zoological study (Ruthven 5; 1929). Among the kinds of animals housed there were black bears, foxes, racoons, and bobcats.
• A year later, an addition with a large pool of water made space for turtles and snakes (“Welcome to the Jungle: The Real Animal House; 2007).
• After an experiment gone wrong, the zoo even housed our mascot, a live wolverine named Biff. It was acquired by Yost in 1927, who thought that a real wolverine would be exciting for fans attending games. Unfortunately, the wolverine is a very viscious animal by nature, and had it out for his handlers (“Play by Play as Michigan Beat Ohio State”; 1927).
• When placed in a cage before the game, Biff snapped a bar in half with his teeth and Yost soon realized that his plans to walk Biff around the stadium with a leash may be slightly problematic (“Welcome to the Jungle: The Real Animal House; 2007).
• The museum was widely popular amongst students, but it was controversial due to the small cages it held large animals in. In 1962, it had to be demolished to make space for the East wing expansion of the Alexander G. Ruthven Museums Building (Wason; 2014).

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Sources

• “Animal House: U-M LSA U-M College of LSA.” Accessed March 20, 2017.

• Fraser, Kelly. “Welcome to the Jungle: The Real Animal House.” Michigan Daily Digital Archives, November 8, 2007.

• McRae, Anna. Anna McRae Photograph Collection. Bentley Historical Museum, 1901.

• Pettibone, Darwin A. “City of Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County. Michigan.” Ann Arbor: D. A. Pettibone, 1854.

• “Play by Play as Michigan Beat Ohio State.” Michigan Daily Digital Archives, October 23, 1927.

• University of Michigan, and Alexander Grant Ruthven. The University Museums Building of the University of Michigan. 29 p. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan, 1929.

Images

• “A very cold…”

• “Bears and wolverines…”