The original stage area was long ago converted to offices. But on the next floor up, the Lincoln Log Cabin still can be seen. A.G. Arvold, the first head of NDSU theater, got logs from Itasca State Park in Minnesota and lined the interior of that space, using it for a technical shop and a place to entertain performers and audience members after productions. It hosted such famous names as Marian Anderson and Agnes Moorehead. Arvold even started a lending library of play and pageant scripts, which were made available to people in the surrounding area. He staged a number of outdoor pageants both on campus and at what now is El Zagal Golf Course. After years of productions at Old Main and Festival Hall, Little Country Theatre moved to Askanase Auditorium in 1968.

The Weekly Spectrum, dated Oct. 31, 1923, carried a front-page story announcing "Lincoln Log Cabin New Addition to L.C. Theatre." In it the editor describes the rough-hewn, half-log walls, wrought iron door hinges made by Professor Haile Chisholm, and furniture made of hickory and oak. Professor Alfred Arvold and his students went to northern Minnesota to obtain logs for the walls. They also collected old furniture and books, and old theater posters for decoration. The finished cabin consisted of two large rooms and a kitchen. In one of the rooms was a balcony used by speakers and singers for community gatherings. Productions and classes were held on the floor beneath it. The Lincoln Log Cabin was a unique place used for dinner festivals at Christmas, and a banquet on Lincoln's birthday. When Dr. Frederick Walsh took over the theater program in the early 1950s, use of the Log Cabin as a place for entertaining ended, and the space was used primarily for costuming, building sets, and grad student offices. (Spectrum, October 2, 1969, p. 8; Dedication Program, May 7, 1993) The restoration project for the Lincoln Log Cabin is still not complete. Although the rooms are available for small groups who make arrangements through the President's Office, large groups cannot use the facility until an additional fire exit is built that will comply with today's fire codes.

A good image of the Log Cabin room can be found on the site of the rennovation arcitects (YHR Partners).

For more information about the attic, please visit here.