Macville was a unique on-campus neighborhood of apartments built to house 32 married veterans and 32 single veterans.¹ For many of the couples, living in Macville was the first time they’d lived on their own. The temporary homes allowed students to live with their spouses and families while still attending Macalester. Over time, the residents of Macville established their own community within the college, and they held elections for mayor, hosted events, and performed at school showcases. As the Mac Weekly reported, one skit put on by Macville residents for the “Scotter’s Friday Night” in the spring of 1947 featured a six-foot baby, a pesky traveling salesman, and a possessed potato peeler.²

Macville was also unique in that it housed much younger people than the traditional college dorm: families often welcomed children while living in Macville. The Macalester yearbook from 1948 claimed that the Macville slogan was “Watch our population grow.”³ The temporary nature of Macville has meant that campus today shows little evidence that it ever existed. The houses were demolished a few years after they were built, and in 1964, Macalester constructed the stadium in the empty area where the houses once stood. Macville represents the unconventional changes that often emerged during wartime as Macalester worked to address the challenge of educating students in a nation at war.