Beneath the surface: Luther’s tunnel system

Whether people on campus are aware of it or not, tunnels lurk beneath Luther College. Not only does Luther have the tunnel connecting the Union to the CFL, but an expansive tunnel system also connects just about every building on campus.

Few students know about these tunnels except those late night adventurers who have dared to explore some of these buried corridors. Their accounts consist of vague descriptions of the tunnels as dark, long and narrow, full of pipes and wiring and eventually leading to another building’s basement on campus.

What these explorers cannot tell is the history of the tunnels such as What are they actually used for? Why were they constructed? Why are they closed off to student use?

Director of Facilities Richard Tenneson (‘66) was able to answer some general questions about these hidden passageways beneath campus.

“The tunnels were built in accordance with the construction of the buildings that they would connect,” Tenneson said. “The oldest tunnels on campus are probably those that branch from Brandt and Loyalty, with the latest tunnel constructed from Olin to the library.”

The tunnels were built strictly for utility purposes, meaning that they were built to house steam pipes and electrical wires and not for student use. These pipes and wires in the tunnels are necessary for steam and electrical distribution to the buildings on campus.

If followed from most buildings on campus, the pipes and wires all lead back to the main facility building on campus that houses the boiler. Jenson-Noble and the CFA are the only buildings without tunnels. The steam pipe to Jenson-Noble is buried, and the CFA is heated using geo-thermal wells that pump heat directly to or from the ground.

The utility tunnels of campus are smaller than the tunnel that students can use to walk from the Union to the CFL but are large enough that personnel can walk along the length of the pipes and wiring to assess and address any utility problems that may arise.

“Having the tunnels not only makes it easier to find problems but also makes it less of an expense and hassle to repair any damages, compared to digging up pipes and electrical wires, which can be a hazard and sometimes cause more damage,” Tenneson said.

The tunnels cost upwards of $1 million in total to install, including the latest tunnel from Olin to the library.

Though the tunnels are buried, there are visible signs of their place under campus. Concrete and brick pillars along the sidewalk to Olin that people use as makeshift benches are connected to tunnels beneath them.

None of the tunnels are sealed shut, as some have assumed, due to unknown or limited access. There are, however, some tunnels that have been labeled “abandoned,” meaning they are no longer used for utilities.

Though some tunnels are no longer being used by facilities, they all are still deemed unsuitable for student use because of hazardous elements and construction on and within the tunnels.

Apart from the apparent danger of electricity and steam, some of the tunnels are long and isolated, which could present certain dangers to someone traveling alone, as it would be difficult to reach someone if they were in need of assistance in one of the passageways.

Tenneson hopes that students realize the hazardous nature of the tunnels under campus and why students are prohibited from using them.