Stepan Center is a multi-purpose geodesic dome built in 1962 at the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main campu ...

, and is located on the northeast corner of campus. The $350,000 to build Stepan Center was donated to the university by Alfred Stepan, the founder of

Stepan Company Stepan Company is a manufacturer of specialty chemicals headquartered in Northbrook, Illinois. The company was founded in 1932 by Alfred C. Stepan, Jr., and has approximately 2,000 employees. It is currently run by his grandson, F. Quinn Stepan, J ...

, and his wife, Mary Louise. The facility, which was one of the first

geodesic dome A geodesic dome is a hemispherical thin-shell structure (lattice-shell) based on a geodesic polyhedron. The triangular elements of the dome are structurally rigid and distribute the structural stress throughout the structure, making geodesic dom ...

built in the United States, has of floor space. With its brick base, gold-anodized aluminum dome and silver ceiling, the center attracted widespread attention at its opening, according t
a 2022 Notre Dame Magazine article
On October 18, 1963

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...

spoke at Stepan Center, in an event organized the South Bend Citizens’ Civic Planning Committee as a fundraiser for the

Southern Christian Leadership Conference The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) is an African-American civil rights organization based in Atlanta, Georgia. SCLC is closely associated with its first president, Martin Luther King Jr., who had a large role in the American civi ...

. King spoke about the problems of segregation, discrimination, and the civil right movement. The event, arranged by

Theodore Hesburgh Theodore Martin Hesburgh, CSC (May 25, 1917 – February 26, 2015) was a native of Syracuse, New York, who became an ordained priest of the Congregation of Holy Cross and is best known for his service as the president of the University of Not ...

, was at the venue's s capacity and attracted a racially mixed crowd estimated at 3,000 to 3,500 people. As of spring 2022, Stepan Center was still being heavily used for Notre Dame student events and the university had invested in repairs to its roof, installed new windows and made other improvements to assure its continued use.

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* Geodesic domes University and college buildings completed in 1962 University of Notre Dame buildings and structures {{Indiana-struct-stub