On Saturday November 9, 1935, the Elks Lodge number 338 of Appleton, Wisconsin, presented the drum to the Wisconsin Band as a 50th birthday gift. According to the band department, it had a real drumhead on it and was played, but playing it moved the wooden joints around and it eventually fell apart. The band department threw it away when it moved from Music Hall to the Humanities building. The drum was recreated for the band's centennial in 1985, but it broke again. Unfortunately, the famous drum you remember is no longer around.
In the 1930s, the marching band had a really BIG drum with a picture of Paul Bunyan on the side. Paul was depicted wearing a red coat, blue pants and a blue hat, and he carried an axe over his shoulder. Scrolled around the top it read “UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN BANDS,” and scrolled around the bottom it read “FOUNDED 1885.” The drum was about six feet in diameter. I have a framed formal picture of the marching band (taken at Camp Randall) in which the drum was prominently displayed. In addition, the 1935 Homecoming button was based on the drum. Whatever happened to the drum?
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