Construction on the Metrodome began on December 20, 1979, and was funded by a limited hotel-motel and liquor tax, local business donations, and payments established within a special tax district near the stadium site. "Uncovering the Dome" by Amy Klobuchar (now a U.S. Senator) describes the 10-year effort to build the venue. The stadium was named in memory of former mayor of Minneapolis, U.S. Senator, and U.S. Vice President Hubert Humphrey, who died in 1978. The building's construction was designed by Bangladeshi-American architect Fazlur Rahman Khan, of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.