From a Columbus Dispatch notables article: Ohio State University opened on Sept. 17, 1873.
In his 1952 History of the Ohio State University, James E. Pollard noted: “In a way this apparent neglect was understandable. There was no formal opening. The faculty was there, a handful of students gathered and they simply went to work on a sprawling campus remote from the city, in a single building still uncompleted, and in an atmosphere punctuated by the song of the saw and the pounding of hammers. It was anything but the traditional academic grove.”
That single building, University Hall, housed not only the lecture halls but also the faculty apartments and student lodging. It was closed in 1968 and razed in 1971. A replica was erected in 1976 and remains open today.
The image above is the replica.
This image is available on Etsy