Universities – Page 2

Orton Hall, Ohio State University

From the Wikipedia entry: Orton Hall, one of the oldest remaining buildings on Ohio State University campus, opened in 1893 and is named after Dr Edward Orton, Sr. who served as OSU’s first president, Professor of Geology from 1873-1899, and Ohio’s State Geologist from 1882 until his death in 1899.

Orton suffered a partially paralyzing stroke in 1891, but continued to work. Ohio State University constructed a geological pleasure dome in 1893, and named it Orton Hall, in tribute to Edward Orton’s seminal contributions.

The Hall is built of forty different Ohio building stones. In the outside walls, these stones are laid in stratigraphic order according to their relative positions in Ohio’s bedrock.

The capitals of the numbered columns in the entrance hall feature carvings of fossils, such as trilobites, as well as other objects such as the races of Man. The bell tower was dedicated in 1915 and contains 25,000 pounds of bells that can be heard regularly tolling across campus in the key of E flat. Encircling the top of the tower are 24 columns with gargoyle-like figures which are restorations of fossil animals.

Available on Etsy

The Oval, Ohio State

For Ohio State students the Oval is a blessing and a curse. It’s a wonderful parklike setting with plenty of green space. It’s also a huge amount of space that needs to be crossed to make it to class on time. This summer scene looks down the Oval from the High Street side with the main library in the fall distance.

Available on Etsy

Mirror Lake at Ohio State

From the Wikipedia entry: “Mirror Lake is a small lake (pond) on the campus of The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, United States. Historically, the lake was spring-fed, and sat on the property of William Neil in North Columbus (then a city of its own, which would later be annexed by Columbus). The trustees in charge of purchasing land for the new Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College (which would later become the Ohio State University) chose to purchase Mr. Neil’s land after drinking from the spring. A German trustee reportedly stated “It’s hard to get a Dutchman away from a spring like that.” The spring dried up in 1891 when the city of Columbus struck the source of the spring while installing a trunk sewer line through campus. The water source was subsequently provided by the city of Columbus municipal water supply, at a new location on campus near the location of the original lake.”