Penn State History Lesson: Old Main

Dearest Old Main.

It’s on all the postcards, picturesque, and is synonymous with the history and tradition of the university.

For a casual Penn Stater, this building is well-known and one of the first names you think of when thinking of Penn State. You might not know, however, it was the first building on campus and has been rebuilt over the years.

Beyond that, there’s not much information on the building, and even though students are allowed in, few have explored it.

Surprisingly, quite a bit of history runs through the building.

Old Main was the first building to go under construction at Penn State, known at the time as the Farmer’s High School of Pennsylvania. The school received its charter in 1855 from former Pennsylvania Governor James Pollock.

After receiving the charter, the school looked for a place to break ground and decided on a 200-acre plot of land in Centre County. This land was offered to the school by General James Irvin, a congressman from Bellefonte. The school began on the plot of land and eventually grew to be over 10,000 acres.

Hugh McAllister was chosen to build what was designated as the “Main Building” or “College Building.” McAllister modeled his design after Princeton’s Nassau Hall, one of the most imitated buildings in college architecture.

The original design for the building shares very little resemblance to the current iteration, though. It was five floors and mostly covered with windows.

The building was designed to house all of the school’s functions, including student living, classrooms, a few labs, and all the administrative offices. Granted, the first graduating class was only 13 students, so there were a lot fewer students to accommodate.

Construction of Old Main began in 1857 and workers sourced limestone from a quarry close by and brought it to the site for construction. The quarry was located at what is now the southeast corner of Old Main Lawn and a commemorative stone marks the spot.

There were around 200 men in the crew, helped along by two horses and four mules. One of the mules was so competent, apparently, that after construction was finished, the school purchased him for $190 (in today’s standards, it would be a little over $7,000). And the mule became known as Old Coaly.”

Old Coaly continued to help with construction all over campus for over 30 years until he died in 1893. While around campus, he was very popular with students and faculty, becoming the school’s first (unofficial) mascot.

After passing, the school sought to memorialize the great beast. Several restaurants were named after him, and a road behind the HUB carries his name to this day. Coaly’s remains have been housed in several buildings over the years and now reside in the HUB.

The first class of students arrived in 1859, even though Old Main was nowhere near completion. Only a wing was completed at the time, but the school still functioned. The students graduated in 1861, years before construction was completed.

Construction on Old Main continued for a few years before halting in 1857 due to financial constraints caused in part by the beginning of the Civil War. The first university president, Evan Pugh, got the ball rolling again in 1861, securing funding from the government, and the building was completed in 1863.

Many changes to the interior and exterior followed throughout the next century, and it looks drastically different now than it did then.

In the years after its completion, Old Main was the center for all student activities. As new buildings popped up over the years, Old Main remained the focal point of the campus.

The first major remodel of the building happened in 1892 after a fire damaged a large part of Old Main. The school hired J. Robert Cole, whose most well-known contribution was the clock tower and the original bell.

Into the early 1900s, Old Main began to deteriorate. The upper floors became off-limits and most student activities had moved out, leaving only administrative offices daring to stay in place. It was only then that students coined the term Old Main.

After a while, the school decided it needed to rebuild the entire building and construct a better one in its place. Penn State hired Charles Z. Klauder and it was completed in 1930. The new building was four floors (instead of the original five), but had much more usable space. Klauder was intent on keeping the feel of the original building and used the original limestone blocks — hauled by Old Coaly — for the base of the new one. Klauder also added the iconic pillars in the front, which remain there today.

After the 1930 renovation, the exterior remained largely the same, except for some minor changes over the years. The Old Main of the 1930s looked a lot like the one we see today.

The function of Old Main varied a lot over the years, since its beginnings as the home of Penn State students. At times it only contained administrative offices, but there were times it returned to its original function.

Most notably in the 1950s, students used it like another student union building. At the time, there were lounges, a sandwich shop, and even a pharmacy. For a time, The Daily Collegian was housed there. At some point over the years, though, it returned to being an administration building, and students were rarely allowed inside.

The clock tower bell has become a point of interest on the building after being put in place in the 1890s and replaced by the Class of 1904. In 1937, the graduating class added chimes to the tower. After the addition of the chimes, the bell went largely unused and was removed by the class of 2009. This bell was refurbished, and now sits right next to Old Main on its west side. The chimes (from 1937) were replaced in the 1970s with electronic ones and those chimes were replaced in the 1990s with the ones we hear today.

In 1940, artist Henry Varnum Poor painted frescoes in the entryway area of the building, which depicted the founding of the university, and the signing of the land grant. He returned in 1949 to finish them, and the Poor frescoes remain there today as an origin story of Penn State.

In the late 1960s, students began to share their problems directly to the school. Protests were organized and run all over campus, though mostly centered around Old Main Lawn. One of the biggest of these protests was related to the lack of student housing. In 1966, the university had declared no more dorm buildings would be built, and there weren’t enough off-campus apartments at the time. Enrollment had been increasing considerably, and many students were left homeless. The school ended up converting recreation rooms and even a couple classrooms into cramped student living, but still many were left without a place to stay.

In protest, several students decided to pitch tents on Old Main Lawn. Student’s christened this community “Walkertown” after the current president, Eric Walker. Walkertown grew and grew, eventually reaching all the way down to College Avenue.

The students living at Walkertown intended on changing the school and its policies. They built an elevated stage outside of President Walker’s window and would list their grievances throughout the day. Not only did they protest student housing and other problems with the school, but they began to vocalize concerns about the Vietnam War and its upcoming draft. Many students were in vocal opposition with the war across the country and feared getting drafted.

Fortunately, none of these protests became violent, like they did elsewhere. In fact, the booming Walkertown was generally a happy place. Students hung out all day, drinking and smoking weed openly, and local police did very little to intervene. Rock bands performed, festivals were held, and it became a great place for students to gather, right in front of Old Main.

Nowadays, we don’t see a lot of action around Old Main, but it’s still a focal point for the campus. Despite the fact that students rarely enter and very little student activity occurs there, every student knows about Old Main.

Through all the restorations and additions, it still stands as a representation of how far the university has come over the years. While buildings have popped up left and right surrounding Old Main, it still stands. Many historic buildings have risen and fallen, but it will continue to stand as a testament of Penn State’s history for years to come.