Drake University’s Old Main has long presided over campus life. The building was constructed from 1882-1883, meaning it has seen almost the entirety of the University’s 143-year history.

“That’s 142 years worth of students and faculty and administrators that have come and gone. So I mean, all of those people, they add their history to it,” said Benedict Chatelain, University Archives Associate. “It makes the story of the building and the University more diverse and richer overall.”

The building reflects the trends of its time, with bricks arranged into patterns and archways, intermixed with stained glass windows and a strong vertical focal point, the bell tower.

“When you look at the history of other American campuses, often their initial building had some kind of vertical accent that drew people to it,” said Professor Maura Lyons, a professor of art history. “It suggests that there is a community that is being communicated to, whether there’s an actual bell, or whether it is something that you can see above the treetops.”

In designing Old Main, C.B. Lakin incorporated trending architectural styles of the time while also keeping students’ needs in mind.

“There’s a stability to it, right?” Lyons said. “There’s a continuity to it.”

Below the bricks and bell tower, amongst the boulders at the foundations, “there is a faint and fading tradition,”  Charles Ritchey, author of “Drake University Through Seventy-Five Years,” states.

According to Ritchey, “The foundation [represents] the incoming freshman and above them appear the successive stages of refinement to which these students are subjected.”

The boulders work to support and acknowledge the academic rigor that Drake University provides to its students.

Currently, Old Main hosts the University’s Administrative Offices, which is synonymous with its original purpose. However, in the beginning, there was a period of time during which the building was multipurpose, as it was the only building on campus for quite some time. This included classroom space, basketball games, community forums and even the living space for University janitor “Louie” Nelson and his family.

“[Louie Nelson’s] first daughter was born in Old Main, and I’d have to assume she would have been the only child in the history of the building that was born there,“ Chatelain said. “One article in the 40s mentions it, but [I’ve] never heard that story told.”

Despite its multipurpose set up, Old Main was under threat of removal in the 1940s and replaced with a new building.

“There was an idea in the 1940s that this [building] was outdated. Right after the Second World War, people were looking forward, they weren’t looking back,” Lyons said. “It wasn’t seen as particularly valuable to have that connection to the early history of the University.”

The plan in the 1940’s had been made to add many different buildings on campus, some replacing the already existing ones there.

“The proposal was to replace [Old Main] with a new administration building that would be in the modernist style from that era,” Lyons said.

Shifting to the 21st century, The values of the University had changed, allowing for the building to escape the fate of its removal. Old Main still stands, anchoring the corner of 25th St. and University Ave.

“It’s a philosophical shift,” Lyons said. “Some of that is sustainability issues. It’s much less expensive and uses less resources to adapt the building rather than to tear it down and build something new.”

Because of the adjustment to favor sustainable issues and budget accommodations, “You can retain the history without having it dictate the use of the building,” Chatelain said.

While Old Main’s message is from a tradition not many remember, the boulders supporting the building continue to watch students through their journey at Drake.

“It is the building that people are going to remember about the University,” Lyons said. “The idea that people, when they’re taking their graduation photos go in front of Old Main, they want that tower in the background. It is the face of Drake.”

The building is photographed often outside of graduation shoots, used on promotional materials and is a part of the Drake emblem.

“It is an enduring symbol of the University,” Chatelain said. “It has been there almost since the beginning, give or take a year.”