Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Class Rock

The class rock. The class of 1876 presented the College with this huge boulder as it's class memorial. I have no idea why a big rock was even an idea. But aside from that, the Rock played an impact for many years here at the College. The original campus for then North -Western College consisted of Old Main (without the south tower) and the surrounding land. The Rock was placed in front of Old Main, but given that the Old Main lawn also served as the College's athletic field, it was ultimately buried. In 1928, this group of men determined where the Rock had been buried and staged an excavation.

The Rock remained in the Old Main lawn for many years after the initial excavation and became the site of many class rivalries. A tradition was for different classes to paint the Rock in their colors/class year and then post members of the class to guard the Rock from other classes 'stealing' it by painting it in their colors.

The story of the Rock sadly comes to an end sometime in the 1960s. I haven't yet discovered what happened to cause the Rock to be buried again, but in 1965, a group of student re-excavated the Rock and christened it with 'holy pond water' from the Fort Hill pond. However, apparently under the cover of darkness the Rock was hauled away and it's whereabouts are currently unknown (at least to me!).