New buildings like the Baylor Science Building and Paul L. Foster Campus for Business and Innovation show the growth of campus. Renovations to existing buildings exude change in what was once a stability on campus. Even discussions about names of buildings and removing statues may come to mind. So what is the same?
We can find this stability in the normality of the older side of campus. As we move away from the newest side of campus, by East Village, the first semblance of this familiarity for most alumni is Moody Memorial Library.
Dr. Stephen Sloan, director of the Institute for Oral History and history professor, has been around Baylor’s campus for most of his life, coming for camps and to visit as a young boy. His knowledge and love of Baylor shines through stories of swimming in the pool that used to be at the marina, the ever-changing Bear Pit, and remembering his time as a student. Now, he works at Baylor, still learning more.
“Moody has become much more of a gathering place now … You can think about what is the center of student life. I think it used to be more the SUB, but now it has shifted. Probably Moody would be the center of campus that people operate around,” Sloan said.
Walking through Moody, there may be more students than in the past. Whether it’s talking with friends, snacking on their Starbucks purchases, or studying, students are spread throughout the levels of the library.
“I love using Moody to study with friends and work on any group projects. I like that there’s different atmospheres on each floor. The bottom floor is perfect for studying with friends because you can sit together and talk aloud, but whenever I need to concentrate alone, I like being able to go to the second floor for a quieter experience. … Even when I am not studying, I love meeting up with friends to get coffee and chat. I definitely take advantage of the Starbucks to keep me going throughout the day,” alumna Sophie Acebo (‘21) said.
Moody was built with the intention of being a research library. While the connotation of “going to Moody” has changed from researching and checking out books to being a study zone, the building has remained the same architecturally.
Today, however, instead of those steep stairs and echoed halls leading to wide bookshelves, it can lead to groups working on a project, people in study rooms, or even the IT desk helping with a 3D printer.
As Moody has grown in resources and changing uses, the halls are still filled with Baylor alumni memorabilia. This homage to the past reminds us of one thing: we make up one Baylor story.
Exiting the library and heading toward Fountain Mall – once known as University Mall – the Bill Daniel Student Center comes into sight.
“In the early 1900s, Baylor’s first athletic field was Lee Carroll Field. It was a simple dirt and grass field located behind Carroll Science Hall where Vara Martin Daniel Plaza and the Bill Daniel Student Center now stand … In 1940, groundbreaking for the Bill Daniel Student Center — also known as the SUB — began, replacing the field and moving sporting events to Waco Municipal Stadium,” a BaylorProud article reads.
Through the years, this spot on campus has been home to many gathering students. From when it hosted sporting events to the groundbreaking of the SUB building itself, to now.
“When I was a student, they had just opened up the first parking garage that Baylor had. And that is the parking garage that the Bookstore is in, so I can remember the bookstore being in the SUB when it was on the first floor. That whole side where Common Grounds is was the bookstore area,” Sloan said.
The bookstore now has its own building, no longer occupying the first floor of the SUB. Where there was once a barber shop and a beauty parlor now sits storage rooms and offices. While the barber shop pole still hangs on the wall, there are some places that left without a trace – such as the shooting range that used to be in the attic that allowed students to have indoor target practice.
“A lot of things have come and gone in the SUB subject to what the students’ needs are. Depending on how those change through time, they would of course change what is in the SUB,” Texas Collection archivist Paul Fisher said.
One space that fit this need at the time was a room called the Colonial Dining Room. At the dining room on the first floor students could get lunch for 85 cents or dinner for $1.00 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays. While the dining room may not be there anymore, the SUB is still known for its dining options, from Panda Express to Chick-fil-A.
Moving upstairs, things look familiar again. Barfield Drawing Room and many others are still intact and true to their original architecture and sometimes decor.
“I was in a fraternity that I am the sponsor for now, and the meeting room is the exact same now as it was then. It is funny how little the second floor and third floor have changed, even down to some of the furniture,” Sloan said.
Then in the basement is one of the student favorites on campus: the Baylor Gameroom.
“My favorite part of the SUB is the game room. Freshman year, I made so many memories there. Bowling was the best part. We would go downstairs an hour before it was free to students and put our names on the list,” Acebo said.
The next stop is Burleson Quadrangle. Within the quad, there are many important buildings that help create Baylor’s history.
The Baylor Historical Marker project was started by Dr. Thomas Charlton, director of the Texas Collection at the time. With the help of history professor Dr. Michael Parrish and a group of graduate students, they were able to create the markers we see in front of these buildings.
The quad is like a portal to the past – the buildings that stand on this half of fountain mall are some of the oldest on campus. Old Main, Burleson Hall, and Draper Academic Building are the first buildings that catch our eyes.
Old Main was built in 1887 and currently houses our modern languages and cultures department. Although Old Main has been home to many subjects, classes, and departments over the years, it is also the home of a campus revolution, according to the Baylor Historical Marker project:
“Early in Baylor’s history, when the third floor still housed a chapel, Old Main established itself in campus lore and legacy with a shocking incident in 1902 resulting in a student uprising led by J. Frank Norris and the forced resignation and public apology of President Cooper. According to J.M. Dawson’s account in the Baylor Lariat:
‘Some prankish students sneaked a howling dog into the small upstairs chapel on the lofty third floor of Main. When the perverse little animal disturbed the worship the president became enraged. Cooper leaped down from the platform, seized the dog and hurled it through a window to the ground below. The act appalled everyone, because it showed a lack of control deemed inexcusable, although under the most exasperating circumstances.’”
Next to Old Main is Burleson Hall, known as the largest all-girl residential hall in the nation in 1888. Now, it mainly houses faculty offices and conference rooms, but the building looks the same from the outside.
When the Waco Tornado hit in 1953, the towers on top of Old Main and Burleson Hall were removed. While it may be strange to imagine these iconic buildings without their tall spires, they actually remained absent for several years until the buildings’ next renovation.
Draper kept with the Georgian-style architecture, though it was built much later than other members of the quad in 1976. Today, it houses our sociology and political science departments.
Also in this quadrangle is Carroll Science Hall, which currently houses our English department. However, true to its name, it did not start this way. A Baylor Historical Marker project narrative reads:
“Conceived as ‘…one of the finest science halls in the South,’ Carroll Science boasted three stories and a basement, with the second story, consisting of eleven rooms, devoted entirely to the study of chemistry. This layout ensured the availability of ample resources and space for the instruction of regular chemistry classes as well as the training of professional chemists. While the second floor remained dedicated to chemistry, other floors housed classrooms suited for other sciences such as biology, geology, and astronomy, with the basement serving as the university’s museum. Along with the physics department, the first floor held several administrative offices, including the registrar and even the president of the time, Samuel Palmer Brooks. Completely state of the art for its time and one of the first buildings on campus, Carroll Science Hall contained numerous laboratories, lecture halls, and offices devoted to the study of science, establishing a foundation not only for future structures at the university, but for the future of education at Baylor as well.”
Across the quad from Carroll Science is Carroll Library, completed in 1903 as the F. L. Carroll Chapel and Library. According to the 1904-1905 academic year student handbook, the first floor contained an art room, theological lecture room, the library, and space for students. A chapel was on the second floor, “one of the finest college assembly rooms in the South.”
“The delicate colorings and soft curves of the walls, the magnificent marble columns with their ornate capitals, the polished mahogany seats, the artistically-constructed [sic] pipe organ, the exquisite stained glass skylight, contribute to the perfect symmetry, grace, and harmony of the whole. The acoustics are unusually excellent for a room capable of seating 2,700 people.”
Then, in 1922, F.L. Carroll Chapel and Library caught fire. The fire spread from the roof and destroyed the entire building, including 1,800 new seats, six pianos, a pipe organ, and the chapel’s dome.
Although the chapel and dome were never rebuilt, Carroll Library was reconstructed the way it looks today. Miraculously, all of the Browning Collection housed there was saved.
Finally, we come to Tidwell Bible Building: the symbol of Baylor’s teachings as an unapologetically Christian university. Most students at some time have walked through this campus to encounter our theology and history building, inside finding theological teachings as well as loving professors.
“My favorite memory in Tidwell actually happened when I was a prospective student at Baylor. I came to visit campus, and I walked into Tidwell just to see if there was someone I could talk to. One of the professors in Tidwell immediately walked up to me because I’m sure I looked pretty lost. She directed me over to the ministry guidance office where they talked to me for over an hour answering all my questions and addressing any concerns … everyone was so kind and generous with their time,” alumna Emily Grantham (‘21) said.
Before it was built, Tidwell had many different architectural plans, one idea involving making one wall completely out of stained glass. Instead, 68 limestone panels make up the building and tell the story of the Bible.
While life as we know it is being turned upside down, we can look for stability in Baylor’s campus. Though as we remember how Baylor is the same, sometimes we cannot help but notice the differences too.
