Old Main

Time Capsule in Old Main

Anonymous — Mon, 07 Nov 2022 07:00:00 +0000

Time Capsule in Old Main Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 11/07/2022 - 00:00

Christie Sounart

1875 CC Trade Dollar: Type 1 Reverse (U.S.)

1863 Indian Head Penny (U.S.)

1874 Three Cent Nickel (U.S.)

1863 2 Öre- Carl XV (Sweden)

1873 Shield Nickel (U.S.)

1803 Draped Bust Large Cent: Small date, small fraction (U.S.)

1868 Indian Head Penny (U.S.)

1802 or 1803 Draped Bust Large Cent (U.S.)

In a snowy outdoor ceremony on Sept. 20, 1875, Boulder town officials and members of the Masonic Grand Lodge placed a small tin box with nearly 50 items in the cornerstone of what would become Old Main. The cornerstone — known as the building’s setting stone — was located on the northeast corner at the transition between the stone foundation and its brick walls.

“The ceremony of today is not one of novelty to dazzle or deceive,” said Webster D. Anthony, the grand master of the Grand Lodge, at the ceremony. “It signifies peace, prosperity, growth in knowledge and social refinement.”

The time capsule contained 12 newspapers, eight coins and a Colorado business directory and statutes book, among other small items.

The coins range in date from the early 1800s to 1875. All are American coins with the exception of a 1863 2 Öre from Sweden featuring King Carl XV.

Chancellor William Baughn and Alumni Association executive director Richard Emerson removed the time capsule in September 1985. Another box was placed in the cornerstone with memorabilia from 1985 to be opened in 2075.

Today, the coins and the other time capsule items are kept at the CU Heritage Center, located on the third floor of Old Main.

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Photos by Mona Lambrecht, CU Heritage Center

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Fall 2022

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Feedback: Spring 2022

Anonymous — Fri, 11 Mar 2022 07:00:00 +0000

Feedback: Spring 2022 Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 03/11/2022 - 00:00

Old Main Memories

For 65 years I have read with interest each issue of the CU alumni magazine. I was delighted to see a photo of Old Main [THEN, 1888] inside the back pages of the Fall 2021 issue.

I was a language major (Spanish, French and Italian) and spent most of my classes in Old Main. I remember sitting in the building, on the third floor, looking west at the Flatirons, admiring the gorgeous view.

I lived on University Avenue and crossed Varsity Bridge each day to get to my classes. A photo of the bridge was in the 1954 movie The Glenn Miller Story. Glenn Miller attended Colorado University in 1923.

Those were very happy days and I treasure my time as a student on the campus of CU.

Francine Hafer McCrea (Span’56)
Willmette, Ill.

I grew up living at my grandmother’s house on Pine Street in the Mapleton Hill section of Boulder. As a little boy we’d listen to the CU football games on KBOL radio, and if the Buffaloes won the game we’d go out on the front porch to see if we could hear the bell ringing atop Old Main. I was told that a freshman was chosen to run from Folsom Field to Old Main as soon as the game was over, run up the stairs to the bell tower and ring the bell for the victory.

My great aunt graduated from CU circa 1920, as did her brother a couple or so years before her. Family lore has it that he “carried the cane” at graduation as the class valedictorian. My uncle graduated from CU in the 1930s and earned a master’s degree in fine arts before the war. My mom also attended for one year, somewhere near the 1933-34 school year.

I remember in the late 1950s when my great aunt treated the whole family with tickets to a football game, probably near Thanksgiving. It was the one and only time I saw a CU football game at Folsom Field.

When I read the story about CU’s victory over Oregon State in today’s Denver Post (online) I wondered: Did they ring the bell atop Old Main yesterday evening?

Russ
Amherst, Ohio

Carroll Hardy

I was delighted to read Jim Deeds’ (ArchEngr, Mgmt’56) letter in the Fall 2021 issue [Letters] regarding the legacy of Carroll Hardy (A&S’55). He was a bit before my time, but I had already become a Forever Buff when he was the tailback for Dal Ward’s single-wing offensive steamroller.

One more bit of information about Carroll Hardy: He is the only person who ever pinch hit for the immortal Ted Williams. Once upon a time, CU had a baseball program, and Carroll excelled there as well. He was good enough to play for the Boston Red Sox, mainly as a reserve. In an at-bat, Williams fouled a ball off his foot, causing him to leave the game. Carroll finished the at-bat for him, lining into a double play. He also replaced Williams in right field after his final career at-bat, when Williams hit a legendary home run. Carroll had the additional experience of pinch hitting for the then-rookie Carl Yastremski, and later for Roger Maris. Carroll had turned to baseball after a brief career with the San Francisco 49ers, who drafted him third.

Dennis Davis (A&S’65)
Denver

Life on Mars

Enjoyed reading the latest edition of the Coloradan. Reading the “Life on Mars” article and about the “overview effect,” I was wondering if the researchers experienced issues with the different times of day (versus Earth) based on Mars — such as longer rotational time around the sun and adding something like 45 minutes per day to our 24-hour day. Makes daytime/nighttime a rather fluid concept!

Tim Thomas (Jpn’85)
Durango, Colorado

CU’s Language Immersion Program

In 1972, the university (presciently!) decided to try out a language “immersion” program for their students — way ahead of its time.

Otherwise totally ordinary CU students would lodge in a dormitory where they were to speak the specified foreign language (only) — and obtain college credits for doing the same.

In 1972, I was a college freshman entering CU and I got my last choice of dormitories (as I vaguely recall) and ended up at Williams Village on the “Spanish Language Floor” (the fourth floor, I think it was). The French speakers had the fifth floor and the German speakers had the sixth floor. I’d had four years of high school Spanish but had never “immersed” in that language — what an exciting and puzzling experiment for a college freshman to enter into.

Living and studying there changed my life in so many ways!

Have you given thought to bringing back as many of those “pioneers” — alumni in language immersion from 1972 to 2022 — to see how their lives turned out? Did living in the “foreign language house” change or affect their career or life? If so, how?

I feel that CU should not shy away from this bounty of pride and wonder — the graduates that you produced from that “experiment” have done incredible things for our country and humanity — and I, for one, think that CU should pat itself on the back via a really momentous homecoming of these otherwise totally ordinary CU students!

Nancy L. Manahan (A&S ex’76)
Arlington, Virginia

Love for Outdoor Preschool

On Facebook, alum Andra Stern Slavsky (PolSci’91) commented on our fall 2021 story about Megan Patterson’s (Comm’05) Denver outdoor preschool WorldMind: “A CU graduate piloted this innovative preschool in Colorado. Let’s hope this style of learning will expand throughout my state and the U.S. Love it!”

Teka Israel (Arch’12) also shared: “This is a really cool education model!”

Special Boulder Place(s)

In response to alum Taylor Hirschberg’s essay [Boulder Beat, Fall 2021] on his special Boulder place — Trident Booksellers — other Forever Buffs chimed in on Facebook with their own favorite city spots. They included The Sink, Tulagi, Round the Corner, Lucile’s, McGuckin Hardware, Potter’s and Lolita’s.

Contact for Jim Wagoner

I saw in the latest Coloradan Class Notes that Jim Wagoner (ElEngr’65) is wanting to get in touch with CU graduates. I have tried to find Jim but was never successful. We worked together at Westinghouse Georesearch from 1967 to 1974.

Ed Jackson (ElEngr’67; MS’72)
Brighton, Colorado

Coloradan Love

I just read the Fall issue and as usual, you crushed it! Emily Heninger’s article about the history of camping was riveting — I bought the book immediately and it’s next on my reading list.

Grace Dearnley (Engl’21)
Monument, Colorado

My wife asked me to pass on her thanks for the latest issue of the Coloradan. She very much enjoys the variety of articles that you put together.

Joe Maclennan (MPhys’85; PhD’99)
Boulder

I’m really impressed with the great job you’re doing on the alumni magazine Coloradan. Top drawer!

Elizabeth Trewitt Sadilek (Comm’71)
Laguna Woods, California

Thank you for another good-looking issue of Coloradan. I appreciate your including my Class Note 1984, for sure. You and your staff do a very good job and I look forward to reading it as always.

Geary Larrick (DMus’84)
Glenview, Illinois

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Photos courtesy Carnegie Library for Local History/Museum of Boulder Collection (Old Main); CU Athletics (Carroll Hardy); Nancy L. Manahan; McGuckin Hardware; Matt Tyrie (The Sink); Lucile's

Letters from our readers

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The Story of CU’s Varsity Bridge

Anonymous — Fri, 05 Nov 2021 06:00:00 +0000

The Story of CU’s Varsity Bridge Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 11/05/2021 - 00:00

February 3, 1888

Now a romantic set of sandstone arches over the lake, Varsity Bridge has gone through several transformations over the course of CU’s history. An early version was a rough wooden bridge that connected the President’s House (now the Koenig Alumni Center) and Old Main. In August of 1888, university Regents authorized the construction of a new bridge made of iron and stone supports.

In 1935, university leadership again reimagined the bridge, which was torn down and rebuilt with stone construction that matched the University of Colorado style. Today, the spot is a favorite for spotting sunbathing turtles or goldfish swimming in Varsity Lake.

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Photo courtesy of Carnegie Library for Local History/Museum of Boulder Collection

Now a romantic set of sandstone arches over the lake, Varsity Bridge has gone through several transformations over the course of CU’s history.

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Saving the Bell

Anonymous — Wed, 11 Nov 2020 06:00:00 +0000

Saving the Bell Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 11/10/2020 - 23:00

Campus lore says the first bell cracked following a football victory over Colorado School of Mines in 1926. Others claim it happened during the off-season.

Regardless of how Old Main’s 1,300-pound bronze bell cracked, it was replaced by a new one, and the original university bell was stored in the Carlson Gymnasium on campus for safekeeping. For a little while, anyway.

In 1948, Mines students stole the bell, claiming it belonged to their school. They buried it in a clay pit near Golden, Colorado for two years before returning it with an addition — a carving of a large, thin “M.”

The bell was permanently relocated to the Heritage Center on the third floor of Old Main in the 1980s after spending years in the basement of Macky Auditorium.

The second bell lasted only two years — witnesses reported it definitely cracked after a CU football victory — and was replaced in 1928 by the bell that remains functional in Old Main today. You can hear it ring during commencement and other special occasions.

Photo courtesy Mona Lambrecht, CU Heritage Center

Campus lore says the first bell cracked following a football victory over Colorado School of Mines in 1926. Others claim it happened during the off-season.

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Feedback Fall 2020

Anonymous — Wed, 11 Nov 2020 06:00:00 +0000

Feedback Fall 2020 Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 11/10/2020 - 23:00

Shakespeare at CU

Your summer issue arrived at a most welcome time for those of us older Buffs who have been mostly staying at home. I loved the nostalgic photos and was especially moved by Sarah Kuta’s article on the Shakespeare festival.

Shortly after my family moved to Boulder in 1957, we started attending those outdoor productions, and the accompanying 16mm film presentations in the Forum auditorium. Although my brothers and I didn’t at first appreciate all the dialogue, we liked the sword fights.

I would also like to say hi to Sam Sandoe (BioChem, Thtr’80). Your father Jim was a remarkable man, who besides his work on the festival was responsible for making the acquisitions at Norlin Library. His class in comedy, which I took my senior year, is one of the two or three educational experiences I had at CU that I think back on the most often.

Lawrence Chadbourne (Class’70)
Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Please pass along to Sam Sandoe (BioChem, Thtr’80) how much I treasured, and still treasure, my freshman year, five-day-a-week classes with his amazing father. Dressed in jeans and a jeans work shirt, he introduced us to a world outside the Hellems classroom. The buttoned-down world of high school was nothing like this. I can still remember some of the questions on his final exam, and the license his assignments gave us to see connections. He inspired us to travel through books — we read a lot of history — and planes. We saw many of the paintings we studied during our 11-week, “Europe-on-$5” adventure — the first of about 20 times to cross the Pond.

After my 32 years teaching English, my wife and I co-produced a PBS show on the Marshall Plan, and that took us to work for the State Department on the renovation of the Talleyrand in Paris. I’ve had many bracing experiences; James Sandoe’s classes were first.

Eric Christenson (Edu, Engl’60)
Southern Pines, North Carolina

Phi Kappa Tau, 1950s

In the summer issue of the Coloradan, I noticed a letter, “Spring of 1946,” written by Ruth Duffy Hirsch (A&S’49). I am a Phi Kappa Tau member, having gone active in March 1953. I lived in the fraternity house for over three years. The house mother in the article was my house mother as well, and this letter serves to make a slight correction. The house mother’s name is Mrs. Rose “Owens,” not Mrs. Rose, and she preferred to be called “Mother Owens.”

She was a wonderful woman with whom I was very close, and who, during her term as house mother, ran a very tight ship and was highly respected. She grew up in Leadville in the late 1800s during some violent times, saw many bloody occurrences and had no appreciation for firearms.

Thanks to Ms. Hirsch for the article.

James Berger (Mgmt’56)
Colorado Springs

Picture Perfect

I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed the cover art on the Summer 2020 issue. Two seconds after retrieving the issue from my mailbox, I was immediately transported back to my dorm room in Cockerell Hall. Cockerell Hall is located directly across the quad from Aden Hall, so the art depicted is exactly the view I feasted on for nearly two years from my dorm room.

Even today, 41 years after my graduation, this is the view in my mind’s eye when I think of the years I spent in Boulder. Great memories!

Chris Glasow (IntlAf’79)
Broadlands, Virginia

Oh how I appreciated the “Thinking of You” postcards in the Summer Coloradan. The postcard picturing the bridge over Varsity Lake is special to me. What decades of student experience the bridge could tell us.

The bridge was the route to Norlin Library study hours, dances in the Glenn Miller Ballroom, Saturday football at Folsom Field. It was the place of Greek pledge sneaks. The meetings of Hysperia, the Junior Women’s Honor Society. The clandestine passing of class notes and exam questions. The snow and slush walks to January final exams. And many a late-night romantic kiss.

Students crossed the bridge to the world of ideas, challenges of thinking and learning, the opening of young minds. From the chrysalis of learning, students crossed the bridge into adult life. Decades of grads took with them fond memories of the bridge and gratitude for a CU education.

Judith Hannemann (A&S’57)
Cape Elizabeth, Maine

My husband and I are both alumni and we always enjoy reading the Coloradan. We especially enjoyed this issue’s “Thinking of You,” when we noticed the picture of the Old Main postcard. Just a couple of years ago, we discovered this same postcard in some belongings of Ruth Platt, my husband’s paternal grandmother who resided in Wyoming and Boulder in the early 1900s. Ruth’s son Lester (A&S’53); her grandson, my husband Lester (EnvDes’83); and great-grandson Trevor (AeroEng’20) are all graduates of CU.

This year when our daughter Cori (Mktg’23) began her college career, we gave her this postcard as a reminder of her family’s connection to Boulder and CU and she displayed it on her desk in her dorm room.

Kim Willson (CivEngr’96)
Lakewood, Colorado

University Pride

Thank you for continuing to send the Coloradan. I read every one and have saved them as well. The photos and the articles are outstanding and make me proud to be an alum. I graduated in 1965, so I remember Paul Danish (Hist’65) well and always look for his column. Please keep the same format.

Sally Adams O’Connor (Edu’65)
East Hartland, Connecticut

The Connection

I was the game room manager and assistant director [of The Connection] from 1974 to 1980. I succeeded long-time manager Larry Burkett. I was hired by Jim Schafer, the student union director, immediately upon my graduation in 1974.

The Connection, then and now

Before I became assistant director, we modernized it along with having a naming contest. Therein is how The Connection got its name. “The Connection,” said it all — a place to connect with friends and family.

We had a lot of fun remodeling and modernizing the area. We brought in graphics, colors and lights, which brightened up the area with life. We were able to get permission to add 3.2 beer. Needless to say — that was a big hit — it drew in beer drinkers and added to the atmosphere of fun.

We also brought in nationally known pool trick shot artists as another way to promote the game room. It was a fun job, and a vital part of the student experience. We hosted the ACLU games on numerous occasions.

It appears from the Coloradan that The Connection has been taken to yet another level, all for the enjoyment of students and patrons.

Mike Nunnery (PolSci’74)
Baton Rouge, Louisiana

I was a member of the UMC Board during my time at CU. After dinner at the Alferd Packer Grill and our meetings on Tuesday evenings, the whole board would go bowing at The Connection. Both staff and student members participated. The prize for each member of the winning team was a 50-cent can of pop bought by the losing team members from a machine located on a landing of the main stairway. I live in Boulder and still bowl at The Connection sometimes!

Kate Carroll Schmid (Anth, Ger’92)
Boulder

Readers comment on the Shakespeare Festival, The Connetion bowling alley and nostalgic memories from their time at CU.

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A Quiet Moment

Anonymous — Fri, 01 Dec 2017 07:00:00 +0000

A Quiet Moment Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 12/01/2017 - 00:00

A quiet moment outside Old Main.

See a medley of other campus doorways here.

Photo by Casey A. Cass.

See more campus doorways in this issue.

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Then – 1876

Anonymous — Thu, 01 Dec 2016 23:55:30 +0000

Then – 1876 Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 12/01/2016 - 16:55

The Centennial of the United States was a momentous year in the Rockies: The Colorado territory became the State of Colorado, the union’s 38th, and the University of Colorado was formally established in Boulder.

In this southward view of campus from 140 years ago, Old Main stands alone in the distance, top left, ��񱦵�’s first and only building. To the west, there’s nary a structure on The Hill. All else that CU would become is pure possibility.

Photo courtesy Boulder Historical Society Collection of the Carnegie Branch for Local History - Digital Restoration by Mona Lambrecht

The Centennial of the United States was a momentous year in the Rockies.

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Before Varsity Lake

Anonymous — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 07:00:00 +0000

Before Varsity Lake Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 12/01/2010 - 00:00

Imagine the campus without Varsity Lake — just a deep, muddy ravine channeling snowmelt down the hill. In 1880 the Portfolio, the student newspaper of the day, speculated, “We shall see at some time in the future a beautiful lake on the campus. One can be constructed at a very small expense as nature has almost completed the work. Then what times the students will have.” In 1888 a dam was built and Varsity Lake was formed. Recently alumnus Joe Felice (A&S’72) wrote to the Coloradan editorial staff, “Nothing can match the beauty of Varsity Bridge and Lake. I used to love to just go there and let it touch my soul. I was always amazed at the solitude in the middle of such a large campus.”

Imagine the campus without Varsity Lake — just a deep, muddy ravine channeling snowmelt down the hill.

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Old Main

Time Capsule in Old Main

Related Articles

Feedback: Spring 2022

Old Main Memories

Carroll Hardy

Life on Mars

CU’s Language Immersion Program

Love for Outdoor Preschool

Special Boulder Place(s)

Contact for Jim Wagoner

Coloradan Love

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The Story of CU’s Varsity Bridge

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Saving the Bell

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Feedback Fall 2020

Shakespeare at CU

Phi Kappa Tau, 1950s

Picture Perfect

University Pride

The Connection

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A Quiet Moment

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Then – 1876

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Before Varsity Lake

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