Old
Main
University
Park, Pennsylvania
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Old Main is
the University’s landmark building and today serves as Penn
State’s administrative center. Designed by architect Charles
Z. Klauder, it was built in 1930 using limestone blocks from the
first Old Main and stands on the same site. The original structure,
completed in 1863 and razed in 1929, contained classrooms, a chapel,
offices, laboratories, and student and faculty living quarters.
The panoramic Land Grant Frescoes in Old Main’s rotunda,
depicting the University’s founding and evolution, were painted
by mural artist Henry Varnum Poor between 1940 and 1949.
Pennsylvania
State University began in 1855 as an agricultural college with
64 students. Penn State is now a world-class learning community
of more than 80,000 students on 24 campuses located throughout
the Commonwealth. Today Penn State offers education in a multitude
of fields, from physical education certification and chef degrees
to technical, law and medical degrees.
The Nittany
Lion is Penn State’s mascot. The name is attributed to Harrison
“Joe” Mason ’07. At a 1904 Penn State/Princeton
baseball game he instantly fabricated the “Nittany Lion”
as the “fiercest beast of them all” who could even beat
Princeton’s Bengal Tiger.
Text
© 2003 Joanne Swick, Drawing © 2003 Bill Harrah.
PENNSYLVANIA
STATE UNIVERSITY (Click on an image to see the
actual notecard size)