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Old Main
Address: 1200 E University Blvd, Tucson, AZ 85721
Hour of Operation and Old Main purposes: The University of Arizona Old Main office is open Monday-Friday between the hours of 8:00am and 5:00pm.
The University of Arizona - Old Main, originally known as the School of Architecture was the first building ever built on the University of Arizona campus. This building originally held many purposes and was the only building on campus for a while. With that being said, the Old Main, or School of Architecture held dorms, libraries, offices and classrooms so almost anything that students or faculty needed could be found in this one building! Currently, the University has expanded greatly with separate buildings for all students’ needs, such as dormitories, places to study quietly, a student union with plenty of food options, and amazing classrooms and lecture halls. The first building ever built on campus, Old Main once served as everything from classrooms to dorms, offices, and a library when the University of Arizona first began. At the time, the university consisted of just six faculty teaching 32 students Old Main is the heart of the University of Arizona, and it’s where you’ll find President Robbins’ office, a museum, and a wraparound porch.
History
As stated previously, the Old Main was the first building constructed here at the University of Arizona, making it the oldest building on campus. While the Old Main was originally the University's "School of Agriculture", as the University of Arizona and its campus began to expand this building was completely renovated and named the Old Main. The Old Main is not only the oldest building on our campus, but also one of the oldest buildings among all Universities in the Western part of our country. The Old Main holds a lot more significance than just being one of the oldest educational buildings, in fact it was actually "borrowed" from the University of Arizona back in 1942 by the U.S. Navy and they used this building as a training base for a few years which in the long run added much more history and significance to this building. Originally Old Main held all of the University's operations, from classrooms and labs to offices and sleeping accommodations. Although the University of Arizona Old Main has been renovated many times, and the structure of the building has changed greatly over the years. A very interesting fact about the Old Main is that no matter how much the building has changed over the past few decades, the windows within this building are the same exact windows that were put into the building when it was first built back in 1887. The windows are kept on the building so that there is always a piece of the beginning of the University on campus, showing how much the University cares for traditions.
James Miller Creighton, a local draftsman was responsible for the development of Old Main. He started planning out the buildings architecture and eventually the construction of Old Main started on October 27, 1887.The spending plan of about $38,000 ended up not being enough to complete the building which led to the point of college authorities being forced to find government credit that was accessible for rural schools. Federal financing permitted the culmination of the structure and it opened for the top of the line of the college on October 1, 1891.
Myths
Everyone knows or has at least heard stories of the Old Main being haunted, but after taking a trip to the special collections library for a class last semester, we had the amazing opportunity of hearing the real facts and history behind the haunting of Old Main. "The story goes that Carlos often spent the night at Old Main while it was being built, chatting with members of local Indian tribes who stopped by to check out the project and keeping watch over the building, which some locals were not happy to see being constructed. One morning, Carlos's construction crew members arrived to find their beloved boss sitting in a wooden chair with a large knife stuck in his throat. His murder was never solved, and it's said that his spirit still haunts the building, where a number of students, staff and faculty have reported seeing him over the years." And so the story goes...
References
https://uanews.arizona.edu/story/the-ghost-of-old-main
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Main,_University_of_Arizona
https://arizonaalumni.com/traditions/old-main
