EDUCATION · HISTORICAL MARKER
Burleson Quadrangle
Education
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Burleson Quadrangle, named for Dr. Rufus C. Burleson, first president of Baylor's Waco Campus, took on its current appearance with the completion of Baylor's four original buildings: Old Main in 1886, Georgia Burleson Hall in 1888, The F. L. Carroll Chapel and Library in 1903, and the George W. Carroll Science Building in 1903. Since then it has served as a social area and a link to Baylor's history and tradition. It has often been the site of evolving social norms and customs at Baylor. During the 1920s, the ring out ceremony, held every spring there, became a Baylor tradition that is still performed today. In the ceremony, an ivy chain passes from senior students to junior students, symbolizing the passing of custodianship of the historic bells located in the quadrangle to Baylor's next graduating class. Originally performed by female students, the ceremony later grew to include male students. Since 1945, students have also participated there in the passing of the key ceremony at graduation time; the key opens a Baylor time capsule placed in the quadrangle during the university's 1945 centennial. The quadrangle is also the location of a bronze sculpture of Dr. Burleson, unveiled in 1905 and created by Italian-born Texas sculptor Pompeo Coppini, and of the centennial monument, constructed in 1945 using stones from Tryton Hall, formerly at the Independence campus, and several buildings on the Waco Campus.
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