Ohio State University - Makio Yearbook (Columbus, OH)

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CAMPUS LIFE ' Vi ' e make tlu- prcJiction that time will prove the college (now Ohio State) to be a failure and the fund ( for its establishment ) to have been wasted. St) spoke the CleieLind Herjld in IS ' O. A few years later the HtfiiU went out of business, but despite this early adverse publicity the Ohio State University is still a going concern. Back in the early days of the University the street- cars ran only as far north as Goodale St. Since there were practically no houses along High St. north of this point the students were somewhat isolated. To solve the problem of housing, the Old North Dorm was erected. One of the distinguishing features of dorm life in those days was the early morning trip to the well for water in which to wash. Coal for the old pot-bellied stoves also had to be carried up several flights of nar- row stairs. Perhaps the most disconcerting point, however, was the refusal of most of the students to carry the coal buckets back downstairs which was like- ly to result in the deafening roar of a coal bucket bouncing down several flights of stairs at any rime of the day or night. Athletics played a very small part in life .it Ohio State in the latter part of the Nineteenth Century. Probably the first football game was played in the 1880s when a local group of boys scrimmaged with some boys from Denison. Due to the lack of an ade- quate field the game was played in the flat bed of a dried-up river. The stones in it wo.-ked considerable hardship on those unfortunate enough to be caught with the ball, and it was som; time before football succeeded in dethroning baseball as the favorite sport in student circles. A more popular college game at this time, accord- ing to Carl G. Doney. ' 91. was the class flag battle. At various times during the year each class would run its flag up on the flagstaf? atop University Hall and then attempt to defend it for the day against the onslauijhts of the other students. In the realm of activities, th ' - literary societies claimed early predominance. There were two of these. Morton and Aiycone. liach had meetings with programs including the reading of an essay, an ora- tion, and a deb.ite. Many of today ' s campus institu- tions originated in the halls of these scKietics. In .id- dition to their intellectual activities, the members of these groups distinguished themselves by taking part in an annual tug-of-war which was one of the out- standing athletic contests on the campus and demand- ed considerable training and practice by the members of both teams. This was the way the students lived in the old days when Ohio State was young. The school has grown from an enrollment of 17 to 24,500. but the basic elements of campus life are still the same as in 1890 when the two chief difficulties were military drill at noon and the shortage of coeds. .1 ttftt of an aicrjf c f iiJrti ' i room on th .Air. in 1911

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I ' hc first graiiiia ing class al Ohio $ (i c: (1) John 1-. Mci-addcu {!) Waiter A. Dun, {i) Charles H. Dietrich (4) Fvrtlhuiml IIouulil, (5) Curtis C. Howard (6) Arthur B. Totunhcrni An early form of vehicular transljortafioii and its oicner Tyl ' ieal sfiidtii f, uorkina on canilnn imfiroic- went in 1890

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If ' Time to fio m CLASS