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Standing on the southern veranda and looking
across the vast expanse of land, Charles Hovey
decided "Old Main" needed a grand
setting to surround its beauty. "The grounds
must be made to do justice to the building,"
said Jesse Fell. 
A professional landscape gardener, William
Saunders from Philadelphia, was enlisted to design
the campus. Saunders is also known for his
landscape design of the U.S. Capitol Grounds in
Washington, D.C., the Lincoln Monument in
Springfield, Illinois, his design of the National
Cemetery at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and the
founding of the Grainge in 1867. His designs of
cemeteries made Saunders famous in his day, and,
incidentally, the original plan of ISU’s campus
is reminiscent of such a cemetery plan. It was an
intricate plan with winding walks, carriage roads,
ponds, gardens, and grouping of vegetation. This
original design covered 56 acres, which sufficed
for the first one hundred years of Illinois State
University’s history.
Under the leadership of President Fairchild, who
assumed office in 1933 during the Great
Depression, federal funds from such programs as
the Works Project Administration (WPA), were used
to improve the general appearance of the campus
with the construction of walks, drives, tennis
courts, and playing fields.
On a walk between the Old Union and Centennial
Buildings is a resting nook constructed from
salvaged materials from Old Main and Major’s
Hall. It was designed by architect Orme Evans in
1961.
The Amphitheater, located at the southeast corner
of the Quad, was the site of many graduation
ceremonies for Illinois State University. The
graduating seniors would march in a procession
from Old Main to the Amphitheater where the
convocation took place. During the fifties, the
number of graduating students became too large to
handle at this location. The ceremony was
eventually moved indoors. This also was due to the
inclement weather that occasionally interrupted
the outdoor festivities.
During the sixties and early seventies, in the
midst of the Vietnam War, many student Peace
demonstrations were held in this same spot.
Although the demonstrations were peaceful, the
University and the Bloomington-Normal community
were opposed to the student led protests.
In May 1970, following the Kent State University
student shootings and the Jackson State University
student shootings,
President Braden, in deference to student demands,
lowered the flag in the Quad to half-staff in
honor of those students killed. The lowering of
the flag prompted many construction workers who
were building Eastgate Hall, to storm the Quad
with bricks, hammers, and wooden planks to
disperse students and raise the flag. President
Braden called upon the Normal police to remove the
construction workers, but they refused. The Normal
police chief stated that as long as the flag was
at half-staff, ISU was not a part of the United
States and did not warrant any police protection.
President Braden had no choice but to call in the
State police who surrounded the flagpole with
squad cars and armed men. Eventually this led to
Braden’s resignation later that year. In the
Fall of 1970, surveillance equipment was installed
on several buildings, and the flagpole was
replaced with an electronic flagpole, which raised
and lowered the flag automatically.
April 1, 1970, proclaimed Earth Day worldwide was
a time of the largest student gathering on the
Quad. However, the event was marred by the amount
of litter and debris left by students
demonstrating for a cleaner environment.
During the 1970s, the Quad was also the center for
a local rock concert that drew as many as
35,000-40,000 fans. After several years of holding
this event in the late spring, the University
banned further events from taking place citing mob
action, disorderly conduct, and damage to
University property.
In 1992, the town of Normal bestowed on Illinois
State University its Beautification Award. Five
years later, the Professional Grounds Management
Society also recognized the University.
Presently, the Quadrangle is used for student
festivals throughout the school year.
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