1915 Herculean Pillars
Introduction
Text-to-speech Audio
Images
Heculean Pillars serve as gateway to the university
Herculean Pillars and Normal School Administration building in winter or 1937. Photo by Graham Dressler.
Students wait for the arrival of President Harry S. Truman in May 1950. Photo from Kinnickinik 1950.
Backstory and Context
Text-to-speech Audio
Soon after the 1896
Normal School building burned down in 1912, students and the members of the
Alumni Association came up with the idea to create a memorial to their beloved
school using the granite stones from the old foundation. By 1914, they had raised
over $1,200, and they hired builder, O.L. Hoof of Spokane to create the
entrance. The workmen finished the pillars in time for the May 1915 dedication
of the new Normal School administration building.
At times the
entrance gate has been called the Gates of Knowledge, the Pillars of Hercules, and finally, the Herculean
Pillars. They still serve as the symbolic entrance to the university.
Granite foundation stones from the 1896 school were also purchased by the Women's Relief Corps for the base of the veterans memorial that stands a block east in Veterans Park.