1875 CC Trade Dollar: Type 1 Reverse (U.S.)

1863 Indian Head Penny (U.S.)

1874 Three Cent Nickel (U.S.)

1863 2 Öre- Carl XV (Sweden)

1873 Shield Nickel (U.S.)

1803 Draped Bust Large Cent: Small date, small fraction (U.S.)

1868 Indian Head Penny (U.S.)

1802 or 1803 Draped Bust Large Cent (U.S.)

In a snowy outdoor ceremony on Sept. 20, 1875, Boulder town officials and members of the Masonic Grand Lodge placed a small tin box with nearly 50 items in the cornerstone of what would become Old Main. The cornerstone — known as the building’s setting stone — was located on the northeast corner at the transition between the stone foundation and its brick walls.

“The ceremony of today is not one of novelty to dazzle or deceive,” said Webster D. Anthony, the grand master of the Grand Lodge, at the ceremony. “It signifies peace, prosperity, growth in knowledge and social refinement.”

The time capsule contained 12 newspapers, eight coins and a Colorado business directory and statutes book, among other small items. 

The coins range in date from the early 1800s to 1875. All are American coins with the exception of a 1863 2 Öre from Sweden featuring King Carl XV. 

Chancellor William Baughn and Alumni Association executive director Richard Emerson removed the time capsule in September 1985. Another box was placed in the cornerstone with memorabilia from 1985 to be opened in 2075. 

Today, the coins and the other time capsule items are kept at the CU Heritage Center, located on the third floor of Old Main. 

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Photos by Mona Lambrecht, CU Heritage Center

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CU Boulder’s College of Music celebrated its 100th birthday in style last year with a stunning 64,000-square-foot, $57 million expansion funded by numerous private donors and a university matching capital grant.

The Imig Music Building expansion was a long time coming. �鶹��Ժ struggled to find enough practice rooms, and rehearsal and concert spaces were too tight.

The expansion includes brand-new rehearsal and recital facilities, an upgraded chamber hall, a rehearsal-performance space with retractable seating, a state-of-the-art recording studio and a dance studio.                        

Innovation was at the forefront of this project, with spaces specifically devoted to exciting new arms of the department: Entrepreneurship, wellness, music technology and interdisciplinary collaboration.                        

Showing off CU Boulder’s trademark sandstone brick, limestone trim and red clay roof tile, the new building offers beautiful gathering places for students, faculty and music lovers complete with sweeping views of the iconic Flatirons. 

Construction broke ground in early 2019 and wrapped just in time for students to cross the new sandstone entrance on 18th Street to start the Fall 2020 semester.

Photos by Skylar Miller

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Name: Hale Science Building

Year Built: 1893

Architect: Varian & Sterner; east and west wings built in 1910 by Gove & Walsh

Formerly Housed: Hale was the first science building on campus and at one point housed all the sciences, a small museum and the School of Law. The building was named after the second university president, Horace Hale.

Today: The Department of Anthropology

Once Upon a Time: When the building was being designed, the university’s regents wished to make Hale the most thoroughly equipped scientific building in the country. Rather than the typical construction with iron nails, brackets and hinges, all the metal in the building consisted of brass so that magnetic interference would not distort radio signals or transmission experiments.

Did You Know: The university’s first Natural History Museum was originally housed on the third floor of the Hale Building until it moved into its current home in the Henderson Building in 1937.

Have a Memory to Share? Email editor@colorado.edu. 

Check out our other building posts here.


Information and historic photos courtesy of CU Heritage Center; Colored photos by Glenn Asakawa/University of Colorado and Julia Tortoisehugger

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Of course the engineers invited the drones.

They performed brilliantly.

Given a starring role in the formal Aug. 26 debut of CU Boulder’s $10 million Aerospace Engineering Sciences Building, the pair of Phantom 4 Pros did just what they were supposed to — hoist a six-foot white ribbon from the lawn and gently deliver it to the front of the dignitaries’ stage. There, leaning over the edge, benefactor Ann Smead snapped her scissors. A cheer went up, and so did the drones, which shot skyward.

The new 178,000-square-foot East Campus building, home of the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences, includes a bioastronautics lab, a payload operations center with a real-time communications link to the International Space Station and an indoor drone testing space.

Days earlier, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine dropped by, meeting with students, professors, university leaders and business executives. NASA provides more research money to CU Boulder than to any other public university, and it spends more in Colorado than in any other state.

“Science books have been rewritten based on what comes out of Colorado,” Bridenstine said.

Photo by Glenn Asakawa

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A breathtaking view of the Flatirons from the balcony of the Center for Academic Success and Engagement (CASE) building, located in the heart of CU Boulder’s Main Campus. Stay warm out there, Buffs!

Photo by Patrick M. Wine (Film ex'20).

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In CASE You’re Curious…

Don’t forget your camera.

Sweeping Flatirons views and a large bronze buffalo sculpture rank among the many charms of CU Boulder’s newest central campus building, the Center for Academic Success and Engagement (CASE), which opened in July.

 Serving admissions, advising and veteran and military affairs, and with large student learning spaces, the four-story, 114,000-square-foot building represents a fresh, airy take on the campus’ classic architecture.

Vaulted ceilings, ample windows and wide-open study areas harvest and spread light. Cozy lounges encourage visitors to savor the décor, which includes inspiring portraits of the university’s best and brightest. Outside, a north-facing patio offers a perch from which to survey streams of students and appreciate the rhythms of life at CU.

Located near Broadway and Euclid, east of the University Memorial Center and across from the CU Art Museum, the CASE building is surrounded by places and spaces you already know and love. Maybe it’ll be your new favorite.

CASE Building Fast Facts:

1. Opened July 2018
2. 114,000 square feet  
3. Built atop Euclid Parking Garage
4. Home to bronze buffalo sculpture, “Silver & Gold” 
5. Window murals depict famous CU alumni

Photo by Casey A. Cass

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Ever Been Inside?

Name: The Armory

Year Built: 1915

Architectural Style: H. C. Nickerson

Today: College of Media, Communication and Information

Once Upon a Time: The Armory building was the original site of the Colorado National Guard. During WWII, women students used the bulding as a dormitory. In July 2000, the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, now known as the College of Media, Communication and Information, moved into the building.

Did You Know: The building was purchased in 1961 by CU to house dance and the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research.

Have a memory to share? Email editor@colorado.edu. 

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Name: Gates Woodruff Women’s Studies Cottage (originally Cottage #1)

Year built: 1884

Today: Women's Studies Program

Once Upon a Time: When the cottage was first built, it provided dining facilities for 100, sleeping rooms for 12, a bath and an office for the house chaperone. As sororities began to grow on campus around the turn of the 20th century, the cottage gradually changed from a dormitory into the women’s center and eventually was known as the Women’s Building. The Boulder YWCA was founded there and, later, the cottage became the office for the Dean of Women and was home to CU’s former Department of Home Economics.

Did you know: For many years the cottage was on the demolition list, but in 1993 a private fundraising effort was launched to complete a $1 million restoration project. A local women-owned architectural firm, Andrews & Andrews, P.C., was chosen to lead the historical renovation.

Have a Memory to Share? Email editor@colorado.edu. 

Check out our other building posts here.


Information and historic photos courtesy of CU Heritage Center; Colored photos by Patrick Campbell and Casey A. Cass/University of Colorado

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Name: Macky Auditorium

Year Built: Construction began in 1909 and finished in 1922. The inaugural concert took place May 19, 1923.

Architect: Gove & Walsh of Denver

Today: Macky remains CU Boulder's biggest and most glamorous indoor concert hall. �鶹��Ժ and faculty from the College of Music’s band, orchestra, opera and jazz programs perform there, as well as visiting artists hosted by CU Presents and a who's-who of guest speakers. Eleanor Roosevelt, the Dalai Lama, Yo-Yo Ma, Jane Goodall, Robin Williams, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Bill Nye, Antonin Scalia, Sonia Sotomayor, Buzz Aldrin and Anderson Cooper, among many others, have all appeared on the Macky stage.

Once Upon a Time: When Andrew J. Macky, gold rush settler and founding director of the First National Bank in Boulder, died in 1907, he bequeathed $300,000 to CU to build an auditorium. Legal tussles with Macky’s adopted daughter, May, led to construction delays, and the building took 13 years to complete. In 1922, CU’s Board of Regents appropriated $20,000 for a pipe organ.

Did You Know: In 1971, several hundred students attempted to crash a sold-out Neil Young concert, breaking the glass in the foyer doors, and fighting off police armed with fire hoses.

Have a memory to share? Email . 

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Information and historic photos courtesy of CU Heritage Center; Interior photo by Glenn Asakawa/University of Colorado Boulder

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Name: Guggenheim Geography

Year Built: 1908

Architect: James Murdock             

Today: Home of the Department of Geography

Once Upon a Time: The building, which served as the Law School until 1958, was a gift from Senator Simon Guggenheim and was the first privately-funded building on campus. Located in the Norlin Quadrangle Historic District at CU, the building was donated to commemorate the birth of Simon and his wife Olga’s second son, George. In 2017, CU’s Board of Regents approved $24.7 million to renovate the Guggenheim Geography building.

Did You Know: Nearly identical buildings can be found on both the CSU campus in Fort Collins and the UNC campus in Greeley.

Have a Memory to Share? Email editor@colorado.edu.

Check out our other building posts here.

Information and historic photos courtesy of CU Heritage Center; photo by Amanda Clark

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