Last week I put up this post about the front gate. I heard from several people about it, including one especially alert reader who asked about the pyramidal blob that you can see in front of Lovett Hall when you zoom in on this photo:
It’s hard to tell when you look at it from that angle, but quite clear from the other side. It’s just a big old shrub.
That’s a pretty big crowd, too. It was the day that General Pershing visited Rice–February 5, 1920. (Just by the way, even without a date on the photo you would know it was 1919-1921 by the men’s hats and high shirt collars. They are an absolute dead give-away.) Here he is planting the pecan tree in what is now called Founder’s Court. My favorite thing about the picture, though, is the guy down in the hole, who has done all the actual work. That’s the famous Tony Martino, the gardener who tended the campus for decades. He’s the source of the quote on those “Rice Fight Never Die” t-shirts that I see on students all over campus.
I have a couple more interesting pictures that were taken on this day, but I don’t have them on this laptop. I’ll try to remember to post them next week.
Bonus picture: I took this one when I had to sit down from queasiness on my way up to the top of the stadium. Ugh.
