My public has been clamoring for more posts about benches (seriously!) so we may as well start now. I occasionally hear it said that for years there were no benches allowed on campus. Sometimes the speculation is that this was to thwart romantic activities, sometimes that it was meant to thwart vagrants. Both seem quite plausible to me. There have been some benches around, though, for a significant amount of time. See here and here.
Oddly enough, these benches seem to have a tendency to move around. Here’s an example:
An undated photo that includes two benches across the road from George R. Brown, which aren’t there any more.
What became of them? I think they and some comrades headed over to Valhalla for a beer and never came back.
More later . . .