The renovation of the academic quad has begun and the statue of Mr. Rice has been removed and put in storage until it is placed near the corner of Lovett and Sewall when the installation of the new landscaping is complete:
It’s easy to forget that it wasn’t always there.
Bonus:
So, what you are saying is they are going to put Willie in the corner?
Sounds like a line from a movie😂
Yet the inappropriate Italian Cypress tress were always part of the original quad design?
Yes, from Day One. They were never a perfect fit but they became totally inappropriate when we decided it was important to keep the lawn green at all times. It was the watering that did it.
If the cypress trees come back, at least they won’t be the ones that have been scarred/damaged since the Feb 2021 freeze.
Totally inappropriate Italian cypress trees. This is great.
And a very bad movie, I’d say.
What year did it go into the center?
June, 1930.
The June 2021 “On the Founder’s Memorial” update by the University’s “Task Force on
Slavery, Segregation, and Racial Injustice” gives a very detailed (> 30 pages) history of Willy’s statue:
https://alumni.rice.edu/sites/g/files/bxs3301/files/2021-06/Task%20Force%20June%202021%20Update%20on%20Founder's%20Memorial.pdf
I like the monochrome picture of (what is now “part” of) the Rice campus … showing the Sallyport (aka Lovett Hall) and [what used to be called] the Physics building. It includes some dorm buildings in the background … which iirc are now the “old dorm” parts of what are now Baker and Will Rice.
If the print (and/or the negative) of that picture happens to come with some “date” information (or, at least, the year…) about when it was “snapped” … then the sizes and [hence] the ages of some of the trees which were sorta saplings at that time, might not have to be replied upon as the only source of information about the age or the ‘provenance’ of that photo.
On the other hand, in the absence of such written records, the ages of some of those trees, might be very interesting … at least, to an expert. (along with, perhaps, some knowledge about when — if ever — some re-planting of trees occurred, on campus … especially if it was before we were around.
A sad day.
No, it is not easy to forget!
When was that picture of Sid Rich taken? Because everything above ground level has now been torn down.
Are there any living alumni who remember when Willy wasn’t there?