The William Oxley Thompson statue was created in 1930 by Art Professor Erwin Frey, OSU’s first Artist in Residence. In addition to this statue of Thompson, the first president of Ohio State, Frey’s works are numerous and range from the well-known General George Custer monument in New Rumley, Ohio to the lesser-known carving of Indian chief Tahgajute done under the supervision of students at Indianola Junior High School which you can hear more about in site number 283.
William Oxley Thompson was one of OSU’s best known and beloved Ohio State presidents for 26 years. His door was always open to students and faculty, and as a minister, he married many of them. According to legend, a couple who walks together down the Long Walk, or main stretch of sidewalk from College Road by the Wexner Center to the statue, will get married.
Behind the iconic statue is a University jewel -- the William Oxley Thompson Library. Built on the site of William Neil’s house, the Second Italian Renaissance Revival central portion of the library was built in 1911 by the Boston firm Allen and Collens. The site was suggested by John and Frederick Law Olmsted, designers of New York’s Central Park. Within a few decades, the library reached capacity because of the post World War II enrollment boom, and in 1951, an 11-story expansion was added. In that time, the library’s collection grew, and by the 1950s, it contained more than 4 million works.
Through the years, the library continued to change. The beautiful main reading room was divided into 2 floors in 1966, another addition was added in 1971, the building was retrofitted, the study areas were worn, and the stacks were dingy. All that changed with a 2009 renovation by George Acock Associates that restored the 1911 main building to its original glory, especially the central reading room, while transforming the interior space to state-of-the-art library technology. Donated alumni treasures, rare manuscripts and artifacts are also on display, and no visit is complete without a trip to the top of the stacks which were once ruled by pigeons, to see an Arts and Crafts reading room which overlooks all of Ohio State. The renovation received many awards and represents the largest capital allocation ever made by OSU for an academic building.
The idea of grouping future academic buildings, including the library, around a central space came about in 1893; however, the layout was first designed to be a quadrangle. Eventually, as small faculty homes were removed on the “south” side, and Orton and Hayes Halls were placed around the open space, an oval emerged. By 1910, the term “the Oval,” was common, but there were no diagonal sidewalks from the Long Walk. Instead, dirt paths were worn by students and faculty cutting across the Oval, and each year the University replanted the paths. Eventually, the first campus architect, Professor Bradford, created the formal set of diagonal sidewalks. While modernized in many ways, it is still easy to spot campus buildings on the Oval built before the late 1920s because they have exterior “vestibule” like-entrances where students could clean off muddy shoes or leave them by the door. Additionally, numerous plaques -- which mark memorial trees for students and faculty – can be found across the Oval.