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Yale Old Campus: then and now

1901 vs 2012 · New Haven, CT

Yale Old Campus, 2012Yale Old Campus, 1901
NowThen
Then, 1901A color-tinted photo of a brick dormitory with a small tower at the right, and a dirt path under big elm trees.Photo: Detroit Publishing Co. · Public domain · Source · resized
Today, 2012Red-brick dormitories at the edge of a grassy yard with bare trees, seen from the courtyard.Photo: Ad Meskens · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source · resized

The story

The Old Campus is the oldest part of the Yale University campus. It is a 4-acre (1.6 ha) courtyard with a main entrance from the New Haven Green known as Phelps Gate. Fourteen buildings surround it, including eight dormitories and two chapels.

Yale's first building here, the College House, went up in 1718. Connecticut Hall followed in 1750 and is Yale's only surviving building from the colonial era. A plan in 1792 called Old Brick Row was the first campus plan in the United States and became a template for many other American colleges.

After 1870, the Old Brick Row plan gave way to the current quadrangle. Architect Charles C. Haight finished Phelps Gate in 1895 and Phelps Hall in 1896.

Did you know? The first U.S. campus plan was drawn up here in 1792.
Historians argue about this. Many people think old colleges just grew without a plan. Wikipedia says the 1792 Old Brick Row plan was the first campus plan in the United States.

Fact or tall tale?

Sources

More: Look for historic photos at the Library of Congress

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Next: Vanderbilt Hall. Written from the cited sources, not yet walked on site unless noted.