University of Denver Autumn 2025

ODDS & ENDS

Photo courtesy DU Special Collections

Laying Bricks A crowd of DU trustees, University officials, and interested locals gather on April 3, 1890, to watch as workers lay the cornerstone for one of DU’s most iconic buildings. Constructed from stone quarried south of Denver in Castle Rock and designed in the Richardsonian Romanesque style, the $80,000 structure would go on to house a library, classrooms, laboratories, the Denver Clarion, and a girls’ gymnasium. Nearly 30 years later—amid DU’s infamous rivalry with Colorado School of Mines—a mischievous student left a cow in one of the classrooms. The pranks escalated on Nov. 6, 1919, when dynamite that was set off 200 feet southwest of the building shattered windows and reportedly cracked the exterior.

From Page 4: Answers to The Lore of DU Quiz 1

Skiing! People who don’t know much about DU or Denver might think that the slopes are much closer to campus than they actually are. Workers numbered every single piece of the Evans Chapel before painstakingly disassembling and reassembling the building by hand. False! Legend has it that DU student John Hipp, who walked the stage in 1884, collected his diploma and yelled, “Hip, hip, hooray!”—ostensibly as a nod to his last name. However, the celebratory saying can be traced back to long before the 1880s. Chancellor Ritchie! He wanted winding paths to evoke the ups and downs of the educational journey. Not sure! If you think you can prove that Mary Reed is still hanging around the Renaissance Room, let us know! The last time DU won a football game was 1960—because that’s the last year that DU had a football team. True! It was part of a long-running rivalry between DU and the Colorado School of Mines. On Nov. 6, 1919, Mines pranksters set off dynamite around DU’s campus before sunrise. The copper shingles are covered in a thin layer of gold leaf, just like the Colorado State Capitol’s beautiful dome.

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Can you guess which building this is? Email your answer to dumag@du.edu for a chance to win an item from DU’s bookstore.

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UNIVERSITY OF DENVER MAGAZINE | AUTUMN 2025