RCW: A Look Back 4.18

To welcome students back to campus for the spring semester, let’s take A Look Back at an early campus building – the first home of Kansas basketball – Old Snow Hall.

The basement of Old Snow Hall was the original on-campus home for physical education classes and the basketball team until 1906, when Robinson Gymnasium was completed. Originally built to house Natural History classes and labs, the basement just happened to be a large enough space, though support beams ran down the middle of the floor and the ceiling was initially just 11 feet high. Old Snow Hall was located on the modern lawn area north of Watson Library.

After the building was razed in 1934, Keith Middlemas, a KU alum and stone mason, salvaged a piece of the frieze over the front portico. The carved limestone features a dragon-like figure and is exhibited in the north entry of the DeBruce Center, by the Roasterie Coffee Shop.