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Dr. Rufus C. Burleson was the first president of Baylor’s Waco campus and Burleson Quadrangle was named in his honor. With the completion of Baylor’s four original buildings—Old Main (1886), Georgia Burleson Hall (1888), the F. L. Carroll Chapel and Library (1903), and the George W. Carroll Science Building (1903), the Quadrangle took on its current appearance, and has since that time served as a social area and a link to Baylor’s history and tradition. Burleson Quadrangle has often been the site of the evolving social norms and customs at Baylor. During the 1920s the “Ring Out” ceremony, held every spring in Burleson Quadrangle, became a Baylor tradition and is still performed today. The ceremony involves the passing of an ivy chain from senior students to junior students, and symbolizes the passing of custodianship of the historic bells that are located in the Quadrangle to Baylor’s next graduating class. The ceremony was originally performed by female students, but has since grown to also include male students. Since 1945, students have participated in the passing of the key ceremony, also held in the Quadrangle at graduation time. The key opens a Baylor time capsule that was placed in the Quadrangle during the university’s 1945 centennial. Burleson Quadrangle is the location of a bronze sculpture of Dr. Burleson, unveiled in 1905 and created by renowned Italian-born Texas sculptor Pompeo Coppini (1870-1957). The centennial monument, also located within the Quadrangle, was constructed in 1945 using stones from Tryon Hall (formerly located at the Independence campus) and several buildings on the Waco campus. |
