Spring Break
Graduation Gateway: Students continue Arch's century-old tradition
DANIEL BURNETT
Issue date: 11/4/09 Section: News
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It's a doorway to history.
From the historic Arch on the edge of North Campus, students left the University to become Confederate soldiers. Some came back wounded, some didn't come back at all.
The Arch witnessed the dawn of the automobile. The Great Depression. Two world wars. The new millennium. Under it walked 151 years of living history.
The story of the Arch begins as a real estate transaction and ends as the most defining symbol of the University of Georgia.
"[The University] had a little botanical garden on what would now be Milledge [Avenue], and they sold it," said University historian Nash Boney. "They used the money from that to put up the fence and the Arch - the same fence and Arch that you see today."
In 1858, the wrought iron structure was cast in Athens and placed on North Campus for $1,000. The Arch is modeled after the seal of Georgia - with the three pillars representing wisdom, justice and moderation.
The structure outlasted the Civil War, despite the University closing in October 1863 and the campus becoming home to Union soldiers during military oversight following the Confederate Army's defeat. Even as several North Campus buildings - including the Chapel - were used as target practice for soldiers, the Arch was not destroyed.
As time progressed, traditions grew around the old structure - traditions that last to this day.
During the early decades of the 20th century, the Arch was occasionally garnished with signs warning freshmen not to walk underneath.
"In the old days, maybe even after World War II, the freshmen would get paddled for [walking underneath the Arch]," Boney said.
