Preview
Creation Date
1-1-1927
Description
Built - 1927
Dedicated - October 8, 1927
Cost of Construction - $50,000
Architect - Brinton Davis
Namesake - W.L. "Gander" Terry was a Marion native. He was a former football player, an athletic director, an assistant football coach and a head football coach. He also played on the old football field where the Ivan Wilson Fine Arts Center now stands. Terry graduated in 1927 and was inducted in the University's Athletic Hall of Fame in 1997. He died in 1991 at the age of 83. The colonnade was dedicated to him on July 23, 2003.
This Classic Revival colonnade once served as the entryway to an athletic stadium. It was built at an original cost of $50,000 and was completed in November 1927. The Stadium replaced a limestone quarry on the northeast side of campus. Lights were installed in 1946, and metal bleachers replaced wooden bleachers in 1963. Constructed of limestone by the Raymond Construction Company of Bowling Green, this colonnade contributes to the character of the campus. Although the athletic field has been replaced by the Ivan Wilson Fine Arts center, the stadium seats continue to serve as an amphitheater.
Historic Architecture at Western Kentucky University, Kentucky Library & Museum, 1998.
According the Park City Daily News, April 4, 1927 the colonnade measures 155 feet in length and stands 24 feet high.
Renovations:
1946 - lights $15,000, seven 80 foot towers each with eighteen 1500 watt lights
1970 - fenced, gravel walkway repaired, signage, seeding
1998 - pressure washed and sealed, removal of wooden seats $30,000
2007 - $225,000 restoration of interior brick and exterior limestone
Park City Daily News:
Hilltoppers are Winners Over 11 of Transylvania, Oct. 17, 1927
Hunter, Wales. Clean Sweep, photo, Apr. 29, 1998
The Way it Was, Feb. 24, 1980
Western Dedicates Her New Stadium with Win by 61 to 0 Over Bethel, Oct. 10, 1927
Western Teachers and Bethel College Grid Teams are Opponents, Oct. 6, 1927
Keywords
Western Kentucky University