Talk about historic – the University of Missouri-Columbia was established in 1839. It was the first state university established west of the Mississippi River.

In 1973, 18 buildings at the University were placed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Francis Quadrangle Historic District. The area, bound by Conley Avenue and Elm, Ninth and Sixth streets, is also called the “Red Campus,” so named for the red brick used throughout. This area, the NRHP nomination form notes, “is significant as the oldest, most monumental expression of the quadrangle type of campus planning in the state.”

Starting in 1998, Columbia’s Historic Preservation Commission began recognizing historic buildings and endorsed the historic significance of 11 university or university-affiliated buildings by adding them to its Notable Properties list.

Francis Quadrangle

These buildings represent several architectural styles: Richardsonian Romanesque, High Victorian Italianate, High Gothic, Georgian Revival and Classical Revival styles, according to the Historic Register nomination form.

• Jesse Hall, 1895, named to the National Register in 1973 and to the Notable Properties list in 1998
• Parker Memorial Hospital, 1901, now known as Parker Hall, was named to the National Register in 1973 and the Notable Properties list in 2000.
• Pickard Hall, 1892, named to the National Register in 1973 and the Notable Properties list in 2001.
• Swallow Hall,  1901, named to the National Register in 1973 and the Notable Properties list in 2002.
• Switzler Hall, 1892-93, named to the National Register in 1973 and the Notable Properties list in 2003.
• The Memorial Gateway, 1890-1915, named to the National Register in 1973 and the Notable Properties list in 2005.

Other MU Historic Buildings

• Sanford Conley House, 1868 circa, named to Columbia’s Notable Properties list on 2002
• Kappa Kappa Gamma Society, 1928-1968, 512 Rollins Road, Columbia’s Notable Properties list in 2012.
• Ellis Fischell Cancer Center, 1940, named to Columbia’s Notable Properties list in 2004.
• Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity, 1902, 24 E. Stewart Road, 2004, named to Notable Properties List.
• Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity, 2010, named as a Columbia Notable Property.
• Schlundt Building and Annex, named to Columbia’s Notable Property list.
• Pi Beta Phi Missouri Alpha Chapter House, 1930, 511 E. Rollins St. Named to Columbia’s Notable Properties list in 2013.

Other MU buildings mentioned in the news

MU Student Center

• August 2014 — Flashback: Brady Commons, Columbia Business Times. Summary: Brady Commons was the former student center. Opened in 1963, it was named for MU dean and history professor Thomas Allan Brady. According to this article in the Columbia Business Times, which quotes a Missouri Alumnus newsletter, it featured “innovations including color televisions, downstairs bowling alleys and a listening room in which students could play records.” The previous building that served the purpose of student center was the Memorial Student Union, which was built in 1921. But when MU’s student body increased to 15,000, MU “conferred with architectural firm Jamieson, Spearl, Hammond and Grolock and son had blueprints for the future Brady Commons,” the article states. Brady Commons was renovated in 1981 and a bookstore expansion took place in 1997, the article states.  The current student center opened in 2010 is simply known as the MU Student Center. The article notes the name Brady “attracted controversy in 2006 when a student group called Not My Brady called for it to be removed. According to this group, the building’s original namesake had been instrumental in enforcing segregationist and anti-gay policies over the course of his 37-year career at the university.”
• April 2, 2009 — New student center name debate dredges up Brady’s past, The Maneater. Summary: This article provides context to statements that Thomas Allan Brady was homophobic and racist. It reports that statements attributed to him were him quoting another person and another statement referenced the fact that in 1947 MU was legally segregated and in 1949 and during Brady’s entire lifetime, homosexuality was illegal by law in Missouri.