Main Quadrangle / Quad

The main campus quadrangle was a fixture on campus by 1905, [1] anchored by New Main University Hall to the north and, in 1908, the Auditorium to the south. [2] The quad as it presently stands measures 203 feet wide by 940 feet long. [3] To facilitate dissemination of campus information by students, three concrete pillars once stood on Quad, known as Illiosks. However, these were frequently vandalized, and by the early 2000's, only one remained. [4]

Students on campus in the late 1960's and 70's may remember the Quad's Illini Forum Area, which designated an oasis of free speech in the midst of the Clabaugh Act's oppression. This little-used relic of a bygone era, with its concrete podium and benches and red brick floor originally cost $4,007, [5] but was eventually demolished in the late 1980's or early 1990's. It was located directly south of Harker Hall's eastern-most south-facing window, just past the modern gates that now close Harker's south plaza. The red brick floor of the Area is still preserved, forming the ground of the bike racks just south of the Natural History Building. [6]

The Quad is also home to the "Quad Bench and Light", affectionately known as the Quad Flame, [7] as well as to the 1913 Lincoln Hall Gateway. [8]

Students of old will recall the two rows of elm trees which once ran along the Quad. These were a gift to the University in 1918 by Robert F. Carr, Class of 1893, when he was a member of the Board of Trustees. In 1943 the Board of Trustees considered a recommendation by an alumnus of the University to rename the twin rows of trees as "Robert F. Carr Lane" or "Robert F. Carr Avenue" in recognition. [9]