This vintage post card shows the sun dial that was on a pedestal, between Low Library and Butler Library, at Columbia University, in New York City. The back of the post card says that the dark green granite sphere was presented to Columbia by the Class of 1885 on June 1st, 1910, which was their 25th anniversary.
THE
SUN DIAL
COLUMBIA
UNIVERSITY
BUTLER
LIBRARY
LOW
LIBRARY
ALMA
MATER
ME
The sun dial can be seen on the right side of this photo, which may be from the 1930's. The sun dial and the main Columbia University campus were designed by the architectural firm of McKim, Mead and White. |
A closeup of the sun dial, in the photo on the left. |
The 7-foot diameter sphere was removed, in 1946, after it had cracked, and only its pedestal remains. |
Columbia University was founded, in New York City, on January 4, 1754, as King's College, by a royal charter granted by King George II of England, and its first classes were held in Trinity Church, on Broadway, in lower Manhattan, on July 17th of that year. Classes were suspended in 1776 and after the American Revolutionary War, in 1784, the college reopened as Columbia College, at Park Place, near the present City Hall, with a new charter, granted by New York State. In 1857, Columbia College moved to mid Manhattan, at 49th Street and Madison Avenue, near Rockerfeller Center, which was built on land that was owned by Columbia University, until 1985. In 1897, Columbia moved to its present location, above Central Park, at 116th Street, between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue, in Morningside Heights, where part of the Battle of Harlem Heights was fought, between American and British forces, on September 16, 1776, during the American Revolutionary War. A plaque, from 1897, on the Mathematics Building, at Columbia University, along Broadway, commemorates the Battle of Harlem Heights. Columbia University is the six oldest college in the United States of America and the oldest college in New York State. The official symbol of Columbia University is a king's crown, which is based on the design of the crown that was part of a weathervane on its first building, at Church Street and Murray Street. This crown is now on display in the Trustees' Room of Low Library.
COLUMBIA
UNIVERSITY
COLUMBIA
UNIVERSITY WEBCAM
A
BRIEF HISTORY OF COLUMBIA
BARTLEBY
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
HARLEM
HEIGHTS
HARLEM
HEIGHTS OLD BATTLE MAP
US
WARS BATTLE OF HARLEM HEIGHTS
BATTLE
OF HARLEM HEIGHTS
PUBLICBOOKSHELF
BATTLE OF HARLEM HEIGHTS
A
HISTORICAL TOUR OF THE GREATEST STREET IN THE WORLD.......BROADWAY
PLAQUE
COMMEMORATING THE BATTLE OF HARLEM HEIGHTS
WHAT
IS THE MACE? A GUIDE TO COLUMBIA'S ICONS
Butler Library in 1987. The pedestal of the sun dial can be seen in this photo. |
A photo, from 1989, showing some of the columns at the front of Butler Library, with the names of the philosophers Plato and Aristotle above them. |
Low Library in 1983. It is the main administration building of Columbia University, where its President has his office. |
Low Library in 1989. |
Alma Mater, from 1903, in front of Low Library, in 1987. Weighing four tons and standing eight feet high, it was created by Daniel Chester French, who also created the statue of Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial, in Washington, District of Columbia. |
 |
 |
I received my Bachelor of Arts degree, in Philosophy, at Columbia University, in May of 1989! My father also graduated from Columbia University, in 1949, with a Bachelor of Architecture degree! |
