Texas Christian University

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Tours

  1. History & Traditions Self-Guided Audio Tour

    Learn about the history and traditions that make TCU special on this new, self-guided audio tour.

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    1. Amon G. Carter Stadium

      Believing that sports were a frivolous waste of time, TCU founder Addison Clark stood in strong opposition to the development of intercollegiate football and baseball in the 1890’s. His son, Addie felt differently, though, and played football as often as he could. After watching his son’s love of the game, Addison changed his mind and decided to allow the formation of a University football team. TCU went on to play its first intercollegiate football game in 1896 against Toby’s Business College.

      When the Horned Frogs faithful began to overflow the stands at the team’s home field, Clark Field, the TCU Board of Trustees realized that a new stadium was necessary. Riding momentum from the team’s first Southwest Conference title, a football stadium began to take shape in 1929. Less than one year after beginning construction on the stadium, the Frogs played their first game in the new Amon G. Carter Stadium against the University of Arkansas on October 11, 1930.

      Over the next two decades, several expansions and renovations of Amon G. Carter Stadium occurred – most notably the addition of the upper deck in 1956. In the 2000s, Amon G. Carter Stadium has continued to receive updates.

      The 2012 season marked the re-opening of the stadium after a $164 million renovation completely funded through donor support. In 2019 the stadium underwent an additional $118 million East side expansion bringing the total capacity to 47,000 as we know it today.

    2. National Pan-Hellenic Council Monument

      In 2018, TCU became the first university in the country to have pillars installed on campus in honor of the National Pan-Hellenic Council, also known as NPHC. NPHC is a collaborative umbrella council composed of historically African American fraternities and sororities.

      The first NPHC organization on TCU’s campus was Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity in 1971. Today, six of the nine organizations with membership in NPHC are active on campus: Alpha Phi Alpha; Alpha Kappa Alpha; Kappa Alpha Psi; Omega Psi Phi; Delta Sigma Theta; and Sigma Gamma Rho.

      Each NPHC organization, even those not on TCU’s campus, have a pillar in Worth Hills. Each pillar includes the group’s Greek letters, crest, open motto, and founding date. The pillars are arranged in order of each organization’s national founding date beginning with Alpha Phi Alpha in 1906 and ending with Iota Phi Theta in 1963.

    3. SuperFrog

      Rampant superstitions may be the reason teams started the tradition of mascots. From the French word mascotte, with roots meaning witch, wizard or sorcerer, a mascot is a talisman or source of good luck.

      TCU’s Horned Frog ties go back to 1897, when the yearbook and the football team adopted the name of the once-plentiful Texas lizard. But TCU mascots, the living embodiments, have varied in design and even species for nearly a century.

      In 1921, the mascot of the Horned Frog football squad was a young boy – a tradition which continued through the 1960s. In the early 1920s, the baseball team had a dog with a purple body and a white head. In 1930, the TCU band received a goat named Samuel. And in 1941, the football team rallied behind a small black dog who attended practice daily.

      In August 1949, every school in the athletic conference had a costumed mascot – except TCU. And while horned frogs were fairly plentiful, the idea of carrying one to a football game seemed rather silly. So, after repeated requests for a costumed mascot that could participate in football games and other campus events, TCU’s Student Government provided $50 for the University’s first mascot costume.

      The Skiff, the school newspaper, held a contest to name the new mascot with three options: Tex, Addy, and Hormone. Although students could suggest other names, a winning title emerged: Addy the All-American Frog, in honor of Addison Clark Jr., whose efforts brought football to TCU in 1896 and who was instrumental in giving the school its Horned Frog nickname.

      Since the mascot’s birth over a half century ago, the costume has been replaced numerous times. Early costumes didn’t last long. On February 27th 1979, the Student Government approved funding for a new mascot costume. The arrival of the costume warranted a new name, and John Grace, then director of sports promotion, deemed the creation “SuperFrog.”

      The SuperFrog name continues today. Its current appearance was designed by TCU employee Gorland Mar in 1999. Despite small updates, such as the addition of human-sized tennis shoes and gloves and a more muscular physique, SuperFrog continues to serve as the primary representation of TCU’s athletics teams and school spirit.

    4. Hand Symbol

      Whether walking to class or traveling abroad, you never know when a fellow TCU fan will give you the famous frog hand sign. Texas is full of collegiate hand signs to represent university mascots and school spirit: The University of Texas with “Hook’em Horns,” Texas A&M University’s Gig’em thumb, Baylor University’s bear claw, and the list goes on.

      In 1980, on his way to cheer camp in Tennessee, TCU head cheerleader Chad Schrotel, class of 1982, and his peers decided a hand signal would be a great way to show solidarity and promote school spirit. They settled on the current curled-finger salute with the protruding knuckles resembling the horns on a real horned frog.

      It took a while to catch on. It was taught to the incoming first-year students at Orientation, flashed at alumni gatherings and the cheerleaders got the Wranglers, a now-defunct spirit group, to wave it en masse at games. Today the TCU hand symbol is one of the more recognizable traditions on campus.

    5. Frog Fountain

      Standing before you is Frog Fountain, perhaps the most recognizable TCU landmark. Frog Fountain was placed on campus outside the old Brown-Lupton Student Center in 1969 as a gift of Mr. and Mrs. H.H. Phillips of San Antonio. A focal point of campus life for five decades, the Fountain features four stylized flutes topped with lotus petals, a motif chosen because of the historic association of the lotus with education. Each of the flutes symbolizes a different class of students with the shortest flute representing first-year students and the tallest flute representing the senior class. The water flowing between represents the sharing of knowledge from class to class.

      The Fountain was removed in May 2006 to facilitate the construction of the Campus Commons and the building of Scharbauer Hall on the former Student Center site. The original lotus petals returned to campus in the spring of 2008 and were installed in a new base and plaza area, donated by the Roach family. The new base added the University’s name and horned frog images. The Fountain has become a TCU icon and is traditionally the site where seniors come with their families to take cap and gown pictures.

    6. Ol’ Rip Statue

      Ol’ Rip is the name of the bronze horned frog sculpture located between Scharbauer and Reed Halls. Named by Kyle Morales, class of 2012, the sculpture was created by artist Joe Spear and installed on campus in 2012. Ol’ Rip is named for “Old Rip,” the legendary horned frog lizard that survived 31 years inside a time capsule in the Eastland County Courthouse – just west of Fort Worth.

      Some Texans believe that horned toads — tiny, wart-covered lizards — can survive 100 years in hibernation. Ernest Wood, county clerk of the city of Eastland, decided to test the theory. On July 31st, 1897, he took his son Will’s pet horned toad, named Blinky, and had it sealed in the cornerstone of Eastland’s then-under-construction courthouse.

      Eastland grew quickly and a new, bigger courthouse had to be built – meaning the old one had to be torn down — after only 30 years. Everyone had forgotten about Blinky the horned toad except for Ernest, who told the local newspaper about it. The newspaper spread the word, and a crowd estimated at several thousand showed up when the old cornerstone was opened on February 18, 1928. Officials hovering over the cornerstone included the county judge and at least three local clergymen, to ensure that no one would try to sneak in a bogus toad.

      The cornerstone was opened and Blinky was pulled out. He was dusty, gray, flat as a pancake, his horns worn down from friction, and his mouth sealed shut from inactivity — but he was alive! The crowd cheered. Blinky was quickly renamed Old Rip — for Rip Van Winkle — and became an instant celebrity. Old Rip even traveled to the nation’s capital to visit President Calvin Coolidge.

    7. Horned Frog Statue

      Standing in the plaza between Reed and Sadler Halls, is the Horned Frog Statue. The welded metal sculpture was created by Seppo Aarnos and installed in 1984. Commissioned by Student Government in 1984, it has become a tradition for students to rub the statue’s nose for good luck before a test.

      Behind the statue is Reed Hall. The northeast corner of Reed holds the first cornerstone ever laid on TCU’s Fort Worth campus back in 1911. At that time, it was simply known as the Administration Building. For more information on the history of Reed Hall, please visit the Reed Hall stop on this tour.

      Reed was renovated for academic purposes in 1960 and the location of TCU’s business and administrative offices moved to Sadler Hall. Located on the other side of this plaza, Sadler Hall was the second structure to occupy this site on campus. In 1912, a men’s residence hall was erected here as the fourth building on TCU’s Fort Worth campus. The new administration building was named Sadler Hall by the Board of Trustees in honor of former TCU Chancellor McGruder Ellis Sadler who served from 1941 to 1965. Sadler Hall continued to serve as TCU’s primary administration building until the fall of 2020 with the opening of The Harrison building.

    8. Reed Hall

      The first cornerstone of TCU’s Fort Worth campus was laid in 1911 for Reed Hall. Originally the administration building, Reed is the oldest structure on campus. The facility has been home to university presidents and the business and registrar’s offices. It has also housed the post office, university bookstore, kitchen, dining room, classrooms and even the campus library.
       
      Reed Hall was officially called the “Administration Building” until 1960 when adjacent M. E. Sadler Hall was constructed. With the opening of Sadler, the Administration Building was renamed Reed Hall for Dave C. Reed, an avid supporter and TCU Trustee.  
       
      Reed Hall has undergone extensive renovations through the years. Originally, the building was a larger version of nearby Jarvis Hall – with six Ionic columns supporting a yellow gabled roof. In the 1960s, the columns were removed and aluminum and glass doors were added. At one point, the facility connected to the old Brown-Lupton Student Center and even housed the University’s Faculty Center – a dining room used for faculty lunches, afternoon teas, and occasional wedding receptions. The Faculty Center housed two historic collections – items such as desks and portraits that belonged to TCU’s founding Clark family and the Flore Rupe Mills collection of over 2,780 pieces of early American glass.

      Many distinguished celebrities have walked Reed’s halls, including American poets Carl Sandburg, Robert Frost and Vachel Lindsay. Four-legged creatures were also a part of Reed’s past, too. With the help of pranksters, a cow once found its way to President Waits’ office in Reed, where it spent the night. For years, an old white dog slept in the basement and won every student election for years as a write-in candidate until the University expelled him from the building.

      With the opening of the Campus Commons and demolition of the Student Center in 2008 and 2009, Reed was once again transformed. The modern-day Reed Hall is now a state-of-the-art teaching facility for the AddRan College of Liberal Arts. 

    9. Student Memorial

      In 2013, the Student Government Association worked with the Physical Plant to design the TCU Student Memorial. The memorial serves as a place of remembrance to honor Horned Frogs lost during their enrollment at TCU. Similar to the four lotus petals of Frog Fountain that represent the passing of knowledge from class to class, the single lotus symbolizes the importance of every individual in our community. The lack of water running through the lotus symbolizes the quiet and stillness of campus as we realize the loss of the physical presence we experience when a member of our community has died. Finally, the copper serves as a reflective element in this space. It reflects the light our students have brought to our community and their legacy left in others through their time at TCU.
    10. Indigenous Peoples Monument

      TCU has occupied three locations during its history – Thorp Spring from 1873 to 1895; Waco from 1895 to 1910; and Fort Worth since 1910. These places, however, had previously been the homelands of many Native American peoples, including the Wichita, Caddo, and Comanche tribes.

      In 1850, Republic of Texas Army veteran Pleasant Thorp began acquiring land in Hood County. This land had been inhabited by the Caddo and Comanche tribes for over two centuries before being settled as Thorp Spring. It was here that Pleasant Thorp convinced the Clark family to establish the first TCU campus.

      Continued conflicts and the closure of the Brazos River and Comanche Indian Reservations in 1859 resulted in state control of tribal lands. Thus, all of TCU’s future locations were now state-controlled and available for University purchase.

      In 2018, TCU erected a monument acknowledging all Native American peoples, particularly the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes, who have inhabited the land on which the University is currently located. Made of granite, due to the indigenous nature of the stone, this monument acknowledging TCU’s past, stands in between Reed and Jarvis Halls.

      The plaque on the stone reads: “We respectfully acknowledge all Native American peoples who have lived on this land since time immemorial. TCU especially acknowledges and pays respect to the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes upon whose historical homeland our University is located.”

    11. Jarvis Hall

      Jarvis was constructed in 1911 to serve as TCU’s female residence hall. Originally named the “Girl’s Home” and then later changed to Jarvis Hall, the building is the second-oldest building on campus and is among the few pre-World War I buildings remaining.

      The building remained unchanged until 1955. Then, during a major renovation, the second and third story wooden galleries, which had been suspended between the central columns, were removed. In addition, the wooden window frames were replaced with aluminum ones. The upgrade also brought air conditioning, which was uncommon in the mid-1950s. 

      There were two brief periods when Jarvis housed men. During World War II, flight instruction programs were located on the campus. From September 1942 to January 1944, the male participants lived in Jarvis. Then, because of campus overcrowding between 1950 and 1953, Jarvis was temporarily the home of male students.

      The building remained a female residence hall until 2007 when it was renovated to house administrative offices and to provide space for the School of Music.

    12. Sundial

      Located on the west side of campus near the Walsh Performing Arts Center is a functional and unique work of art known as the TCU Sundial. The sundial is a large precision instrument with no moving parts, relying instead on the movement of the Earth around the Sun to tell time to the nearest minute.

      Joseph I. O’Neill the third of Midland commissioned the timepiece to honor his wife, Marion Jan Donnelly O’Neill, a TCU alumna. It was created by William Andrews, a British clockmaker and designer. The sundial was installed and dedicated in 2015.

      The sundial was customized for TCU’s precise longitudinal and latitudinal location. The sundial and surrounding plaza is 30 feet across with stonewall seating around the monument. A three-foot tall, four-foot wide, seven-sided pedestal sits in the center of the compass rose, designed to tell time accurately to the minute, with seasonal corrections accounted for. It also displays accurate time during a true full moon. On the compass rose, the arrow pointing north is designed as a horned frog.

    13. Veterans Plaza

      Spanning University Drive is Veterans Plaza, TCU’s memorial to the sacrifices and achievements of alumni and students who have served in the United States armed forces. Originally honoring just World War I & II veterans, the plaza was expanded in 2005 to include honoring veterans of Korea, Vietnam, the Persian Gulf, Afghanistan, and Iraq.

      Veterans Plaza embodies the sacrifice and heroism of these and all TCU veterans and their families. Flanking both sides of the west Plaza are the original memorial columns. These columns, a gift from the class of 1923, were the University’s original monument honoring TCU students and alumni who lost their lives during World War I. The Plaza also features a garden for meditation, as well as a small fountain, located on the East side of University Drive.

      One of the most beautiful features of the plaza is a grove of small trees. A gap in the grove shows a patch of blue sky — the absence of trees representing Horned Frog heroes who did not return.

    14. Robert Carr Chapel

      Standing in contrast to TCU’s yellow brick facades are the religious buildings on our campus. The choice of a pink brick for these facilities was an intentional, albeit unpopular, decision made by then-President Sadler. During the design phase of the facilities, the president’s wife, Frances Sadler, traveled the East Coast studying architecture and decorative styles – specifically church design – to aid in TCU’s construction efforts. From her studies and travels, Mrs. Sadler recommended that the steeple of what would become Robert Carr Chapel should be the highest point on campus. At 137 feet, it remains the highest point to this day – higher than even the football stadium, which was dug into the ground to maintain the Chapel’s standing.

      In 1984, the 186 “bells” comprising the Robert Carr Chapel Carillon were installed on campus. Unlike many other carillons that use castmetal bells, the Robert Carr Carillon is electronic. Each hour on the hour, the carillon rings the TCU Alma Mater for the campus to hear. The tune, written by student Glen Canfield in 1928, binds all Horned Frogs past and present with its lyrics:

      Hail, all hail, TCU
      Memories sweet, comrades true
      Light of faith, follow through
      Praise to thee, TCU!

    15. Clark Brothers Statue

      TCU has become synonymous with the city of Fort Worth. However, few people know that TCU has not always called Fort Worth home. The University’s founders, brothers Addison and Randolph Clark, started the school in Thorp Spring, Texas – about 40 miles southwest of Fort Worth near the city of Granbury. The Clark brothers moved the campus to Waco and ultimately landed in Fort Worth. The first three buildings of the Fort Worth campus opened in 1911.

      At the heart of the academic side of TCU’s campus is a statue depicting Addison and Randolph. In the wake of ongoing efforts to reconcile with past and present social difficulties surrounding race, increasingly more questions have been raised across the country surrounding the future maintenance of existing Confederate statues. However, contrary to popular belief, the statue of the Clark Brothers is not a Confederate statue in the strictest sense. More than 1500 Confederate statues and memorials were erected in the years following the failed Reconstruction period, with the bulk being erected between 1900 and 1940. Such statues are adorned with symbolic ornamentation indisputably demarcating such structures as affiliated with the Confederacy. In contrast, the Clark Brothers Statue was erected in 1993 with the intention of honoring and recognizing Addison and Randolph Clark as TCU’s founders. Thus, while the statue neither explicitly, nor expressly, makes any direct connection to the Confederacy, this is not to deny that the Brothers Clark share Confederate ties. Addison enrolled in the Confederate forces, rising to the rank of 2nd Lieutenant, Company D, 16th Texas Cavalry. Be that as it may, as with most human portraits, the statue remains complex – signifying two brothers whose legacies are simultaneously tied to an ignominious fight for enslavement as well as a noble struggle for intellectual liberation.

    16. Library Special Collections

      On the third floor of the east Library, resides the Special Collections Reading Room, as well as several TCU historic exhibits. Next to the elevators are three cases containing items from TCU’s history; unique University collections; and TCU’s collection of rare books. On display in these cases are items such as early copies of the University’s student newspaper The Skiff; a letter sweater from the 1920s; and photos from the early 1900s. Statues, letters, first edition books, and other University historic items are also on display.

      Across the hall from these exhibits is the entrance to the Special Collections Reading Room. The room is open Monday through Friday 9am to 5pm. It houses some of TCU’s art collection, including works by Chagall, Dali, Warhol, and Rembrandt. The room also displays rotating exhibits of topics such as the integration of TCU; the life and legacy of historic figures; and images and photos from TCU’s past.

      Just past the entrance to Special Collections is the Speaker Wright Exhibit. These three display cases detail the life of former United States Speaker of the House Jim Wright. Born in Fort Worth in 1922, Speaker Wright first won election to the Texas House of Representatives after serving in the US Army Air Forces during World War II. He won election to Congress in 1954, representing Texas’ 12th congressional district as a democrat. In 1976, Wright narrowly won election to the position of House Majority Leader. And in 1987, he became Speaker of the House following the retirement of Tip O’Neill.

      After leaving Congress in 1989, Speaker Wright became a professor at TCU. He passed away in his hometown of Fort Worth in 2015. In addition to this display, the Mary Couts Burnett Library also houses The Speaker Jim Wright Collection, consisting of Speaker Wright’s papers, photographs, audiovisual materials, books, and memorabilia from throughout his political career. The Jim Wright Papers, which span from 1911 to 2004, highlight the Collection. The papers provide insight into Wright’s relationship with his home district, as well as that with his colleagues in the House. In addition, the papers are an excellent representation of the social and political issues in the United States during the second half of the twentieth century.

    17. Sumner Academic Heritage Room

      Located on the second floor of the Mary Couts Burnett Library, between the Reference Reading Room and the Map Room is the Sumner Academic Heritage Room. Dedicated in 2015, the room houses portraits of TCU’s chancellors; faculty award winners; archived copies of The Horned Frog Yearbook dating back to 1905; the University’s Phi Beta Kappa charter; and the University Mace.

      The Sumner Room is named in recognition of Dr. George and Sue Sumner, both TCU alumni. Dr. Sumner is also a past president of Friends of the TCU Library.

      In Medieval times, the mace was a weapon designed to protect the dignitary in a procession. Academia borrowed that tradition, designating the mace as a symbol of the power of a university and its leader. Academic maces, similar in appearance to ancestral weaponry, usually are constructed of wood or metal and may have symbols of the institution worked into the design. TCU’s mace was constructed to commemorate the inauguration of Chancellor Michael R. Ferrari in 1999.

      TCU staff member Robert Kramer, a master wood carver, made the shaft of the mace. It is fashioned from a wooden beam from the first TCU building in Thorp Spring, Texas. The head of the mace was created by sculptor and TCU parent Seppo Aarnos, the same artist who created the Horned Frog statue between Sadler and Reed Halls. The stone on the mace glows with TCU’s colors – purple for royalty and white for purity.

    18. Tandy Statue

      Originally displayed behind the Tarrant County Courthouse in Fort Worth’s Paddock Park, the Charles David Tandy statue was relocated to TCU’s campus in 2008. Created by artist Jim Reno, the sculpture honors Fort Worth businessman, philanthropist, and civic leader Charles David Tandy, TCU Class of 1940.

      After graduation from TCU, a year at Harvard Business School, and a stint in the Navy, Tandy founded a chain of wholesale leathercraft stores. Then, in 1963, he negotiated the acquisition of a Boston electronics firm, Radio Shack, which would become an internationally known consumer electronics retailer.

      After his death in 1978, The Burnett Tandy Foundation was established by Anne Burnett Tandy to honor her late husband. The western portion of the business school complex is named Tandy Hall in honor of Mr. Tandy, his connection to TCU, and his legacy of charitable giving and community support.

    19. Allene Park Jones Portrait

      In 1962, Ms. Allene Jones became one of the first three Black undergraduates – all of whom were women – admitted to TCU. She graduated from the Harris College of Nursing in May 1963. Ms. Jones, who passed away in 2015, remarked that at the time she helped to integrate the TCU undergraduate campus, she didn’t think of herself as making history stating: “I just wanted to go to school. I was too young and naïve to understand the significance of what I was doing.” Upon receiving her Master’s degree in Psychiatric Nursing from UCLA, Ms. Jones returned to Harris College in 1968 to become the first Black professor at TCU, where she taught clinical and psychiatric nursing. Ms. Jones retired in 1998 and was granted emeritus faculty status.

      Portraits of the three trailblazers – Ms. Jones, Ms. Doris Ann McBride, and Ms. Patsy Brown – can be viewed in the lobby of TCU’s administration building The Harrison.

    20. Bailey Building

      The Bailey Building was constructed in 1914 for Brite College of the Bible. Situated on the southernmost boundary of the original Fort Worth campus, Bailey was the first campus building to house a singular academic unit. Bailey was originally built for the instruction of the “preacher boys,” as Brite students were once called. And for 39 years, the building served that purpose.

      In 1958, the religion programs moved to a religion center on East Campus and TCU renovated the building for the School of Education, later known as the College of Education. It was during this renovation that the building’s name was officially changed from Brite College of the Bible to The Bailey Building, after TCU supporters Mary Ann and Robert Bailey.

      In 2008, Betsy and Steve Palko Hall was built adjacent to the Bailey Building and the two facilities were joined to become the J.E. and L.E. Mabee Foundation Education Complex.

    21. Froghenge

      “The Megalith at TCU,” affectionately christened as Froghenge by faculty, is the University’s response to the New Stone Age. It is an idealized replica of a type of megalithic, which literally means “big stone,” monument that was erected in northeastern Scotland about four to five thousand years ago. In the modern world of the Frogs, it is used as an outdoor classroom.

      Composed of 11 blocks of quartzite from Idaho and 10 blocks of Oklahoma sandstone, Froghenge sits outside of the Bailey and Palko Buildings and Lowe Hall. Four of the stones that make up Froghenge hold special symbolism.

      • The stone pointing toward the Chapel, known as the Stone of Meaning, represents the driving force that connects the past to the future.
      • Pointing toward the Ballet Building is the Stone of Happiness, signifying the happiness that comes from knowledge rather than ignorance.
      • The Stone of the Passing of the Torch points toward Lowe Hall and symbolizes the primary academic responsibility of the University.
      • And, across the sidewalk outside the circle is the Stone of the Teacher – the recumbent stone representing debate and a focus on instruction.

      Froghenge was created by former TCU Provost Nowell Donovan as a way to pay homage to the rock formations on the British Isle of his homeland, Scotland.

    22. Erma Lowe Hall

      Erma Lowe Hall was constructed in 1921, not for dance, but instead as a gym. Known by the name “The Gymnasium,” the facility was the center of all TCU physical education activities until 1973 when a new physical education center, the Rickel Building, opened.

      The Gymnasium featured a high basement with classrooms and offices; a swimming pool; men’s and women’s locker rooms; a basketball court with spectator viewing on the third floor; two handball courts; and a weight room.

      In addition to physical education classes, TCU’s athletic program offices were housed in The Gymnasium prior to the construction of Daniel-Meyer Coliseum (now Schollmaier Arena) in 1961. It was from an office in “The Little Gym,” as it was also called, that Coach “Dutch” Meyer dreamed the plans and hatched the plays that would lead the Horned Frog football team to the national championship in 1935 and 1938. It was on the third-floor basketball court where the Frogs played their first Southwest Conference basketball games.

      By 1973, all physical education and athletic programs left The Gymnasium for newer facilities. The pool, basketball court, and weight rooms were transformed as the new home for the University’s ballet program and the facility became known as the Ballet Building.

      As dance at TCU continued to grow, the Ballet Building no longer met the programs needs. In 2011 the Ballet Building was renovated for the School of Classical & Contemporary Dance. It was renamed Erma Lowe Hall in honor of Erma Lowe, an avid University supporter who served as a Trustee and honorary Trustee for over two decades.