Site 6: Washington University
on the
St. Louis Sundial Trail

Washington University occupies 2,267 acres with 150 major buildings. The School of Medicine is located at the east end of Forest Park, and the Danforth Campus is at the west end of the park. Several of the buildings on the Danforth Campus were erected around the time of the 1904 World's Fair, which was held in Forest Park. Among these is a building named Cupples I, which presently houses the Department of Mathematics. The cornerstone for Cupples I was laid on May 11, 1901. The building was used during the Fair by the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Co. under the name of "Service Building," with an anthropological exhibition of mummies in the basement. It was occupied by the University in February, 1905. Beaumont Pavilion was added on the south side of Cupples I in 1965 and is used for various outdoor events at the University, including commencement ceremonies in May each year. Cupples I and the Beaumont Pavilion form one side of a large quadrangle; the other three sides are formed by other buildings dating from around the time of the Fair, including the main administrative building of the University, Brookings Hall. On the south side of Cupples I, behind the Pavilion, there is a vertical sundial. Following is a quotation from the November 25, 1908 issue of Washington University Student Life, which was then and still is the campus newspaper: "The new sun dial on Cupples I is now being put into position upon the tablet on the south side of the building. The motto on the dial is very appropriate. We quote it in full:

I am a shadow
So art thou;
I mark time
Dost thou?

It will be interesting to note the discrepancy between sun time and standard time by comparing with the Varsity clock."  Varsity clock is a large time piece situated high on west wall of Brookings Hall. Both it and the sundial are visible from within the quadrangle.
   Two additional sun-related objects are present on the Danforth Campus of Washington University and may interest visitors who come to see the sundial.  One is the solar compass that is shown in the picture at the lower left.  It is inlaid into the walkway at the western entrance to the building that houses the Department of Earth and Planetary Science.  Besides markers for the cardinal directions, the compass has markers that indicate the directions of the the solstices and the equinoxes.  However, the rising and setting of the sun on these dates cannot be seen from the site of the compass due to tall buildings that surround it.  Inside the Earth and Planetary Science building, near the western entrance, there is a full scale model of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover.  It is in the picture at the lower right.  Professor Raymond E. Arvidson, the McDonnell Distinguished University Professor and chair of the Department of Earth and Planetary Science, is the Mars Rover mission's deputy principal scientist, and several postings within the building illustrate his and the University's participation in the mission.

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For a map of the Danforth Campus, showing the location of Beaumont Pavilion and the Department of Earth and Planetary Science, click Tour Danforth Campus.  To go to the next site on the St. Louis Sundial Trail, which is about 11.5 miles from the Washington University, click on Site 7, Long Elementary School, or to go to other sites on the trail, return to the trail map.