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Historic Mount Oread Walk

This Week in
KU History

The University
of Kansas

Historic Mount Oread Friends is a tax-exempt fund devoted solely to the preservation and conservation of significant buildings, sites and amenities on the University of Kansas campus and promoting an aprreciation of historic spaces, places and events associated with the University of Kansas.


KU Preservation Starts Here

Welcome to the Historic Mount Oread Friends Site

PhotoCollage We work to preserve the historic and beautiful campus of the University of Kansas that generations have known and loved. Our goal is to ensure that KU's past is always part of its future.

Historic Mount Oread is a nonprofit, all-volunteer organization that is part of the KU Endowment Association. We were founded in 1981 by friends of KU who were determined that the razing of historic Fraser Hall and other KU landmarks in the 1960s not spread to any more KU landmarks.

We are the only historic preservation organization whose central mission is the preservation of the architecture and the open spaces of KU's historic old campus, inlcuding the Jayhawk Boulevard corridor, the Campanile, Marvin Grove and Potter Lake.

Our successes to date include the following:

  • We have helped place five KU landmarks: Spooner, Dyche, Lippincott, Strong and Bailey halls on the National Register of Historic Places. This status calls attention to their importance and helps create a climate conducive to their long-term preservation. (learn more)
  • We advocated preservation and adaptive reuse of KU's oldest surviving structure, the 1887 Powerhouse. Once vulnerable to demolition, the Powerhouse, with its nine arched stone doorways, is now incorporated into the new Hall Center for the Humanities. (learn more)
  • We helped beautify historic Pioneer Cemetery, located on the west campus, and funded a survey of its nineteenth-century gravestones, which include those victims of Quantrill's 1863 raid as well as other early Lawrence settlers. (learn more)
  • We have published four books celebrating KU -- "Historic Mount Oread: A catalog of KU's Landmarks", and three volumes in a "biography of a building" series: "Old Fraser", "Dyche Hall: University of Kansas Natural History Museum 1903-2003", and "Spooner Hall." (learn more)
  • We have underwritten a series of 10 scholarly articles on KU architectural history, which are posted on the separate This Week In KU History web site. (learn more)

Our most ambitious projects yet are now underway:

  • We are working with KU toward the establishment of a National Historic District in the heart of campus. If we succeed, this district would attract national attention to KU's beautiful campus and be a giant step toward its preservation for future generations.
  • We are advocating a serene and naturalistic Heritage Garden along Jayhawk Boulevard. We submitted detailed conceptual plans to the KU administration, and now the University's master landscape plan earmarks the proposed site for a garden. You can take a look at the garden proposal elsewhere on this site. (learn more)

We need your help

What gets preserved, or fails to get preserved, in the next decade will shape the campus for the next century.

Tax-deductible contributions may be made in our name to the KU Endowment Association, P.O. Box 928, Lawrence, KS. 66044-0928. New members receive a complimentary copy of "Historic Mount Oread," with its photos and histories of KU landmarks. You'll also be invited to our spring and fall meetings at KU.  Please Join Now!