7 Bluffton University Historical Lantern Tour 2024

Bluffton UniversityHistoricalLantern Tour

Exploring campus landmarks, special spaces, and the path "Around the Horn" of the original Central Mennonite College campus and locations nearby!

Let's begin!

Starting Point:Knowlton Science Center

Your tour begins at the Knowlton Science Center. Look for the lantern near the main entrance, which is near the west side of Founders Hall. Click the arrow circle button below when you arrive.

Knowlton Science Center

Recently opened in 2023, the Knowlton Science Center is Bluffton's newest academic building and home to biology, chemistry, and dietetics laboratories, teaching spaces, and faculty offices. It is named for Austin E. Knowlton, who owned Knowlton Construction Company. The Knowlton Foundation supports STEM education, particularly on college campuses.

Knowlton Science Center. Image from Bluffton University website

Trivia Time!

Next stop:Sommer Center

Go to Sommer Center, to the steps facing the flagpoles and Marbeck Center, and look for the lantern.Click the arrow circle button below when you arrive.

Sommer CenterTennis Ball Golf

Sommer Center, Bluffton's newest indoor athletics facility, also serves as the starting point for Tennis Ball Golf, an original game design by Bluffton alumnus Paul Miller, who gathered a group of friends to design the course utilizing the main campus. Tennis Ball Golf has been played at Bluffton for more than 25 years, and the tradition is still going strong. You can find the rules on the intramural athletics website.

Tennis ball golf. Image from Bluffton University website

Next stop:Klassen Court

Go to Klassen Court, the plaza between Founders Hall and Marbeck Center, and look for the lantern.Click the arrow circle button below when you arrive.

Klassen Court

Klassen Court, the courtyard between Marbeck Center and Founders Hall, features 8 pieces of artwork by John P. Klassen, a faculty member and Russian Mennonite who was invited by President Mosiman to teach at Bluffton in 1924 and who remained on the faculty until 1958. Other Klassen artwork and sculpture can be seen across campus and in the surrounding community, including another piece on this tour!

Klassen Court at the completion of Marbeck Center construction, 1968. Image from Bluffton University Memory

Next stop:Menno Simons Sculpture

Continue between Marbeck Center and Founders Hall and around to the right above Shoker Science Center. Walk toward the Berky Science Hall site, and look for the lantern near the sculpture.Click the arrow circle button below when you arrive.

Menno Simonsby Jack Earl '56

Situated between Centennial Hall, the site of Berky Science Hall, and Founders Hall, this concrete bust of Menno Simons by Jack Earl '56 is inspired by John Klassen's marble bust of Menno Simons that resides in the lobby of Musselman Library. Here, Menno is life-sized and dressed in a Bluffton varsity jacket. Take a selfie with him!

Menno Simons by Jack Earl '56. Image from Bluffton University website

Menno Simonsby Jack Earl '56

Next stop:Lion & Lamb Peace Arts Center

Walk down the hill between Centennial Hall and Shoker Science Center. Continue past Shoker and head toward Riley Creek. Cross Beeshy Bridge over the creek, and click the button below.

On the Way:Peace Thrones

Continue up the sidewalk aiming to the left of the Sauder Visual Arts Center. To your left, you'll see the Peace Thrones. Designed to be a setting where constructive dialogues can occur, Peace Thrones is modeled after three thrones once created for chiefs of three warring tribes. The three granite discs, in black, red and white, are equidistant from one another—an arrangement with no social hierarchy.After passing the Peace Thrones, click the button below.

Next stop:Lion & Lamb PeaceArts Center

Continue toward Riley Court. Take the path around the lower left side of the complex toward the Lion & Lamb Peace Arts Center. Look for the lantern, and click the arrow circle button below when you arrive.

Lion & Lamb

The Lion and Lamb Peace Arts Center was established in 1987 by Dr. Elizabeth Hostettler, education professor emeritus, to provide a resource for children to gain skills necessary for developing a vision of peace. The Center includes a children's literature library, an art gallery, and a sculpture garden. It provides peace- and literacy- themed programming for area children.

Honda Outdoor Peace Sculpture Garden near Lion & Lamb Peace Arts Center. Image from Bluffton University website

Picture time! Take a tour group photo inside and around Moon Gate!

Photo done!

Next stop:Prayer Labyrinth

Retrace your steps back past the Riley Court complex. Walk past the Sauder Visual Arts Center and look for the lantern at the top of the hill near the edge of the parking lot. Look down the grassy hill to see the Prayer Labyrinth.Click the arrow circle button below when you arrive.

Prayer Labyrinth

Designed and completed by students in 2012, the Prayer Labyrinth is a worshipful, meditative space. Paths of stone from the Bluffton Stone Quarry wind among each other in and out through a central point in a circular footprint. Alumni weddings have taken place here!

Prayer Labyrinth at night, 2024. Image from The Courier

Next Stop:Houshower House

Make your way to Spring street through the nearby parking lot,and turn right towards Houshower House, the campus welcome center. Look for the lantern nearby.Click the arrow circle button below when you arrive.

Houshower House

The Houshower House was built by H.W. Berky, professor of chemistry, in 1946. The home became the campus welcome center in fall 2018.Look across the street to the white house on the corner, and press the button below.

Househower House. Image from Bluffton University website

Mara AlvaHouse

From 1958 until 2003, the Mara Alva House served as a live-in laboratory for home economics (and later, family and consumer science and dietetics) students. Designed by professor Edna Ramseyer, the house later served as a campus guest residence and now houses admissions operations and offices.

Mara Alva House. Image from Bluffton University Memory.

Do you know...

Next stop:Bren-Dell and Ropp Halls

Walk along Spring Street and cross College Avenue. Continue until you reach the stop sign in front of Ropp Hall at High Street, and look for the lantern. Click the arrow circle button below when you arrive.

Bren-Dell Hall

Dedicated in 1962, Bren-Dell hall is named for two long-time Bluffton faculty members: Naomi Brenneman (English) and M'Della Moon (Biology). Campus lore says that Moon used to keep a pet alligator in Berky Science Hall. An annual student prize for outstanding writing on a literary topic is named for Brenneman.

Bren-Dell Hall dedication. Image from Bluffton University Memory.

Ropp Hall

Constructed in 1915 through the generous support of John and Mary Ropp of Illinois, Ropp Hall was the first residence hall constructed on campus and provided housing for 60 female students as well as central dining facilities for the campus which were in use until the opening of Marbeck Center in the late 1960s. Two later additions and a lobby create a rectangular complex with an interior courtyard.

Ropp Hall approximately 1930. Image from Bluffton University Memory

Trivia Time!

Next Stop:Adams Bridge

The next stop is Adams Bridge, which crosses the Little Riley Creek. Cross the bridge, and look for the lantern.Click the arrow circle button below when you arrive.

Adams Bridge

Krehbiel Bridge shepherded students across the Little Riley Creek and around the “horn” shape of the original campus from its earliest years until 1986, when the bridge was replaced with the current concrete bridge funded by a donation from Rev. Paul Adams, a 1919 graduate and village neighbor of Bluffton College.

Krehbiel Bridge, 1920s. Image from Bluffton University Memory

Next stop:MusselmanLibrary

Continue on the sidewalk between the hammock park and fire circle, through the woods toward Musselman Library, the nearby building with 5 arched windows across its front.Look for the lantern, and click the arrow circle button below when you arrive.

MusselmanLibrary

Built in 1929 and expanded in 1965 with gifts from a well-known Pennsylvania family of the same name, Musselman Library offers print, digital and special collections to support all Bluffton University researchers.

Musselman Library, 1964. Image from Bluffton University Memory

MusselmanLibrary

Depicted on the north-facing side of the Musselman Library cornerstone is the Bluffton motto: The Truth Shall Make You Free. Taken from Gospel of John, chapter 8, verse 32, the campus motto was adopted in 1913 as Central Mennonite College was reorganized as Bluffton College.

Trivia Time!

Next stop:College Hall

The next stop is College Hall, Bluffton's first campus building. Look for the lantern, and click the arrow circle button below when you arrive.

College Hall

As the College Hall cornerstone was laid in 1900, President Hirschy told the world to “Expect Great Things” from this campus community. Through the decades, College Hall has housed faculty and administrative offices, classrooms, a chapel, a theater, the Learning Resource Center, and much more. Last renovated in 2010 to add a much-needed elevator and accessible restroom facilities, the building stands as a testament to our institutional steadfastness.

College Hall cornerstone laying, 1900. Image from Bluffton University Memory

Mosiman's Tombstone

Over your shoulder and near University Drive, you'll see a large, irregularly-shaped stone that lies near a fork in the sidewalk on the front lawn of College Hall. This stone was chosen to be the tombstone of Bluffton’s second president, Dr. Samuel K. Mosiman. Mosiman requested that a stone from his native community of Trenton, Ohio, should be placed at the head of his grave, instead of the usual commercial stone. However, those in charge of the cemetery at that time would not permit the stone to be placed at the gravesite.

Nearby...

Mosiman's Tombstone

A regular headstone with inscription was placed at Mosiman's grave in Bluffton's Maple Grove Cemetery. The rejected native stone was then moved to College Hall lawn. Later, Professor John Klassen created a bronze medallion with Mosiman's profile in relief and added the medallion to the stone. (More on John Klassen elsewhere in the tour...)

Trivia Time!

Next stop:Memorial Field

Walk around College Hall and past the back of Yoder Recital Hall toward the Bentley Road crosswalk. Safely cross Bentley and veer toward the football field side of the parking lot until you reach the baseball field.Look for the lantern near the Circle of Remembrance, and click the arrow circle button below when you arrive.

MemorialField

Memorial Field and the Circle of Remembrance honors the lives of those touched and lost by the 2007 baseball team's tragic bus accident near Atlanta, Georgia, on March 2. The centerpiece of the circle, "Touching Home" was sculpted by the late faculty artist, Gregg Luginbuhl '1971, and features imprints from members of the team.

Circle of Remembrance. Image from Bluffton University website.

Next Stop:Neufeld Lawn

Return to Bentley Road and safely cross toward Hirschy Hall. Go to Neufeld Lawn, the green space between several residence halls on this side of campus. Look for the lantern, and click the arrow circle button below when you arrive.

Neufeld Lawn &Residence Halls

From Neufeld Lawn, one can see four other campus residence halls, all named for former presidents: (Elmer) Neufeld Hall, (Lloyd) Ramseyer Hall, and (Noah) Hirschy Hall and Hirschy Annex. The Neufeld Lawn is a popular spot for outdoor student engagement activities.

Neufeld Hall and lawn. Image from Bluffton University website.

Trivia Time!

Final stop:Constellation Earth

Make your way to the traffic circle on College Avenue near Centennial Hall for the final stop on the lantern tour: the Constellation Earth sculpture.Click the arrow circle button below when you arrive.

ConstellationEarth

Unveiled in 1996, Paul Granlund’s Constellation Earth is a bronze sculpture that illustrates the unity of all human races and people. It is a replica of a Granlund’s original sculpture that was installed in Peace Park in Nagasaki, Japan. Each figure represents a different continent, each continent represents a planet, and each planet is a star that, with the rest, forms the Constellation Earth.

Constellation Earthby Paul Granlund. Image from the Bluffton University website

Congratulations!You've completed the Bluffton UniversityHistoricalLantern Tour!Go Beavers!

Tour created byCarrie Phillips '99with assistance from Christy Garmatter '97