Wabash College was one of the few campuses in Indiana that I was able to visit on more than one occasion. The first was for a crucial, late-season football game between the Little Giants and Wittenberg University the first weekend of November 2011, and the second was for the annual Monon Bell Classic game against DePauw University in 2012.
Wabash was founded in 1832 by several Dartmouth College graduates and Midwestern leaders, according to the school's entry at Wikipedia.
Today, the school has an enrollment of about 900 students, boasts 40 degree majors, "the most accessible professors on any campus" (according to its website, it has the second-best alumni network in the land and, also according to the school website, it has a highly regarded and active student government.
Perhaps most impressive is that according to the Wikipedia entry, as of 2024, Wabash had an endowment of $420 million, a number that ranks it third among small private colleges and universities in Indiana, according to College Raptor.
Wabash credits the hefty size of its endowment to regular fund-raising campaigns, promotion of alumni estate planning giving and private donations by such prominent corporate individuals as Eli Lilly, as well as by Eli Lilly and Co., the Indianapolis-based pharmaceutical firm he founded, and Lilly Foundation, the company's philanthropic arm.
The degree programs are sprinkled among three divisions -- humanities and arts, natural sciences and social sciences.
As of 2020, Wabash was one of only three private, non-religious, all-male colleges in the United States (Hampden-Sydney and Morehouse colleges being the two others, although there also is one religious-affiliated all-male institution, Saint John's University, in Collegeville, Minn.).
My collection of Wabash College campus images were gathered from those two visits to the school.
Leading off the post is a low-angle perspective of the college's iconic Pioneer Chapel, exploiting dramatic, very late-afternoon sunlight. This was taken after the game.
The chapel is such a key component of the campus that I'll return to it in the pictures below. The tailgating images at the very bottom of this chapter were taken before the November 2011 game against Wittenberg University.
All of my Wabash College campus images can be found by following the link in this sentence.
Above and below: Two views of the Lilly Library, on the west side of the campus mall.
Above: The entrance to the campus bookstore.
Above: The mall immediately north of Byron P. Hollett Stadium, where the Little Giants' football teams play their home games. The stadium sits along railroad tracks at the south end of campus.
Above: Pioneer Chapel famously situated behind the visiting school stands -- but in full view of the home crowd.
Above: The railroad tracks serving as a sort of tailgating gravitational force, aided largely by the roomy area to park vehicles. This view looks down from the top of the home team bleachers.
Above: Morris Hall (housing for students in upper classes) on the left, and the back side of Frank Hugh Sparks campus center on the right.
Above: A long-range view of the back side of Frank Hugh Sparks campus center, the student union.
Above: A look at the brick-paved walkway through campus, not far from the bookstore.
Above: At the south end of the college mall, with a little bit of the front of Pioneer Chapel on the left and a lone group of tailgaters straight ahead in the distance.
Above: Back side of the Frank Hugh Sparks campus center, which houses student recreational, cafeteria and lounge facilities.
Above: Front side of the Frank Hugh Sparks campus center. This side faces the campus mall.
Above: A front view of Pioneer Chapel.
Above and below: Captures from the arboretum on the northeast fringe of campus.
Above: Looking north onto Wabash Avenue at the north end of campus.
Above and below: More captures from the arboretum on the northeast fringe of campus.
Above and below: Postgame activity back at the campus mall.
Above: Yet another front view of Pioneer Chapel.
Above: Heading home, lugging portable game-day seating through the arboretum.
Above: The Fine Arts Center, east of Grant Street, with dramatic late-afternoon lighting casting extensive shadows.
Above: The oft-mentioned railroad tracks on the south end of campus. These people were heading toward the busy area of the tailgating parties.
Next up: Chapter 7, DePauw University vs. Wabash College, Nov. 2011
Previously in Game Day Revisited:
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