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Q&A
Elmhurst facilities manager Mark Wakely is the campus tour de force.
Prospect asked the 1987 alumnus and 41-year University veteran to share some top spots, historical insights and fun facts every visitor should know. What are your three must-see spots on campus?
1. The Bates Observatory on top of the
The graceful pecan tree near Irion Hall was planted in honor of the late Rev. Dr. Robert O. Laaser, senior pastor at St. Peter’s United Church of Christ in Elmhurst before his death. In the harsh climate of the Midwest, the tree doesn’t bear fruit most years—so when it does, it’s a special occasion.
Schaible Science Center. People look up and wonder what the telescope is like, and I’m always glad to take them up into the dome and show them how it rotates. 2. The Old Main bell tower, because of all the names people have carved on the walls and ceiling. When visitors find a name from the 1800s carved in a hand railing, it really hits home just how old our campus is and how many people have passed through it. 3. The particle accelerator in the Barbara A. Kieft Accelerator ArtSpace. It’s an interesting piece of technology—outdated and deactivated now, of course, but it has great historical significance. It came to us from the University of Chicago, home to the first controlled nuclear reaction in 1942.
BR ANCHING OUT
Is there one piece of information you
The Elmhurst University Arboretum reached a major milestone recently with the planting of its 1,000th tree. Founded in 1966 with the planting of a single Shumard oak, the arboretum now encompasses everything from magnolias and redbuds to maples, hawthorns and American elms. 6
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share during your tours that always
look, like they wanted to confirm it for themselves. This is really what makes our arboretum possible, because if we had wires crisscrossing the campus, it would be difficult to plant as many specimens as we have. Do you have a favorite story about campus life?
Sometime in the 1960s, the night before Commencement, students pulling a senior prank got a Volkswagen Beetle up the steps of Hammerschmidt Memorial Chapel and left it there. It blocked the main doors, which the graduates would need to march through. So volunteers had to lift it up and carry it down so that Commencement could proceed. A little farewell gift from the senior class!
surprises people?
It’s when I say that there are no utility poles on campus. No overhead lines anywhere. All of the phone, data, electric, gas, heat and cooling lines run through tunnels under our feet. People have actually spun around to
What do you like most about giving tours?
People see the campus as it is today and don’t necessarily understand its heritage. I enjoy sharing a sense of how rich in history the University really is, and that there’s a lot more going on than just what’s on the surface.
