At the end of this month, the Tower will celebrate its 89th birthday amid a restoration project to revitalize the landmark for decades to come. But the materials that make up the Tower and Main Building — varieties of limestone and granite — have been part of Texas history for millions of years.
In the early 1950s, William Battle, a classics professor and chair of the Faculty Building Committee, wrote a detailed description of the Tower and Main Building, which he played a large part in creating. In it, he wrote about beginning the trek into the building from the outer steps:
“Herein will the thoughtful minded see a good illustration of how one age climbs upward over the life of another.”
To truly understand the history of the Tower’s materials, we must start at the beginning of their formation, which coincidentally begins as you take your first step upward.
Walking up the steps leading to the Tower, you might recognize the pink hue of the granite from the Capitol just behind you. This type is Oatman Creek granite, often called pearl gray granite. Geologists estimate this granite — the oldest stone on campus — was formed more than a billion years ago in what is modern-day Llano, Mason and Burnet counties.