The Engineering Arch

There is something for everybody with this Arch

• Built in 1904 as part of the new engineering building, later renamed ‘West Engineering’ on the southeast corner of the original campus (‘New Engineering Building’)
• Over the years, the Arch has been named the “Denison Archway”, the “Engineering Arch” and the solely the “Arch.” (‘New Engineering Building”)
• Named after Charles Denison, an engineering professor at the time who recognized the need to build an arch in order to accommodate the Diag.
• Today, the Arch holds significance as a site of campus lore.
• There is a campus myth/lore that any couple who kisses underneath the Arch at midnight, once a boundary between the men’s dorms and the women’s dorms to northeast, will marry one day.
• This myth is very popular and is regularly featured on “Best College Myths” and “Best College Romantic Legends” lists
• The Arch is also a popular thoroughfare for students walking to and from class as well as a frequent campus tour attraction.
• In the underside of the top of the arch, there are three archaic symbols. While their exact origin is unknown, University officials believe the symbols represent the three letters of the engineering society, Tau Beta Pi (Harold H. Perry scrapbook 1912). Dating methods estimate the glyphs to be over 100 years old (Tau Beta Pi records 1906).
• Paying homage to its engineering roots, in addition to the Greek letters of Tau Beta Pi, today, the Arch is flanked by the department of Naval Architecture and the Marine Hydrodynamics Laboratory (Herman Samuel Sherman papers).

Sources

• Best College Traditions and Superstitions. (November 11, 2012). “University of Michigan: The ‘M’ Legend, Engineering Arch Nuptials, and Hash Bash.” http://collegetraditions.blogspot.com/2012/11/university-of-michigan-m-legend.html

• College Ranker. “The 25 Most Romantic College Traditions” http://www.collegeranker.com/features/most-romantic-college-traditions/

• Denton, Alison. (March, 4, 2015) Unigo. “Legends of the University of Michigan Campus” https://www.unigo.com/articles/legends_of_the_university_of_michigan_campus

• Fraser, Kelly. (November 25, 2008) “Before You Were Here: When campus was snowed in” The Michigan Daily. https://www.michigandaily.com/content/2008-11-26/you-were-here-great-blizzard-1978

• ‘New Engineering Building’ [http://umhistory.dc.umich.edu/mort/original/1925/15%20West%20Engineering%20Building/index.html] (http://umhistory.dc.umich.edu/mort/original/1925/15%20West%20Engineering%20Building/index.html)

• Perry, Harold H. [Harold H. Perry Scrapbook 1912]. The Bentley Historical Library. University of Michigan.

• Sherman, Herman Samuel. [Herman Samuel Sherman scrapbook]. 1917-1922. The Bentley Historical Library. University of Michigan.

• Tau Beta Pi, Gamma Chapter (University of Michigan) Records, 1906.

• “True Blue: A Tribute to Michigan” [event] April, 8, 2017. Ann Arbor, MI.

Image credits

• Michigan Engineering. (January 8, 2015). [Twitter post]. https://twitter.com/umengineering/status/553197788381851648

• “Tau Beta Pi.” n.d. The Greek U-M Campus. University of Michigan, College of Literature, Science and the Arts. http://sites.lsa.umich.edu/greekcampus/centralcampus/west-hall-engineering-arch/