Penn State was first chartered in 1855 when the faculty of four taught its first students, 11 of whom graduated in 1861. Classes were held in Old Main, which also served as a dormitory. A rebuilt Old Main now is the site of the offices of the University Administration, including Dr. Graham Spanier, who became Penn State’s 16th president in September, 1995.
While Old Main was once all that existed of Penn State, today it sets in the middle of 4,767 acres that make up the University Park campus. Five-hundred-and-forty acres, which includes more than 12,000 trees, are devoted to classrooms and office buildings, residence halls and laboratories, with more than 700 buildings comprising the main campus.
From Old Main to Mount Nittany…from Pattee Library to the Creamery…from East Halls, West Halls, Nittany Suites, the Nittany Lion Shrine, the Palmer Museum of Art or the Bryce Jordan Center, Penn State’s campus has a picture postcard look.
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