{"id":4016,"date":"2015-07-02T19:18:19","date_gmt":"2015-07-02T19:18:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/archives.library.illinois.edu\/slc\/?p=4016"},"modified":"2023-11-28T19:59:37","modified_gmt":"2023-11-28T19:59:37","slug":"campus-memories-boneyard-creek","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/slc\/2015\/07\/02\/campus-memories-boneyard-creek\/","title":{"rendered":"Campus Memories: Boneyard Creek"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Through the shady Arboretum,\/\u00a0<\/em>By the Balm of Gilead tree,\/\u00a0gently flows the Bone-yard\/On its journey to the sea.\/\u00a0<\/em>In the summer, little violets\/\u00a0<\/em>‘Midst the greenest mosses bloom,\/\u00a0And their sweetest fragrance mingles\/\u00a0With the Bone-yard’s own perfume.<\/em>“<\/em>[1]<\/p>\n

\"Postcard<\/a>
Postcard from RS 41\/20\/73.
The note on the reverse reads: “Where all freshman [sic<\/em>] are in danger of being dumped.”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"From<\/a>
From the 1908 Illio, p. 539. Caption reads: “Life on the ocean wave or crossing the Boneyard during the recent flood”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While there are many aspects of life as a U of I student that have remained the same throughout the years, one of the things that has changed is the symbolism and importance of Boneyard Creek. Fraternity battles! Student antics! Accidental explosions! Boneyard Creek has been\u00a0home to it all.<\/p>\n

For students of the past, Boneyard Creek was one of the most recognizable aspects of life in\u00a0Champaign-Urbana. In fact, almost every\u00a0Illio<\/em> yearbook through the\u00a0early 1920s featured some mention of the Boneyard. A student on campus in 1907 described the creek as “the most famous place here.” [2]<\/p>\n

\"From<\/a>
From the student calendar, Illio 1905, p. 402. Caption reads: “Generally speaking, the Boneyard was considerably dammed by Freshmen this night.”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 1867, the year of the University’s charter, Boneyard ran through a cow pasture. [3] As the University grew, however, the edges of campus began to approach the creek.\u00a0One of the most popular activities on campus were the “boneyard baptisms”\u00a0that occurred each year, in which sophomore students pushed the new freshmen into the creek as a welcome to campus. [4] By the 1920s, though, the odor, frequent flooding, and other problems\u00a0that had previously been beloved quirks became decidedly less beloved. A report from the Illinois Department of Public Health, described the creek as an “eyesore” that townspeople used as “a general depository” [5].<\/p>\n

\"From<\/a>
From RS 41\/20\/84<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

1932\u00a0brought\u00a0the widening of the creek’s bend at Wright Street to reduce the frequent flooding that affected the campus [6]. By 1947, the pollution (and the stench it caused) became\u00a0a health risk, as the towns and university drained its sewers into the\u00a0Boneyard.\u00a0\u00a0The cities of Champaign and Urbana voted to drain the creek but ultimately created\u00a0pollution bans designed to clean up the area\u00a0[7]. However, fraternity students in the 1940s and 1950s still held annual tug of wars creek-side [8]. In 1951, the site was home to an accidental explosion caused by U of I chemistry students, whose experiment went awry [9].<\/p>\n

People looking to revel in the days gone by of\u00a0Boneyard Creek can head on over to the Engineering campus east of Green Street or to downtown Champaign. We don’t suggest you push any of the new freshmen in, though!<\/p>\n

\"From<\/a>
From 1907 Illio<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"From<\/a>
From 1907 Illio<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"From<\/a>
From 1907 Illio “class history”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Resources Used:<\/p>\n

[1] – “The Bone-yard.”\u00a0Illio\u00a0<\/a><\/em>1895, p. 155.
\n[2] – Postcard in scrapbook, RS 41\/20\/39<\/a>.
\n[3] – “Boneyard Ran Through Cow Pasture in ’67.”\u00a0Daily Illini<\/a><\/em>. March 2,\u00a01939. p. 7.
\n[4] – “Freshman History.”\u00a0Illio<\/em> <\/a>1908. p. 137.
\n[5] –\u00a0Sjoblom, M.C.\u00a0<\/em>Report on the Boneyard in Champaign and Urbana.\u00a0<\/em>March 6, 1918. RS\u00a041\/20\/37<\/a>.
\n[6] – “Workmen Straighten Boneyard Creek Bend.”\u00a0Daily Illini<\/a>.\u00a0<\/i>April 15, 1932. p. 3.
\n[7] – “Sanitary Board Says ‘Clean Boneyard.'”\u00a0Daily Illini<\/a><\/em>. November 25, 1947. p. 1.
\n[8] –\u00a0Daily Illini<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>photograph and caption. May 26, 1954. p. 1.
\n[9]\u00a0“<\/em>Boneyard Blast; Sodium Ignites.”\u00a0Daily Illini<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em>October 31, 1951. p. 1.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Through the shady Arboretum,\/\u00a0By the Balm of Gilead tree,\/\u00a0gently flows the Bone-yard\/On its journey to the sea.\/\u00a0In the summer, little violets\/\u00a0‘Midst the greenest mosses bloom,\/\u00a0And their sweetest fragrance mingles\/\u00a0With the Bone-yard’s own perfume.“[1] While there are many aspects of life as a U of I student that have remained the same throughout the years, one […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":626,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,1,8],"tags":[43,49,56,225,227,283,316,318],"class_list":["post-4016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-found-in-the-archives","category-research","category-uncategorized","category-university-trivia","tag-boneyard-creek","tag-campus-history","tag-champaign-urbana","tag-personal-papers","tag-photographs","tag-student-life-and-culture-archives","tag-university-history","tag-university-of-illinois"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/slc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/slc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/slc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/slc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/626"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/slc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4016"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/slc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4016\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10886,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/slc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4016\/revisions\/10886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/slc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/slc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/slc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}