Friday, June 19, 2026

Question: Which campus building at The Ohio State University is named for the school’s first president?

Answer: Orton Hall, named for Ohio State’s first president, Edward Orton, was built in 1893 on the south side of the Oval. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the building is home to the university’s bell tower. It is also potentially the only building in the world intentionally designed to reflect geologic time, with Ohio stone arranged from the Silurian Period at the base to the Carboniferous Period at the top.