The Sample Gates are a safe space for your emotion
This is a one of a kind structure in the middle of fly over country. I still remember my first trip to Bloomington. October 2017, my family and family friends arrived here for a Michigan football game against IU. Our group had always talked about a destination football game somewhere in Big Ten country. Spoiler alert, I am very glad we chose Bloomington. Going into it blind, I was told it had a little bit of everything; an amazing campus, great places to eat and one more thing, amazing landmarks. The first thing I can recall from that trip was that immediately after we got out of an uber to take us to campus, we were dropped off on Indiana Ave and we were facing The Sample Gates.
Fast forward a couple of years and I am now here at Indiana University, a place I did not think I would be at the time of my first ever visit. Going back on the story of my first memory in this great town, it has always been the sample gates. The Sample Gates are what I think are the roots of Indiana University; it is what ties it all together. When you are at the sample gates, you are never far from anything.
Two things that mean a lot to me from this campus reside right next to the Sample Gates: Kirkwood Ave and Franklin Hall. As a sports media major, I will be in Franklin Hall for a majority of my four years, and with that being basically the exact location of the Sample Gates, we are reminded that we are never too far from where we begin our journeys. Go north of the Sample Gates on Indiana Ave, and you are at Assembly Hall and Memorial Stadium, places that I hope I will be spending a lot of time (if the football team is good at least). You go east of the Sample Gates, down that historic brick walk (that I walk everyday to all of my classes… crazy right) and everything you need to be at is there for you. Then southeast of the Sample Gates you have Dunn Woods. A fun thing about the Sample Gates is that there is only one of these; that's what makes it unique. You don’t even need the crimson and cream around it to know what it is. Whenever you see the Sample Gates you know that it is explicitly Indiana University. Ok, enough of the attachments, how did the sample gates come to be?
The Sample Gates were created by Edson Sample in 1987. As you can see from the images below, the Sample Gates were dedicated to Edson Sample’s parents, Louise Waite Sample and Kimsey Ownbey Sample Sr. Visitbloomington.com says that the Sample Gates stand as "two welcoming pillars" at the edge of Old Crescent. Like most of the buildings at Indiana University, the gates were made out of limestone.
The idea of a landmark such as the Sample Gates was started in the early 1900’s with the “Arch Fund”. A blog from the Indiana University libraries page tells us that the arch fund was for the much needed construction of an arch to symbolize the entrance to campus near Kirkwood. Early drafts started to come in of what the Sample Gates were to be modeled after.
A man named Benjamin Long brought together an idea for a gateway in memory of his mother and father who were both graduates of Indiana University. In 1967 when these drafts were seen by architects, the architects called for a new modern approach. The image below was that of “modernization”. And then in 1968 became the final design (Schwier, 2012). The Sample Gates seems like it was made for the incoming student-parent interaction. With both Long and Edson Sample both dedicating this project to their parents. The Sample Gates become this area of emotion.
The completion of the project was delayed until the 1980’s because many student and faculty members complained that the money for the gates was wrongfully not being put to students and their resources. To end this stalemate, Edson Sample donated money for the entire project (weareiu.com). Funny enough, years later the place notorious for protests at Indiana University Bloomington is none other than the Sample Gates (Reschke, 2017).
Interestingly, the Sample Gates’ creation was halted, as told above, due to a protest. We see a recurring theme with The Sample Gates, emotions. Where it is acceptable to cry as your first born child will be here, in this town, for the next 4 years. Or, if you are protesting a matter that is close to your heart. Or even if you are preparing to spend the rest of your life with somebody.
This last paragraph and section on my webpage, is an ode to my amazing mother. The main reason why I chose this topic over all other landmarks was this image that I will attach below of us. This image for me symbolizes 2 things. The first symbol is an ideology of creating your own legacy. I had always wanted to go to UofM since I was very young, to be like my dad and his dad before him. But as I got older I realized that it is ok to have a different path than others. The legacy I am going to create here will be special. The second symbol of that image is love and sacrifice. My mom is one of my heroes. She is a great human who has done so much for me and I thank her for allowing me to attend this amazing university. She has pushed me so hard and has always been in my corner. The Sample gates has a very large meaning to me now. Because of this image that was taken, coming up on 5 years ago, now. Now, where was this image taken? You guessed it, The Sample Gates, the crossroads of Indiana University.
CITATIONS
Works cited Sites
Schwier, C., & Schwier, A. C. (2012, February 23). Indiana University Bloomington. Blogging Hoosier History. Retrieved September 8, 2022, from https://blogs.libraries.indiana.edu/iubarchives/tag/sample-gates/
Michael Reschke, M. R. |. (2017, October 14). Sample gates at 30: Landmark is homecoming favorite, symbol of campus. Times. Retrieved September 8, 2022, from https://www.heraldtimesonline.com/story/news/local/2017/10/14/sample-gates-at-30-landmark-is-homecoming-favorite-symbol-of-campus/117272834/
Images
https://blogs.libraries.indiana.edu/iubarchives/tag/sample-gates/ 6 poles
https://blogs.libraries.indiana.edu/iubarchives/tag/sample-gates/ modernization
https://blogs.libraries.indiana.edu/iubarchives/tag/sample-gates/ Ben Long and plaque
https://blogs.libraries.indiana.edu/iubarchives/tag/sample-gates/ blueprints/blue and yellow
https://www.visitbloomington.com/listing/sample-gates/309/ images with fall colors and gates
https://indigolace.com/surine-alex-indiana-university-bloomington-engagement-session-bloomington-wedding-photographer/2018-10-10_0003/ Walking away from gates
https://www.wfyi.org/news/articles/iu-expert-says-ukrainian-refugee-situation-will-likely-impact-europe-more-than-us Ukraine protest
https://map.iu.edu/iub/index.html Map
Rest of the images were taken by me