The Valley

Center of Campus

The Valley is the center of activity on campus, whether that activity is walking to class, relaxing in a hammock, enjoying a cookout to celebrate the end of another year, or studying outside Hartung Hall or Nicholson Library. During homecoming, the Valley lights up with luminaires. Whatever the season, a group of AU students can usually be found with a frisbee in the Valley.

The Valley's history goes back to the relocation of Church of God headquarters to Anderson in 1906, before the beginning of Anderson University. A stone on College Drive commemorates this event with a plaque that reads: "Near this spot in 1905, Enoch and Noah Byrum, A. L. Byers, and J. Martin, leaders of the Church of God and officers of the Gospel Trumpet Company in Moundsville, West Virginia, knelt to dedicate this 40-acre tract as their new headquarters. After purchasing the tract for $200 per acre, they constructed a building (later known as Old Main, the birthplace of Anderson College) to accommodate the 300 workers - including their families - and a publishing plant, now known as Warner Press."

Another notable spot in the Valley is the bridge between Decker Hall and Nicholson Library. As the story goes, President Morrison asked David Gaulke to build a bridge over a flooded section of the Valley in order to pay off his student debt. In 1934, David Gaulke became the first medical student to graduate from Anderson College.