A Life Circummured With Brick(s)

It’s Spring Break at SHSU and that normally means I’m wandering the main campus taking photographs. Not today – but I was reviewing the photographs that I’ve taken over the last eight years and found something mildly interesting.

First some history. Approval was granted in August 2011 for a $2.2 Million restoration of Austin Hall. The project included work on both its interior and exterior and went as far as temporarily removing the bricks and applying new mortar. From what I recall the idea was to number them and reposition them back in their original location, save for those that had deteriorated beyond use. When the project was complete Austin Hall was rededicated in October 2012.

So here are two photographs of the same brick that features a rather prominent "B" that we once used to represent the "B" in the now-former buildingshsu logo (play the Writing on the Wall game to learn more on that). The first photograph is from our July 2007 visit, the second came just last year in March 2013. You notice the main brick and its surrounding brethren are mostly the same except now above it to the right is a brick featuring the initials "M B".  So did "M B" find a blank canvas to leave their mark sometime between 2007 and 2013 what with all the shrubs trimmed out of the way?

For what it’s worth, the brick to the bottom right is still marked with “’84”, meaning that engraver most likely graduated from SHSU a mere thirty years ago.

Not a lot of time when you consider the original bricks were placed there when the building was constructed over 160 years ago.