Bald Spot

From CarlWiki

This article is about a campus quad. For the humor publication, see The Bald Spot.

The Bald Spot in the spring. Skinner Chapel is in the background.

The Bald Spot is effectively the center of campus. It is the empty, roughly quadrilateral area currently bounded by Skinner Memorial Chapel on the south, Hulings Hall and Music Hall on the east, Willis Hall and Sayles-Hill on the west, and Leighton Hall, Gould Library and Laird Hall on the north. During warm months, Carls use the Bald Spot to study or play frisbee, and during the winter, two ice rinks are installed on the Bald Spot for activities such as skating and broomball. This winter usage contributes to the muddy grassless swamp that the center of campus becomes every spring, lending credence to the name "The Bald Spot".

The Bald Spot in August

Historical rumor

From chapter 2 of As It Was in the Beginning: "Sioux Indians by the hundreds were a common sight. It is recorded that as late as 1857 they had a scalp dance on the level land which is now the Carleton campus, in celebration of a victory over the Chippewas near Hastings."^[1]

References

1. ↑ Dieson-Hegland, Georgina. As It Was in the Beginning. St. Olaf College Press, Northfield, MN. 1950.