Peanut Pond

The birth of "Peanut Pond," this historic landscape feature northeast of Merica Hall, began with a simple plan to beautify UWyo's campus in the 1920s. With its new title taken from being "vaguely peanut-shaped," it was quickly absorbed into the lives of students. But "Peanut Pond" is a piece of history that’s been erased. There is no longer any indication to passersby that it existed. 

The name may feel silly, but "Peanut Pond" was a place of community, a tradition upholder, even the site of controversy and tragedy while in existence. For example it marked the start of each new school year: the very first mention of it in the Branding Iron newspaper is about its use as the site of freshman versus sophomore beginning of the year Tug-of-War competition. This was a campus staple reported on annually. 

The pond was not something that fulfilled a single purpose, however. It was a place to participate in a fly casting contest, a marker for an after-dance rendezvous, even just a spot to cool off. Now, however, there is no indication a pond once stood here small and semi-peanut-shaped, on the Western end of campus. Instead, paths cutting through grass, a bench, and a statue of Benjamin Franklin are the immemorable landmarks that stand in its place.

Contributed by Alexandria Matthews