On Thursday, April 10, President Castro presented back to Fresno City College a bronze plaque that once graced the Old Administration Building when the Fresno State campus was at its original location on University Avenue near Shields and Van Ness Avenues. The special unveiling ceremony was attended by local and state elected officials with a historical overview provided by Professor emeritus Ephraim Smith through a comprehensive PowerPoint slideshow.

The Old Administration Building was the first permanent building constructed for the shared campus of Fresno State (then called the Fresno State Normal School) and Fresno City College (then Fresno Junior College), founded by Charles L. McLane in 1910 . The building was designed by State Architect George B. McDougall with 103,000 square feet for classrooms, office space, laboratories and an auditorium. The first library was housed on the second floor from 1916 to 1933. McDougall decided to use "brick and stone in warm shades and of a style reminiscent of the Renaissance architecture built with these materials in Northern Italy and Spain."

Groudbreaking for the building was on March 5, 1915 and the building was formally dedicated in 1916. The plaque, forged in Fresno by the Valley Foundry (owned by Leon S. Peters), commemorates that event. For many years, the plaque graced the outside of the building, but when Fresno State moved to its new campus on Shaw Avenue, the plaque went with it. For many years, it has been stored at the Madden Library, most recently in the University Archives at the Special Collections Research Center. One hundred and two years later, it has returned to its rightful place on the building where it all started.

See more.