If you’ve spent any time on Penn State’s campus, you’ve probably passed the Allen Street Gates countless times. Whether you’re heading down College Ave. to meet up with friends or go to class, these historic gates are pretty hard to miss.

But did you ever wonder why these gates are there in the first place?

Believe it or not, the answer involves cows, pigs, and other livestock that roamed freely when State College looked more like farmland than a college campus.

In 1855, Pennsylvania established the Farmers’ High School of Pennsylvania, which would later become Penn State.

As construction began on Old Main, workers created a pathway to haul the construction materials to the site, and that road eventually became the school’s main entrance when it officially opened in 1859.

The university wasn’t originally built in the middle of a developed town, but in a rural area surrounded by farmland. Because of this, seeing cows, pigs, or even horses roaming the streets was a part of everyday life.

The animals weren’t dangerous, but free-roaming livestock could damage the campus, interfere with campus operations, and eat vegetation. As Penn State further developed its campus, it needed a way to protect its property.

As a result, the university built a wooden post-and-rail fence to separate the university from the surrounding village. At the entrance near College Ave. and Allen Street, Penn State constructed a wooden gate and a pedestrian stile.

The stile let pedestrians and carriages through, but it wouldn’t open wide enough for livestock.

The issue wasn’t that livestock was escaping from one particular farm, but that livestock was allowed to roam freely without any rules in place.

One particular photograph from 1894 shows a pig walking around the corner of College Ave. and Allen Street. This photo inspired the bronze pig statues downtown in McAllister Alley near The Tavern.

In 1897, the town said enough was enough. The State College Borough Council approved Ordinance No. 9, making it “unlawful to let horses, cattle, mules, hogs, sheep, or goats run at large within borough limits.” 

Once the ordinance was passed, the wooden stile was no longer needed and was removed so the main entrance could stay open at all times.

Even after the wooden stile was removed, the Allen Street Gates continued to evolve.

In 1904, Penn State received materials from the St. Louis World’s Fair, including two brick pedestals topped with alabaster lion statues. Students quickly nicknamed the lion statues “Ma” and “Pa,” and they became two of the most recognizable statues on campus.

Ma and Pa stood atop the pillars until 1916, when graduates voted that their class gift to Penn State would be a memorial gateway at the main entrance of campus.

Years later, in 1924, they decided the main entrance would be pedestrian-only and closed to through traffic. Finally, in 1930, black iron fencing was installed between the two stone columns, which still stands today, unchanged.

Next time you walk through the gates, remember that before they were a Penn State landmark, they were simply a way to keep some cows off campus.

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