Named for founding trustee John McGraw, who gave $120,000 for construction of the building, McGraw Hall, designed by architect Archimedes N. Russell, opened in 1872.
Built of an Ithaca stone known as Lenrock, the four-story building was the first on campus to include a tower and today is home to the American Studies Program, Department of History, Department of Anthropology, and Archaeology Intercollege Program.
Jennie McGraw, daughter of John McGraw, donated the chimes to be placed in the tower, where they stayed until McGraw Tower was built in 1891.
This year the College of Arts and Sciences inaugurated a comprehensive renovation of McGraw Hall.
Michael Stephen Wills Photography 
That is a great tower!
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Right across the valley from our home. We can see it after the leaves fall, until spring leaves bud out.
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What a beautiful tower. It looks even more stunning with the fall foliage all around it.
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Cornell is doubly blessed in autumn. The entire open slope above the valley is endowed with mature trees. Here is another post featuring a Hickory tree that grows on the slope below McGraw Hall.
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