The NRHP Lyceum-The Circle Historic District at the University of Mississippi, at Oxford MS, consists of 12 contributing buildings at and around the University Drive Circle at the historic entrance to the university.
From the National Park Service: (
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“Summary of Significance
Between September 30 and October 1, 1962, the Lyceum, The Circle, and surrounding buildings played an integral role in the turbulent events associated with the racial desegregation of the University of Mississippi. On these dates, segregationist rioters clashed with federal troops over the court-ordered admittance of African-American student James Meredith. The tumultuous event marked a decisive turning point in the federal government’s enforcement of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision and the decline of violent southern massive resistance to school desegregation.
Describe Present and Historic Physical Appearance.
Located at the center of the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) campus in Oxford, Mississippi, the Lyceum-The Circle Historic District contains a collection of eight academic buildings arranged around the perimeter of an interior common called “The Circle.” Three resources date to the university’s very beginning: the Lyceum (1848), University Circle (1848), and the Croft Institute for International Studies (the “Y” Building, 1853). The remaining six buildings: the Old Chemistry Building and Carrier, Shoemaker, Ventress, Bryant, and Peabody Halls, were built between the late-nineteenth and mid-twentieth centuries. These buildings feature Neoclassical Revival detailing and are built of brick, limestone, and concrete. The common is more oval than circular in shape and comprises a landscaped green with mature oaks, magnolias, and pine. A network of paths radiate outwards from a central flagpole, and a Confederate memorial statue commands a prominent point at the eastern edge. An asphalt-paved roadway designated as “University Circle” encircles the green.
All of the buildings, structures, sites, objects, and the green in the Lyceum-The Circle Historic District, are contributing resources. These resources and the district as a whole retain a high degree of integrity in their location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association. The following narrative describes each of the resources in the district, assesses their integrity, and notes the roles these resources played in the desegregation of Ole Miss. Narrative building descriptions (other than the Lyceum) focus on the exterior since the activities occurring inside the buildings were limited in scope.
Contributing Resources:
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9. Ventress Hall. Built in 1889, Ventress Hall is located near the Confederate Monument on the east side of The Circle. It has two main floors with additional levels contained in attic and turret spaces. Rich in Victorian details, the asymmetrical brick building features a corner tower, gables with embellishments, segmental arch and flat lintels, stone courses, and a modillionated cornice. Windows on the upper floors have flat lintels while those on the first floor have segmental arch caps. A turn-of-the-nineteenth century photograph reveals that the building has not undergone any major exterior changes over the last century. Ventress Hall appears in a famous photo of James H. Meredith walking in the commencement procession on August 18, 1963."