Right in front of you, you’ll spot the Van Wickle Gates-a grand, wrought-iron gate flanked by hefty brick and stone pillars, with the Brown University coat of arms perched proudly at the top and decorative seals on each side-standing tall at the intersection of College and Prospect, at the very crest of College Hill.
Standing here, you’re face to face with the most famous entrance at Brown. Picture this scene in 1901: It's June, the air is bright with anticipation as a crowd gathers. Local dignitaries, eager students, and the chancellor himself line up before these gleaming, newly built gates. Their designer, Augustus Stout Van Wickle, wasn’t just a banker with an eye for ironwork-he was also a fan of impressive entrances (he built a pretty fancy one at Princeton, too). Imagine yourself as a first-year student in the early days, heart thumping as you walk through for Convocation, the gates swinging open to swallow up new dreams and, let’s be honest, a ton of textbooks.
Wrought iron scrolls curl around the central arch, and if you look close, you’ll see classical Latin from Cicero on the side-so yes, you can tell your friends you learned some ancient philosophy just by standing here. The two side gates are almost always open, but the dramatic main gates are reserved for just three serious occasions a year. At the start of the academic year and again in spring, these majestic gates open inward to welcome the next generation of young minds. On Commencement Day, they swing outward, gently nudging graduates out into the world. But beware: rumor has it, any student who walks through these central gates more than twice is doomed to never graduate! The Brown University Band has turned this into a performance-hopping on one foot or even going in backwards to dodge the dreaded curse.
Back in the early 1900s, imagine what the crest of College Hill looked like-horse-drawn carriages, the excitement of new construction, the pride swelling in Brown’s 259-year-old heart as the gates were dedicated. Fritz Pollard, the great athlete, was so taken by the sight on his visit in 1912 that he decided to come to Brown, changing football history. H.P. Lovecraft once sat right where you’re standing, though a biographer confused this with Brooklyn (as if you’d ever mix up Providence with Brooklyn-those gates are way too classy for that!).
Today, the Van Wickle Gates appear in novels, pop culture, and legend. But there’s nothing quite like standing here for real, at the symbolic threshold of ambition and tradition, where every stone and scroll has played its part in welcoming generations. So, fancy trying your luck through the main gates, or are you sticking to the safe side? The superstitions start here!
