4. Tell Time at the Sundial

In 1914, Columbia’s senior graduating class presented the university with a gift: a sixteen-ton granite sundial, placed atop a base with the inscription, “Horam Expecta Veniet,” or, “await the hour, it will come.” Each day at noon, the sphere cast a shadow and marked the date. The sundial was a meeting place and a central presence on campus.

At one time, the sphere was believed to be the largest piece of granite on Earth. However, in the winter of 1946 the stone began to crack, and the sphere was removed. It was believed that it was brought to a Bronx stoneyard and destroyed. In 2001, nearly 60 years later, an art curator contacted the university and told them that the sphere was in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where it remains today, mystifyingly brought there by an unknown person affiliated with Columbia.