{"id":970,"featured":0,"modified":"2026-04-17 19:40:10","latitude":46.8601263051274798954182188026607036590576171875,"longitude":-113.98546523780743200404685921967029571533203125,"title":"The Oval","subtitle":"The University of Montana Historic District","fullsize":"https://mail.historicmt.org/files/fullsize/cb8d37cac9a11765475b0cac7b7e6b94.jpg","address":"32 Campus Drive, Missoula, Montana","all_locations":[],"zoom":17,"creator":["Montana National Register Sign Program"],"description":"Professor Frederick Scheuch and first university President Oscar Craig created the original campus master plan in 1895. The plan specified that the entrances of all immediate and future campus buildings were to face the center of a large oval. Ovals were a formal element commonly used in landscape design of the late nineteenth century, especially on academic campuses. Although only Main Hall and Science Hall (razed in 1984) were placed exactly according to the Craig-Scheuch plan, the beautifully landscaped Oval, surrounded by its eclectic collection of early buildings, remains a focal point of the campus.","sponsor":null,"accessinfo":"Public","lede":"","website":"","related_resources":["<a href=\"https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/20813bab-709f-4f3e-a723-150e7c0dbd3f\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Read about the University of Montana Historic District</a>","<a href=\"https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/36b2236f-1a00-41f0-b8f2-e9474c588162/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">See photos of the University of Montana Historic District</a>"],"factoids":[],"files":{"https://mail.historicmt.org/files/fullsize/cb8d37cac9a11765475b0cac7b7e6b94.jpg":{"id":1280,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"The Oval","description":"The Oval at the University of Montana. Overview of the Oval, facing the southwest with Women&#039;s Hall in the background and cars lapping the path known as the Oval. | <a href=\"https://www.mtmemory.org/nodes/view/14441\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Montana History Portal</a> | Unknown | Morton J. Elrod","thumbnail":"https://mail.historicmt.org/files/square_thumbnails/cb8d37cac9a11765475b0cac7b7e6b94.jpg"},"https://mail.historicmt.org/files/fullsize/1dbac85e5be8acc2a060b4f64306fd4b.jpg":{"id":1281,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"The Oval","description":"Aerial view of the Oval with a back view of Main Hall. Stands for the football field can be seen at bottom of the photograph. The photo is facing the southwest. | <a href=\"https://www.mtmemory.org/nodes/view/16175\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Montana History Portal</a> | June 1941 | Rollin H. McKay","thumbnail":"https://mail.historicmt.org/files/square_thumbnails/1dbac85e5be8acc2a060b4f64306fd4b.jpg"}}}