![\"Columns](\"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/columns-jun15.jpg\")
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When it comes to iconic Baylor imagery, near the top of the list — just behind the Judge Baylor statue<\/a> and the Burleson Quadrangle\/Pat Neff Hall skyline<\/a> — is\u00a0a series of four columns. Visitors to campus, for instance, are greeted by large signs<\/a> at the edges of the university that noticeably stand on four pillars.<\/p>\n You might think the columns are a reference to Pat Neff Hall<\/a> — but\u00a0they actually harken back almost 100 years before that.<\/p>\n Participants in Baylor Line Camp<\/a> learn the answer: The columns date all the way\u00a0back to Baylor’s original campus in Independence, Texas, where the university\u00a0began in 1845 and remained\u00a0until 1886.<\/p>\n In the decades following Baylor’s\u00a0move to Waco, many of the\u00a0building materials used for the old Independence\u00a0campus were repurposed for other buildings around town, until there was little left of the old university.<\/p>\n One of the few remnants from that time are the four stone columns that once fronted\u00a0the “Baylor Female Building<\/a>.” Built in 1857, it housed\u00a0classrooms, an auditorium, a library and recreation rooms for the women of Baylor. After Baylor moved to Waco, the building was used for another decade or so by\u00a0the short-lived William Carey Crane College<\/a>. Then in the early 20th century, a fire gutted what was left\u00a0of the building, leaving only the columns and stone archway.<\/p>\n![\"Baylor](\"http:\/\/files.campus.edublogs.org\/blogs.baylor.edu\/dist\/1\/2463\/files\/2012\/01\/collegecampus-1bfwvo2.jpg\")
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