I had no idea that there was an “original” Hall of Fame, until I visited it with three friends back in November. The Hall of Fame for Great Americans was dedicated in May of 1901 at what was then the uptown campus of New York University in the Bronx. It was the brainchild of Dr. Henry Mitchell MacCracken, the Chancellor of the University at the time, and features a 630-foot open-air colonnade populated with bronze portrait busts of the honorees.

The Hall of Fame was designed by architect Stanford White, who also designed the nearby Gould Memorial library, the Hall of Languages and the Hall of Philosophy. It has spaces for 102 busts, and currently houses 98 originals by sculptors such as Daniel Chester French (sculptor of the Lincoln Memorial) and Frederick MacMonnies (sculptor of the reliefs on the Washington Square Arch).

In order to be nominated for the Hall of Fame, someone must have been a native born or naturalized citizen, must have been dead for 25 years and must have made “a major contribution to the economic, political or cultural life of the nation.” Honorees include ten Presidents and other “authors, educators, architects, inventors, military leaders, judges, theologians, philanthropists, humanitarians, scientists, statesmen, artists, musicians, actors, and explorers.”

The last honorees were inducted in 1976, but they don’t have busts or plaques because NYU was suffering financially, along with the rest of the city in the ‘70s. The campus was sold to the City University of New York in 1973 and is currently home to the Bronx Community College.

The Hall of Fame is supposed to be open to the public for self-guided tours M-F 9am-5pm and Sat-Sun 10am-5pm. We went on a Saturday and ran into some resistance at the front gate, but after pleading our case we were eventually allowed to explore the grounds unattended. The Gould Memorial Library was unfortunately closed, and I would love to go back and explore the beautiful Beaux Arts landmark.

I had no idea when I was listening to the Wizard of Oz soundtrack on repeat as a kid that the line “You’ll be a bust, be a bust, be a bust in the Hall of Fame,” was referring to this particular Hall of Fame—the first of its kind anywhere in the country.

Like a lot of antiquated memorials, the Hall of Fame unfortunately comprises mostly white men—only a handful of busts belong to women or people of color. Thankfully in 2017, Governor Cuomo ordered the busts and plaques of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson to be permanently removed, although the fact that they were ever in a Hall of Fame of Great Americans is regrettable.