Sesquicentennial Stories: The Promise of UK #143

Alfred M. Peter papers

According to the February 18, 1927 issue of the Kentucky Kernel, the bronze cannon in front of the Main building was captured at Santiago, Cuba in the Spanish American War in 1898. It was presented to the Commonwealth of Kentucky by the War Department and later given to the city of Lexington by Governor Bradley in 1903. 

From the 1904 yearbook, Echoes

For many years after placing the cannon in front of the Main Building, men students of the university celebrated athletic victories and other events by firing the cannon.  These ceremonies resulted several times in the breaking of windows in the Main building, so the university decreed that firing the cannon should be abolished.  It was then filled with cement.

Katherine Hobson photograph album circa 1906

The cannon, named Federalista, quickly became the backdrop for campus portraits, hazing activities, and pranks.