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Earth and Mineral Sciences Library
The Penn State Obelisk
The Obelisk was built in 1896 to serve as an educational
exhibit of various building stones assembled in their natural
geologic order and as an ongoing experiment in the effects of
weathering on each type of stone. Penn State’s first Professor
of Mining Engineering, Magnus C. Ihlseng, conceived the idea
for the monument and local stonemason Michael Womer
built it. Most of the 281 stone blocks were collected from
stone quarries in Pennsylvania, but a few stones from New
England states, Ohio and even England are also placed in the
monument.