Tunnels Under Campus? It’s True

You've probably heard the stories. They have circulated for years. There are tunnels under the campus.

The stories we've heard range from a escape tunnel in the president's house to a secret passage for teachers to get across campus. Some believe the stories, others not so much. We spent the last couple of weeks finding the truth behind these stories.

We verified that there are tunnels under the campus but their purpose is far more utilitarian than romantic.

The tunnels were built about 1917 when the state added a steam plant to the campus, according to Jimmy Bryant, the UCA archivist who recently wrote a book about the history of the university. The plant, which generated heat for all the campus buildings that existed at the time, was connected to the buildings by the tunnels that carried steam pipes. Some of these tunnels are tall enough to walk through without bending over.

The steam plant was on the site now occupied by the Schichtl art building. There are three walls remaining from the original power plant in Schichtl today. The tunnel system began at Schichtl but the openings in the building have been sealed and no longer are accessible. The last vestige of the steam plant was destroyed in the early 1990s when the smoke stack was dismantled.

Inside view of a tunnel

The tunnels remain but are accessible only through manhole covers. The physical plant allowed us to look into the tunnels but we weren't allowed to enter them. Instead, we stuck our camera through the manhole and shot footage of the interior.

Some sections of the tunnels have collapsed over the years, including the tunnel leading across campus to the president's house,  according to Russ Hooper, a project coordinator for UCA. The remaining tunnels are still being used to run things like fiber optic and other communication cables throughout the campus. However, there is no plan to maintain the tunnels or build new ones, Hooper said.

Bryant said he heard the stories about the tunnels when he was a UCA student in the 1970s. Even then, some people questioned their existence and others disputed their purpose, he said.

Here is a collection of photos we took while compiling this report, including a map we made showing the approximate location of the tunnels.

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