Texas State's 1903 Victorian Gothic first building; the third-floor balcony was enclosed in 1988 following a longstanding story of a student who fell to her death from it — and custodial staff still report a young woman in period clothing on that floor.
601 University Dr, San Marcos, TX 78666
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Campus grounds and exterior are freely accessible. Interior access depends on university events and hours.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Historic university building on a hillside campus; paved paths to the main entrance.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1903 · National Register of Historic Places (1983) · Texas State University's First Building · Victorian Gothic Architecture by Edward Northcraft · Original Campus Chapel and Auditorium with Open Balcony
Old Main was designed by architect Edward Northcraft and built by contractors Francis Fischer and R. C. Lambie of Austin. It opened in fall 1903 as the first and for several years the only building on the Southwest Texas State Normal School campus — the institution that would become Texas State University. During construction, workers discovered a cave beneath the foundation that had to be sealed before the structure could be properly set.
The building's original interior featured a large auditorium and chapel on the second floor with an ornate cathedral ceiling, a stage at one end, and an open balcony at the other. It served as the administrative center of the campus until other buildings opened after 1908.
A 1972 interior renovation added partitions to the former auditorium space. In 1988 a floor was added at the balcony level, enclosing the open third-story balcony — a change that local accounts frequently connect to the persistent ghost legend. A 1993–1994 project restored the roof to its original red color and style. A $3.5 million roof replacement and structural repair project followed in 2013–2014.
Old Main was added to the National Register of Historic Places on August 26, 1983. The building currently houses the College of Fine Arts and Communication and the School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
Sources
Old Main's ghost legend centers on a student who died falling from the building's open third-floor balcony. The story has circulated in multiple versions across the Texas State campus since at least the mid-twentieth century. The University Star, Texas State's student newspaper, investigated the accounts in 2016 and documented the principal variants.
The most common version places the incident in 1908 and identifies the cause as grief: the student, reportedly a young woman, received word that her boyfriend had been killed while serving in the military and jumped from the balcony, dying from the fall. An alternate version attributes the fall to academic failure — the student allegedly learned she had failed all her courses and took her life at the balcony. Investigators have not identified any contemporaneous news or university records documenting the death, and the story should be understood as campus folklore of uncertain origin rather than a confirmed historical event.
The 1988 renovation that enclosed the balcony is frequently read in the ghost tradition as an institutional response to the legend, regardless of the actual engineering rationale for the change.
Since the renovation, custodial staff and late-night workers have reported seeing a young woman dressed in early-twentieth-century clothing on the third floor — specifically described as clutching books as if rushing to class. The Visit San Marcos tourism site and the University Star both document this post-renovation account. Separately, overnight maintenance workers have described unexplained noises and equipment malfunctions during nighttime hours.
Notable Entities
View the Victorian Gothic exterior of Old Main on the Texas State University campus. The building's red roof, ornate cathedral ceiling visible through the upper windows, and enclosed former balcony — the site of the recurring ghost account — are all visible from the campus grounds.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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