Old Main ( Pennsylvania State University ) Old Main , originally called " Main Building " is The Pennsylvania State University ’ s first building of major significance . It was completed in 1863 after a six - year period of construction . Hugh McAllister designed the structure to contain classrooms , laboratories , offices , a chapel , and residential space for 400 students . The limestone used to build the structure was quarried from the land directly in front of it , and was carried in part by a mule named Old Coaly , whose bones were subsequently preserved . After being deemed structurally unsound in the 1920s , the building was razed in 1929 and rebuilt in 1930 . The new building , occupying the same footprint as the previous structure and incorporating some of its limestone , was christened " Old Main " . The renovations cost $ 837 , 000 , which was mostly paid for by state appropriations and an emergency building fund campaign . The bell in the tower was a gift from the 1904 graduating class , and westminster chimes were added as a gift of the 1937 class . The original chimes remained in use until the late 1970s when the university replaced them with a mix of mechanical and electronic bells . These bells eventually gave way in 1993 to the digital chimes which ring over the campus today . Between 1940 and 1949 , Henry Varnum Poor utilized the fresco style to paint large murals ( over 1300 ft² ) on the second floor of Old Main that depict Penn State ' s land grant history . Today , Old Main serves as the administrative center of Penn State , housing the offices of the president and other officials . It is located in the Farmers ' High School Historic District added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1981 . Old Coaly . Old Coaly was a Kentucky born mule who was brought to Penn State in 1857 by his owner Piersol Lytle . Piersol ’ s son was one of 200 workmen involved with the construction of Old Main . Coaly was one of four mules and two horses that worked to haul limestone blocks out of the quarry to the construction site . He was admired so much for his reliability and toughness that Penn State purchased Old Coaly for $ 190 . 00 . Over the following thirty years he was used for a variety of jobs in the surrounding area and on campus . Old Coaly was very well liked by the students and became somewhat of a mascot . When he died on January 1 of 1893 , his skeleton was preserved so the memories of all that he contributed could live on . Since his death , his skeleton has taken residence in many Penn State buildings , but today , Old Coaly ’ s skeleton is located in the HUB – Robeson Center . The Bell . The bell was cast in 1871 by William Blake and Co . in Boston , and was just recently restored by the class of 2009 . The bell was removed from the Old Main tower and rung for the first time since 1929 . The refurbished bell is now on display near old main and the bells heard on campus today are electrical chimes . During the week , Old Main ' s chimes play the Westminster Quarters , but on Fridays and Saturdays , part of a Penn State school fight song , " Hail To The Lion " , is played instead . For special events the tune can vary additionally ; for example , on February 22 , 2005 , the university ' s 150th anniversary , the clock tower toned " Happy Birthday to You " . Frescoes . The frescoes located on the upper walls of Old Main ’ s lobby were created from the ideas of professors Harold Dickson , J . Burn Helme and Francis E . Hyslop to pay a tribute to the University ’ s land grant education . With financial aid from the graduating class of 1932 , the professors of art and architectural history hired artist Henry Varnum Poor , a well known fresco artist , to design and create the frescoes . He began sketches in 1939 and began painting in April 1940 . It only took him four short months to complete his original sketches . He was rehired in 1948 to paint additional frescoes on either side of his original piece of work . The complete mural covers about .