By the 1980s, Drexel’s unglamorous orange-brick architecture—seen here on the Stratton Building, Drexel’s first building west of the Main Building—connoted an institution that had lost its creative vitality.
Over the course of the twentieth century, the academic program of the Institute grew to comprise an array of coeducational undergraduate and graduate programs in engineering, science, and technology, with engineering as the flagship discipline.
Looking west on Chestnut Street at the University’s east entrance. Drexel’s brand appears on the “High Line,” which carries freight trains around 30th Street Station.
Anthony J. Drexel created the Drexel Institute of Art, Science, and Industry—the 1891 forefather of Drexel University—with the goal of providing working-class students with a balanced education and path of upward mobility.
Anthony J. Drexel is significant in West Philadelphia’s history not only as the founder and namesake of Drexel University, but also as an expansive property owner, developer, and philanthropist.
