The Gazebo, designed by former student O'Neil Ford, was built on campus in 1928 as a gift from that year's senior class. Ford, who became a reknowned architect, first attended the college in 1922 and continued from 1924 to 1926. He studied English literature and took manual training classes such as architectural drawing, machine drafting, cabinet making, and wood turning. He also was a cheerleader and a member of the Yucca yearbook staff. Taking architecture courses through a correspondence school, he became an assistant to a Dallas architect in 1926. Ford later designed numerous residences, city buildings, and churches in Denton, including the Little Chapel in the Woods. Among his other well-known works are the Tower of the Americas and the restoration of La Villita in San Antonio. When he returned to campus in 1977 to be honored as a Distinguished Alumnus, Ford visited the Gazebo and remembered it as a project and place he had found inspiring. A popular gathering spot on campus, the Gazebo was constructed with assistance from Evers Hardware Store on the Denton town square. The octagonal structure features ornate grill work and a metal roof on wood panels. Ford's brother, Lynn, a student at the college from 1926 to 1928 and a skilled craftsman, also worked on the project. The structure once housed a water fountain, and early students recalled two previous fountains at this location, the first a long trough constructed in the 1890s. Later students remember the Gazebo as, "even on the hottest days, a cool, shady place to go with someone special."
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