Ogden Drive; A service road dedicated to Robert W. Ogden

Item

Legacies Classification
Memorial Place
Memorial Type
Street Name
Memorial Context
Enslaver
Memorialized Subject
Odgen, Robert W.
Title
Ogden Drive; A service road dedicated to Robert W. Ogden
Background and Context
Ogden Drive is a short service road that accesses the spaces between Kelly Thompson, Snell, Ogden College, Hardin Planetarium, Engineering and Biological Sciences, the Greenhouses, and the Environmental Sciences and Technology Building. It has been difficult to find information on the design or payment of this service road, however it can be presumed that Western Kentucky University both designed and paid for this service road. There is some evidence to suggest that this was originally an unpaved, unnamed path through the historical Ogden College grounds.
Date created, installed or dedicated
1877
1930
Location: Institution, City, State
Western Kentucky University; Bowling Green, Kentucky
Biography
Robert Ogden was a man born into an enslaving family in Virginia in 1796. In 1815, Ogden moved into Warren County, KY. In 1836, he married a wealthy widow named Georgianna McDowell Rochester. She then died 3 years later, leaving her property to her husband. Through this he would go to invest in land and horses through the help of slavery. When Ogden died November 10th, 1873 , he mentioned in his will that $50,000 should be set aside to purchase the land and buildings for a college to be named after him and the conditions for who may enroll. In this will, he stated:

"I do not mean or intend to express any prejudice against any citizen of Kentucky who may be of foreign birth, but it is my desire and I hereby direct that the benefits of this fund shall be confined to the children of native-born white American Citizens"

Through this, African American students were not allowed to enroll. This became an issue in 1960 when trying to execute a new lease for the property and had to go to a local court. It was then decided that Ogden's will had no say over who was able to enroll based on race.
shortDescription
Ogden Drive is a dead end street that gives access from State Street to the Science Buildings of Western Kentucky University's campus.
Following Event
This road is fundamentally unremarkable. Presumably, this road has been primarily used to service the buildings surrounding it. There has been one noted instance where the road was blocked off the week after September 21st, 1989 in order to install a new streamline.

Position: 11486 (7 views)