In 1914, a fire consumed the only building on the WT campus. This meant that almost everything had been lost; books, teachers’ notes, students’ projects and every other item utilized in an early 1900 class room. And although everything had been lost, the faculty at WT decided not to give up and began to rebuild their university and home. The current building that is today known as Old Main was built from the ashes of the previous building, much like a phoenix rising from its own ashes. As the decades passed and more buildings were built, WT honored the memory of that first building by creating the concept of the Eternal Flame. It’s point is to show that no matter what happens, every WT Buff has an eternal flame inside of them that will refuse to give up, exactly how the early faculty and students refused to give up. In 1966, the WTAMU Alumni Association dedicated a monument to the concept aptly called, The Eternal Flame. It stands at the west entrance to campus in front of the JBK parking lot, and to the side of the Box.