Did you know that the “Tired Boy” Sculpture near the entrance of Wood Hall was actually inspired by a scene sculptor Leopold Bracony witnessed during World War I? Bracony created the sculpture as a symbol of faith after witnessing a small boy place confidence in a woman as they stopped to rest in the middle of the bombing during the war.
The statue was donated to Purdue University by Catherine Barker Hickox, who was the only child of millionaire industrialist John H. Barker and was heiress to the Pullman-Standard railroad company fortune. She also established The Barker Welfare Foundation in 1934, which made the John Barker mansion available to the university in 1948. Classes were held in the 38-room Victorian mansion until the North Central campus in Westville opened in 1967.
You can read more about it on Purdue University’s website.