Drexel’s University City campus is constantly evolving, something that is evident to all who live, learn and work there. Last year’s graduating class could already tell you about how the campus changed in their four or five years there — just ask them what the entrance to the Handschumacher Dining Center used to look like, or where the Starbucks on campus was once located.

Going back even further, campus photos taken from the 1950s up until the 1990s document just how much Drexel’s campus has evolved in the later half of the 20th century. Collected by the Drexel University Archives, the aerial shots show landscapes familiar only to alums. Many of the Drexel buildings used every day by students, faculty and staff were built fairly recently in Drexel’s lifetime, and many of Drexel’s famous landmarks, including Mario the Dragon, were seen by only a fraction of Drexel’s students on campus. 

Check out these photos from yesteryear and see what it looks like in comparison to the campus you know today.