Carleton College - Campus

Campus

The college campus was created in 1867 with the gifts of two 10-acre (4 ha) parcels from local businessmen Charles Goodsell and Charles Augustus Wheaton. The campus is on a hill overlooking the Cannon River, at the northeast edge of Northfield. To the north and east are athletic fields and the Cowling Arboretum, which were farm fields in the early years of the college. Open land beyond the Arboretum is still largely devoted to agriculture.

The center of campus is an open field called "the Bald Spot," which is used for ultimate frisbee in the warmer months and flooded for skating and broomball in the winter. Most of the campus buildings constructed before World War II surround the Bald Spot (the exceptions are Goodsell Observatory and Margaret Evans Hall).