Known as The Quad, it is the oldest part of Red Campus and adjacent to Downtown Columbia at the south end of the Avenue of the Columns.

The Quad was designed and constructed by architect Morris Frederick Bell and his assistant William Lincoln Garver.

Eighteen structures, including the entire quad and most of Red Campus are listed as the Francis Quadrangle National Historic District.

Constructed by architect Stephen Hills from 1840 to 1843 out of red brick and limestone quarried from the bluff of Hinkson Creek, this was the only academic building of the university for many years.

During the American Civil War, Union troops occupied Academic Hall and burned the ancient forest and parts of the library for firewood.

After the war, the university sued the federal government for damages, eventually winning and building the Memorial Gateway on the Avenue of the Columns with the money.

The burning of Academic Hall on a cold January night in 1892 ushered in a time of great change for the university.

The Governor of Missouri, David R. Francis, sent a telegram to the students of the university assuring them that he would fight to keep the campus in Columbia.

Pickard Hall was built in 1892 and contained the MU Art and Archaeology Museum until 2013, when it was closed due to latent radiation from experiments dating 1910-1930.

Today, The Columns are the second-most photographed landmarks in the state of Missouri, next to the Gateway Arch in St. Louis.

First state university to be founded in the Louisiana Territory purchased from France during President Jefferson's administration.

The obelisk, dedicated on this campus at commencement June 4, 1885, commemorates Thomas Jefferson, third president of the United States, whose faith in the future of western America and whose confidence in the people has shaped our national ideals; commemorates the author of the Declaration of Independence and of the Virginia statute for religious freedom, founder of the University of Virginia, fosterer of public education in the United States."

And under these words it reads (the original epitaph) "Here was buried Thomas Jefferson Author of the Declaration of American Independence of the Statute of Virginia for religious freedom and FATHER of the University of Virginia" As tribute to former governor of Missouri, David R. Francis, a statue of stands just northeast of the entrance to Jesse Hall.

A stone marker memorializing Missouri's first senator David Barton stands at the southwest corner of The Quad.