[citation needed] The old Victorian-Gothic Main Building served as the central point of the campus's forty-acre site, and was used for nearly all purposes beginning in 1882.

Texas architect Samuel E. Gideon salvaged the bricks and stained-glass windows from Old Main and integrated them into his Austin home, Pemberton Castle.

During World War II, the university installed an air raid siren built by its chief communications engineer, Jack Maguire, atop of the Tower.

[6] On August 1, 1966, Charles Joseph Whitman, an architectural engineering student at the university, barricaded himself in the observation deck of the tower of the Main Building with a scoped Remington 700 deer rifle and various other weapons.

[9] On November 11, 1998, the Board of Regents of the UT system approved the recommendation of Student Association leaders and of then-president Larry Faulkner to reopen the Tower's observation deck to visitors.

The University of Texas Biodiversity Center placed a webcam in order to monitor her, as a successful nesting attempt would expand the documented breeding range of the species in North America.

[16][17] The Tower usually appears illuminated in white light in the evening, but is lit in various color schemes for special occasions, including athletic victories and academic accomplishments.

To mark more somber events, such as the passing of a former president of the university, the Tower remains darkened with a soft grey glow through the night.

An orange tower with office windows lit to form the numeral "1" is used for national championships in NCAA sporting events.