Just Ask Addy: Is the MSU landmark known as The Rock really a rock? How old is it?
Yes, underneath all the layers of paint, the Rock is literally a boulder. In fact, it’s a type of rock called a puddingstone (like the one I’m holding in the picture). If you could strip away the thousands of layers of paint on The Rock, what you’d see is a white boulder with inclusions of red, black and white pebbles. These colorfully speckled rocks are common in Michigan.
According to MSU Archives, William J. Beal documented that this particular puddingstone was gifted to the university by the graduating class of 1873, back when it was still called Michigan Agricultural College. They reportedly used a team of 20 oxen to drag the boulder roughly half a mile to the spot where Beaumont Tower would later be built. There it stood naked for 110 years until students started spray painting protest messages on its surface. At first, the university tried to remove the paint periodically but eventually gave up, citing the expense. Today, the Rock is an accepted canvas for student expression.
So, how old is the Rock? As a storied landmark, it was dedicated on May 30, 1873, and is officially 150 years old. However, as a geologic artifact, the boulder was likely pulled from Canada into Michigan by a glacier many thousands of years ago. Geologists theorize that puddingstone formed in Canada around 2.3 billion years ago.