Designed by and named for Henry Ives Cobb in 1897, the Gothic Cobb Gate has served as an entryway to the Quad since the University’s earliest years. While the archway once led out from the Quad to Stagg Field, it now joins the Main Quadrangle with the main entrance to the Joseph Regenstein Library on 57th Street.

The act of passing through this historic arch forms part of an annual tradition during Orientation Week, when incoming first-year students attend an opening convocation with their families in Rockefeller Chapel and then follow the University of Chicago Pipe Band across campus to say goodbye to their families at Hull Gate, with staff distributing tissues and hugs to comfort overwhelmed parents. The students, welcomed by their new classmates, then continue on through Cobb Gate and to the beginning of their careers as students of the College at the University of Chicago.