Hillside letters

The M over the University of Montana in Missoula

Hillside letters are giant letters emblazoned on hundreds of hillsides. These letters, representing towns and schools in hundreds of locations across the American West, are symbols of school or hometown pride and local identity. Historically these modern forms of geoglyph have been called hillside letters, but they have also been nicknamed mountain monograms. What sets them apart from other landscape symbols, such as names on water towers and town slogans on highway "welcome to" signs, is the collective effort and commitment and the grass root support that is required to build and maintain these letters.

Distribution of hillside letters

Distribution of Hillside Letters

The first hillside letter was the Big C built on Charter Hill by students of the University of California, Berkeley in 1905, and the phenomenon spread from there throughout the twentieth century—especially in the early decades. The most well-known hillside letters belong to universities and colleges; however, junior and senior high schools, elementary schools, Indian schools, and even communities and families have built and maintained them. Hillside letters can be found from coast to coast across the United States; however, only a few were built east of the Rocky Mountains and outside the continental United States. Currently there are over 400 hillside letters in the United States, and their distribution in the western states is as follows (numbers are approximate): 53 in Arizona, 64 in California, 16 in Colorado, 24 in Idaho, 1 in Kansas, 72 in Montana, 2 in North Dakota, 1 in South Dakota, 1 in Nebraska, 27 in New Mexico, 38 in Nevada, 27 in Oregon, 17 in Texas, 50 in Utah, 10 in Washington, and 14 in Wyoming. East of the Mississippi river, there are 3 known hillside letters in New York; 1 in Wisconsin; and the most recent addition to the hillside alphabet is the LU for Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. During the fall of 2006, construction crews in Lynchburg began building a large monogram on the face of Candler's Mountain. The majority of the monogram was completed in early 2007. White stones surround red brick chips that spell out a giant, "LU" on the face of the mountain. In the March 6, 2007 edition of the school's newspaper, The Champion, it is stated the school will eventually add landscaping, lights, and other improvements to the monogram. In the same article, Vice-Chancellor of the school, Jerry Falwell Jr., is said to have gotten his inspiration for the monogram after a trip to Utah where he wittnessed first-hand monograms such as the "Y" featured at Brigham Young University.

Types of hillside letters

There are three basic types of hillside letters. Built-up letters made from rocks and concrete are the most common. Other materials such as wood, old car tires, metal, and vinyl have also been used. The M in Missoula, Montana, for the University of Montana, is an example of a built-up letter. The second type of letter is a painted letter. These are often found on rock faces, as is the G in Gap, Arizona. Cutout letters, the least common, are formed by removing the vegetation to create a letter; the R for the University of Redlands in Redlands, California, is an example. These emblems can range in size from 10 or 15 feet tall to hundreds of feet tall. Most are single letters, but some are multiple initials and a few are words. The famous HOLLYWOOD sign built in 1923 to advertise the Hollywoodland Real Estate Group is not a hillside letter, but rather a billboard. Every letter of the alphabet is found as a single letter on a hillside except for X. Two X’s do appear within words on hillsides: DIXIE in St. George, Utah, and PHOENIX near Phoenix, Arizona. The letter M is the most common hillside letter.

History

The Y overlooking the BYU campus in Provo, Utah

A long-standing myth that hillside letters were built to identify communities from the air for early pilots who air-dropped mail is untrue. The first three mountain monograms built were constructed to end class rivalries. Letters have also been erected to celebrate winning teams, to commemorate the building of high schools, in memory of local community members, and as Boy Scout projects. The first hillside letter built was a C in March of 1905. It was constructed out of concrete and placed on Charter Hill overlooking the UC Berkeley. The UC Berkeley classes of 1907 and 1908 proposed this project as a means of ending the rivalry and the unruly physical encounters that had become a part of their annual rush each spring. The UC Berkeley yearbook would later record that the two classes would go down in the history of the University as those who sacrificed their class spirit for love of their alma mater. A few weeks following the building of Berkeley’s C, the class rivalry of the sophomores and freshmen at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City produced a hillside U. The following year, Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, proposed and surveyed the first three-lettered hillside emblem BYU, but reduced it to the single letter Y after realizing the amount of labor involved. The M for the Miners of the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado, became the nation’s fourth hillside letter in 1908, and it has been illuminated every night since the early 1930s. A few years later, high schools began building hillside letters; the first one was a T for Tintic High School in Eureka, Utah, built in 1912. By the 1920s and 1930s, the phenomenon of building hillside letters was a common practice in many western states, and even today hillside letters are still being constructed.

Cultural significance

In the beginning, hillside letters were often constructed in an area of local historical or cultural significance to the community, but as time went on environmental laws became more restrictive and the location of the letters had as much to do with securing legal permits as selecting the best location. In some cases, it has taken years before permission to construct or revitalize a hillside letter has been given. The voice of opposition seems to be a common element of most hillside letters. Even back in 1905, some of the residents of Berkeley immediately opposed the building of the C, believing it would destroy the natural beauty of the hillside. Yet, as time passes these controversial giant emblems often become the most cherished landmarks of a community or school. This pride is heightened by the time and commitment it takes to build and maintain the letter and the traditions, such as painting, lighting, and other annual activities, that endear a letter to its supporters. When the University of Utah needed to stabilize their crumbling hillside U in 2006, supportive school and community members donated over $200,000 more than was needed for the project. When the 76-year-old G in Moab, Utah, disappeared under a coat of reddish brown paint, thought to be applied by some environmentally motivated newcomers to town, there was not only an immediate outcry from the community, but a reward to find the culprits. Hillside letters have also been battlegrounds for rival schools and places to display patriotic pride or discontent over political actions. Some letters are painted and lighted to celebrate various holidays and community events, and others have been used to honor local fallen heroes. Over the past century, hillside letters have impacted not just the landscape, but the culture of many communities throughout the American West.

External links

• Monograms.kmz, a set of about 250 that can be viewed in Google Earth (courtesy of BYU Geography Department)
• Mountain Monograms, A website explaining the origins and with an incomplete list and pictures