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The university was now able to require that all women students live in Ladies' Hall, where they came under strict parietal rules and the watchful eye of a resident preceptress. An unmarried faculty member also lived in Men's Hall to act as proctor, the first of whom testified that "only once were cannon balls rolled down the stairs!" Most men apparently preferred to live out in town, however, and the dormitory was soon converted into a classroom building and renamed Middle College.

The third building planned and financed by DePauw himself was a more elaborate structure, boasting a mansard roof and a small central tower. Erected in East Park on the present site of Lucy Rowland Hall and originally intended for the schools of law and theology, it instead became Music Hall, the longtime home of the School of Music. For a year or two the School of Art also utilized its facilities before moving to nearby Simpson Hall, the former residence of President Simpson and most recently used as a university dining hall. For a time classes in law and theology were conducted in rooms in the Locust Street and College Avenue Methodist churches, both located conveniently close by and virtually integral parts of the DePauw campus.

Finally, the last construction project of this period was completed in 1885 - an observatory erected on a knoll in the eastern part of University Park. This small, two-story building was the gift of Robert McKim of Madison, Ind. Furnished with a revolving dome made of iron, an equatorial telescope and other astronomical equipment, it remained the solitary occupant for many years of that remote section of the expanded campus.

Like the two older structures, West and East Colleges, all the new buildings were of solid masonry construction, chiefly red brick with foundations, door and window frames, and some other details of Indiana limestone. A diversity of architectural styles was easily observable in the Gothic arches of East College, the odd-shaped turrets of West College, the high steeples of the Locust Street and College Avenue churches, and the staid utilitarian shapes of the recently erected buildings. Still the campus as a whole, with its predominant redbrick surfaces, simple geometric lines, and central focus presented a harmonious, unified scene.
 

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The 9.53" clear aperature refracting telescope
was made by Alvan Clark & Sons of Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1885 and has been used by DePauw students for over a century.  In U.S. Observatories: A Directory and Travel Guide, H. T. Kirby-Smith notes, "Since (the observatory) has not been continually modernized, it seems to furnish the outstanding example in the country of an excellent 19th century observatory ... Used for visual observing, such instruments as the Clark refractor are superior to any other telescope for views of the plants and the moon under adverse conditions of light and air pollution."
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For various reasons, the plan to reorganize and expand university educational programs proved overambitious and was never fully implemented. The Medical School, which like its Asbury predecessor was to be located in Indianapolis, failed to materialize, largely for lack of sufficient financial backing. Instruction in horticulture was offered for only one year under the direction of William H. Ragan, a Putnam County native and well-known horticulturist, who also acted as superintendent of parks. Study in mechanical industries was not offered at all. Presumably there was little student demand for either. In 1885 the School of Pedagogy was renamed the Normal School and placed in charge was Samuel Parr from the State Normal School in Terre Haute. Five years later the trustees, acting on the recommendation of President John, eliminated the school because of its low academic standards, despite large enrollments.

The School of Theology came into existence with perhaps the highest expectations of any of the new branches. Designed to prepare men for the Methodist ministry, it offered theological and Biblical courses for upperclass preministerial students in the Asbury College of Liberal Arts, graduates of DePauw and other four-year colleges and universities, and also men with little or no background in higher education. The first dean, Shadrach L. Bowman, a cousin of former President Thomas Bowman, was succeeded in 1890 by Asbury graduate Hillary A. Gobin, who was later elevated to the DePauw presidency. Among those serving as professors were John Poucher, George L. Curtiss, and Harry L. Beals. Of the 35 bachelor of sacred theology degrees awarded by the school in its 14 years' existence, the first went to William O. Shepard, who eventually became a Methodist bishop.

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College Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church was built
in 1879 on the site of the county seminary used by
Asbury's preparatory department.  The church stood
on the southeast corner of College Avenue and
Seminary Street.  It merged with Locust Street
Methodist Episcopal Church in 1924.  Later, the
building was acquired by the university, its steeple
removed, and it became Speech Hall.
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The School of Law, directed first by Alexander C. Downey, former Asbury law professor and longtime university trustee, offered a two-year course of study based chiefly on lectures by local lawyers. Downey was succeeded by two Asbury graduates: Augustus L. Mason in 1890 and Charles F. Coffin in 1893. During the school's 10-year existence, 133 persons were granted the LL.B. degree, including three women. One of them, Merta Mitchell, became the first woman to practice law in Indiana.

Much more enduring was the School of Art, which opened in 1885 under the leadership of Dean Henry A. Mills, a landscape and portrait painter who had studied at the National Academy of Design and headed the art department at Albion College. One of the early instructors was Homer G. Davisson, who later became a minor member of the Hoosier Salon and founder of the Fort Wayne Art School. An elaborate four-year program leading to the degree of bachelor of painting was set forth in the college catalogues, but few such degrees were ever awarded. Most students were content to obtain certificates for completing briefer periods of study in such fields as painting, wood carving, and repoussé, or hammered brass. Mills himself resigned in 1893 to paint landscapes in the Hudson River valley, but the school continued on for two more decades.

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Middle College was constructed in 1885
on the northwest corner of  Larrabee Street
and College Avenue.
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