Students and their families went on tours on Saturday afternoon at the E.B. and Bertha C. Ball Center Open House as part of Family Weekend at Ball State University.
More than 30 people went on private guided tours of the former Ball family home between 3 and 5 p.m. The number of attendees made this year's open house a success compared to last year's, Nancy Lindley, the center's facilities manager, said.
"We had about 30 more people come this year," she said. "We had more advertising from orientation and I sent out an e-mail to all Ball State students."
The Ball Center, which was donated to Ball State in 1975 by the Ball family, has been giving tours of the house for about 20 years and will continue to give tours in the future, Lindley said. When activities, like Family Weekend, are going on at Ball State, the center tries to find ways to get involved, she added.
Lindley said visitors were curious about the mansion and the first floor was the most popular area because the family lived in that part of the house.
"One mother was hugging her daughter and thanking her for bringing them. The student's mother likes going through older homes," she said. "She didn't think she'd be able to go through a house like that. She said it was the highlight of her trip."
Lindley said a lot of students don't know the background of the Ball family and the tours are a good way to learn about some of the family's history.
"[The Ball family] practically built Ball Hospital. They have such a connection with Ball State, even now, and students don't realize the family is still involved," she said. "I think the students are kind of in awe that we still have Ball family [members] around."
Lindley said it's important to keep the Ball brothers' legacy alive because of everything they have done for Muncie and Ball State. The family continues to contribute millions of dollars to scholarship opportunities for students and buildings, she said.
"If it weren't for the Ball brothers, who knows what Ball State would've become or what kind of hospital [Ball Hospital] would've become?" she said. "There's no telling where Ball State would be at without them. We're lucky to have them in our program.
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