In 1915, the International Dental Federation asked and was granted permission to erect the first campus statue of Dr. Willoughby D. Miller (1853 – 1907). Dr. Miller discovered how and why teeth decay.

The OSU Board of Trustees fixed the temporary location of the statue southwest of the Thompson Library building – it was moved to its present home beside Postle Hall when the building was complete.

The bronze statue is the work of Frederick C. Hibbard, a sculptor from Chicago and costs $5000. It was unveiled December 8, 1915 in the presence of 300 dentists attending the annual meeting of the Ohio Dental Society. Miss Anna Miller of Alexandria, a grandniece of Dr. Miller, performed the act of unveiling.

On the base of the statue is the following inscription: Erected to the Memory of Willoughby Dayton Miller, 1853-1907, Dental scientist and education, Benefactor of his profession, Friend of humanity, a native of Ohio, a citizen of the world, by the dentists of the United States, December 8, 1915.