With the old iron gates relegated to a scrap pile on the Agricultural College Campus, alumni of the University began sending letters protesting the treatment of the gates to the Alumni President, Elsworth DuTeau.  President DuTeau then appointed a group of people that would be known as the Iron Gates Committee to look at what could be done to retrieve and restore the gates. [1].  On June 5 of 1954, chairman Cornelia Putney (Mrs. Fred Putney), Adelloyd Williams, Louis W. Horne, James Pittenger, and Kate Field were assigned this responsibility. [3]  With the help of a generous donation from Ralph Mueller, it would only be approximately one year later on June 11, 1955, when the old iron gates would finally be dedicated and restored back on campus. [12]

In late August of 1943, 1898 University of Nebraska-Lincoln graduate Ralph Mueller of Cleveland, Ohio, sent a letter to the current Dean of the University, Dean C. J. Ferguson, regarding the possibility of building a memorial gateway to the campus. [18]  At this time the gates were still positioned in their temporary spots in front of Pharmacy Hall and in front of the Student Union. Mueller believed that the memorial should incorporate the two old iron gates in a commemorative way.  He also stated that he would supply the funds necessary for creating this memorial once the war had come to an end. [18]

It wasn't until about a decade later when the restoration of the old iron gates would truly get started. [12]  With the formation of the Iron Gates Committee on June 5, 1954, Ralph Mueller's dream of a memorial that would commemorate the old iron gates began to take shape.  Because of Ralph Mueller's generous donations to the project, the restoration of the gates was made possible.