University of Notre Dame - Dome Yearbook (Notre Dame, IN)

a and watching it grow ! > y Undo Di U. OpenUUf^ ^OMLDA^ \VL WILL RAISE A STATUE OF OUR LADY ALOFT ON A DOME OF GOLD SO THAT PEOPLE EVERYWHERE WILL SEE HER AND KNOW WHY WE HAVE SUCCEEDED HERE. " The words of our founder. Reverend Edward Sorin, spoken over 130 years ago. Even Sorin, who started with a log chapel on the edge of St. Mary ' s Lake, could not ha\ ' e foreseen our growth to 1 04 buildings spread over 1 ,250 acres of land . Before Sorin ' s arrival, the chapel served as a mission for French trappers, Potawatomi and Miami Indians. While founding a university, Sorin began the Minim Department, which educated grade school age boys until 1929. Since the time of Sorin, our university has withstood fire, war, plagues, and even financial difficulty, and emerged as oneof the most prestigious institutions in the world, with an endowment near one billion dollars.