Armour Institute of Technology - Cycle Yearbook (Chicago, IL)

Page 20 text:

I Cycle i IB were dropped one by one to meet the increasing demand for young men trained in applied science. In 1901 co-education in the Academy was given up. so that the instruction is limited to young men. All the engineering courses have strengthened from year to year. Departments of Chemical Engineering and Fire Protection Engineering have been added to the other engineering departments. Since 1902, Evening Classes and Summer Courses have been offered and much good has been derived from these. An additional building known as Machinery Hall was erected in 1902. Mrs. P. I). Armour having donated the building, while Mr. J. Ogden Armour bore the expense of providing equipment. Mr. J. Ogden Armour also pre- sented the Institute the ground known as Ogden Field, the opening of which greatly stimulated the interest in Athletics at Armour. The latest addition to the buildings of the Institute is Chapin Hall. During the summer of 1909, a fire occurred on the third floor of the “main building” in the store-room of the Chemical Department. Quite a loss was suffered, but was fully covered by insurance. The store-room was im- mediately rebuilt and is now very much better than ever. Sixteen

Page 19 text:

(Efir £r clf ■■ ALTHOUGH Armour Institute has been in existence only a short time it has a very remarkable and interesting history. When Mr. Joseph Armour died he left a bequest of one hundred thousand dollars for the purpose of building a Mission in Chicago for church, school, and educational purposes. To this his brother, Philip Dan forth Armour, added a large sum to complete and outfit the building. The building was opened in 1886. Ever ready to help those who wished to help themselves, Mr. Armour built at various times, several large flat buildings in the neighborhood of the Mission, the revenue from which served to make it as far as possible self- sustaining. To the religious work, a free dispensary and library were added, the latter in charge of Mrs. Julia A. Beveridge. Mrs. Beveridge, believing that the usefulness of the Mission might be increased by taking up manual training, organized classes in wood-carving, clay-modeling, tile-making, and drawing for boys, and classes in domestic arts for girls. The success of her endeavors so pleased Mr. Armour that he de- cided to take up the educational work on a still larger scale than the size of the Mission would permit. Accompanied bv Dr. Gunsaulus and Mr. John C. Black, Mr. Armour visited eastern institutions and, on his return to Chicago, decided to organize a school similar to Pratt or Drexel Institute. A board of Trustees was organized, consisting of the following: Mr. Philip D. Armour, Mr. J. Ogden Armour, Mr. William J. Campbell, Mr. Philip D. Armour, Jr., and Mr. John C. Black. A charter was obtained from the state government and in 1892 the present ‘main building” was erected. The first classes were organized in 1893. Dr. Gunsaulus, President, was assisted by a small, very efficient faculty, of which Prof. L. C. Monin, Mr. John E. Snow, and Mr. Edward D. Agle are still associated with the Institute. At the time of its foundation the Institute comprised the .Armour Scientific Academy and the Technical College, as at present, and also the Departments of Domestic Arts, Commerce, Music, and Kindergarten Normal Training. The courses included in the Technical College were: Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Chemistry, Architecture, and Library Science. Be- tween 1896 and 1901, the courses in Domestic Arts, Commerce and Music Fifteen

Page 21 text:

THE GREATER A. I. T. THE Armour Institute of Technology, after twenty-five years of adjust- ment and re-adjustment to opportunities and conditions, has adopted its matured plans for the future and has received a substantial gift of land and money from Mr. J. Ogden Armour, so that it will inaugurate and develop its complete plans. The difficulty of obtaining a proper location has been great. It has cost one million dollars to find and obtain title to a contiguous parcel of land upon which the institution may stand and develop for all time. It will occupy the entire eighty acres near the lake south of the South Shore Country Club. This tract has been formerly known as the Windsor Park Golf Club. The land has been purchased, and is now turned over to the Armour Institute of Technology. The Institute has sought the advantage of a situation easily approached by the city and suburban service of the Illinois Central and the Baltimore Ohio Railways. Near the north portion of the land obtained is the Windsor Park station of the Illinois Central which will be reached in a few minutes from down town, when the railway and the Institute have completed their arrangements. The cross town electric lines at the north of the campus on 75th street are satisfactory. On the south end of the campus at 79th street are electric lines connecting the west and southwest sides with our location satis- factorily. The Baltimore Ohio almost touches the southwest corner of the eighty acres. The lake is within a few blocks and will furnish opportunity not only for water athletics, but hydraulic engineering and marine engineering, which must be undertaken in time. On the south arc the great steel and cement plants of the Calumet district. These are not surpassed in the world for the use of an institution whose students must visualize engineering pro- cesses in manufacture. Modern methods with us require visits to operative industries with which high grade engineering concerns itself. The tentative plans for our buildings with the accompanying sketch of their arrangement, constitute only a provisional study. They have required a gift of $5,000,000.00 for their erection and extra equipment. The whole scheme which has been worked out after a quarter of a century of experience in the central west and in Chicago, means serviceableness in architecture as well as beauty and dignity. The buildings will constitute a piece of serious apparatus for the special work which any such institution must do at this time and in this region. Commodious as the buildings are and large as the location seems to be, the Armour Institute of Technology will limit its number of students to one thousand. The prospects at university foundations for the highest and most necessary research work in pure science are so large and secure that the Armour Institute of Technology will have only its responsibility in the central west for the training of engineers. The high schools of this region, especially the technical high schools, have their large responsibility in the preparation of students who expect in four years to receive our degree of Bachelor of Science in this or that kind of engineering. Our present method so expanded requires large room for apparatus and for safety, as well as the rigid adherence of a program of study and experiment under experts always serving the student to at all reach the ideal in view or to meet the situation in American engineer- ing. These problems are many and difficult. The world’s coal problem must be solved by what is most necessary in America—the use of our mighty wasted Seventeen