Northeastern University - Cauldron Yearbook (Boston, MA)

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J rank j alwier S peam, VIH. M., c L.cL. J. FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE UNIVERSITY President Emeritus since 1939

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Jjau C-oueged - 1909 1 9 1 The first day school in what is now North- eastern University came with the develop- ment of the idea of Co-operative Education at the college level. The Co-operative School of Engineering — second in the United States to adopt this idea — admitted students for the first time in 1909. This school later be- came the College of Engineering. The day College of Business Administra- tion was established in 1922; in 1935 the liberal arts departments of the Day Colleges were organized as the present College of Liberal Arts. If lortneastem lAnluersltiA titi as an en In 1916 the various day and evening schools, brought together under a single ad- ministration, were incorporated under the laws of Massachusetts. The following year, Frank Palmer Speare was inaugurated as the first President of the College, a position which he held until his retirement in 1939. After the first World War, branches of Northeastern were established in several New- England cities under the supervision of the college officials in Boston. This development was gradually abandoned, however, until at the present time the only work of this type is an evening school of business in Spring- field. As the college curricula grew in number and in scope, with increasing enrollments and expanding physical plant, it became ob- vious that for the most effective development of the educational program on the one hand and of the Y.M.C.A. on the other, there should be a separation of the two institutions. A series of legal steps were taken, the name was changed from College to University in 1922, and Northeastern came of age. Northeastern University is now an auton- omous institution with its own corporation, board of trustees, and faculty, and with authority to grant all degrees commonly conferred in the Commonwealth of Mass- achusetts except medical and dental degrees. In 1940 Carl Stephens Ell, who had been Vice-President in charge of the Day Division since 1925, became President of the Univer- sity, and Dr. Speare was made President Emeritus. From its inception in 1898, Northeastern has grown from one school to five degree- granting schools and colleges and three special-type affiliated schools. lortkeasterns [ tant Ljwwth The first home of what is now Northeastern University was in a building at the corner of Berkeley and Boylston Streets. When this was destroyed by fire in 1910, the work of the University was carried on in different rented areas with headquarters in a frame building on the site of the present City Club. At one time the Student Activities Office and certain classes occupied the third floor of the Gainsboro Building and later the sec- ond floor of the Huntington Building. North- eastern has always occupied the East Wing of the Y.M.C.A. Building and the building now known as Botolph Building. In 1929 the University purchased its first property on Huntington Avenue. Other par- cels were later acquired to make up the present eight-acre site. The Beacon Hill property, housing the School of Law, and the Huntington Athletic Plant on Kent Street, Brookline were also added to the Northeastern plant. In 1934 plans were drawn for the develop- ment of the future Northeastern University Plant on Huntington Avenue. Richards Hall was completed and occupied in 1938, and three years later Science Hall was built. In 1946 the cornerstone was laid for the Student Center, the third building in the new plant, and the building was occupied in September 1947. On the Huntington Avenue site, the University plans to erect three more buildings — a library and classroom building, a physical education plant, and a building for the School of Law. The total assets of the University have in- creased to over five million dollars; North- eastern now has a home of its own with definite plans to take care of its ever- increasing family.

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A tribute to the memory of four men who by their teaching and by their personality and character contributed to the life and development of Northeastern. William Jefferson Alcott, Jr. 1894-1933 Associate Professor of Mathematics Member of the Faculty from 1924 to 1933 Henry Bissell Alvord 1885-1939 Professor of Civil Engineering Member of the Faculty from 1920 to 1 939 Samuel A. S. Strahan 1881-1942 Professor of Chemistry Member of the Faculty from 1917 to 1942 William Lincoln Smith 1867-1947 Professor of Electrical Engineering Member of the Faculty from 1909 to 1947