University of Chicago - Cap and Gown Yearbook (Chicago, IL)

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Or; the twenty-tbird of October, .1937, there died a wizeued little old man who, duringvtbe latter half of bi: iifetime, founded a nniversity and witnessed its rise from a figment of tine imagination to a leading educational institu- tion, now universally Jmown as: Elbe Huiuereity nf whiragn FOUND'ED BY jOHN D. ROCKEFELLER From its very beginning it was an institution with' revolutionary ideas. The storyr of its. meteoric rise in a brief fortyefour years is one of intense interest and it is our desire to trace the factors which have made possible its unprecedented advance in the history of education. Ideas and Ideals It was only a little over one hundred years ago that a, few early pioneers settled at the mouth of the Chicago river bringing their schools along in their cumbersome prairie schooners. It was but eighteen years after the' incorporation of the City that their need for education was reflected in Senator Stephen A. Douglas' gift of ten acres of land 101: a universality. It was in 1857 that the hold University of Chicago was founded as a result of this gift. Bad debts, two great fires, an inadequate endow- ment. anti wsogreei. ents an 0111: its triends shortly ended the career of the comatose institution. In 1886 the morta gage on its buildings was foreclosed. thus ending one chapter of educational history in Chicago. however, brains and wealth still abounded. for the Baptist Union Theological Seminary'had the friendship and active support of John D. Rockefeller. Rockefeller realized the need for higher education in the United States, and had, in- the back of his mind, unformulated ideas for a new university located probably in the Midr West. It needed only the concrete plans of some recog nized educator to crystallize them. Thomas Wakefield Goodspeed, acquaintance of Rockefeller, friend of William Rainey Harper, Secretary of the Board of the Baptist Seminary, and exponent of higher education in Chicago. went into immediate action upon the closing of the oIdTl University. For over thirty months he carried on core ' respondence with Rockefeller regarding a new university. The result: Dr. Harper, who had demonstrated his gifts 1'11 administration and teaching at the Seminary as Professsor of Hebrew and was at this time a professor at Yale, sat down to breakfast one Sunday morning, while lecturing at Vassar, and faced a gentleman who happened along for a friendly chat. The men discussed educational plans at great length, and John D. Rockefeller left with a. firm conviction that Chicago should soon have a university, carrying out new ideas and based on new principles. He was encouraged to such an extent that he immediately arranged a conference with Dr. Goodspeed iNov. 188821. Dr. Goodspeed left at once for New York to present -concrete plans for a school. This was exactly what Rockefeller wanted, and after six months deliberation and study of the plans, the latter wrote to Dr. Gates of the American Baptist Education Society. This society had been carrying on an independent survey as to the wisdom of establishing a new institution in Chicago. Their report, plus the Goodspeed plan was enough to induce Rockefelv let to present the proposition that he would contribute $600,000 contingent upon the raising of another $400,000 within one year. This contingency was more than met tMay 18891May 189m. but not without much work and disappointment. The Board of Trustees was soon 3113' pointed, holding its fn-st meeting on July 9. 1890. with the official stationery bearing the title, The New University of Chicago. When the previous institution obligingly changed its name to include the word Old, the new corporation became The University of Chicago as known today. At the second board meeting, September 18, 1890, Dr. Harper was unanimously elected president. William Rainey Harper was of Scotch'Irish stock. At the age of ten he entered Muskingum College. graduating ' Bad finances. taxes. Ere. and Failure: the old Univerdty. Six