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

Page 9 text:

RDCKEFELLER MEMORIAL CHAPEL . 4 , '. a ; ' 1 . ' . 'a v e 476:3? a..- m'a , - . - .,.:o 3 M! :M m l - 1' w v . 1 . Q. .1 44 . wag. n L'. : WL..gL..;. ....cm4b.L..l--.. J; Wm ...'.. .. . .. .. -.-...'.- . .. .Ln... '

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STORY OF FIFTY YEARS 1891-1941 Vivid in the memories of many men living today is the founding of the University of Chicago. In the fifty short years since 1891, it has become one of the greatest educational centers in the world. Since a venerable old age can hardly account for this high reputation, it must be due to the vibrating enthusiasm of youth, for the University of Chicago is a young institution that has grown With the twentieth Century and risen with the prairie middle-west. Stephen Douglas, who believed in the possibilities of the great Mis- sissippi Valley, foresaw a brilliant future for the growing city of Chicago and gave it its first institution of higher learning. At 33rd and Cottage Grove Avenue, he established the hrst University of Chicago. It was a bold venture, and finally in 1886 had to close due to fmancial diHiculties. But the spark that had been kindled was not to die, for just three years later the American Baptist Educational Society revived the idea of a great mid-western university and, undaunted by Mr. Douglas failure, made plans foi- the present University of Chicago. They appealed to John D. Rockefeller for the original contribution with which to found the school. He, being a shrewd business man, promised them six hundred thousand dollars if they could obtain four hundred thousand dollars from other sources. Thomas A. Goodspeed and Frederick T. Gates, encouraged by this challenge, collected the necessary money within a year, and on September tenth, 1890, the University of Chicago was incorporated. But one million dollars does not make a uni- ver31ty; the creating was yet to be done. Elected to head this new-born institution was William