Page:A History of the University of Chicago by Thomas Wakefield Goodspeed.djvu/58

32 A HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO and Building Company, which had large real estate holdings at Morgan Park. In this communication they stated that they, with others, were interested in the establishment of a university at Morgan Park and appealed to the company to contribute a site, and, as the institution would be coeducational, to provide two buildings, the promoters of the enterprise engaging to raise one hundred thousand dollars as an initial endowment and to increase this sum as rapidly as possible. The negotiation thus begun con- tined for more than two years. The Baptist pastors became interested. Meetings were held. A provisional University com- mittee was appointed with Dr. George C. Lorimer, pastor of the Immanuel Baptist Church, as chairman. George C. Walker, president of the Land and Building Company, and later a most useful trustee of the new University, was a member of Dr. Lorimer's congregation. From the first, Mr. Walker, whose father, Hon. Charles Walker, had been one of the founders of the Old Uni- versity, manifested a deep interest in the project, and through his influence it finally assumed in the summer of 1888 the following form. The company and Mr. Walker offered a site of about thirty acres, lying high along a finely wooded ridge, together with a build- ing then being used for a school for girls and twenty-five thousand dollars for a new building. These proposals aggregated in value a hundred thousand dollars or more. While these negotiations were going on, and indeed in close connection with them, appeals to Mr. Rockefeller continued to be made, which he was not unwilling to receive and consider, as the following excerpts show. Mr. Goodspeed to Mr. Rockefeller, December 28, 1886: .... If you will give me your permission to do so, I would like to lay before you the proffers we have for a new University at this point and to ask you to consider the question of aiding in its establishment. It lies very near the hearts of some of us here, but I will not approach you with it without your consent. Mr. Rockefeller to Mr. Goodspeed, December 31, 1886: Yours of the 28th is at hand. There is hardly a chance that I could give the least encouragement for assistance in respect to the University, but I will carefully read the communication you suggest