Page:A History of the University of Chicago by Thomas Wakefield Goodspeed.djvu/121

 a trustee!" A list of gentlemen was thus prepared before the end of the year came. The names were submitted to Mr. Rockefeller and to Mr. Field and to the rest of the principal subscribers and were by them approved to the Executive Board of the Education Society for appointment. Their names were submitted as the nominees of the subscribers to the fund and as such were approved by the Executive Board as the first Board of Trustees of the projected institution. The following were the men thus chosen: Joseph M. Bailey, a member of the state Supreme Court and later chief justice; E. Nelson Blake, twice president of the Chicago Board of Trade, and first president of the University Board; Charles C. Bowen, a business man of Detroit, Michigan; Elmer L. Corthell, a civil engineer; Eli B. Felsenthal, a lawyer and an alumnus of the first University of Chicago of the class of '78; Edward Goodman, one of the proprietors of The Standard; Dr. William R. Harper, later president of the University; Francis E. Hinckley, a business man; Charles L. Hutchinson, president of the Corn Exchange Bank and the Art Institute, first treasurer of the University; Herman H. Kohlsaat, newspaper proprietor and editor; Andrew MacLeish, merchant, long vice-president of the Board; John W. Midgley, railroad expert; C. W. Needham, lawyer; Dr. Alonzo K. Parker, pastor of the Centennial Baptist Church; Ferdinand W. Peck, a capitalist and an alumnus of the first University of the class of '68; George A. Pillsbury, a business man of Minneapolis, Minnesota; Henry A. Rust, business man, later business manager of the University; Martin A. Ryerson, capitalist, long president of the Board of Trustees; Daniel L. Shorey, a retired lawyer; Frederick A. Smith, lawyer, alumnus of the first University of the class of '66, later judge in the Chicago courts and second vice-president of the Board; and George C. Walker, capitalist.

The first meeting of the trustees was held in the Grand Pacific Hotel on July 9, 1890. Although not yet legally incorporated, the Board appointed committees and elected officers. The officers of the first year were E. Nelson Blake, president; Martin A. Ryerson, vice-president; Charles L. Hutchinson, treasurer; Thomas W. Goodspeed, secretary.