Page:A History of the University of Chicago by Thomas Wakefield Goodspeed.djvu/256

 224 A HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO The lecture hall, begun at the same time with the dormitories, was to be four stories in height and one hundred and sixty feet long, the united buildings thus forming an unbroken front of four hundred and thirty feet. The width of the lecture hall was eighty feet. It contained over sixty rooms, divided into eleven depart- mental suites of from three to six rooms each, the central room of each suite being intended for the departmental library. The plans also provided for a chapel or assembly room for temporary use, taking for the purpose the north third of the first floor, a general lecture room that would accommodate about two hundred, and offices for the President, deans, and other officials. These buildings were to be ready for occupancy by September i, 1892, but it was some weeks later before the last of the workmen left them. In the latter part of August, 1892, President Harper announced that the University would take possession of its offices on the campus, September i. This announcement led Theodore M. Ham- mond, an alumnus of the Old University, who was, at the time, in charge of the buildings and grounds, to fall into poetry. Without making any great allowance for poetic license we may regard his muse as portraying with vividness and truth the scenes of Sep- tember. Mortar beds, and brick bats, Lumber, lath, and lime, Carpenters and plumbers Pounding all the time. Of uninviting places This is sure the worst! But we've kept the promise, Moved in on the first. On October i, Opening Day, there was still much to be done, but conditions were greatly improved. Before the completion of the lecture hall, Silas B. Cobb, one of the early settlers of Chicago, made a contribution of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, which, later, was appropriated for this building. The writer well remembers the time and the circum- stances of the promise of this great sum. The last day of the second month of the three Mr. Field had given us for raising a