Page:A History of the University of Chicago by Thomas Wakefield Goodspeed.djvu/395

 A THIRD PERIOD OF BUILDING' 345 the new state constitution of Illinois. Mr. Hitchcock died in 1881 at the age of fifty-four in the fulness of his powers. One of the most interesting things connected with the building and subsequent history of Hitchcock Hall was the deep and con- tinued interest manifested in it by Mrs. Hitchcock. She paid much attention to the making of the plans. The library room was equipped by her with a valuable collection of books, and its walls were adorned with portraits (among them that of Mr. Hitchcock) and other works of art. Much of the furniture of the room, and of the room for the University Preachers, was contributed by her. A series of architectural photographs adorned the walls of the cloister, an added evidence of Mrs. Hitchcock's interest, taste, and munificence. To the proposal of Mr. Rockefeller in 1895 to duplicate all gifts up to two million dollars the University owed also the noble group of buildings on the southwest corner of Fifty-seventh Street and University Avenue known as the Tower Group. During the raising of this fund the following were among the building sub- scriptions received: Harold F. McCormick gave ten thousand dollars; John J. Mitchell, fifty thousand; Charles L. Hutchinson, sixty thousand, and Leon Mandel eighty-five thousand dollars. Mr. Mandel's contribution was given to supply a want which had been felt since the day the University opened and had every year become more urgent that of an Assembly Hall and organ. Mr. Hutchinson made his contribution also to erect a building which had been greatly needed from the beginning a University Com- mons, where the men students might board in common. Mr. McCormick's contribution was put into the Commons Cafe, a smaller dining-hall. Some years before, Mrs. Joseph Reynolds had given the University above a hundred thousand dollars to establish a memorial of her husband. It was now decided to devote most of this fund to the erection of a students' Club House. Messrs. Ryerson and Hutchinson of the Trustees with the architect, Mr. Coolidge, gave much study to the best use to be made of these various building funds. They finally, in connection with President Harper, worked out the scheme of the tower group.