Page:A History of the University of Chicago by Thomas Wakefield Goodspeed.djvu/402

 350 A HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO On the wall above the door facing the front entrance was a shield bearing the following inscription : Litterae Vires Scientia TO THE ADVANCEMENT OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND THE GLORY OF MANLY SPORTS THIS GYMNASIUM Is DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF FRANK DICKINSON BARTLETT A.D. 1880-1900 This shield and inscription and the mural painting of which they were the central features were the work of Frank Bartlett's brother, Frederic C. Bartlett. It has been told elsewhere how the Law School was established and began its work October i, 1902. That it should have a building of its own was taken for granted, and plans for a building were pre- pared without delay, in the confident expectation that someone would appear to provide the funds for its erection. It turned out that all the Chicago givers immediately available had been reached. The list was exhausted. Under these circumstances recourse was had to the one friend who never failed, and Mr. Rockefeller consented to advance the necessary funds until some patron should appear who would pay for the building and give it a name. This hoped-for giver did not appear and the fine structure erected remained without other name than the Law Building. The contracts for its construction were awarded February 17, 1903, only four and one-half months after the opening of the School. The Forty-sixth Convocation was a special one held for the purpose of conferring the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws on Theodore Roosevelt. President Roosevelt had arranged to visit the University and lay the cornerstone of the Law Building. He came April 2, 1903. After the conferring of the degree by President Harper in Kent Theater, the procession marched to the site of the building. President Harper said: It is a source of the greatest possible gratification to us that the first stone, the great stone, the cornerstone, should be placed in its position by the chief magistrate of our republic.