Page:A History of the University of Chicago by Thomas Wakefield Goodspeed.djvu/499

 LATER BUILDINGS OF THE FIRST QUARTER-CENTURY 437 During its early years the University had few friends more generously interested in its welfare than Mrs. Elizabeth G. Kelly. The story has been told of her contributions for the erection of Kelly and Green Halls. After her death in 1904 Mr. Heckman, Counsel and Business Manager, made the following report to the Board of Trustees: Under the will of Mrs. Elizabeth G. Kelly the University is bequeathed the sum of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars to be expended "under the direction of the President and Board of Trustees of said University either in a building upon the grounds of said University known as the Campus, or for some one purpose associated with a building upon said campus, and this gift to said University shall always be styled and known as the 'Hiram Kelly Memorial Fund.'" On this report President Harper said to the Board that in his conference with Mrs. Kelly regarding this proposed benefaction she had stated to him that it was her preference that it should be used for the erection of a building and had approved the suggestion that it should be the Classical Building in case that building should not be otherwise provided for before the bequest should become available. As soon, therefore, as the bequest was turned over to the Univer- sity it was invested and the income was annually added to the principal. In proposing in 1912 to begin within two years the erection of four buildings, the Trustees understood that the one intended for the Classical departments should be provided by this bequest. The architects, Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge, at once began the preparation of plans. In accordance with the recom- mendation of the Commission of 1902, the building was located on the northeast corner of Ellis Avenue and Fifty-ninth Street, being the westernmost of the proposed Library Group. It was to be occupied by the departments of Greek, Latin, Classical Archae- ology, and Comparative Philology. Ground was broken for the building February 27, 1914, in almost the same spot where in 1891 it had been broken for the earliest buildings the Divinity Dormi- tory and Cobb Hall Group. The Classics Building joined this group at its southern extremity. The cornerstone was laid by Professor Frank Bigelow Tarbell, June 9, 1914, and Professor