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attend, and they enroll in the same classes as the regular students.

VIII.

To attempt any further detailed survey of the development of the incipient College would occupy relatively undue space. And yet its first four years, with which this account closes, are as momentous as the first years of any great educational movement. They lack, to be sure, the romance of the origins of such a college as Williamswhose founder was a military hero, dying in the midst of victory and leaving all his property to perpetuate his name; and they lack the continual excitement of such a phenomenal growth as that of the University of Chicago, where, inside of twenty-five years, "every year saw established a new journal, a new department, a new college, or a new school." 25 It may well be repeated that no group of men bent on conferring untold benefits upon their city ever met with such discouragement. "Do not tie yourself up with such a scheme," was the advice given to more than one member of the Faculty.

But when their vindication came, it was complete. At the time of the Women's Union gift the country had not. yet recovered from the first uncertainty caused by the great war. War orders had not yet brought on the subsequent wave of prosperity. So the raising, in 1915, of the $100,000 necessary for the permanent possession of Townsend Hall seemed a formidable obstacle. Time wore on, and nothing apparently was being done. University Day of next year - the time limit allowed was actually at hand before it was known that the building was secured. But the actual gifts then made and promised so far exceeded expectations that many eyes grew dim, many hearts beat faster, and even the frequent applause died down as the realization

25 T. W. Goodspeed, "History of the University of Chicago," p. 472.

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of what such generosity would mean to the community came home to those who had worked under so many discouragements for such a culmination. Gifts aggregating a greater total than have ever been given for educational purposes in Buffalo were announced at the exercises of February 22, 1916, by the Rev. Dr. Andrew V. V. Raymond, in behalf of the Council. His report included a reading of the following letter:

BUFFALO, February 16, 1916.

DEAR DR. RAYMOND: My children and myself are desirous of creating some memorial in memory of my late husband, Seymour H. Knox, and after careful consideration have concluded that the thing of most vital interest to the City of Buffalo and its people is the University of Buffalo, and we can think of no finer purpose in creating a memorial in memory of Mr. Knox than to be permitted to assist in the upbuilding and development of an institution of learning such as the City of Buffalo should possess.

It is our desire to create an endowment fund for the University of Buffalo to be known as the Seymour H. Knox Foundation, the principal of which, together with other gifts which may from time to time be made to the Foundation, shall be held intact and the income used for the support and maintenance of a department of liberal arts and sciences in the University of Buffalo.

In order that the University may take advantage of the generous proposition of the Women's Educational and Industrial Union in reference to their property on Niagara Square, I beg to inform you that I am prepared, upon request from the University and upon satisfactory assurance that the other conditions of the proposition of the Women's Union have been complied with, and that the University of Buffalo will receive said sum and devote the same to the purposes herein set forth, to deposit to the credit of the University of Buffalo the sum of one hundred thousand dollars, which sum, together with any other gifts which may from time to time be added to it, shall be known as the Seymour H. Knox Foundation, which sum or sums shall be held intact and the income used for the purpose aforesaid.

It is my hope that the fund hereinabove created shall by gifts from myself and my children amount ultimately to half a million dollars, and it is my present purpose to make a gift of $50,000 each year for the next three years and to provide in my will for a further gift of

$250,000 to said fund. Of course, I shall ask that proper provisions be made governing the care and preservation of the property from time to time constituting the Seymour H. Knox Foundation, and the method of its investment and disposition.

With sincere thanks to you for presenting to us the opportunity of assisting in the promotion of this splendid enterprise, believe me Most sincerely yours,

MRS. SEYMOUR H. KNOX.

In submitting this letter, Dr. Raymond said in part:

It is scarcely necessary for me to state that this ultimate gift of half a million dollars for endowment assures the establishment of the College, for it is by endowment only that a modern college is maintained; so that, whatever our College may become in the future, it will always rest upon the foundation laid by this gift, and bearing the name of Seymour H. Knox. This name, which has stood for years in this community for a clean private life, strict integrity, strength of character, and business ability amounting to genius, has added to it today a distinction that wealth alone cannot confer - the distinction and honor expressed by the words "public benefactor," and so becomes a name that will always be honored in this city of his residence and will live in the grateful regard of thousands upon thousands who through generations to come will share in the benefits made possible by this foundation.

But while endowment is doubtless the most imperative need of a college and usually the most difficult thing to secure, there are other needs which must be met before a college can be said to be fairly established; and chief among these are buildings and equipment for its work. An endowment cannot be diverted to these ends. Unless, therefore, some adequate physical equipment can be provided our College enterprise will be slow in developing. You see, therefore, the necessity of providing for a building to be erected on the College site within the limit of time fixed by the county, and consequently you can appreciate all that it means for me to announce, as I now do, the gift of a quarter of a million dollars for the erection of the first or central building, the key of the whole group of buildings that will ultimately crown University Hill. This central building is to bear the name of Edmund Hayes Hall.

This gift, however, carries with it a condition for which I think the University will always be grateful; namely, that in addition to

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