Page 5 - 1907 February - To Dragma

48 TO DRAGMA.

sity of the City of New York. The incorporation took place in
1831, and college work began in 1832.

The members of the first Council, elected by the two hundred
citizens who subscribed money toward the University, are called the
Founders. They were: Morgan Lewis, Samuel R. Betts, James
Tallmadge, James M . Mathews, George Griswold, Sr., Myndert
Van Schaick, Stephen Whitney, Martin E. Thompson, John Dcla-
field, James Lenox, Samuel Ward, Valentine Mott, Edward Dela-
field, Samuel Hanson Cox, James Milnor, Archibald Maclay, Spen-
cer H . Cone, Cyrus Mason, William W . Woolsey, Gabriel P. Diso-
sway, John S. Craig and Charles Starr.

The Council of New York University corresponds to the Hoard
of Trustees of other institutions. I t is made up of thirty-four mem-
bers, is self-perpetuating, and is the governing body of the Univer-
sity. The New York University Senate is an advisory body. The
Senate is composed of the Chancellor, and the Dean and one Pro-
fessor from each faculty.

The first Chancellor of the University was the Rev. Dr.
Mathews, pastor of the Garden Street Dutch Reformed Church.
His successors have been: the Hon. Theodore Frelinghuysen, a man
of many distinctions, prominent among them being the Whig can-
didacy for Vice-President in 1844 on the ticket with Henry Clay;
the Rev. Isaac Ferris; the Rev. Howard Crosby; the Rev. John
Hall, for many years Pastor of the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian
Church; and the Rev. Henry Mitchell MacCracken, the present
Chancellor, who was formerly Chancellor of the Western Univer-
sity of Pennsylvania.

The site originally chosen for the University was one overlook-
ing Washington Square, then a new park in an uptown district of
the city. A t about the time of the establishment of the University,
a number of prominent merchants and professional men built resi-
dences overlooking the Square, and the neighborhood from this time
on became a beautiful and fashionable one. The University building
was a Gothic structure of white freestone, modeled after King's
College, England. The cornerstone of this building was laid in
1833; the building was opened in 1835, and was publicly dedicated
to science, letters and religion in May, 1837. A t the dedication, two
purposes in the plan of the University were emphasized in one of
the speeches—first, the aim of giving special instruction in science to
those not wishing to take the whole undergraduate course; and