THE FIRST PLAN 

FOR THE FUTURE GROWTH OF THE UNIVERSITY 1905

Prepared by C. H. Blackall, €˜77, shortly after his appointment as architect of the Auditorium, and embodying his ideas for the development of the whole campus in reference to the Auditorium. The plan was first sent to President James, December 8, 1905. The buildings existing at the time the plan was made are shown darker than the proposed buildings. 

The most significant feature of this plan and the one which has been most far-reaching in its influence is the suggestion of an open sweep of campus from Green Street toward the south, flanked by two avenues, symmetrically balanced on a north and south axis, determined at the south by the Auditorium and at the north on Green Street by a memorial to Doctor Gregory. The buildings grouped about this open space would thus form a quadrangle. As University Hall and the Law Building stood in the way of this scheme, Mr. Blackall proposed to have them either torn down or removed to other sites. It will be noticed that instead of using Burrill Avenue as originally laid out, Mr. Blackall suggested the removal of the eastern row of trees and the placing of the roadway to the west of the remaining row €“ that is, between the present west row and the Woman€™s Building as it then existed; the corresponding avenue or the opposite side of the axis was to be similarly developed, thus widening the strip of greensward in front of the Auditorium. 

South of the Auditorium, the rudiments of a secondary quadrangle were suggested in the grouping of a large Natural History museum, a school of commerce, and school of education. East of this group, on the opposite side of Mathews Avenue, were located the old horticulture building (removed from west of Wright Street) greenhouses, infirmary and an observatory. West of Wright Street Mr. Blackall suggested the development of a €œDean Row€�, that is, a group of residences for the president and other administrative officers. 

North of Green Street, the principal features to be noted are the men€™s dormitories flanking Healy Street, which is emphasized as an approach to the College of Engineering; and the introduction of a new armory and military field adjoining the athletic field on the east. 

It will be observed that Mr. Blackall had in mind the development of the campus in a long block of uniform width (except for the dormitory group) from University Avenue to the Auditorium; south of the Auditorium he gives merely a hint of a transverse development. 

p. 37 from €œHistory of the Growth and Development of the Campus of The University of Illinois€� by Leon Deming Tilton and Thomas Edward O€™Donnell, The University of Illinois Press, 1930