UIHistories Project: A History of the University of Illinois by Kalev Leetaru
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Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1871 [PAGE 360]

Caption: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1871
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LAYING OF COMER STONE OF NEW UNIVERSITY BUILDING,

AND DEDICATION OF NEW MECHANICAL SHOPS.

At a few minutes past 3 o'clock, September 13, 1872, commenced the exercises connected with the opening of the new Drill Hall and Mechanical Shops, and the laying of the corner-stone of the new University building. The procession formed in front of the University, in the following order: First, the old students, uniformed and armed; second, the new students, about one hundred and twenty-five in number ; then the faculty, the trustees, and State officers ; and, finally, the citizens who had come to witness the ceremonies of the occasion. The procession then marched to the new building, where the entire audience present cannot have fallen far short of twelve hundred. There, the Eegent stated that he had just received a telegram from Governor Palmer, stating that he and his staff had been left by the cars, so that, much to his regret, it was impossible for him to be present as he had hoped. After the University band had beautifully executed Schubert's Parade March, the corner stone was laid by Prof. J. B. Turner. The Rev. Mr. Frame then followed, in a short but impressive prayer; and, after a statement by the Eegent of the dimensions of the new building, the procession reformed and marched to the new Mechanical Shops, the band playing Hail Columbia. At the hall the Eegent stated that we were then standing in what was probably the first building of its kind in America, a building dedicated to the mechanic arts, which are to do so much to develop the resources of the country, and to military science, which shall defend the product of those arts if need be. After detailing the intended uses of the different portions of the Mechanical Building, details with which our readers are already familiar, the doctor stated that the building would not only be completed, but entirely furnished with machinery, etc., at a cost not exceeding the appropriation for the building alone. This success, he said, was due to the faithfulness of the trus-