Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1894 [PAGE 181]

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182

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS.

The site selected by t h e majority of said committee is open to many and serious objections, among which I desire to call your attention t o the following: (1.) The ground selected is too low, the lowest point being 141 feet below University Hall. (2.) The ground being uneven, t h e walls of the building will be of unequal height, which will cause unequal pressure and unequal settling. (3.) The rear or heaviest wall will have to be erected upon a foundation of quicksand, which underlies all t h a t portion of t h e site selected near Boneyard Creek. (4.) The site selected involves t h e destruction of our elegant park t h a t is now clothed with beautiful shade trees, and has been brought to its present condition by great care, skill, labor, and expense. (5.) This building, if erected on t h e site selected, will be on t h e line of t h e proposed sewer which we hope will soon be build for t h e safety of the University of Illinois and the cities of Champaign and Urbana; and the State of Illinois can ill afford to place any obstruction in t h e way of t h a t enterprise. (6) T h e building, if erected on t h e proposed site, cannot be seen from the Illinois Central Railroad, or from either of t h e two near cities, and we should thereby lose t h e benefit of imposing architecture for advertising purposes. (7.) The occupancy of this site will necessitate a separate heating plant, or t h e removal of t h e present one at great expense, and will thus cause a further destruction of t h e Arboretum. These are some of t h e objections to t h e selected site, any one of which ought to arrest t h e attention of this board and secure a careful investigation. The minority of your committee would recommend, as his first choice of location for t h e engineering building, a site 300 feet south and 50 feet west from t h e southwest corner of University Hall, fronting Daniel street, which street would approach t h e center of t h e building. T h e ground at this point is as high as a t University Hall, and the building on this site would command a fine view from t h e Illinois Central Railroad, and from the cities of Champaign and Urbana. I t could be readily warmed from our present heating plant with small expense. Further, the University of Illinois has large landed interests in this direction t h a t would be enhanced in value by t h e selection or this location. As a second choice, t h e minority of your committee would advise t h e location of this building on t h e military campus, fronting Stoughton street, where t h e ground is a little higher than at University Hall, and where it would command an equally fine view from all directions. All of which is respectfully submitted,

N. B. MORRISON,

Member of Committee on Buildings and Grounds. The board adjourned to meet a t 2:30 o'clock p. m.

AFTERNOON S E S S I O N .

The board was called to order pursuant to adjournment. The farm committee made t h e following report:

URBANA, I I I . , September 13, 1893.

To the Board of Trustees of tlie University of Illinois. GENTLEMEN: Your farm committee begs leave to report in reference to the transfer of lands, stock, and utensils to t h e Experiment Station, that, time being limited, we desire to postpone t h e matter until t h e next regular meeting of this board. Respectfully submitted,

N. B. MORRISON, )

ALEX. MCLEAN,

[Farm Committee.

ISAAC S. RAYMOND, )