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Caption: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1956
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IO74 BOARD OF TRUSTEES [June 27 University Committee strongly recommended the selection of the G. A. Miller Meadow as t h e permanent site for the Chicago Undergraduate Division. This site (approximately three hundred acres) is bounded on the north by Roosevelt Road, on the south by Cermak Road, on the west by First Avenue, and on the east by the Des Plaines River. T h e land is owned by the Forest Preserve District of Cook County. T h e President of the University, the Board of Trustees, and several University administrators have inspected many of the sites and also selected the G. A. Miller Meadow as the most desirable permanent site for the Chicago Undergraduate Division. This site is recommended because it: 1. Should permit the lowest acquisition cost of any of the sites meeting the University's criteria. 2. Meets the criteria for transportation convenience. (Approximately 55.4 per cent of the potential student population can reach this site within one hour's travel time by public transportation.) 3. Will assure the availability of adequate land. 4. Will be in the direction of population growth for the Chicago area. 5. Will make possible the University's completing the construction of the permanent facilities for the Chicago Undergraduate Division by September, 1963. 6. Will provide good opportunities for faculty housing in the nearby suburbs. 7. Will not result in a tax loss to the city of Chicago or any of its suburbs. 8. Will offer an opportunity for reduced operating and construction costs since the existing railway facilities cross a small part of the site. 9. Will not increase the peak load on the city's transportation facilities as the students will be traveling in the reverse direction at such times. 10. Will be protected against encroachment from undesirable developments. 11. Is now almost entirely vacant, its predominant use being agriculture. T h e selection of a suburban site of this type was concurred in by the Executive Committee of the Chicago Plan Commission as evidenced by their following statements: 1. "We believe it highly preferable that a site be selected from among those areas not currently producing t a x revenues or potentially capable of important private development. 2. " W e believe that sites requiring demolition of any substantial number of dwellings, or expenditure of local slum clearance funds should be avoided. Selection of a slum site involving extensive relocation of families or spending of local slum clearance funds would, in our opinion, seriously hamper the City's program of slum clearance for private, industrial, commercial, and residential development. By further complicating the relocation problem, it could, additionally, threaten any plans for accelerating the state-county-city program of expressway construction. 3. " W e believe that areas within reasonable proximity to the W e s t (Congress Street) Expressway or its terminals offer the most advantageous locations from the point of view of serving the future population of the entire Chicago Metropolitan Area. This is based upon our conception both of suburban expansion and of the ultimate rebuilding of the urban areas of Chicago." ///. Conclusion The G. A. Miller Meadow is strongly recommended as the permanent site for the Chicago Undergraduate Division of the University of Illinois. It is further recommended that this site be acquired during the 1957-59 biennium. COMMITTEE ON F U T U R E DEVELOPMENT OF T H E CHICAGO U N D E R G R A D U A T E DIVISION ROBERT G. B O N E Assistant Provost and Professor of History ROBERT P . HACKETT Associate Dean of Commerce and Business Administration and Professor of Accountancy, Chicago Undergraduate Division
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