UIHistories Project: A History of the University of Illinois by Kalev Leetaru
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Repository: UIHistories Project: Book - 30 Year Master Plan (Tilton & O'Donnell) [PAGE 41]

Caption: Book - 30 Year Master Plan (Tilton & O'Donnell)
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3•

History of Campus Plan

The last sentence gives a hint of the plan that lay in the mind of the President, and is prophetic of the more complete and detailed scheme for the development to the south which was to follow. 1 he year 1903 is notable as that in which the first steps were taken toward the preparation of studies and plans for the future development of the campus. The seeming lack of interest of the University in preparations for expansion and a recognition of the fundamental wisdom of broad and comprehensive planning motivated the efforts of certain alumni to bring this matter to the attention of the Trustees and officers of the institution. The first specific introduction of the idea of having a plan for the development of the campus is difficult to trace, but much of the immediate impulse back of the project seems to have come from C. H. Blackall, '77, an eminent architect of Boston. In 1903, Mr. Blackall became interested in a more dignified treatment of Green Street as an entrance to the University grounds, and outlined several tentative schemes to President Draper. In the course of his studies of this feature, however, he came to the conclusion that "it would be of questionable value to attempt a solution of that part of the problem without reference to the broader scheme of the whole grounds/' a conclusion no doubt hastened by informal conferences on the subject with Mr. John C. Olmsted of the firm of Olmsted Brothers, prominent landscape architects of Boston. Mr, Blackall, in connection with the problems which he knew the University to be Facing, urged that Mr. Olmsted be commissioned to undertake something in the nature of a survey and report on the University grounds. The trustees evidently did not see fit to authorize such a study of the campus at this time, and efforts to arrange a visit by Mr. Olmsted failed, and the Green Street matter was dropped. Nevertheless, the germ of a new idea had been planted, and through careful nourishing by interested alumni and members of the faculty it was destined to grow and bear valuable fruit