358 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSP^UM, 1903. 



5. COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY. 



The founding of King's College by royal patent of George II dates 

 back to 1754 — before the Declaration of Independence of the United 

 States of America, in 1776; therefore the university is one of the 

 oldest organizations in New York. In 1897 it was removed to Morn- 

 ingside Heights, in the northern part of the city, between One hun- 

 dred and sixteenth and One hundred and twentieth streets and Tenth 

 and Eleventh avenues, except that the medical faculty (College of 

 Physicians and Surgeons, founded in 1807), and incorporated in 1891, 

 remained in its three buildings in Fifty-ninth street, 3 miles away where 

 it had in 1887 acquired model new buildings and furnishings, pro- 

 vided almost entirely by the Vanderbilt family at a cost of $2,500,000, 

 among them an anatomical laboratory for 400 students, a model of its 

 kind. I here treat only of the new university, which was erected in a 

 uniform style from maturely considered plans, and, besides many 

 other advantages, already before completion, possesses two especial 

 attractions — the power house and the library. The university occu- 

 pies its third location since it was founded as King's College, almost 

 one hundred and fifty years ago, and the medical faculty its sixth. 

 This frequent removal might at first sight appear to be a disadvan- 

 tage, but has in fact proven to l)e a great advantage, because, pushed 

 farther and farther outward by the growth of the cit}^, the new build- 

 ings could in their new locality always be made to conform to the 

 altered conditions, whereas elsewhere such new buildings can gener- 

 ally be acquired only after long periods. 



The university occupies an isolated position on an eleyated tract, 

 where presumably it will suffice the wants of the next generations, and 

 even after the adjacent portions of the city are more closely built up, 

 it will still occupy a comparatively open position, not in direct contact 

 with the city's noise and traftic. It occupies historical ground, as a bat- 

 tle was fought there in 1776 during the war of the Revolution against 

 England. In 1812, also, fortifications were erected here during the sec- 

 ond war with England. After 1825 an insane asylum occupied the site. 

 In 1892, at a cost of $2,100,000, an area of 16i acres was acquired by the 

 university on this rocky hill for a new site. The nature of the ground 

 admitted of making a plateau 750 l)y 575 feet — that is, somewhat more 

 than three-fifths of the entire tract — 150 feet above the near-by Hud- 

 son, and 25 feet above the streets; in size a})Out the same as the Dres- 

 den "Zwinger,"''' with its surrounding gardens. It is, therefore, not so 

 very large and is smaller than the site of the Natural History Museum, 

 2 miles away. In 1893 the university purchased at the Chicago 

 World's Fair for $3,500 the university plans sent there by the Prussian 

 educational department, which now hang on the walls of the architec- 

 tural section of the libraiy; and in 1894 it accepted the building plan 



