History:

Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt was in his 79th year when he decided to make the gift that founded Vanderbilt University in the spring of 1873. The $1 million that he gave to endow and build the university was the commodore's only major philanthropy. Methodist Bishop Holland N. McTyeire of Nashville, a cousin of the commodore's young second wife, went to New York for medical treatment early in 1873 and spent time recovering in the Vanderbilt mansion. He won the commodore's admiration and support for the project of building a university in the South that would "contribute to strengthening the ties which should exist between all sections of our common country."

McTyeire chose the site for the campus, supervised the construction of buildings and personally planted many of the trees that today make Vanderbilt a national arboretum. At the outset, the university consisted of one Main Building (now Kirkland Hall), an astronomical observatory and houses for professors. Landon C. Garland was Vanderbilt's first chancellor, serving from 1875 to 1893. He advised McTyeire in selecting the faculty, arranged the curriculum and set the policies of the university.