Vanderbilt University

===Founding and early years===
[[File:Appletons' Vanderbilt Cornelius - University.jpg|thumb|right|Drawing of Vanderbilt University's Main Campus from ''Appletons' Cyclopedia of American Biography'' (1889)]]

In the years before the [[American Civil War]] of 1861–1865, the [[Methodist Episcopal Church South]] had been considering the creation of a regional university for the training of [[Minister (Christianity)|ministers]] in a location central to its congregations.<ref name="Carey">{{cite book |title= Chancellors, Commodores & Coeds: A History of Vanderbilt University |last=Carey |first= Bill |year= 2003 |publisher= Clearbrook Press Publishing |location= Nashville, TN |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R-ls_Nq2dDgC |isbn=978-0-9725680-0-5 }}</ref> Following lobbying by Nashville bishop [[Holland Nimmons McTyeire]], church leaders voted to found "The Central University of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South" in Nashville in 1872.<ref name="Carey" /><ref>{{cite book |last=Stowell |first=Daniel W. |date=1998 |title=Rebuilding Zion: The Religious Reconstruction of the South, 1863–1877 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3mpgc1TxrwoC&pg=RA2-PA1863|location=Oxford, UK |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-514981-4}}</ref> However, lack of funds and the ravaged state of the [[Reconstruction Era]] South delayed the opening of the college.<ref name="Carey" />

The following year, McTyeire stayed at the [[New York City]] residence of [[Cornelius Vanderbilt]], whose second wife was [[Frank Armstrong Crawford Vanderbilt]] (1839–1885), a cousin of McTyeire's wife, Amelia Townsend McTyeire (1827–1891); both women were from [[Mobile, Alabama]].<ref name="lylelankford">{{Cite web |date=2015-10-17 |title=Women to the Rescue &#124; Vanderbilt Magazine &#124; Vanderbilt University |url=http://www.vanderbilt.edu/magazines/vanderbilt-magazine/2009/08/women-to-the-rescue/ |access-date=2022-02-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151017225333/http://www.vanderbilt.edu/magazines/vanderbilt-magazine/2009/08/women-to-the-rescue/ |archive-date=17 October 2015 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tnportraits.org/mctyeire-mrs.htm |title=Tennessee Portrait Project: Amelia Townsend McTyeire |publisher=Tnportraits.org |access-date=April 23, 2014 |archive-date=March 4, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304140920/http://www.tnportraits.org/mctyeire-mrs.htm  }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tnportraits.org/vanderbilt-frank-crawford-no6.htm |title=Tennessee Portrait Project: Frank Crawford Vanderbilt |publisher=Tnportraits.org |access-date=April 23, 2014 |archive-date=March 4, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304140924/http://www.tnportraits.org/vanderbilt-frank-crawford-no6.htm  }}</ref> Cornelius Vanderbilt, the wealthiest man in the United States at the time, had been planning to establish a university on [[Staten Island]], [[New York (state)|New York]].<ref name="Carey" /> However, McTyeire convinced him to donate $500,000 to endow Central University in order to "contribute to strengthening the ties which should exist between all sections of our common country".<ref name="Carey" /><ref name="VUhistory">{{cite web |publisher = Vanderbilt University |title = The History of Vanderbilt |url = http://www.vanderbilt.edu/history.html |access-date = May 24, 2007 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070523140459/http://www.vanderbilt.edu/history.html |archive-date = May 23, 2007  }}</ref>

The endowment was eventually increased to $1 million (roughly ${{Inflation|USD|1|1872}} million in {{Inflation/year|US}}) and though Vanderbilt never expressed any desire that the university be named after him,<ref name="Carey" /> McTyeire and his fellow trustees rechristened the school in the Spring of 1873 in his honor.<ref name="Carey" /><ref name="Renehan">{{cite book |title= Commodore: The Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt |last= Renehan |first= Edward J. Jr. |year= 2007 |publisher = Basic Books |page = XV}}</ref> They acquired land from [[Congress of the Confederate States|Confederate Congressman]] [[Henry S. Foote]], who had built Old Central, a house still standing on campus.<ref name="vanderbiltoldcentral">{{cite news |date=April 8, 2002 |first=Bill |last=Carey |title=Old Central built by former governor who slugged Jefferson Davis |url=http://www.vanderbilt.edu/News/register/Apr08_02/story12.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021115143903/http://www.vanderbilt.edu/News/register/Apr08_02/story12.html  |archive-date=November 15, 2002 |newspaper=Vanderbilt Register |access-date=November 5, 2015 }}</ref>

The first building, Main Building, later known as [[Kirkland Hall]], was designed by [[William Crawford Smith]]; its construction began in 1874.<ref name="thevanderbilt" /><ref name="hooblernash">{{cite book |last=Hoobler |first=James A. |date=2008 |title=A Guide to Historic Nashville, Tennessee |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wq1PRKKVhd4C&pg=PA145|location=Charleston, South Carolina |publisher=The History Press |page=145 |isbn=978-1-59629-404-2}}</ref> In the fall of 1875, about 200 students enrolled at Vanderbilt, and in October the university was dedicated.<ref name="Carey" /> Bishop McTyeire was named chairman of the Board of Trust for life by Vanderbilt as a stipulation of his endowment.<ref name="Carey" /> McTyeire named [[Landon Garland]] (1810–1895), his [[mentor]] from [[Randolph-Macon College]], as [[List of Chancellors of Vanderbilt University|chancellor]]. Garland shaped the school's structure and hired the school's faculty.<ref name="VUhistory" /> Most of this faculty left after disputes with Bishop McTyeire, including over pay rates.<ref name="Carey" /> When the first fraternity chapter, [[Phi Delta Theta]], was established on campus in 1876, it was shut down by the faculty, only to be reestablished as a [[secret society]] in 1877.<ref name=thestoryofthefrats>{{cite news|title=The Story of the Frats at Vanderbilt University |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/118784371/?terms=%22the%2Bstory%2Bof%2Bthe%2Bfrats%2Bat%2Bvanderbilt%2Buniversity%22 |newspaper=The Tennessean |location=Nashville, Tennessee |date=January 12, 1908 |page=16 |via = [[Newspapers.com]]|access-date =January 5, 2016 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> Meanwhile, [[Old Gym (Vanderbilt University)|Old Gym]], designed by [[Peter J. Williamson]], was built in 1879–1880.<ref name="hooblernash" /> By 1883, the Board of Trust passed a resolution allowing fraternities on campus, and more chapters were established in 1884.<ref name=thestoryofthefrats />

====Connections to slavery====
Many of the university's early leaders had prominent ties to slavery and the Confederacy before the Civil War. Frank Vanderbilt was "a Confederate sympathizer" during the Civil War.<ref name="legacymediratta">{{cite news |last1=Mediratta |first1=Avi |last2=Bub |first2=Sydney |title=The Legacy of Slavery at Vanderbilt |url=http://vanderbiltpoliticalreview.com/the-legacy-of-slavery-at-vanderbilt/ |access-date=June 16, 2018 |work=Vanderbilt Political Review |date=October 5, 2016|quote=Although Cornelius Vanderbilt originally supported the Union, it was Frank Armstrong Crawford Vanderbilt, the Commodore's wife and a Confederate sympathizer, who supposedly convinced him to donate money for the founding of Vanderbilt University. The university named Crawford House, on the Martha Rivers Ingram Commons, in her honor.}}</ref> McTyeire was born into a slave-owning family and authored an essay in favor of slavery.<ref name="vanderbilthistoricalreviewthelegacyofslavery">{{cite news|last1=Fuselier|first1=Kathryn|last2=Yee|first2=Robert|title=The Legacy of Slavery at Vanderbilt: Our Forgotten Past|url=http://vanderbilthistoricalreview.com/legacy-of-slavery/|access-date=September 19, 2017|work=Vanderbilt Historical Review|date=October 17, 2016|archive-date=October 2, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171002120504/http://vanderbilthistoricalreview.com/legacy-of-slavery/}}</ref> Garland owned "up to 60 slaves" before the Civil War.<ref name="vanderbilthistoricalreviewthelegacyofslavery"/>

One of the founding trustees, [[Hezekiah William Foote]], was a [[Confederate States Army|Confederate]] veteran and the owner of four plantations in [[Mississippi]], including [[Mount Holly (Foote, Mississippi)|Mount Holly]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Glenn |first=Justin |date=2015 |title=The Washingtons: A Family History: Volume 1: Seven Generations of the Presidential Branch |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gpzwAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA1897|location=El Dorado Hills, California |publisher=Savas Beatie |page=1895 |isbn=978-1-61121-285-3|oclc=898163692}}</ref> The Treasurer of the Board of Trust from 1872 to 1875, [[Alexander Little Page Green]], whose portrait hangs in Kirkland Hall,<ref name="portraitgreen">{{cite web |url=http://www.tnportraits.org/green-alp.htm |title=Vanderbilt Collection&nbsp;— Kirkland Hall: A.L.P. Green 1806–1875 |website=Tennessee Portrait Project |publisher=Colonial Dames of America in Tennessee |access-date=November 9, 2015 |archive-date=January 5, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160105151612/http://www.tnportraits.org/green-alp.htm  }}</ref> was a Methodist preacher and a former slave owner.<ref name="citycemeterygreen">{{cite web |url=http://www.thenashvillecitycemetery.org/aa-III.htm |title=Slaves Buried Between 1846–1865 |website=Nashville City Cemetery |access-date=November 9, 2015 |archive-date=December 22, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171222105415/http://www.thenashvillecitycemetery.org/aa-III.htm  }}</ref> His son-in-law, [[Robert A. Young (1824-1902)|Robert A. Young]], was a Methodist minister who served as the Financial Secretary on the Board of Trust from 1874 to 1882, retiring from the board in 1902.<ref name="thevanderbilt">{{cite news|title=The Vanderbilt. Laying of the Corner Stone of the Great University Yesterday. Interesting Ceremonies and a Large Attendance. Addressed by Bishops McTyeire and Wrightman, Gov. Brown and Chancellor Morgan |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/79872208/?terms=%22laying%2Bof%2Bthe%2Bcorner%2Bstone%22%2Bvanderbilt |newspaper=Nashville Union and American |location=Nashville, Tennessee |date=April 29, 1874|page=8|via = [[Newspapers.com]]|access-date = November 22, 2015|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The Elliston family, who owned slaves, donated some of their [[Burlington (Nashville, Tennessee)|Burlington Plantation]], in one of the first expansions of the campus.{{when|date=June 2018}}<ref name="usatodaybeyondyale">{{cite news|last1=Epstein Ojalvo|first1=Holly|title=Beyond Yale: These other university buildings have ties to slavery and white supremacy|url=http://college.usatoday.com/2017/02/13/yale-university-buildings-slavery-white-supremacy/|access-date=April 7, 2018|work=USA Today|date=February 13, 2017|quote=But in 2012, a new college hall was dedicated to Elizabeth Boddie Elliston, whose family owned slaves and who, according to the university website, "donated segments of her plantation for the formation of the Vanderbilt campus."}}</ref>