Two handsome new buildings, one for the library
and the other for the gymnasium, were about completed when, on April 18,
an earthquake, the most destructive ever experienced on the Pacific
coast, shook all the region around San Francisco Bay. Stanford suffered
severely: the two new buildings were ruined; so, too, was the museum
and a portion of the chemistry building. Both the noble arch and the
mosaics in the front of the memorial chapel were destroyed. Beyond this,
comparatively little damage was done to the college buildings. The
graduating exercises were postponed until the fall term; otherwise the
disaster did not interfere seriously with the routine of study, neither
did it affect the attendance in 1906-7, which was unusually large. In
the fall of 1907 President Jordan stated that he was empowered to
announce that Thomas Weldon Stanford, brother of Senator Leland
Stanford, had decided to give the university his own large fortune of
several millions.
It is generally recognized that the university owes a great part of its
present success to the splendid talents and faithfulness of President
Jordan, who has given the hardest labor of the best years of his busy
life to helping it onward and upward.
Pages:
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328