gible situations whereon to fix the University in the counties of Wake, Franklin, Warren, Orange, Granville, Chatham, and Johnston."

The trustees met in Hillsborough August 1, 1792, to decide on a location and to provide for the erection of buildings. On August 3 ballots were taken for the selection of a point the centre of a circle of 15 miles radius, within which the University should be located, the place to be determined by a committee of the board constituted of one member from each judicial district. The fact that the charter provided that the site should not be within five miles of the permanent seat of government or any court house, prevented any of the leading towns from being chosen. Many places were put in nomination, but finally Cypritz Bridge, over New Hope River, in Chatham County, was selected as the point within 15 miles of which the university buildings should be placed.

On November 1, 1792, the committee met at Pittsborough, Chatham County, to make a final decision as to location. Several handsome offers of land and money were made to secure the election. Eleven hundred and eighty acres were offered at a place called New Hope Chapel Hill, and on the 9th of November the committee decided in its favor by a unanimous vote.

The trustees at their next meeting ratified the report of the above committee. On motion of Governor Davie commissioners were appointed to lay off a town and superintend the erection of university buildings. It was provided that the first to be erected should accom. modate fifty students, the cost not to exceed $5,000.

LOCATION AND BUILDINGS.

The University is located in Chapel Hill, Orange County, twentyeight miles from Raleigh, the capital of the State. In colonial times a chapel of the Church of England was built there, which was known as New Hope Chapel Hill, and from this circumstance the village takes its name.

The location was wisely chosen. It is not far from the geographical centre of the State, and is noted for its beauty and healthfulness. One can scarce imagine a more inviting spot than the campus. The buildings are surrounded by a grove of old forest trees, chiefly oak and hickory, which completely hide them from the rest of the village. The grounds, about 50 acres, are beautifully undulating. Adjoining the campus is a magnificent forest of several hundred acres. Here the young academic may find that monastic quiet and seclusion which used to be thought so essential to student life.

The village of Chapel Hill was laid off, the first lots sold, and the corner-stone of the old east building was laid on the 12th day of October, 1793.

President Battle, in the address before the alumni in 1881, said: "We have fortunately an account of the proceedings of this day, so memorable, written by Davie himself, the chief actor. I will endeavor to

take the veil off this picture of long ago, and wipe off the dust which obscures it.

"The Chapel Hill of eighty-eight years ago was vastly different from the Chapel Hill of to-day. It was covered with a primeval growth of forest trees, with only one or two settlements and a few acres of clearing. Even the trees on the East and West avenue, named by the Faculty, in recognition of the wise and skilful superintendence of the extensive repairs of our buildings prior to the re-opening in 1875, Cameron, after our president [of the association], were still erect. The sweet-gums and dog-woods and maples were relieving in the autumnal sun, with their russet and golden hues, the general green of the forest. A long procession of people for the first time are marching along the narrow road, afterwards to be widened into a noble avenue. Many of them are clad in the striking, typical insignia of the Masonic fraternity, their Grand Master arrayed in the full decorations of his rank. They march with military tread, because most of them have seen service, many of them scarred with wounds of horrid war. Their faces are serious, for they feel that they are engaged in a great work. They are proceeding to lay the foundations of an institution which, for weal or woe, is to shape the minds of thousands of unborn children; whose influence would be felt more and more, ever widening and deepening as the years roll on, as one of the great forces of civilization.

"The tall, commanding figure most conspicuous, in the Grand Master's regalia, is that of William Richardson Davie. He is no common man. He had been a gallant cavalry officer in the Revolution. He had been a strong staff on which Greene had leaned. He had been conspicuous in civil pursuits, an able lawyer, an orator of vast influence. With Washington and Franklin and other great men he had assisted in evolving the grandest Government of all ages-the American Union-out of an ill-governed and disintegrating confederacy. He was beyond his times in the advocacy of a broad, generous education. His portrait has been drawn by a masterly hand, Judge Archibald Murphey, one of the most progressive and scholarly men our State has known. In his speech before the two societies at Chapel Hill he says: 'Davie was a tall, elegant man in his person, graceful and commanding in his man

His voice was mellow and adapted to the expression of every pas. sion; his mind comprehensive yet slow in its operations, when compared with his great rival [Alfred Moore]; his style was magnificent and flowing; he had a greatness of manner in public speaking which suited his style, and gave to his speeches an imposing effect. He was a laborious student, arranged his discourses with care, and, where the subject merited his genius, poured forth a torrent of eloquence that astonished and enraptured his audience.'

"Judge Murphey says: 'I was present in the House of Commons when Davie addressed that body upon the bill granting a loan of money to the trustees for erecting the buildings of the University, and although

more than thirty years have since elapsed, I have the most vivid recol lection of the greatness of his manner and the powers of his eloquence on that occasion.' General Davie was afterwards Governor of the State; an envoy of the United States to the court of France. I find him styled in the journal of the University, in 1810, 'the founder of the University,' and he well deserved the title."1

Other trustees present on this occasion were Alfred Moore, after. wards a judge of the Supreme Court of the United States; William H. Hill, member of Congress; John Haywood, for forty years treas urer of the State; Alexander Mebane, member of Congress; Thomas Blount, member of Congress; John Williams, one of the three judges first appointed under the State Constitution of 1776; Frederick Hargett, State Senator; and Dr. Samuel E. McCorkle, one of the most noted. teachers in the State.

Dr. McCorkle delivered the address on the occasion. The report of it which has been preserved is evidence that the high estimate which was placed on his ability by his contemporaries was well deserved.

The 12th of October is annually observed as "Foundation or University Day," when an address is delivered by some well-known alumnus.

'Proceedings of the Alumni Association, 1881, pp. 22-23.

The university buildings are ten in number. The following list, furnished the writer by President Battle, gives the dates of erection, together with the purposes for which they are now used:

1,2. Old east (1795) and old west (1826) buildings, each three stories, 36 by 120 feet, used for dormitories, with the exception of two rooms about 36 feet square in each, used, one as a museum, the others for lecture-rooms.

3. Person Hall (1796), 36 by 54 feet, one story, once used for religious as well as other exercises, hence often called “Old Chapel." It is now the lecture room of the professor of chemistry, and contains also the industrial museum. A chemical laboratory 70 by 30 feet, has been recently added to this building.

4. South building (1814), three stories, 50 by 116 feet, used for dormitories, except two rooms 28 by 36, and three rooms 20 by 30, of which one is set apart for the Young Men's Christian Association and the others for lecture-halls.

5. Gerrard Hall (1827), 45 by 66 feet, one story, used for religious as well as gen. eral exercises, hence often called "New Chapel."

6. Smith Hall (1852), 35 by 122 feet, one and a half-story. The basement is divided into a qualitative and quantitative laboratory. The main room above contains the University library.

7,8. New east (1859) and new west (1859) buildings, the former four, the latter three stories, each 40 by 116 feet. The former has four lecture and laboratory halls, the hall of the Philanthropic Literary Society, established 1795, and the Philanthropic library, each 36 by 54 feet. The latter has three lecture and laboratory halls, and the hall of the Dialectic Literary Society, established 1795, and the Dialectic library, each 36 by 54 feet. Dormitories are in both of these buildings.

9. The University Memorial Hall (1885), a very handsome design for an auditorium. It is 136 by 128 feet, with a ceiling 52 feet high. It has 2,000 seats on the floor, 200 chairs on the rostrum and 250 chairs in the music gallery. On the walls are many marble tablets commemorating the eminent officers and alumni of the Uni'versity. On four large tablets are the names of all the sons of the instituti on who lost their lives in the Civil War.

10. Gymnasium Hall (1885), 110 by 45 feet, one story, is fitted up with the most approved appliances for physical culture.

The total value of the lands and buildings is estimated at over $350,000.

ENDOWMENT AND INCOME.

An act entitled "An act for raising a fund for erecting the buildings, and for the support of the University of North Carolina," was passed by the General Assembly in 1789.

This endowed the institution with all the arrearages due to the State from receiving officers up to the 1st of January, 1783, and with all property that had theretofore, or should thereafter, escheat to the State. This grant of escheats, though not of immediate was finally, by the energy and good management of the trustees, of great value. This, with private benefactions, constituted the fund for the erection of buildings and the principal part of the endowment.

At the first meeting of the board of trustees, held in Fayetteville, November, 15, 1790, James Hogg, Esq., in behalf of Colonel Benjamin Smith (who had been an aid of General Washington and subsequently Governor of the State), o 1Brunswick County, presented the University