Chicago Dons Purple to Salute Northwestern Sesquicentennial

Purple will reign both over and under the Chicago area to help celebrate Northwestern's Sesquicentennial (150th) anniversary, which officially occurs Jan. 28.

Local and state governments have issued congratulatory resolutions for the University. And in a display of purple pride, several major Chicago buildings and downtown bridges will be bathed in purple light the week of Jan. 29.

Buildings that will be lit in purple include the new Goodman Theatre, Sears Tower, the Aon Center (formerly the Amoco building) and the 900 North Michigan (Bloomingdale's) building. The floodlights that illuminate the undersides of City of Chicago bridges over the Chicago River from Columbus Drive west and south through the Loop also will be colored purple.

On Northwestern's Evanston campus, the clock tower at Rebecca Crown Center and the floodlights on Deering Library will also take on a purple hue.

"We're honored to have all the government resolutions of congratulations, and the lights are just a lot of fun," said Monica Metzler, Sesquicentennial director. "It's a way of sharing the celebration."

Although the University's founding trustees first met in 1850, Northwestern officially was created as an institution when the State of Illinois granted the University a charter on Jan. 28, 1851. Signed by Gov. A.C. French, the charter set out the terms for trustees and gave the board broad powers, including "erecting and completing suitable buildings, supporting necessary officers, instructors, and servants, and procuring books, maps, charts, globes, and philosophical, chemical and other apparatus necessary to the success of the institutionƒ"

The charter specified that the institution would remain located in or near the City of Chicago in Cook County and that the University could own up to 2,000 acres of land. The first amendment to the charter, passed four years later, specified that all the UniversityÍs property "shall be forever free from taxation for any and all purposes." That amendment also included a section —much more controversial at the time — that prohibited the sale of liquor within four miles of the University. That prohibition was not repealed until 1972 and kept Evanston a dry town for more than 100 years.

It wasn't unusual for universities or other private institutions to be given charters by the state, said Patrick Quinn, university archivist. "State government at that time was very minimal and there was no public university system even being considered. So legislatures would give charters to private institutions to provide those services."

Other institutions of higher education received charters from the state earlier, including McKendree College in 1835 and Knox College in 1837, but Northwestern was the first in the Chicago area to be chartered.

Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, Illinois Gov. George Ryan and Evanston Mayor Lorraine Morton this week issued resolutions of congratulations to Northwestern on behalf of Chicago, the state and Evanston.

When the Illinois legislature and Congress reconvene, they are expected to introduce resolutions honoring the University. In addition, the Cook County Board passed such a resolution last spring when Northwestern celebrated the Sesquicentennial of the first meeting of the trustees.

"All of our elected officials have been very supportive of the resolutions and proclamations honoring the University's Sesquicentennial," Metzler said. "It'll be something to put in the University Archives for the bicentennial."

1/24/01

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