During his tenure as
the twelfth president of Northwestern, J. Roscoe Miller devoted
a great deal of time and energy to enhancing the University's
physical facilities. His efforts on the Evanston campus met resistance
when, in the late 1950s, it became clear that existing land holdings
would not support further expansion.
Miller's business manager,
William S. Kerr, identified three options for future development
in Evanston: move west across Sheridan Road into residential neighborhoods;
build an "asphalt campus" by crowding new buildings on to green
spaces east of Sheridan Road, such as Deering Meadow; or extend
eastward into Lake Michigan.
The obvious drawbacks
of the first two options „ taking valuable real estate off city
tax rolls and ruining the natural beauty of the lakeside campus
„ led Kerr to recommend filling in part of the lake. More-over,
it was estimated that this project could be done at one third
of the price to buy land in Evanston. It would cost $113,000 an
acre to reclaim land underwater compared $300,000 an acre to buy
land above water from the city.
After studying the
recommendation, Miller obtained approval from the trustees, and
in October 1960, publicly announced that the Evanston campus would
extend eastward approximately 1,200 feet. The University would
add 74 acres of new land at a cost of about $5.2 million.
The plan called for
the purchase from the state of Illinois of 152 acres of submerged
lake land at the cost of $100 per acre. However, before construction
would begin, Northwestern had to secure the approval of the Evanston
City Council, the Cook County Board, the Illinois legislature,
the governor, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The University's proposal
sailed through these many obstacles due, in part, to recognition
of its earlier contributions during World War II. The Evanston
City Council signed off in one meeting. After extensive lobbying
in Springfield, Kerr and Alban Weber, university counsel, were
rewarded with unanimous support by both houses of the state government
in early 1961. The Army Corps issued a permit that fall, asserting
that the proposed expansion area was well removed from established
lake shipping routes as to pose no problem.
As for local residents,
they hoped the lakefill expansion would prevent the state from
extending Chicago's Lake Shore Drive through Evanston and into
Wilmette.
Through all of the
successes the University had in moving the fledgling project along,
there was one snag. Because sand for the lakefill was to come
from the dredging of a controversial harbor in the Indiana Dunes,
Senator Paul Douglas of Illinois, a staunch conservationist, accused
Northwestern of taking part in an act of environmental vandalism.
In time, Douglas' protest was overcome, Indiana got its harbor
and Northwestern got its sand.
With legal hurdles
behind him, Miller turned his focus to the other key aspect of
any such endeavor: fundraising. His focus was sharpened thanks
to John G. Searle, president of the pharmaceutical manufacturer
G. D. Searle & Company. On Christmas Eve 1961, Searle called Miller
and confidentially offered $2.5 million to get the project started.
Lakefill construction
took two and a half years, beginning with a limestone retaining
wall around the perimeter of the underwater expansion zone. The
sand fill came on barges from Indiana.
By 1964, solid ground
had been established. Vogelback Computing Center was the first
of many buildings to appear on the new land, just beneath what
was a low bluff overlooking Lake Michigan. Before opening, the
low, flat roof of Vogelback served as the speaker's platform for
a ceremony to dedicate what was named the J. Roscoe Miller Campus.
Former Illinois Governor
Adlai E. Stevenson, a 1926 graduate of the Law School, was the
principal speaker. He congratulated the University for what it
had accomplished in recent years and encouraged Northwestern to
proceed with what would be one of the most ambitious building
phases in the school's history.
The newly created lakefill
made room for the construction of, among other facilities, the
University Library in 1970, the Norris University Center and the
Frances Searle Building in 1972, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall in
1975, and the James L. Allen Center in 1979.
In recent years, the
lakefill campus has grown to include the Henry Crown Sports Pavilion
and Norris Aquatics Center, adjacent fields for Northwestern soccer
and field hockey contests, and Annenberg Hall. Currently under
construction there are the Center for Nanofabrication and Molecular
Self-Assembly (on the site of the former Vogelback Center) and
the Arthur and Gladys Pancoe-Evanston Northwestern Healthcare
Life Sciences Pavilion.
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