Beginnings



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Application for Charter, 1926 (Page 1)
The charter established the mission of the University of Miami and outlined various academic programs. The Board of Regents approve any and all changes to the University Charter.


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Early Campus Plans of George Merrick
In the early 1920s, land developer and visionary George Merrick had elaborate plans for a university campus in his newly-created sub-division of Coral Gables, formerly his family’s grapefruit plantation. On his 160 acre parcel of donated land, he wished to construct a large administrative building as a memorial to his father, Solomon G. Merrick, and buildings for literary activities, physical, chemical and natural sciences, languages, history, engineering, medical science, law, economics, mental science, music, and art. He and his cadre of architects and designers also made plans for a general assembly building, gymnasiums with pools for men and women, a chapel, a library, an athletic field and stadium, and a president’s residence.


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Laying Out the Building
Reviewing the proposed plans for the University of Miami as of January 4, 1926 are (from left to right): Phineas Paist, Denman Fink, Frederic Zeigen, Bertha Foster, Mrs. Frederic Zeigen, and Mrs. Mitchell "Judge" Price.


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Merrick Building - Laying the Cornerstone
Notables at the laying of the cornerstone of the Solomon G. Merrick building on February 4, 1926 were, from left to right: Denman Fink, William E. Walsh (in white suit), Henry Salem Hubbell (in ribbon glasses), Victor Hope (in white suit), Rev. Thomas Benjamin Powell, Thomas J. Pancoast, Ruth Bryan Owen, Bertha Foster, Clayton Sedgwick Cooper (in white suit), Telfair Knight (head only), Frank B. Schutts, Frederic Zeigen, George Merrick, and John B. Orr.


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Merrick Building - Laying the Cornerstone Crowd
A crowd estimated at from five to seven thousand people made their way to the cornerstone laying ceremony for the Solomon G. Merrick Building in then remote Coral Gables on February 4, 1926.


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Promotional Poster by Denman Fink
During the height of the 1920s land boom, thousands of copies of this poster envisioning the future University of Miami campus were sent around the country to attract new residents to the new Miami sub-division of Coral Gables.


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UM Charter
This charter for the University of Miami was signed by the original founders in April, 1925.