Opinion

After a sensational beginning Rice grows into a Houston gem

William Marsh Rice William Marsh Rice Photo: handout Photo: handout Image 1 of / 6 Caption Close After a sensational beginning Rice grows into a Houston gem 1 / 6 Back to Gallery

Exactly 100 years ago today, Sept. 23, 1912, the Rice Institute, as it was then called, opened. It was a signal event - like the 1901 discovery of oil at Spindletop and the 1914 completion of the Ship Channel - in the history of Houston. The opening had been eagerly anticipated since 1891, when wealthy Houston merchant William Marsh Rice had called six of his closest friends to his hotel room and announced his intention to charter "The William Marsh Rice Institute for the Advancement of Literature, Science, and Art." That charter, backed by Rice's initial gift of $200,000, was a vague document that did not clearly indicate the kind of institution Rice had in mind, but he told his self-picked trustees to do nothing until after his death. No doubt they were relieved, only to be doubly concerned nine years later when Rice was murdered.

A complicated plot unfolded. A corrupt lawyer wrote a fake will to direct most of Rice's money for himself and pressured a compliant valet to use chloroform to kill Rice on Sunday, Sept. 23, 1900, only to be tripped up by several simple mistakes. Rice's personal attorney, Captain James A. Baker (grandfather to the later U.S. secretary of state), rushed to New York to head up a sensational investigation and later trial, with the result that the lawyer was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in Sing Sing. Another disputed will by Rice's late wife was resolved, and finally, in 1904, the Institute's trustees received more than $4.6 million from the estate, at the time one of the largest endowments in the nation. Now the trustees had to establish Rice's Institute, but exactly what should it be?

The trustees, aware of their inexperience in academic matters, resolved to conduct a national search for a broadly educated, energetic, visionary head of the Institute. After a careful process, they offered the position to a young mathematician who was currently chair of the department of astronomy at Princeton. In choosing Edgar Odell Lovett, they chose more wisely than they could have possibly known. Lovett had two earned doctorates, one in astronomy from the University of Virginia and the other in mathematics from the University of Leipzig. He had taught briefly at Johns Hopkins, the nation's first research university; at Virginia, where he treasured the concept of an honor code; and at the University of Chicago, the nation's first instant great university. Then he began his teaching career in 1897 at Princeton, which was led, after 1902, by Woodrow Wilson, perhaps the nation's most innovative university president. (Wilson, who later became president of the United States, actually recommended Lovett to the Rice trustees.) Lovett absorbed the positive attributes of these various universities, and, possessing charisma and great literary and speaking skills, was a highly skilled administrator. The Rice trustees, offered him the exciting opportunity to shape the new university planned for Houston. Their first assignment was for Lovett to travel to all the great universities of Europe and beyond, observing the best academic practices and exploring characteristics of the world's finest universities.

In his Jan. 18, 1908, letter of acceptance, Lovett envisioned "a continuous stream" of graduates going forth from the university, "equipped … for commanding careers in the world's affairs." Carefully studying the founding charter, and applying what he had learned from his own career and his round-the-world trip, Lovett imaginatively transformed the vague document into a blueprint for what would become an exceptional university. The trustees accepted his bold vision, and they chose a prominent architect, Ralph Adams Cram, who invented an eclectic blend of Mediterranean styles for the campus buildings, "conspicuous alike for their beauty and utility." Lovett began to seek both students and faculty. He spoke widely across the region to prospective students, and he wrote colleagues, visited other universities, and even went on a recruiting trip to Europe to engage a distinguished group of scholars from the world's leading universities to become the Rice Institute's initial faculty. Here his personal magnetism and charisma really paid off.

After frenzied efforts to get the initial buildings finished on time, all the preparations came together on Sept. 23, 1912 - 12 years to the day after the murder of William Marsh Rice. Beneath splendid blue skies with low humidity, the initial 59 men and women students showed up, with another 18 arriving shortly thereafter. Lovett introduced them to a gathering of the faculty, trustees and city dignitaries. Then he spoke to them of his expectations. He exhorted them to value reason, beautiful things and their fellowmen, and to believe in the potential both to learn and to teach. He expected to form a genuine community of learners consisting of faculty and students. But this was not the only opening ceremony Lovett envisioned.

He planned, with the trustees' full support, a grand academic convocation on Oct. 10–12, 1912, with talks by a stunning variety of eminent scholars from around the world, receptions and concerts, all marked with a grandeur and sense of promise that inspired the dozens of visiting academicians from throughout the nation. On Oct. 12, Lovett gave his matriculation address, "The Meaning of the New Institution." Here in explicit detail he laid out his vision for the Rice Institute, a vision almost breathtaking in its boldness, its ambition, its clarity of purpose. Rice would start small and focus on the sciences, but as the city grew, the university would grow in size and function. He called for undergraduate and graduate work from the beginning, research as well as teaching, theoretical scholarship as well as practical. He imagined postgraduate work in "all the brainworking professions": medicine, law, business, architecture journalism, etc. He set high goals: "university standing of the highest grade," with "no upper limit to its educational endeavors." He called for the best possible faculty and students, for uncompromising emphasis on excellence, for keeping "the standards up and the numbers down"; he spoke of the "privileges of research … and the pleasures of teaching;" he advocated an honor code and residential colleges.

Lovett declared that throughout history, great commercial cities "had often been conspicuous centers of vigorous life." He foresaw the same relationship between Houston and the Rice Institute. He knew that a powerful symbiotic relationship bound the city and the university; he expected the city to support its university, and vice versa. He told the faculty that here they would "learn to talk about lumber and cotton and railroads and oil," but he hastened to add, "you will also find every ear turned ready to listen to you if you really have anything to say about literature or science or art." For that reason he quickly developed a program of continuing education for the citizens. And to a remarkable degree, the university he imagined in 1912 has today become a reality. Rice has a distinguished faculty, some six thousand extremely talented students and a handsome campus; its scholars produce research and scholarship of the highest quality. Its alumni have taken leadership positions around the nation in the fields of academia, law, medicine, architecture, business, engineering, finance, teaching and the performing arts. Both Houston Mayor Annise Parker and Harris County Judge Ed Emmett are Rice graduates. As a pre-eminent research university recognized around the world, Rice is one of Houston's gems, and it is now preparing to celebrate its centennial in appropriate fashion this Oct. 10–14 with elaborate festivities that will mirror the opening convocation of 1912. Stay tuned.

Boles is the William P. Hobby Professor of History at Rice University and the author of "University Builder: Edgar Odell Lovett and the Founding of the Rice Institute."