The Story of Stanford - Summary

A man and a woman visited Harvard University one day. Lady was dressed in a gingham dress - a dress material made from dyed cotton. Her husband was dressed in a dress which had been woven at home and is also damaged. They wanted to meet the President of Harvard University. The secretary to the President is not impressed by the looks of the couple, especially their dress. The secretary asks the couple to wait outside. She thought that they would go away. The couple waited for hours. Finally, the secretary decides to inform the President about the waiting couple. She tells the President to meet them for five minutes. President was a busy man and he was arrogant. The couple now seated in front of the President tells him that their son who had studied at Harvard for one year has died. Their son loved Harvard and he liked the campus. The couple wanted to erect a memorial for him somewhere on the campus. The President is shocked and tells them that the University can’t erect a statue for all the students who attended Harvard and died. If they do so, he said, the campus will look like a graveyard. The Lady corrects the President and tells him that they don’t want to build a statue but a building. The President made fun of them by saying that they don’t have the money to do that and Harvard University is worth 7 and a half millions of dollars. The lady was silent and then she turned to her husband and said - Is that all it costs to start a University? Why don’t we just start our own? Her husband nodded. 

The name of the couple - Mr and Mrs Leland Stanford. They both walked away from Harvard University and they travelled to Palo Alto, California and they established a University in their son’s name - Leland Stanford Jr., who had died of typhoid fever at age 15. The name of the University is Stanford University.