The Stanford Story

[bloodstone]

This is a true story of the Founders of Stanford University


A lady in a faded gingham dress and her husband, dressed in a homespun threadbare suit, stepped off the train in Boston, and walked timidly without an appointment into the president's outer office at Harvard.

The secretary could see that the people were not from Boston, and probably didn't even deserve to be in Cambridge. She frowned. "We want to see the president", the man said softly.

"He'll be busy all day," the secretary snapped. "We'll wait," the lady replied.

For hours, the secretary ignored them, hoping that the couple would finally become discouraged and go away.

They didn't. And the secretary grew frustrated and finally decided to disturb the president, even though it was a chore she always regretted to do.

"Maybe if they just see you for a few minutes, they'll leave," she told him. And he sighed in exasperation and nodded.

Someone of his importance obviously didn't have the time to
spend with them, but he detested gingham dresses and Homespun suits cluttering up his outer office.

The president, stern-faced with dignity, strutted toward the couple. The lady told him, "We had a son that attended Harvard for one year. He loved Harvard. He was happy here. But about a year ago, he was accidentally killed. And my husband and I would like to erect a memorial to him, somewhere on campus".

The president wasn't touched he was shocked. "Madam," he said gruffly, "we can't put up a statue for every person who attended Harvard and died. If we did, this place would look like a cemetery."

"Oh, no," the lady explained quickly, "We don't want to erect a statue. We thought we would like to give a building to Harvard.

The president rolled his eyes. He glanced at the gingham dress and homespun suit, then exclaimed, "A building! Do you have any earthly idea how much a building costs?

We have over seven and a half million dollars in the physical
plant at Harvard".

For a moment the lady was silent. The president was pleased. He could get rid of them now.

And the lady turned to her husband and said quietly, "Is that all it costs to start a University? Why don't we just start our own?"

Her husband nodded. The president's face wilted in confusion and bewilderment.

And Mr. and Mrs. Leland Stanford walked away, traveling to Palo Alto, California where they established the University that bears their name, a memorial to a son that Harvard no longer cared about.


You can't judge a book by the cover....

Don't look at people with your eyes....


Look at them with your heart...

[Kademad]

Really interesting, thanks for posting it!

[S9KSY]

This story is NOT TRUE.

I am afraid that the real story is much less exiting.

Life is normally more boring and predictable. We as doctors and scientists should be less prone to jump in with the mob and always question stories which seem to be too exiting and ask for proof before believing the rubbish that floods the internet and social circles.

That is why a successful doctor could never be successful at politics.

This wrong Stanford University story is a well known myth and never really happened.

The truth is clearly documented in Stanford University website:

http://www.stanford.edu/about/history/

The Stanford family visited several great universities of the USA East coast to gather ideas on how best to start their own university.

An urban legend, widely circulated on the Internet but untrue, describes the couple as looking as poor peasants, being poorly-dressed simple and unsophisticated. They decided to build their own university only after being mistreated in their offer to nominate a building at Harvard University of Boston, Massachusetts. They did visit Harvard's president but were actually very well-received and given very useful advice on starting a new university in California.

Thanks for adding the story anyway. Do not take my criticism personally and my apologies if it sounded too harsh

[hammodi]

Thank u S9KSY

I never believe anything said without a SOURCE especially if it comes by email

[bloodstone]

Thanks Dr, for correcting the story..
I quoted it from a website,seems the site was wrong...
thanks again