Vanderbilt University, Kirkland Hall, Nashville, Tennessee, circa 1930

A postcard of Kirkland Hall, the building built to replace Vanderbilt's Main Building that burned in 1905. Vanderbilt University was made possible in 1873 through a one million dollar gift from Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt, a shipping and rail tycoon who had never even visited the South. Vanderbilt's hope in supporting a university in the South was that it would "contribute to strengthening the ties which should exist between all sections of our common country." At the University's onset, the campus consisted of the Main Building, an astronomical observatory and houses for professors. The original Vanderbilt Library was housed in the Main Building. In 1905 a fire consumed the Main Building and it was rebuilt with one tower as Kirkland Hall in honor of the school's longest serving Chancellor, James H. Kirkland. Kirkland guided the rebuilding process and also navigated the University through the separation from the Methodist Church. Today Kirkland Hall houses the administration offices and sits off of West End Avenue. Forms part of the Norton Postcard Collection. 1 postcard : col. ; 3.5 x 5.5 in.