New-York tribune., 1922-01-01
100000 Gift
Saves Stadium
For Columbia
Anonymous Friend of Dr..
Butler. Acting at Eleventh
Hour. Enables University
to Obtain 26Acre Tract
Drive for Funds Failed
Plans Call for Expendi-
turc of $I. $40. 900 ON I'm.
prOvements for Athletics

The project Of the construction OF
a stadium and elaborate athletic fields
for Columbia University on tho twenty
six-acrc Dyckman !lact al 21Sth street
and Broadway, has been saved for the
university at the last moment by n gift
Of s100.00o from friend Of DR.. Mich
olas Murray Butler, president of the
institution. according to an announce
mcnt made hy Or. Butler last night
The option on the property would
have expired al noon yesterday but for
the intervention of the anonymous
friend. DR.. Butler announced Thurs
day that tho effort which had hecn sus-
tanned since May to raise the money
for the fielo had been unsuccessful in
timating that the idea must be aban
doned for IKE present
"At some later time" said Dr. Butler
last night, "it is hoped t,,at tho donor,
whose gift made tho acouisi.io Of the
property possible, viii give his consent
10 putting hi name on the property
as a monument to the p,lncclv bcne
faction to tNe university and through
54s ysa'" university to the people of New
campsien will be started immcd-
atcly to raise money for improving the
property in accordance with plans
which already have been drawn. When
the work has been sufficiently advanced
South Field viii be abandoned as An
athletic field and developed As a part
of the campus OF the university with
faculty building, q new gymnasiuc
and other buildings upon it.
''Thc total cost Of acquiring the
property will be about s700.000,' said
Dr.. Butler "The option to purchase
was to expire at noon Saturday. De
esmber 81, and the generous donor
who had been greatly interested in the
project from the time it was first
brought TO his attention, made his gilt
on Friday
at is difficult to exaggeratc what
possession Of this property will mean 70
The health and enjoyment Of genera
tions Of Columbia University students
aud alumni When developed as We
plan to develop it it will be as notable
an addition to the resources OF New
York a e metropolitan city as has been
maze III many x Gay
Or Butler SAID that the committee
Of alumni and students who have been
at work or the plans since last spring
have before them a complete schcme
for developing the property prepared
by Eugene Klepp, engineer. OF the Co.
1urbia rlasa OF 1912. and Henry F..
Hornbostel, architect. of the Columbia
class @; 1891
Speaking Of thc plans for athletic
fields, DR.. Butler said that they pro
vided for a football stadium with a
seating capacity of $4,000, costing
s75O.000; a separate baseball field with
and an athletic field with three tracks
and a 22C-yard strai ightawav, with q
capacity of 5000 or 5000, costing $3.50
900.
A field boulevard 200 feet wide, tina
will park from 1000 TO 1900 automo-
bies, will be built across the property
at a cost Of $4,000. This road or
boulevard will look down over the foot
ball and baseball fields on the one
hand and look out on the athletic fields
on the other, DR.. Butler explained.
A boathouse and rowing headquar-
ters will be built in the extreme west
erly part of the property in cove pro
tected from the tidal currents Of the
Harlem River. A sea wall costing 1885,
COO also is provided for in the plans,
which further contemplate the erection
Of war memorial, whose cost, like
that OF the hoathouse and clubhouse
memorial. has not yet been estimated.
DR.. Butler pointed OUT that at the
beginning Of his administration he
called attention to the increasing CON
gestion on South Field that would re
suit from the natural growth Of the
university and to the certainty that
the university could not continue to
use this field indefinitely for athletic
events and outdoor exercises, since the
universty's development would surely
require this area for residence halls
and other academic buildings.
S250,ooo for Faculty House
Development in this direction has
gone on steadily and, DR.. Butler said
unless the university could have &C
auired the Dyckman property Co!um-
bia eventually would nav. 10 playing
fields at all, for in FIVE years the area
Of South Field will have been so re-
stricted as to be useless for those pur-
poses.
DR.. Butler, in recent statement on
the university's building plans, which
contemplate the expenditure Of millions
and in which start will be made at
once by the erection Of faculty house
on Morningside Drive costing $250OOo
said that call buildings for residence
and for what may be roughly describe d
as domestic purposes should be or
South Field" At this point, he said
should be located the university com
mora and in the same building ano
above the commons there would be
opportunity to make provision fol
all those undergraduate and stu.
dent organizations and activities, ath
letic and others, which are now either
inadequately cared for or not cared TO,
at ALL
On South Field also he urged the
building of a gymnasium in traditiona
quadrangular fashion, the present gym
nasium to be converted into uni.