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LEWIS INSTITUTE |
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By Agness Joslyn Kaufman |
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| Lewis Institute came into existence
though the will of a citizen of Chicago, Allen
Cleveland Lewis, who left his estate in trust for that purpose. Allen
was born in Sterling, Connecticut in 1821 and died in Chicago in 1877. As
a young man he resided in Elgin, Illinois, where he was engaged in the
drug business. He married and had one son who died at the age of twenty
months. His wife did not long survive, and Mr. Lewis moved to Chicago. In 1874, three years before his death, his older brother, John, died and left Mr. Lewis an estate of some $350,000, the larger part of which was invested in railroad bonds. Little is known of how Allen C. acquired the added share of the $550,000 estate he left. He also acquired several large pieces of property which evidently were [transferred to] him by another brother, Henry. This real estate was of dubious value at the time of his death, but fifty years later some pieces brought "tidy sums". The Lewis will was probated in 1877 with an order in it to the effect that the estate must increase to at least $800,000 before a school was opened. And so, in 1895, the "trustees decided the time had come" to open Lewis Institute. In those years the estate had increased from $550,000 to $1,600,000. The record of these first trustees is certainly admirable. |
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| Page last updated on May 17, 2000. |
