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before presenting the speakers on his list, took occasion to enumerate
achievements of some of the Institute's most distinguished sons. Those
who followed him to the rostrum were George M. Wright, mayor of
Worcester, John W. Weeks, U. S. Senator from Massachusetts, Howard
Elliott, president of the N. Y., N. H. & H. Railroad Co., Arthur
D. Little, chemical engineer, and finally Major General Leonard Wood,
with a stirring appeal for American preparedness.
The closing official event of the week was Commencement, Thursday
morning, at Tuckerman Hall. The speaker of the day was Dr. Richard
C. Maclaurin, president of the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology. Following his address, Dr. Hollis conferred the bachelor
degree upon 93 members of the Class of 1915, largest graduating class
to that date and for many years to come. Thursday afternoon a host of
alumni gathered around a temporary platform in front of the single
protruding comer of the gymnasium. This was the occasion of which
students and graduates had dreamed since the days of parallel bars and
trapeze in the old grove. George 1. Rockwood, '88, was
characteristically concise in his dedicatory address, ending it with
the statement: "We are going on with the building until the funds give
out." He placed in the cornerstone a copper box containing the usual
miscellany of books and papers, applied a trowel of mortar and the
ceremony was over.
One feature of the alumni dinner that afternoon was the attendance of
675 persons, who taxed to capacity the Electrical Engineering
laboratory and made speaking almost inaudible. Another feature was
that a thorough search had been made to locate all possible survivors
of the nearly 550 persons who had subscribed to the Boynton Hall
building fund in 1865, and to invite them to this dinner. Only a score
of this group could be identified and but few of these were able to
accept the invitation.
At this dinner the alumni attendance trophy was awarded to the Class
of '74. This huge cup was donated to the Associa
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