Pell Hall
Pell Hall was a building designated to be built with funds from a bequest by Mary B. Pell, widow of John B. Pell Class of 1852. The bequest was valued around 500,000 as of December 1913.[1] Her total fortune was estimated to be around $2 million, and ordered divided between Columbia, Rutgers, and the Dutch Reformed Church.[2][3][4] The bequest was tied up in real estate investments subject to life estates, presumably with Columbia as remainderman, so the University did not immediately come into the money. As Pell Hall was apparently never built, it's unclear what happened to the money. This is particularly curious, since Rutgers came into its share of money (sources conflict whether it was $400,000 or $140,000) in 1928, with which they erected a dormitory named after Mrs. Pell's father, Wessel Wessels, and named a companion dormitory in her honor, both by 1930.[5][6] It's possible that the funds Columbia received were annihilated by the Wall Street Crash of 1929 before Columbia got around to doing anything with them.
References
- ↑ Columbia University Quarterly, December 1913, Pg. 82
- ↑ RUMaps - Pell Hall
- ↑ The American Educational Review, Vol. 34, No. 10, July 1913
- ↑ The text of the bequest itself appears to be included in a volume of "Charters, Acts of the Legislature, Official Documents and Records", compiled by John B. Pine in 1920.
- ↑ RUMaps - Pell Hall
- ↑ RUMaps - Wessels Hall
