PEORIA MAGAZINE November 2022

S P O T L I G H T

PEORIA’S BRADLEY UNIVERSITY celebrates 125 years of growth and achievement

buildings, buy laboratory equipment and library books, and provide for annual operating expenses. Classes began in Bradley Hall on Oct. 4, 1897, with 14 faculty members and 150 students. Four days later, Bradley Polytechnic Institute was formally dedicated. Its first graduate was Corinne Unland in June 1898. By 1899, there were 350 students in the School of Arts and Science at Bradley studying subjects such as biology, chemistry, food work, sewing, Engl ish, German, French, Latin, Greek, history, manual arts, drawing, mathematics and physics. Bradley later donated the rest of her estate to the school, including nearly 1,000 different pieces of property. In 1906 she announced an additional gift to build Hewitt Gymnasium, now Hartmann Center for the Performing Arts. Following Bradley’s death in 1908 at the age of 91, the school continued to

BY AMY GEIER EDGAR PHOTOS BY MIKE BAILEY, RON JOHNSON AND TODD PILON A s BradleyUniversity celebrates 125 years of operation, it continues to have a positive impact on the city and region with which it has become virtually synonymous. BRADLEY'S ORIGINS STEM FROM THE DREAMS OF LYDIA MOSS BRADLEY AFTER EXPERIENCING LOSS Bradley’s origins stem from the dreams and determination of Lydia Moss Bradley. After the deaths of their six children, Bradley and her husband Tobias considered establishing an orphanage in their memory. Those

plans ended when Tobias died in May of 1867, leaving Bradley alone to determine what kind of legacy she could create for her beloved family. After careful study and research, Bradley began to focus on a new goal: the creation of a school to help young people prepare for life. Bradley Polytechnic Institute was chartered on Nov. 13, 1896. To get it off the ground, she gifted 17.5 acres of land to the institute, plus the funds necessary to construct two campus

22 NOVEMBER 2022 PEORIA MAGAZINE