In 1874, Joseph Armour helped launch Plymouth Congregational Church's mission at 31st and State Streets. When he died in 1881, his estate included $100,000 for the operation of a Sunday School there, a sum matched by his brother Philip D. Armour. To meet the needs of the mission's rapidly growing membership, staff member Julia A. Beveridge began offering training classes to help them find jobs. When Plymouth's minister, Frank W. Gunsaulus, announced that with a million dollars he would build a school to train people to help themselves, Philip Armour pledged the money and, in 1892, hired Gunsaulus to be the first president of Armour Institute of Technology, located at 33rd Street and Armour Avenue. Using equipment previously displayed at the World's Columbian Exposition, the school expanded its offerings and, as this announcement indicates, began offering night school courses for working Chicagoans.

Creator: Armour Institute of Chicago
Source: Chicago Historical Society (ICHi-38231)