When the city of Cleveland began to see unprecedented financial and population growth, Amasa Stone, an industrialist and philanthropist, funded Western Reserve College’s move from Hudson, Ohio, to Cleveland. The railroad tycoon was responsible for the construction of Howe truss bridges across New England and fueled the monopoly of the Standard Oil corporate trust.
The 1876 collapse of the Ashtabula River bridge came to define his legacy, and Stone died by suicide in 1883. His daughter, Flora Stone Mather, carried on his commitment to philanthropy and helped establish the College for Women in 1888. She also named Amasa Stone Chapel in honor of her father.
