History
BFIT owes its existence to the vision of Benjamin Franklin. In an unusual codicil to his will, dated 1789, Franklin established a 200-year plan for a sum totalling £1,000 (about $4,400 at the time, or about $55,000 in 2010 dollars) that he gave to the city of Boston, where he was born. For the first hundred years, the money was to serve as principal for loans to young workmen; at the end of that period, the fund's managers would divide the money, using approximately three-fourths for public works and maintaining the rest as a loan fund.
When the hundred-year interval had passed, Boston decided to use the money to establish a technical school. Aided by an additional gift from industrialist Andrew Carnegie and land donated by the City, BFIT opened its doors in 1908. Today, the Institute continues to serve greater Boston and beyond, local industry, and the regional economy by preparing men and women of diverse backgrounds to become proficient in the technical arts.
Read more about this topic: Benjamin Franklin Institute Of Technology
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“These anyway might think it was important
That human history should not be shortened.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“Look through the whole history of countries professing the Romish religion, and you will uniformly find the leaven of this besetting and accursed principle of action—that the end will sanction any means.”
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834)
“My good friends, this is the second time in our history that there has come back from Germany to Downing Street peace with honour. I believe it is peace for our time. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. And now I recommend you to go home and sleep quietly in your beds.”
—Neville Chamberlain (1869–1940)