History
For the first fifty years of its history, the Society had its headquarters in various locations, according to the residence of its national presidents. In the mid-1920s, while L. W. Rogers was president of the American Section, the Wheaton site was selected. The property was purchased and continues to be maintained through the dues and gifts of members. In 1926 the cornerstone of the main building was laid by Annie Besant, second international President of the Society. This building was first occupied in 1927, and since that time has continued as the center of Theosophical work in the United States.
Olcott Estate derives its name from original society president, Colonel Henry Steel Olcott, who formed the society in 1875. During the society's annual convention of 1932, members celebrated the centenary of Colonel Olcott's birth by naming the headquarters campus after him. President Sidney A. Cook referred to the estate as "Olcott" in his annual report. For many years postal mail was delivered to "Olcott, Wheaton, Illinois."
Read more about this topic: Olcott Estate
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“While the Republic has already acquired a history world-wide, America is still unsettled and unexplored. Like the English in New Holland, we live only on the shores of a continent even yet, and hardly know where the rivers come from which float our navy.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Considered in its entirety, psychoanalysis won’t do. It’s an end product, moreover, like a dinosaur or a zeppelin; no better theory can ever be erected on its ruins, which will remain for ever one of the saddest and strangest of all landmarks in the history of twentieth-century thought.”
—Peter B. Medawar (1915–1987)
“I saw the Arab map.
It resembled a mare shuffling on,
dragging its history like saddlebags,
nearing its tomb and the pitch of hell.”
—Adonis [Ali Ahmed Said] (b. 1930)