The buildings of the Quadrangle were made possible by the munificent gift of William W. Cook ('80, '82l), of New York City. The plans had been carefully formulated by Mr. Cook, advised and assisted by Dean Bates of the Law School and by President Hutchins. The first section of the Quadrangle, completed in 1924, is known as the Lawyers Club. This strikingly beautiful group provides sleeping rooms and studies for 160 students, a great dining hall with capacity for 300 men, a spacious lounge, and, beneath, a recreation room of the same size — these two being a social center for the members of the club. Above the lounge are guest rooms for the accommodation of visiting lawyers and distinguished guests of the University.
In 1930 a large addition was opened, named for the donor's father, the late John P. Cook. It accommodates 117 students. In the following year the most conspicuous building, the beautiful William W. Cook Legal Research Library, was occupied. During his life Mr. Cook would not agree to have any of the buildings named for him. He died before the library was completed, and the Regents felt that his name should be recognized in this building. The library includes the main reading room, numerous research offices and conference rooms, alcoves, carrells, and book stacks with capacity for 275,000 volumes.
The final building of the Quadrangle was Hutchins Hall, the recitation and administration building for the Law School. Classrooms occupy the first and second stories. The third and fourth floors contain the faculty library and numerous offices.
Splendid as are the buildings of the William W. Cook Quadrangle, they are not so significant as is the purpose behind them. The donor caused to be carved in stone over the entrance to the Lawyers Club: "The Character of the legal profession depends on the Character of the Law Schools. The Character of the Law Schools forecasts the future of America." He intended to create a home in which teachers, lawyers, judges, and students preparing for practice should mingle, and where in a more or less cloistered life for the period of his law study the student should live and breathe in a legal atmosphere. He also intended to establish a center for legal research and for activities designed to improve the law.
The faculty of the Law School has in many respects been a remarkable one. From 1859 until 1865 it consisted of James Valentine Campbell (LL.D. '66), Marshall Professor of Law, Charles Irish Walker (LL.D. '74), Kent Professor of Law, and Thomas McIntyre Cooley (LL.D. '73), Jay Professor of Law. They began to lecture in 1859, and twenty-five years later they were still teaching. Professor Charles Walker, because of ill health, had to retire from 1876 to 1879, but he lectured again from 1879 to 1881 and again in 1886-87. Professor Cooley retired from the law faculty in 1884, and Professor Campbell in 1885. The original three were joined by Ashley Pond ('54), a practicing lawyer from Detroit, in 1865. Because of the demands of his practice he resigned in 1868 and was succeeded by Charles Artemas Kent (Vermont '56, LL.D. Michigan '99), who had been a student in the office of Professor Walker. This new professorship was named the Fletcher professorship in honor of Judge Fletcher of Massachusetts, who had made a valuable contribution to the Law Library. Professor Kent served until 1886. In 1874 another Detroit lawyer, William Palmer Wells (Vermont '51, A.M. ibid. '54, Harvard '54l), joined the faculty, taking Professor Walker's place as Kent Professor of Law. He remained until 1885, and returned for the years 1887-91. In 1879 Alpheus
