Jerry Franks

1891: a Novel About Stanford University Jerry Franks

In the summer of 1891, Orrin Leslie Elliott brings his wife and young son toSenator Stanford's Palo Alto Farm in Northern California to work for DavidStarr Jordan, president of the new university being established there. The Elliotts find their new surroundings to be bleak and isolated: collegebuildings that look like a factory, little or no housing, and a murky water supply. Nearby Mayfield is peopled with cowboys serviced by numerous saloons andprostitutes. With faculty still to be hired, textbooks to be ordered, anddormitories only half finished, plans to open the university in four months seemludicrous. This is the story of the founding of Stanford University, as seen through the eyesof the Elliotts, Dr. Jordan, and a sundry group of students. Rubin (Sosh) Weinberg is the only Jewish student in the class of 1895. Fletcher Martin, ex-U. S. Army officer, puts his life on the line for others. Sally Forrest, whose fatherwas slain by gunmen hired by the railroads, attempts to avenge her father'sdeath. Sam Cutter, a devious product of the streets of Chicago, performs acts ofchicanery-thievery, intrigue, and murder, including the tormenting of SoshWeinberg. The first volume in a trilogy, 1891 entertains and informs as it captures the dayto-day reality of life during Stanford University's early months.