Vanderbilt University

Shipping and rail magnate "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt provided an initial $1 million endowment in 1873 for this university, even though he had never been to the South. Under Methodist control for its first 40 years, it became independent after a 1914 court ruling allowed non-Methodists to teach there. Today, more than 3,350 faculty teach around 12,500 students.