The University of Chicago was an entirely new university founded in 1891, using the same name as a defunct school founded in the 1850s which closed in 1886. See Old University of Chicago. Supporters of a new university raised money, selected a new campus in Hyde Park, and opened its doors in 1890. Most of the original financing came from oil magnate John D. Rockefeller, and the American Baptist Education Society The new university had a dynamic young president William Rainey Harper. Classes began in 1892. The goal ever since then has been to build a world-class university covering all fields of study with an emphasis on advanced research and scholarship