In the 1890s, the Board of Trustees of the not-yet-built University of Chicago had just elected Rainey Harper to be its first president, and later, he would formally accept the position. Harper left a secure position at Yale University to accept the presidency of a university that was nothing more than an idea, a board of trustees, and the uncertain hopes of John D. Rockefeller's money. Harper was only willing to leave Yale for Chicago on the nonnegotiable condition that he would be president of a research university rather than a "mere" college. In 1889, when Chicago's board of trustees seemed inclined to found a college, Harper continued to push for a research university. On September 10, 1890, after months of negotiating, the board of trustees acceded to Harper's desires. In this essay, the author explains why Harper insisted on a university rather than a college. The author also argues that Harper's conception of the relationship between scholarly research and Christianity challenges and complicates the dominant history of the development of universities in America. (Contains 87 footnotes.)