In 1956 Durward B. Varner, Michigan State University Vice-President for Off-Campus Education and Legislative Relations, heard that the Ford family and the Ford Motor Co. were giving Fairlane, Henry Ford's house, and some six million dollars to the University of Michigan to establish a branch in Dearborn.1
The news prompted Varner to visit the Wilsons, who decided to go ahead with the idea of a university on their estate that would be connected to MSU.
The deal was arranged by Varner and MSU President John Hannah during another visit to the Wilsons in late December. Hannah asked Mrs. Wilson for an additional two million dollars to erect the first building - a figure he had just conjured up during the drive from MSU. As Varner later recalled, Mrs Wilson casually answered: "I think we could take care of that."2
The Wilsons would retain lifelife residency at the Hall, but would turn ownership rights over to the university upon their deaths. The total gift of 1,400 acres and two million dollars, estimated conservatively at ten million dollars, was made public on January 3, 1957.
"It is to the eternal credit of those who live in this area that they have combined their thinking and their resources to make available for the young people of Oakland County and vicinity what can, in time, become one of our state’s outstanding educational, cultural, and technical centers."3 - MSU President John Hannah
On May 2, 1958 took place the ground breaking ceremony for the first building of what was then called Michigan State University Oakland.
1. "Reliving the Past," OU News, May 1, 1992, p. 3; Interview with Durward B. "Woody" Varner, The Oakland University Chronicles (1998), p.4-6.
2. Interview with Durward B. "Woody" Varner, The Oakland University Chronicles (1998), p. 7-8; "Reliving the Past," OU News, May 1, 1992, p. 3.
3. MSU Press Release, Jan. 3, 1957: Wilson Gift of estate to MSU for branch college.