Isabel Valle (January) Brookings (1876 - 1965)

Born 6 Apr 1876 in Saint Louis St. Louis County Missouri, USA

Ancestors

Died 7 May 1965 at age 89 in Saint Louis St. Louis County Missouri, USA

Biography

Memorial

Isabel Valle January Brookings Memorial

Birth: Apr. 6, 1876 Saint Louis St. Louis County Missouri, USA

Death: May 7, 1965 Saint Louis St. Louis County Missouri, USA

From Washington University Archives:

Washington University's law school students and faculty had spent years in cramped and otherwise inadequate facilities. The law school had shared quarters with other university departments in the nineteenth century, briefly had its own building downtown when the campus moved to the Hilltop, and then took up space in Ridgely Library, which was intended as a temporary accommodation, but lasted nearly fifteen years.

Robert Brookings was anxious to raise the funds for a separate building for the law school, but had had no luck until the 1920s.

Isabel Valle January was born in St. Louis; her mother Grace was a close friend of Robert Brookings. After she was widowed, Grace Valle January and her daughter relocated to Italy and lived there until Grace died in 1919, leaving the unmarried Isabel with a large estate ($2,300,000) .

Isabel returned often to St. Louis, where her trust was managed by the St. Louis Union Trust Company and frequently saw Brookings in New York.

She was well aware of the needs of the university and also wished to memorialize her mother. In 1920, she offered to finance a law school building up to $300,000 of the cost, entirely on the net income from the trust her mother had left her. ^[1]

Grace Valle January Hall was completed in 1923 and the law school moved in immediately.

Isabel January and Robert Brookings married in 1927.

Family links:

Parents:

Jesse Lindell January (1850 - 1883)

Grace Valle January (1852 - 1919)

Spouse:

Robert Somers Brookings (1850 - 1932)

Burial:

Bellefontaine Cemetery Saint Louis St. Louis City Missouri, USA

Maintained by: Find A Grave Originally Created by: Zombie finder Record added: Apr 13, 2013 Find A Grave Memorial# 108416191 ^[2]

Sources

1. ↑ [(https://wustl.edu/about/campuses/danforth-campus/grace-valle-january-hall/)]
2. ↑ [(http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=108416191)]

• Dedication of Grace Valle January Hall

https://books.google.com/books?id=36pGAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA95&lpg=RA1-PA95&dq=Grace+Valle+January+Hall&source=bl&ots=7B5shr_HTg&sig=pary91SbgHfST0AS1hiJ5_CuG2U&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjQ6qql3qPPAhWG6IMKHc2JBa4Q6AEIPDAH#v=onepage&q=Grace%20Valle%20January%20Hall&f=false