The lecture platform of 1885 was as strong as ever. Dr. Charles F. Deems of New York delivered the baccalaureate sermon on Sunday, August 16th, an unique discourse on the short text, "One New Man" (Eph. 2:15), and the Recognition Address on the following Wednesday was by Dr. E. E. Hale of Boston. A special series of "Yale University Historical Lectures" was given by Professor Arthur M. Wheeler. Bishop Cyrus D. Foss of the Methodist Episcopal Church preached on Sunday, August 23d. Dr. John P. Newman delivered a lecture on August 25th in memory of President U. S. Grant, of whom he had been a friend and pastor. This year a young man made his first appearance upon the Chautauqua platform, not yet as a lecturer, but introducing speakers in felicitous sentences and presiding with the ease of an experienced chairman. This was Mr. George Edgar Vincent, just graduated from Yale University, from whom Chautauqua and the world in general was to hear before many years. In 1885, the institution received a new charter from the Legislature of New York, giving it the name "Chautauqua University" and the power to confer degrees. By vote of the Board, the title "Chancellor of the Chautauqua University" was given to Dr. Vincent. It was hoped to establish a college for study by correspondence, with reviews of the subjects taught in the summer meeting. But the expense of a professional staff was great and the number of students was not large enough to support it without an endowment. The Chautauqua University might have won a place in the world of education, if friends had been found to bestow upon it a liberal endowment, but among the varied gifts of Dr. Vincent was not that peculiar talent for raising money. The University did not prosper, and in 1898 the Trustees voluntarily surrendered to the Regents of the University of the State of New York the examination of candidates and the conferring of degrees. Again the title was changed and the University became "The Chautauqua System of Education." The year 1886 ushered in some improvements. In place of the old wharf stood a new pier building, three stories high, with stores on the upper balcony, for the steamboat still brought most of the Chautauqua crowds and at their arrival a throng was always present to greet them. Above the building rose a tower, from which sounded forth over the lake and through the Grove the melody of the Chautauqua chimes. On the hill was the new Jewett House, given by Mrs. A. H. Jewett as a home for self-supporting young women, teachers and others, while at Chautauqua.