Morris Neff Farm

Benedictine University was founded in Chicago as St. Procopius College by the Benedictine monks of St. Procopius Abbey in 1887. The monks secured a charter for the new college from the state of Illinois in 1890. When the city seemed to overcrowd them, they began to search for land west of Chicago and eventually found it in Lisle.  On April 1, 1896, the Abbey purchased the Morris Neff farmhouse (including all furniture, the cornfields, 40 hens and a top buggy) for $6240. Br. Stanislaus Opava travelled to the farm to take charge on April 28.  He was joined the next day by Abbot John Nepomucene Jaeger and Br. Novice Placid Slejs.