The University was established November 26, 1842, by a 28-year-old French priest Rev. Edward Sorin. He and seven of his friends also established Congregation of the Holy Cross. Bishop of Vincennes gave all of them 524 acres of land in Indiana mission fields. The school was named after “L’Université de Notre Dame du Lac” (The University of Our Lady of the Lake) on January 15, 1844. In April of 1979 a very bad fire destroyed the main building which was most of the university. “If it were ALL gone, I should not give up,” Sorin said. He employed 300 men to rebuild what today is known as the top of The Gold Dome.