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Several other colleges have since merged with IIT, including the Chicago-Kent College of Law and the Stuart Graduate School of Business. Campuses are located in Bronzeville on the South Side of Chicago, at two locations in the Chicago Loop, and in suburban Wheaton Illinois. It has a student population of around 6,000: 1,800 undergrads, 3,000 graduate students, and 1,200 law students. It is known by its student population as Illinois Tech.
Architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe designed many of the main campus buildings. In 1976, the American Institute of Architects recognized the campus as one of the 200 most significant works of architecture in the U.S.
IIT's predecessor institution, Armour Institute, was founded by Philip Danforth Armour, a prominent Chicago meat packer and grain merchant, after he heard Chicago minister Frank Gunsaulus say that with a million dollars, he would build a school that would be open to students of all backgrounds, instead of just the elite as was common then. Gunsaulus became the first president.