 Stanford University is a private university in Stanford, California and is considered one of the world's most prestigious. It has one of the largest endowments of any academic institution in the world. It is located approximately 35 miles southeast of San Francisco, in an unincorporated part of Santa Clara County adjacent to the city of Palo Alto. Stanford was founded by railroad magnate and California Governor Leland Stanford along with his wife, Jane Stanford, who created the University, and named it, in honor of their deceased teenage son, Leland Stanford, Jr. Thus, the school's official name is Leland Stanford Junior University, but is rarely referred to by its full title. Locals and university affiliates often refer to the school as The Farm, a nod to the institution's origins as a horse farm. The University's founding grant was written on November 11, 1885 and accepted by the first Board of Trustees on November 14. The cornerstone was laid on May 14, 1887, and the University officially opened on October 1, 1891 to 559 students, with free tuition. The school was established as a coeducational institution, although it maintained a cap on female enrollment for many years. The official motto of Stanford University, selected by the Stanfords, is "Die Luft der Freiheit weht." When loosely translated from the Latin, by way of German, the quote from Ulrich von Hutten means "Let the winds of freedom blow."
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