On May 18, 1891, Massachusetts-born businessman William Marsh Rice chartered the William Marsh Rice Institute for the Advancement of Literature, Science and Art as a gift to the city of Houston. The terms of the charter required that work on the new institute would begin only after Rice’s death.

The William Marsh Rice Institute opened its doors on the anniversary date of Rice’s murder in 1900. Rice was chloroformed to death by his valet, Charlie Jones, who had conspired with an unscrupulous lawyer, Albert Patrick, to murder the aging millionaire and claim his estate using a forged will..