Acadia National Park
Spelman College
University of Chicago
Grand Teton National Park
Riverside Church
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts
Rockefeller Center
Rockefeller University
United Nations Headquarters
Pocantico Hills
Colonial Williamsburg

Acadia National Park
Location: Hancock County, Maine
Founded: 1916

John D. Rockefeller Jr. donated over $3.5 million to help create a national park on the dramatic rock-bound coast of Mount Desert Island in Maine. Within it he built a system of impressive stone carriage roads and bridges. The park preserves 40,000 acres of diverse island and coastal land to be explored by its 3 million visitors a year.

Spelman College
Location: Atlanta, Georgia
Founding date: 1881

In an era when few supported higher education for women or blacks, John D. Rockefeller endowed Spelman College. One of the two historically black colleges for women still in existence today, the school started in a church basement to teach former slaves to read the Bible and write.

University of Chicago
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Classes started: 1892

John D. Rockefeller met the man who would become his trusted philanthropic advisor, Reverend Frederick Gates, when he was asked to help the American Baptist Education Society found a college in Chicago. Over a 20-year period, Rockefeller gave a total of $35 million to support the University of Chicago, which is now ranked among the nation’s top twenty institutions of higher education.

Grand Teton National Park
Location: Teton County, Wyoming
Land purchases began: 1926

After visiting the majestic Jackson Hole area in 1926, John D. Rockefeller Jr. established the Snake River Land Company to buy up private land for a national park. The company spent $1.4 million to acquire more than 35,000 acres of land, and endured 20 years of bitter debate, before the land was merged with Federal government property and a 310,000 acre Grand Teton National Park was established in 1950. The park now attracts 4.1 million visitors per year.

Riverside Church
Location: New York, New York
Cornerstone laid: 1927

John D. Rockefeller Jr., a lifelong churchgoer, championed Christian unity at a time of conflict between fundamentalists and modern interpreters of the Bible. He donated millions of dollars to build an inclusive new church that would reach out to all Christians. Riverside called the pacifist preacher Harry Emerson Fosdick as its first minister. The church, built on one of Manhattan’s highest hills, is modeled after France’s 13th-century Gothic cathedral at Chartres.

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts
Location: New York, New York
Incorporation date: 1956

John D. Rockefeller III built the world’s largest cultural center, on New York’s Upper West Side, beginning in 1956. By forging an alliance of government and private interests, Rockefeller raised over $175 million to pay for Lincoln Center’s many performance halls and the development of its cultural mission. The Center includes the Metropolitan Opera, the New York Philharmonic, and newer institutions, including Jazz at Lincoln Center.

Rockefeller Center
Location: New York, New York
Construction dates: 1932 to 1940

This enormous commercial and entertainment complex was built on 12 acres in the heart of Manhattan. Famous for its outdoor ice skating rink and statue of Prometheus, the site has as its centerpiece a 70-story Art Deco skyscraper. During the Depression, John D. Rockefeller Jr. single-handedly kept the construction projects afloat by selling off shares of Standard Oil of New York, though it had lost 98.5% of its value and was trading for only $2 a share.

Rockefeller University
Location: New York, New York
Founding date: 1901

John D. Rockefeller established the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research after his grandson succumbed to scarlet fever in 1901. Rockefeller’s aim in funding research was to address the underlying causes of disease rather than only treating its symptoms. Researchers at Rockefeller University, as it is now called, have made major contributions to biomedical knowledge and treatment over the decades.

United Nations Headquarters
Location: New York, New York
Founding date: 1945

Following World War II, as the United Nations looked for a permanent headquarters in New York, John D. Rockefeller Jr. donated six blocks of midtown Manhattan real estate near the East River. His gift was worth $8.5 million. By agreement with the American government, the site was declared international territory.

Pocantico Hills
Location: Sleepy Hollow, New York
Estate built: 1913

John D. Rockefeller and his family started visiting the Pocantico Hills area, 25 miles north of New York City, in the 1890s. The estate Rockefeller built for his family, Kykuit ("lookout" in Dutch), is open to visitors as a National Trust Historic Site. The Union Church of Pocantico Hills was also built with Rockefeller donations. It contains stained-glass windows by Marc Chagall and Henri Matisse.

Colonial Williamsburg
Location: Williamsburg, Virginia
Restoration began: 1926

John D. Rockefeller Jr. was so interested in the colonial Williamsburg settlement that he gave more than $56 million for its restoration and related projects. He and his wife, Abby, visited twice every year, staying at their Williamsburg house, Bassett Hall, an 18th-century farmhouse once owned by Martha Washington’s nephew.