Vanderbilt University (also known informally as Vandy) is a private research university located in Nashville, Tennessee, founded in 1873. It was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1 million endowment despite having never been to the South. Vanderbilt hoped that his gift and the greater work of the university would help to heal the sectional wounds inflicted by the Civil War.