The campus of the University of Buffalo (now the South Campus at the State University of New York at Buffalo) was originally the site of the Erie County Almshouse and County Hospital. When the University Council members learned that the County planned to relocate the Almshouse, they decided that the Almshouse grounds would be the perfect location for the development of its campus. In 1909 the University bought 106 acres of the land from the County. It later purchased an additional 72 acres from the County and private individuals.

The University's new campus, formally dedicated in 1920, consisted of mainly the former buildings from the Almshouse. In 1921 construction was begun on Foster Hall, the first McKim, Mead and White building to be constructed. It wasn't until 1927 that the former County Hospital main building was modified to become Hayes Hall where the University's administration was housed.

In 1930, the University Committee on Buildings and Grounds was authorized to "engage an architectural expert to investigate the whole matter of reconstruction of buildings with a view of securing a harmonious treatment of all buildings and spaces involved." The result was a campus plan drawn up by architects E.B. Green and Son and Albert Hart Hopkins, dated May 1, 1930, which closely resembled the 1920 campus perspective. The University then consulted Ralph Adams Cram, the Supervising Architect of Princeton University, who gave his unhesitating endorsement to the plan prepared by Green and Hopkins. The plan established the basic layout of the campus and guided its development into the 1950s.