B&O provided its initial endowment and assumed all administrative costs. Worker coverage included sickness, indefinite time for recovery from accidents, and a death benefit. In 1884, Garrett was instrumental in negotiating the loans which allowed the B&O to extend its main line northeast to Philadelphia and through connections with the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad to reach New York City, to compete further with the dominant northeastern lines, the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central. Meanwhile, Garrett became deeply involved with the Peabody Institute, which George Peabody had created and endowed in 1857, along with several programs and facilities which opened following the Civil War in 1866. As one of the institute's trustees, Garrett asked Peabody to persuade Johns Hopkins (1795–1873) to make the bequest that eventually led to creation of the Johns Hopkins University in 1876. Johns Hopkins University According to Peabody's biographer Franklin Parker, at Johns Hopkins’ request, Garrett arranged a dinner meeting with Peabody and Hopkins, and the very next day Hopkins announced his intention to found a hospital and a university. While this story is uncorroborated, Peabody likely did influence Hopkins in deciding what to do with his wealth. Parker also refers to Hopkins as “married but childless,” but Hopkins never married. As a friend and business associate, it was logical that Garrett would be asked to serve as a trustee, and he became one of the twelve founding trustees of The Johns Hopkins University. As the University grew, Garrett found himself at odds with his fellow trustees on two major issues. The original $3.5 million University endowment had been given by Hopkins in the form of B&O Railroad stock, and Hopkins recommended that the stock be held, not sold. In the 1880s, the railroad stopped paying dividends on its stock, and the trustees felt they had no choice but to sell the stock. Garrett objected to this as a violation of the founder's wishes, arguing that the railroad remained financially sound. The other eleven trustees, fearing that the new University might collapse in bankruptcy, prevailed and the stock was sold. Along with the B&O stock endowment, Hopkins had given his summer estate, Clifton, with the understanding that it would eventually become a permanent campus, once capital had been accumulated to commence a building program. But, along with selling the B&O stock, the trustees felt they had no choice but to sell Clifton, over Garrett's strenuous