USA > Alabama > Memorial record of Alabama. A concise account of the state's political, military, professional and industrial progress, together with the personal memoirs of many of its people. Volume I > Part 21
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MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA.
thousand dollars, to aid in building and equipping the college, and this sum was more than doubled by contributions, voluntarily made, by a number of progressive and enlightened citizens of Mobile. The names of its founders were a passport to the confidence and hearty good will of the profession and the public of this and adjoining states. The charter- made the college, nominally, a department of the state university. After the plans for building had been obtained and the work of construction was well advanced, Dr. Nott journeyed to Europe, where he spent several months visiting the different capitals and selecting the best approved apparatus and appliances for teaching the science of medicine and gath- ering specimens of rare excellence and value for the museum which has become the pride of the college and is excelled, if at all, in quality at. least, by a few collections in the United States.
The college building is handsome and commodious. It is located in the centre of a square and has, in consequence, abundant light and free ven- tilation. It is admirably arranged for the purpose designed. There are two large halls, with a seating capacity of about five hundred each, and a number of smaller halls, adapted for class lectures. Chemical and phar- maceutical laboratories are provided and furnished for practical work by students. A laboratory has recently been added for microscopic investi- gations, supplied with Hartuack's microscopes, and so arranged that an entire class can take part in practical work at the same time. Arrangements for demonstrative anatomy are very complete, as, in addition to the means ordinarily employed to preserve material, ice chambers have been care- fully constructed and are found of great benefit. The college building was completed and fitted up and the exercises commenced in December, 1859, under the following faculty :
J. C. Nolt, M. D., professor of surgery; W. H. Anderson, M. D., dean and professor of physiology; George A. Ketchum, M. D., professor of the theory and practice of medicine; F. C. Ross, M. D., professor of materia medica, therapeutics, and clinical medicine; J. W. Mallet, Ph. D., professor of chemistry; F. E. Gordon, M. D., professor of obstetrics and diseases of women and children; J. F. Heustis, M. D., professor of anatomy; Goronwy Owen, M. D., and A. P. Hall, M. D., demonstrators of anatomy.
The number of matriculates the first session was 111, which was in- creased the next year to 120. Before the close of the second session, however, portents of the struggle which was soon to convulse the country were plentiful, and it was not long before the call to arms and the sound of artillery reverberated through the land. Books were thrown aside, the halls of learning were deserted for the tented field-indeed, the professors themselves were not proof against the contagion which swept fierce and swift among the people, and ere long their services were needed in hospital and field. And so the college doors were closed until the war ended, or, perhaps, more correctly speaking, until the Confederacy ex-
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pired. The Federal authorities then took charge of this college building, placed or permitted primary schools for girls in the halls and labora- tories, and so pleased were the intruders with their accommodations, it took three years of persistent and faithful effort, on the part of the fac- ulty and friends of the college, to oust them and recover possession of this valuable property. The condition in which the building was found can better be imagined than described. Patience, energy and persever- ance, however, were at length rewarded, and, after a suspension of seven years, the faculty were able to resume their duties as instructors; but the task of restoration was tedious and discouraging. The obstacles in the way, however, disappeared one by one; the business of the state gradu- ally recuperated; young men were once more disposed and able to turn their feet to the paths of learning and science, and, not least, the legisla- ture of Alabama-recognizing the value of the college and the important services it had rendered in the past and was able to render in the future, came again to its aid with a liberal appropriation, and now its condition is prosperous and its prospects encouraging. Of the original faculty, five-Doctors Nott, Anderson, Ross, Gordon and Heustis-are dead. Of the physicians who have since, from time to time, been associated with the corps of instructors, Doctors E. H. Fournier, M. H. Jordon, J. T. Gilmore and Caleb Toxey-all distinguished as physicians and highly esteemed as citizens-have also passed away.
The medical college has a separate board of trustees who assist the faculty in looking after its temporal affairs and act, principally, as an advisory board. The members now in office are: D. P. Bestor, N. H. Brown, Bishop R. H. Wilmer, J. W. Whiting, Harry Pillans, Willis G. Clark, L. W. Lawler, R. B. Owen, C. K. Foote, Judge H. T. Toulmin, Hannis Taylor, Leslie E. Brooks, J. C. Rich, and J. Curtis Bush of Mo- bile; Peter Bryce of Tuscaloosa; R. M. Nelson of Selma; Gov. Thomas G. Jones, of Montgomery, and James E. Webb of Birmingham. The faculty, as now-1892-constituted, is as follows: George A. Ketchum, M. D., professor of theory and practice of medicine and dean of the faculty; T. L. Scales, M. D., professor of surgery and clinical surgery ; Goronwy Owen, M. D., professor of obstetrics and diseases of women and children; Rhett Goode, M. D., professor of anatomy; W. H. Sanders, M. D., professor of diseases of the eye and ear, and of microscopy, and secretary of the faculty; Charles A. Mohr, M. D., professor of chemistry ; W. B. Pape, M. D., professor of physiology and clinical medicine; E. D. McDaniel, M. D., professor of materia medica, therapeutics and clinical medicine. Lecturers and demonstrators-Drs. Charles A. Mohr, practical pharmacy; W. B. Pape, physical diagnosis; Rhett Goode, clinical and minor surgery, and demonstrator of anatomy; W. R. Jackson, assistant demonstrator of anatomy.
The method of instruction is both didactic and demonstrative. A high
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MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA.
standard of qualification for graduation is maintained. The general course of instruction covers two years, but the faculty advise and urge a course of three years before graduating, and this good advise is being followed to the manifest advantage of both the students and the college, which is held largely responsible for the proficiency and standing of its alumni.
INSTITUTES FOR DEAF, DUMB AND BLIND.
In the year 1852, the general assembly of Alabama made an appropri- ation to provide for the education of the indigent deaf mutes of the state, but, from defects in the act itself and other difficulties, nothing of value was then accomplished in this direction. A school for these unfortunates was started at Robinson Springs, Autauga county, in 1852, but soon closed. Each succeeding legislature re-enacted the appropriation, but without practical result until the year 1858. In that year the governor and superintendent of education, acting as commissioners, located the pro- posed school at Talladega and employed Dr. Joseph H. Johnson, then teaching in the state institution of Georgia-where he had acquired valu- able experience as an instructor of deaf and dumb pupils, to take charge of the institution. This was a judicious selection, as the event has shown, and under his wise and prudent management the school has grown into a large and successful seminary for educating the unfortunates for whose benefit it was designed.
A large and well arranged building, known as the East Alabama Masonic Female institute, was rented and the schoool opened in October, 1858. Twenty-two pupils were admitted the first year, fourteen of whom were beneficiaries of the state. The visiting committee, who attended the first anniversary, were much interested in the exercises and reported formally upon the simplicity and neatness of the pupils in person and dress, their admirable decorum and obedience; the mental activity and close attention manifested, and the rapidity and accuracy of their written answers to questions given them. The visitors also spoke cor- dially of the eminent fitness. of Dr. Johnson for the difficult and arduous duties required of him. This noble charity was enabled to continue its existence, modestly and usefully, through all the vicissitudes of the fol- lowing years, and in 1869 we find it reported as being in a satisfactory condition of progress. The attendance that year was reported at thirty- five, of whom ten were blind pupils, a department for the blind having been recently established. The superintendent's estimate of cost for 1870 was $15,400; this included, however, $2,400 for repairs, blinds, barns and fences.
In 1880-81 this excellent school had increased its numbers to fifty pupils, was supplied with a complete corp of intructors, in both depart- ments, and was, for that day, tolerably well equipped for its humane work. Since then, the schools have been separated and the corporate name has been changed. "The Alabama Academy for the Blind, " and
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"The Alabama Institute for the Deaf" are the names by which this char- ity is now known. Both, however, are under the supervision of Dr. Johnson as principal. The academies are about half a mile apart. In 1889 there were in attendance sixty-six mutes and forty-four blind pupils. In December, 1891, the institution for the deaf had eighty-five pupils in actual attendance under six teachers, beside the principal, and another teacher-in the oral department-has since been added. The academy for the blind had in December, 1891, sixty pupils in attendance. Deaf pupils are taught to read and write and the usual branches of a common school education, and, beside printing and cabinet making are taught the boys, and the girls are instructed in dress-making and house-keeping.
The "blind" youth are afforded an opportunity to acquire a good En- glish education, and those having the taste and talent for it are given lessons in music. Cane seating, mattress, mat and collar making, and piano tuning are taught the boys; and bead work, knitting, sewing and housework are studied by the girls at the academy for the blind. The property of the institute for the deaf, as reported by the principal, con- sists of seveneteen acres of land within the corporate limits of Talladega, on which are located six commodious brick buildings, including a mechanical and industrial school building and boarding accommodations for 125 pupils. The value of the land and improvements is estimated at $75,000. The method of teaching is the "combined method"-sign lan- guage and oral and aural development. The academy for the blind owns six acres of land in Talladega, on which are three brick buildings, costing $40,000. The asylums are supported by a per capita appropriation of $217.50 from the state. A "School for Colored Blind and Deaf " was opened, January 4, 1892. The buildings erected cost $12,000 and are equal, in convenience of construction and finish, to those devoted to the white children. The state has made ample provision for the mainte- nance of the school.
THE ALABAMA HOSPITAL FOR THE INSANE.
As early as 1852, the legislature of Alabama recognized the claims of the unfortunate insane among her people, to the generous care and attention of the state government. By act, approved February, 1852, provision was made for building a hospital for the treatment of insane persons, but it was not completed and opened for patients until April, 1861. The building was constructed on the "linear plan" and could ac- commodate about 300 patients. Since then important additions have been made, until it has become truly a mammoth institution, owning a tract of land conprising about 350 acres, and costing, in buildings, furniture, improvements, etc., over half a million dollars. It can now accommodate nearly 1,500 patients. It has been, from the beginning, under the able and skillful management of Dr. Peter Bryce as superintendent, an expert on mental diseases, known and recognized as such all over the country.
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MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA.
The hospital is like a little world by itself; everything is systematically conducted. The labor of the patient, physically strong enough, is utilized for the benefit of the institution as well as to their own good; the farm of 100 acres is cultivated to the highest degree to supply food for the use of the hospital; a large and well managed dairy furnishes an abun- dance of milk, cream and butter; the garden and fields afford a good sup- ply of vegetables; beef, pork and mutton from animals well fed and well cared for, raised on the place, are plentiful, and everything purchased is of the best quality the market affords. Beside the addition to the main building, detached buildings have been erected for the use of colored patients. Every succeeding year, enlargement and improvement in some direction is being made. The lawn of forty acres in front of the build- ing is beautifully laid out and adorned with shrubbery, grass plots, flow- ers in great variety, and well trimmed trees. Much of the work of improvement is made with the labor of the inmates directed by skillful and experienced foremen. If brick are needed, they are manufactured on the premises. Workshops for all kinds of industry are fitted up and kept in operation, and few are the articles of manufacture which have to oe brought from abroad. The gas used is made on the premises; the coal needed is obtained from its own mines at a cost of about $1 a ton. It has an excellent water supply, pumped into a lofty stand-pipe near the main building, and thence piped where desired; a complete fire service; a commodious and well furnished steam laundry, and the main building and annexes are heated by means of steam radiators connecting with apparatus placed in the cellars, and, in brief, everything seems to be conducted on the wise principle for families or communities to be, as far as practicable, self-sustaining, buying nothing abroad which can be pro- duced or manufactured at home. The control of this great institution is vested in seven trustees, who are from time to time appointed by the governor, and is supported mainly by the state-a per capita of $2.25 a week, being allowed for each indigent patient under treatment. Pri- vate patients, not indigent, are received and are charged $25 per month. The receipts from this class of patients, together with the allowance from the state, form a sum amply sufficient, under the prudent and sagacious management of the superintendent, to carry on the hospital successfully. Indeed, a surplus, more or less considerable, is often found at the close of the year. The writer has been recently informed by the superintendent that he had been able to reduce the per capita allowance materially. A late report of the superintendent discusses the methods of treatment. adopted in this hospital. Several years ago all mechanical constraint of the patients was abolished and the report says every year's experience confirms the wisdom and efficacy of that action. "Our hospital wards," says the report, "have now the appearane of a large but well conducted family circle, in which all the members are actively engaged in some useful work or pleasant pastime * we can now open our ward doors and.
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allow a large number of our patients to go in and out at pleasure, with - out the least apprehension that such privilege will be abused." Undoubt- edly the feature of this system, which provides occupation and occasional diversion to the patients, is a potent factor in securing the beneficent results which have followed the change. The superintendent estimates that nearly ninety per cent. of the female patients engage in useful work of some kind; even the feeble and demented have knitting and crochet work. The rule is that everybody must be employed. Nearly all the clothes worn by the inmates, male and female, are made by the nurses and their patients. The raw cotton is carded, spun and knit into hose, of which several thousand pairs are made every year. The colored women find agreeable employment in out of door work-in the farm, garden or laundry. The men are employed in farm work, making and keeping up road ways, beautifying the lawn, making mattresses, assisting in the dairy, in the wards and dining room, etc. At the time referred to, about sixty per cent. of the female patients, were thus usefully employed. The probabilities are that the percentage has since been increased. The diversions are as carefully arranged as the hours of work. These consist of long walks in the woods attended by nurses-varied by the men, with out-of-door games on the lawn. Every evening after tea the large amuse- ment hall is thrown open for concert, dance, theatrical entertainment (in which the students from the university-hard by-assist), or such other amusement as the fertile brain and kind heart of the superintendent may devise for the entertainment and benefit of the patients in his charge. There are also religious services held in the chapel every Sunday after- noon, conducted, in turn, by the ministers of the several religious denominations in the city of Tuscaloosa. These services, though optional, are always well attended.
The Alabama hospital for the insane has grown to be one of the largest, best equipped and most wisely conducted charitable institutions to be found in the country, and, though not strictly educational in the ordinary acceptation of the term, it has yet had large influence in edu- cating and molding public opinion in the important principles under- lying the successful treatment of the insane and is entitled to a conspicu- ous place in the record of the state institutions of Alabama.'
THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM.
The public school system of Alabama, as now organized, embraces primary or township schools, city schools, controlled. in part by inde- pendent organizations, either of separate trustees or the corporate author- ities of the respective towns and cities; institutes and normal schools for the special training of teachers and the school system of Mobile county, which having been the premier common school organization in the state and in successful- operation when the first act looking to public school system by the state was passed, was recognized as an independent
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MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA.
system by that and all subsequent legislation, and its status has been so fixed in the constitution of the state. As first, then, in the order of time and having influenced in large degree the establishment of a general system of public schools in Alabama, it naturally comes in order for consideration.
An attempt at public education was made in Mobile as early as 1826, but so feeble was the effort and so unsatisfactory were the results that no record of them has been preserved. A quarter of a century elapsed before another attempt in the direction of common school educa- tion was made, and then the circumstances were more favorable to suc- cess. By act of the state legislature, approved January 10, 1826, a board of school commissioners for Mobile county was created, to whom was given "full power and authority to establish and regulate schools and to devise, put in force and execute such plans and devices for the increase of knowledge, educating youth and promoting the cause of learn- ing in said county as to them may appear expedient." This act was amended January 29, 1829, enlarging the revenues of the commissioners and requiring certain county offiers to report to them. In 1835 a hand- some school was commenced on the most prominent residence street of the city, in the center of a large square of ground to be devoted to school purposes. The square was conveyed to the school commissioners by Mr. Thomas H. Lane, and Messrs. Henry Hitchcock and Willoughby Barton, then among its most active and enterprising citizens, were in- strumental, in large degree, in giving to the county of Mobile one of the most commodious and imposing school buildings in the south. This handsome structure would attract attention in any country. The build- ing was named the "Barton academy" in honor of Mr. Willoughby Barton, one of its founders.
An act passed in 1836, authorized the school commissioners to raise by a lottery any sum not exceeding $50,000 "to complete the building known as the Barton academy." It does not appear that any use was ever made of this lottery privilege. Minor modifications were made in the school law in February, 1840, and February 15, 1843, but the legislature of 1851-52 adopted an act, approved February 9, 1852, which was far reaching in its effects and paved the way for most important results. Up to this period, the school commissioners had not maintained any schools of their own, but such funds as they controlled were distributed among the parochial schools kept up by the various religious denomina- tions in the city. The amount so distributed was too small to pay any considerable portion of the expenses of the several schools, hence the commissioners never attempted to exercise any authority over them. The appropriations for the year 1851-52, for example, were as follows:
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Methodist parish school $1,200
Bethel schools. 1,300
Catholic schools .. 1,200
Trinity (Episcopal school) 500
To various schools in the county
1,350
Total appropriations $5,550
The Barton academy had been furnished and put under rent partly for private schools, partly for the use of secret societies and partly as lodg- ing rooms. The aggregate of the rents did not exceed $1,000 a year and the character of the tenants made frequent alterations and repairs neces- sary. The commissioners then in power thought that if they could obtain authority to sell the building (the law as it then stood forbade the alienation of any school property), they could sell it for as much as $40,000 and so invest the sum as to realize an annual income in excess of that now received from rents. They were therefore in favor of selling the academy, and the legislature granted the privilege asked for, coupled, however, with the condition that the question should be submitted to a vote of the people of the county and that a majority of the voters should favor the proposition. The question of "sale or no sale of the Barton academy, "soon became the exciting and prominent topic of discussion in the county. The press took an active part in the debate, and at every gath- ering of people and in almost every household the question was one of predominant interest. The opponents of the proposed sale contended for the use of the building as the nucleus for a system of public schools, and, in the course of the discussion, a plan was outlined to show the ' practicability of the scheme. A public meeting was held at the court house on July 31, 1852, to voice the public sentiment against the sale and to arrange for the election of commissioners. This meeting was largely attended, without distinction of party, and was unanimous and enthusi- astic in its action. Strong anti-sale resolutions were adopted, and a "no sale" ticket for the commissioners, to be chosen at the election, was agreed upon and recommended to the suffrages of the people. The election was held on Augut 2, 1852, and resulted as follow: votes, for sale, 244; against sale, 2,225: majority against sale, 1,981. The follow- ing named gentlemen were elected school commissioners by an average majority of about 2,000 votes; T. Sanford, W. H. Redwood, W. G. Clark, C. LeBaron, J. M. Withers, R. L. Watkins, C. S. Bradford, and Sidney E. Collins. These commissioners met soon after and completed their organization by electing four commissioners from the previous board, viz. : D. C. Sanford, Jacob Magee, Gustavus Horton, and M. R. Evans. T. Sanford was elected president, and Charles W. Gazzam, secretary. Of this full board of twelve commissioners, M. W. G. Clark is at this date the sole survivor. The new board began at once vigorous preparations for establishing schools in the academy. Provision was made for such alterations and repairs in the building as were necessary for the purpose
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MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA.
and a committee was appointed to digest and report suitable plans for organizing the schools. The funds at command of this board were very meager; the entire revenue for the preceding year was only $6,000, and this would be reduced by $1.000, the sum previously received from the rent of the building. Five dollars in cash was all that was turned over from the treasurer of the old to the treasurer of the new board, but there was turned over a list of unpaid appropriations, aggregating over $2,000, for the payment of which provision must be made. Notwithstanding the unpromising financial conditions and prospects of the board, the work of preparation went steadily forward, and on the first Monday of November, 1852, the first public schools in Alabama were organized in the Barton academy in the city of Mobile. Four hundred pupils presented them- selves for admission.' In the beginning there were three departments,' primary, grammar and high school for girls. Separate schools of these grades were provided for both the sexes, the academy having been so constructed as to make such an arrangement feasible. At the commencement of the second quarter, February 1, 1853, the attendance had more than doubled and was distribuuted as follow: primary schools, 536; grammar schools, 209; high schools, 109; total, 854.
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