USA > Georgia > Georgia's landmarks, memorials and legends, Volume I > Part 31
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Athens Founded : The location of an institution of learn-
Original Settlers. ing to be known as Franklin College on the heights overlooking the north fork of the Oconee River, at Cedar Shoals, in 1801, gave rise to the city of Athens, today one of the largest inland cotton markets in the world, an important depot of insur- ance, and the seat of the oldest State University in America. The original owner of the land purchased by the State for Franklin College was Daniel Easley. His holdings lay on both sides of the river and included a toll bridge and a mill, both of which he reserved. Six miles distant lived Josiah Morton, on an extensive upland plantation, while John Espey lived on Sandy Creek. There may have been other residents in the neighbor- hood, but it was not until the college was located at Athens that the settlers began to come in large numbers.
We are indebted to Mr. A. L. Hull for the following list of pioneers who settled in the neighborhood of Athens between 1800 and 1820: Reverend Hope Hull, John Bil- lups, Judge Augustin S. Clayton, Madame Gouvain, Dr. Hugh Neisler, Zadoc Cook, Professor Josiah Meigs, Robert Barber, Dr. Henry Jackson, Thomas Mitchell, William Mitchell, Alsa Moore, Governor Wilson Lump- kin, John Newton, Elizur Newton, Dr. James Nisbet, William H. Jackson, General David Meriwether, Thomas Stanley, John Talmage, Stevens Thomas, William Wil-
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liams, and Dr. Moses Waddell. Wm. Park, a soldier of the Revolution, also settled in Athens and here was born his son, Major John Park.
Between 1820 and 1850 came the following well known heads of families: John White, Nicholas Ware, Edward R. Ware, Ferdinand Phinizy, Alexander B. Linton, Dr. Crawford W. Long, John Addison Cobb, Junius Hillyer, Shaler G. Hillyer, James L. Griffith, Daniel Grant, Wil- liam Dearing, James Bancroft, David C. Barrow, Sr., Thomas W. Baxter, Thomas Bishop, James R. Carlton, Dr. Alonzo Church, William H. Dorsey, Charles Dough- erty, Thomas Golding, Stephen W. Harris, Blanton M. Hill, Thomas N. Hamilton, Edward R. Hodgson, Dr. Nathan Hoyt, Frederick W. Lucas, Joseph Henry Lump- kin, William M. Morton, John Nisbet, Charles M. Reese, Professor Williams Rutherford, Pleasant A. Stovall, and Robert Taylor.
According to White's Historical Collections of Geor- gia, the original settlers of Clarke were as follows: Thomas Greer, Charles Dean, F. Robertson, Colonel Wil- liam Craig, Solomon Edwards, William Clark, William Williams, William Jones, Francis Oliver, Thomas Wade, David Elder, Zadoc Cook, John Jackson, Hugh Neisler, Thomas Mitchell, James Cook, Wyatt Lee, Robert Bar- ber, Reverend Hope Hull, A. Boggs, Jesse White, General David Meriwether, Joseph Espey, John Espey, Colonel Reynolds, father of Governor Reynolds, of Alabama, Major Dougherty, father of Judge Charles Dougherty, and others.
James Pittman, a Revolutionary soldier, lies buried eight miles from Athens in an unmarked grave. He was born March 4, 1756, and died December 25, 1850, in his ninety-sixth year. James Espey, a patriot of '76, is sup- posed to be buried at Colt's Mill on Sandy Creek.
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Franklin College : Oldest State Univer- sity in America.
Page 139.
Growth and Such was the genesis of Franklin College.
Expansion. In the course of time the University by selling the lands acquired from the State accumulated $150,000 in notes secured by mortgages. However, there was no fixed income on which the institu- tion could rely and, on December 15, 1815, the Legislature authorized the Governor to advance to the Board of Trustees two-thirds of the full value of these notes, when the same should be placed in the hands of the State Treasurer. No money was paid for them, but, upon the organization of the Bank of the State of Georgia, the Governor bought one thousand shares of stock for the University, which were duly transferred as soon as the conditions were met. The income from the investment was guaranteed by the State to amount to $8,000 per annum. At first the revenue exceeded this sum; but, amid the ravages of war, the investment was lost. Never- theless, the State of Georgia assumed the obligation ; and, in the Constitution of 1877, the annual interest on $100,000 became a fixed charge upon the Commonwealth.
For more than fifty years the history of the University was the history of the State. There were often times of great stress, when the fortunes of the institution seemed to be at low ebb; but during this period it sent forth the Cobbs and the Lumpkins; it produced Toombs and Ste- phens and Hill; it gave to science the two LeContes; it furnished Pierce and Palmer to the pulpit, and it put both hemispheres under Roman tribute in the great work for humanity of Dr. Crawford W. Long.
But changes were needed to keep the college apace with the diffusion of knowledge. The expanding intelligence
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of the nineteenth century demanded wider areas of cul- ture. In 1859, a plan of reorganization was adopted by the Trustees in which it was proposed to establish a system of schools, each separate and distinct, to include, besides Franklin College, a law school, a school of agri- culture, a school of medicine, a school of civil engineering, a normal school, and a school of commerce, these to be under an executive head called the Chancellor.
From this radical change of policy dates the rise of the University proper.
At the same time, by an act of the Legislature ap- proved December 4, 1859, the Senatus Academicus was abolished and the Trustees given final jurisdiction.
Under the proposed scheme of re-organization, a law school was established, with Chief-Justice Joseph Henry Lumpkin, Thomas R. R. Cobb, and William Hope Hull as instructors.
In the summer of 1862, the Congress of the United States granted to each of the States a donation of land to establish a college in which science as applied to agri- culture and the mechanic arts was to be taught. It was not until the war period was over that Georgia became the beneficiary of this generous gift from the government, at which time the sale of her quota of land netted some- thing like $243,000. With this sum of money the trustees, in 1872 established the Georgia State College of Agricul- ture and Mechanic Arts, as a co-ordinance department of the institution. The Connor bill passed by the legisla- ture, in 1905, greatly enlarged the scope of this depart- ment, which today includes a farm of 830 acres. Under the direction of Dr. A. M. Soule, as president, the work has been still further extended by means of institutes for farmers, educational trains, extension schools and other modern methods of instruction.
But the broadening process went considerably beyond the original plan of reorganization. In 1872, the North
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Georgia Agricultural College, at Dahlonega, became a department of the University, through a contract with the local trustees, while the Georgia Medical College, at Augusta, was acquired in like manner. Since then the following institutions have been established as depart- ments or branches of the University, viz., the Georgia School of Technology, in Atlanta, established in 1885; the Georgia Normal and Industrial College for Girls, at Milledgeville, established in 1889; the Georgia Industrial School for Colored Youths, near Savannah, established in 1890; the State Normal School at Athens, established in 1895 ; and the South Georgia Normal College, at Valdosta, established in 1912. Besides these, the University has developed in recent years at Athens a school of pharmacy and a school of forestry, both of which have accomplished splendid work; and, through the engineering department, under Professor Charles' M. Strahan, has taken the initiative in the building of good roads. More than nine hundred acres of land have been added to the campus, scores of handsome new structures have been reared to meet the growing needs of the institution, and plans are under consideration for enlarging the work of the Uni- versity in the near future beyond anything of which the founders dreamed. Thus from a simple college, with a close curriculum, the plant at Athens has grown into a complex system, planned upon a broad and philosophic basis, with a splendid corps of teachers, abreast in every respect with the progress of modern thought and method, an institution where the technical and scientific as well as the literary branches are taught and where the best educational equipment of the times can be obtained.
Presidents and Josiah Meigs remained at the helm of Chancellors. affairs until 1811. Some of the Trustees were disappointed because he did not at once evolve an institution like Yale or Harvard; but they expected him to make brick without straw. Politics also
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played a stellar part in cutting his tenure of office short. On the issues of the day he was an extreme Jeffersonian. This made him somewhat unpopular with men of wealth. So, without other employment in sight, Professor Meigs, weary of the official harness, tendered his resignation, remaining in Athens until Mr. Jefferson gave him the post of surveyor-general, with headquarters in Cin- cinnati.
Dr. Henry Kollock, of Savannah, was then chosen by the board to fill the vacant chair, but he preferred the work of the pulpit. Thereupon the Trustees turned to the Reverend John Brown, of Columbia, S. C., who ac- cepted, serving from 1811 to 1816. But he was not a success, though Dr. Talmage styled him "our apostle John." The attendance diminished and the income dwindled until it was necessary to cut salaries in half.
Dr. Finley took the oath of office in 1817, made a tour of the State, and aroused some enthusiasm for the col- lege; but unfortunately on his return to Athens he was seized with an illness from which he never rallied.
Dr. Nathan S. S. Beman, who founded the famous academy at Mount Zion, near Sparta, was chosen to suc- ceed Dr. Finley. He accepted the call, but afterwards on account of his wife's enfeebled health he declined to assume the responsibilities.
Next came Dr. Moses Waddell. He was undoubtedly the greatest of the presidents of Franklin College. The success of his famous school at Willington, S. C., attrac- ted the attention of the Trustees; and he seemed to be the providential if not indeed the only man who could lift the prostrate institution. Dr. Waddell accepted the invi- tation of the trustees and came to Athens. While serv- ing as president of Franklin College, he also filled the pulpit of the Presbyterian church. He was a Scotch- Irishman of stout physical and mental fiber, a rigid disciplinarian, and a teacher who, in addition to varied attainments, possessed the faculty of imparting knowl- edge to others. William H. Crawford, John C. Calhoun,
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George McDuffie, and George R. Gilmer were among the former pupils of this eminent scholar.
Dr. Waddell believed in the birch. It is said that he even advocated the flogging of freshmen, but there is no record to the effect that he ever carried his authority to this limit. He established a steward's hall, where the bill of fare, though substantial, was in no wise open to the charge of extravagance. By resolution of the Trus- tees in 1820 the quality of board required was as follows : "For breakfast, a sufficiency of cold meat, with wheaten flour biscuit or loaf bread, butter, tea or coffee. For din- ner, a course of bacon or salted beef, with a proper pro- portion of corn bread and at least two kinds of vegetables, and on Wednesday to have an after course of pies, pud -- dings, or pancakes. For supper, a plentiful supply of tea or milk, with a sufficiency of wheaten biscuit or butter." Ideas of what constitutes a substantial meal for hungry college boys have been modified somewhat with the introduction of modern athletics.
Recitations before the breakfast hour was also with Dr: Waddell a custom which was seldom honored in the breach.
Another restriction put upon the student made him limit his walks on the Sabbath day to one mile.
But Dr. Waddell, while firm, was not tryannical. His administration, judged by the standard of results, was successful. He raised the standard of scholarship, in- creased the attendance, and stamped upon the institution the impress of his genius as an educator. He remained at the head of Franklin College until 1829. When he resigned under the conviction that his usefulness was at an end, every effort was made to keep him but without success. Finally arrangements were made for a public leave-taking at commencement and, after impressive exercises in the chapel, the students marched to his
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house in a body to bid him farewell. He resumed his school work at Willington for a short while, but over- taken by ill-health, he returned to Athens, where he died at the home of his son.
Dr. Alonzo Church, formerly professor of mathe- matics, succeeded Dr. Waddell and remained at the head of the institution from 1829 to 1859, a period of thirty years. Dr. Church was a native of Vermont. In person he was tall and well-proportioned, with lustrous black eyes and dark complexion, his bearing dignified and erect. He was an absolutely fearless man but with a somewhat quick temper which he usually kept under fair control. Dr. Church was not in sympathy with some of the advanced methods of education; and it was while he "occupied the chair that the two eminent scientists, John and Joseph LeConte, withdrew from the institution ; and with them went also Charles S. Venable. The LeContes became identified with the University of California. Prof. Venable entered the faculty of the University of Virginia. The president of the college was also hampered by the necessity for retrenchment in expenses and by the politi- cal differences which existed between Clarke and Troup men on the Board of Trustees. The attendance upon the college steadily declined. War broke out in the faculty; and, amid the excitement, Dr. Church tendered his resig- nation, roundly excoriating some of his colleagues.
Thereupon the Trustees demanded the resignation of the entire corps of professors; and what seemed to be a grave crisis was at hand. The care-worn president did not long survive. His resignation took effect on January 1, 1859 and, in the year following, the end came.
With the close of Dr. Church's administration dates the formal rise of the University of Georgia from the
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chrysalis of Franklin College. As soon as the plan of reorganization was fully outlined by the board, Dr. Andrew A. Lipscomb, a distinguished Methodist divine and a ripe scholar, then conducting a school for young ladies with great success in Alabama, was called to the helm. It was during the troublous days of the Civil War when the first of the Chancellors took charge; and there was little opportunity at this time to put the enlarged ideas of the board into effect. The period was one of industrial and educational paralysis. But the new executive head took vigorous hold. Dr. Lipscomb was a native of Virginia, where his boyhood days were spent in the region of Manassas. He was characterized by the fire of his ancestral stock. To quote Mr. Hull :* "as a sermonizer he was prone to get beyond the depth of his audience but at times both in the pulpit and on the ros- trum he rose to flights of eloquence rarely equalled in a land of orators." He was the best critic of the Shake- sperean drama known to his day. He inagurated the custom of holding Sunday afternoon services in the chapel which he often packed to overflowing.
Dr. Lipscomb stamped the impress of his character upon the men who went out from under him during this dark period. The late Samuel Spencer, President of the Southern railway, was one of the pupils of Dr. Lipscomb; and, in closing an address to the students of the Georgia School of Technology, he sounded what was perhaps the key-note of his life, in an utterance quoted from Dr. Lipscomb to this effect: "Young gentlemen, let truth be the spinal column of your characters into which every rib is set and upon which the brain itself reposes." On retiring from the Chancellorship, Dr. Lipscomb con- tinued to reside in Athens until his death some years later. In personal appearance he was strikingly hand- some even in old age, his long white locks making him an object of universal interest.
From 1874 to 1878, Dr. H. H. Tucker held the office of Chancellor. He was a brilliant scholar, a profound
* Annals of Athens.
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theologian, and a vigorous writer; but the University was not prosperous under Dr. Tucker, due to friction with the Board of Trustees. For one thing he lacked tact; but some of his policies were undoubtedly good. This distinguished divine was at one time President of Mercer. He also edited for a number of years the Christian Inder. As a preacher when at his best he was almost unrivalled.
During the next ten years the office of Chancellor was held by one of the ablest parliamentarians in America- Dr. Patrick H. Mell. His Manual is still the standard of authority with many deliberative bodies. Dr. Mell was for years the presiding officer of both the State and the Southern Baptist Conventions, in which capacity his tall figure made him literally one of the landmarks of his great denomination. As Chancellor of the University lie developed fine executive talent. He brought to the office a ripe experience as a college professor and a well diges- ted policy with respect to the management of students, in dealing with whom he bore himself like a Chesterfield. Opposed to the dormitory system the views of Dr. Mell upon this subject brought him into unpleasant disagree- ment with the Board of Trustees; and while the matter was pending the end came. Worn by the cares of his office the old Chancellor needed rest. Peace to his ashes !
The next executive head of the University was Dr. William E. Boggs, a Presbyterian divine of wide reputa- tion, then occupying a pulpit in Memphis, Tenn., though formerly a professor in the Theological Seminary at Columbia, S. C. Dr. Boggs brought to the office new ideas and vigorous methods; but he was not in touch with the Board of Trustees in a number of matters which he deemed essential. Consequently his administration was embarrassed. However, the University continued to grow.
With the resignation of Dr. Boggs, there came a change in the policy of electing Chancellors. Hitherto
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the office had been filled by ministers of the gospel. But the times, while needing no less of piety, demanded more of administrative skill. Consequently the choice of the Board in 1899 fell upon a layman-Hon. Walter B. Hill, of Macon. He was the first alumnus of the institution to be called to the helm of affairs. Mr. Hill was a distin- guished member of the bar, a ripe scholar, and a man of unblemished character. From the moment of his induc- tion into office, there was the greatest enthusiasm mani- fest, not only on the part of the student body but among the alumni throughout the State. He put himself in close touch with the educational progress of the times, attracted the attention of men of wealth at the North, who made gifts to the institution; and dreamed of larger things to which the University was destined. Several hundred acres of land, reaching back to a point beyond the old home of Governor Wilson Lumpkin, on the Oconee River, were annexed to the campus; new buildings were erected; and in other ways the institution began to exhibit un- wonted vigor. But while still intent upon putting his magnificent plans into effect Chancellor Hill died at his home in Athens, on December 28, 1905, at the age of fifty-six. During the brief period in which he was per- mitted to serve his alma mater, the University received in legislative and private gifts not less than $308,000. Besides he overcame the prejudice existing in certain quarters toward the University and secured from the State an annual maintenance fund of $22,500. To quote Dr. W. W. Landrum: "His fight for such an agricul- tural college as Georgia needed is a part of the educa- tional history of the State."
When a successor to Mr. Hill was named, the choice of the Board of Trustees fell upon the present Chancellor, Prof. David C. Barrow, an alumnus of the institution, then temporarily discharging the duties of this office, while
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filling the chair of mathematics. No wiser choice could have been made. Chancellor Barrow lacks none of the magnetism of Mr. Hill. His popularity with the students is unbounded; nor is he less securely entrenched in the confidence of the alumni. He is broad in his views, aggressive in his methods, and firm in his convictions. He is at once both firm and gentle-characteristics most powerful when united. Plans are under way not only for strengthening the stakes but for lengthening the cords of the institution; and there is no limit set to the growth which the University may attain under Chancellor Barrow.
Gifts and Endow- Mention has been made of the Univer- ments. sity's gifts of land, including the Milledge tract upon which the city was built. The State Legislature, from time to time, in addi- tion to fixed annuities, has made gifts in money to the institution with which to erect buildings and to make needed repairs. It cannot be said without violence to the truth that the State has always been generous in dealing with the college at Athens; for often even of late years the Chancellor has been forced to supplicate the law-makers on bended knee for the merest pittance with which to fight starvation. But today an altogether different policy prevails. Georgia has come to realize the moral obligations which rest upon her to place the University abreast with the forward movement of the times.
Mr. James Gunn, Jr., of Louisville, Ga., in 1802, gave the University $1,000 in cash, which was the first gift of this character made to the institution. It helped to build Old College, known to a later generation as the Summey House.
In 1817, Mr. John Marks, of Madison County, Ga., gave an equal amount for the purchase of apparatus.
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But-to quote Mr. Hull-there was no further loosen- ing of private purse-strings until 1854 when Dr. William Terrell, of Sparta, gave the institution $20,000 to endow a chair of agriculture; and not long thereafter Governor George R. Gilmer, of Lexington, left $15,000 for the pur- pose of educating teachers, the income of which is now given to the State Normal School.
Besides the Land Script fund-which produced an endowment of $243,000-the University is indebted to the Federal government for two additional grants, in- cluding one in 1887 for the support of agricultural experi- ment stations in connection with the College of Agricul- ture and one in 1890 for the support in part of the State Normal School.
In 1873 the city of Athens gave the University $25,000 for the erection of the Moore building and in 1908 an equal amount for the campus extension fund.
In 1879 Professor Charles F. McCay, formerly a professor of mathematics, made a donation to the Uni- versity to be kept at compound interest for a certain period of years, neither the interest nor the principal to be touched until the limit of time expires. It is estimated that the McCay gift will eventually yield the institution a fund of $10,000,000, from which an interest sum of $500,000 annually will be derived for the payment of salaries.
In 1882 the University was given the sum of $50,000 by United States Senator Joseph E. Brown, the interest upon which amount became available at once for the purpose of assisting poor boys to obtain an education. It was stipulated that the beneficiaries of this fund were to assume moral obligations for the re-payment of the sums borrowed, at a nominal rate of interest, and that,
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when returned, these sums should be added to the prin- cipal, thus increasing the endowment. This fund is known as the "Charles J. McDonald Scholarship Fund," in honor of a son of the generous donor, who was to have received this amount on his twenty-first birthday, but who died while a student of the University of Georgia.
The latest benefactions to the institution have been as follows : $50,000 from George Foster Peabody, of New York, for the new Library building; $30,000 from the same generous contributor to the campus extension fund ; $50,000 from the alumni for the erection of a Y. M. C. A. building; $5,000 from the estate of Brantley A. Denmark, of Savannah, used in erecting Denmark Hall; $10,000 from the citizens of Athens for the campus extension fund, in addition to $25,000 from the city of Athens for the same purpose; and $40,000 from the Peabody board of trustees for a School of Education building to be erected on the campus.
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