USA > Iowa > Polk County > Des Moines > Des Moines, the pioneer of municipal progress and reform of the middle West, together with the history of Polk County, Iowa, the largest, most populous and most prosperous county in the state of Iowa; Volume I > Part 60
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The tremendous cost of bringing all the schools up to the level of the better ones, of equipping the less favored schools as well as the more favored, has been a burden uncomplainingly assumed and borne by the taxpayers of the city. Since the union of the schools in 1907, nearly three-quarters of a million dollars have been expended in constructing new buildings and in rebuilding old ones. Larger playgrounds, more substantial buildings and higher class equip- ment have marked every step since the consolidation. The course of study has been widened and developed along industrial lines by the introduction of sew- ing and cooking, and the extension of the work in manual training.
Behind the superintendent and the teachers and the students is the School Board-a body of public servants who, without pay and with the certainty of more or less censure, give their time and their best thought to the serious prob- lem of supplying and maintaining public schools in a fast-growing city. It has been the good-fortune of Des Moines from the first to have had, with few ex- ceptions, members of its school board whose honesty has been unquestioned and whose deep interest in schools has been coupled with just conceptions of the mission of the schools. Severely criticised for extravagance in the matter of salaries paid their executive force, they have demanded of their assistants a high degree of efficiency-and in the main their demand has been met.
The enrollment of the schools of Des Moines in 1910-II was 17,123-the largest enrollment shown by any city of less than 100,000 population-except Salt Lake City! The high school enrollment-about 2,200-is equally remark- able in numbers. In comparing the cost of the maintenance of schools in Des Moines with that of schools in other cities, this exceptional enrollment should be borne in mind. Nor should the exceptional geographical situation of Des Moines be lost sight of-for example : the more compact city of Omaha, with a larger population than Des Moines, has but one high school, whereas Des Moines -a city of magnificent distances-has three high schools, each located miles apart from the other two. No one having the welfare of Des Moines at heart could wish to see this number reduced. With three high school buildings to provide and maintain, and with three separate groups of salaries to pay there- for, the high school expenses of Des Moines are relatively more than those of most cities of its size. Borrowing a remark of President Cleveland, "we are confronted with a condition-not a theory."
Without entering into a defense of the Des Moines School Board-that may or may not have been extravagant in its expenditure of public moneys-it is to be said, to the Board's lasting credit, that it has raised the standing of Des Moines schools, and that every consolidation which has been voted by the peo- ple has added to its burden, because of its just insistence that the schools which have been included in the recent consolidations shall share the advantages which the more favored West Des Moines schools have all along enjoyed.
CHAPTER II.
DES MOINES HIGHER INSTITUTIONS OF LEARNING.
The story of Des Moines College ---- a pathetic story of high hope and self- immolating endeavor, of hope deferred, and lost, of hope again and again re- vived and endeavor again and again renewed-has already been told in frag- ments in the pages of this work. But so important is it as a part of the history of Des Moines, and so full of human interest has it been found to be, that it has seemed best to round the fragments out into completeness of outline in a chapter by itself. As a "human interest" story it shows the influence of a great purpose upon a few thoroughly consecrated lives. It illustrates the readiness with which men collectively, when moved by enthusiasm for a noble cause, incline to promise more than they individually feel able or willing to perform. It also -- as in the repeated action of Central University-brings out the latent loyalty of alumni to their alma mater-even to the extent of repudiating the pledges of their rep- resentatives on the board and in the faculty.1
Des Moines College-1864-19II.
At a Baptist State Convention held in Des Moines October 23, 1862, T. S. Griffith, of Keokuk, was chosen president, D. P. Smith, of Iowa City, vice presi- dent, and J. F. Childs of Oskaloosa, secretary. `During the summer of 1863, these three worthies took an outing through the new settlements of northwest Iowa. On their return they passed through Des Moines. As they entered the city from the northwest, they noted the abandoned Lutheran college building --- a three-story brick ---- which had long since passed into the hands of creditors.2 The question rose: "Why not buy this property and make it the central point of our church's educational work in Iowa?" They called on the resident pastor, Rev. J. A. Nash, and sought his views on the subject.
Mr. Nash was at that time conducting, along with his pastoral work, a seminary of learning called Forest Home School.3 The project presented to his mind a vision of a great Baptist university, in Des Moines and he promised to investigate and report. He found that the property could be bought for $9,000, and on reasonable terms. At the meeting of the board in Oskaloosa in January, 1864, the matter was presented, and booked for consideration at Iowa City in April.
At Iowa City, delegates from Burlington and Pella, each community with a church school of its own, expressed the fear the new institution might em- barrass them in their efforts to pay off their indebtedness. They asked delay. assuring Des Moines that, once relieved of present embarrassments, they would favor the enterprise. The project was for the time abandoned, and the Meth- odists took the Des Moines offer under consideration. When Mr. Nash found the Methodists had concluded not to buy, he reopened negotiations, obtaining a refusal of the property at $8,000.
1 The outline sketch which follows has as its historical basis Col. Alonzo Abernathy's valuable work, "A History of Iowa Baptist Schools."
2 Near the present corner of Fifteenth street and Woodland avenue.
3 Located on the corner of Ninth street and Forest avenue on ground now occupied by Councilman MacVicar, a son-in-law of Mr. Nash.
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At Cedar Rapids, in 1864, a resolution was adopted recommending a mass meeting of Iowa Baptists to be held in Des Moines November 16, to consider and decide the question of purchase. Nothing was done beyond the appoint- ment of a committee of three to negotiate further with the trustees of the property and report.
Rev. Luther Stone, of Chicago, generously consented to buy the property, making the necessary payments, and, on a refund of the money, to deed the property to his Iowa brethren.
The property was bought for $9,300; but the trustees donated $1,300, mak- ing the net price $8,000, as agreed. Mr. Nash then called a meeting which was held in Oskaloosa January 18, 1865. At this meeting a corporation was or- ganized "to establish, support and govern, in Des Moines a univer- sity to consist of a primary department, an academy, and a college, and such other departments appropriate to a university as the patrons and trustees shall find themselves able, and shall deem it advisable to maintain, said university to be forever under the special control of the Baptist denomination." A board of forty-five trustees was authorized-which number might at any time be ex- tended to sixty! Of this board, Mr. Nash was elected secretary and Deacon W. A. Galbraith, of Des Moines, treasurer.
Mr. Nash resigned his pastorate and, with great reluctance, undertook the task of raising money for the proposed university. During the summer of '65 he raised $12,000 in Des Moines, part of which sum was applied on the debt and part on finishing and furnishing the building.
As a beginning of its educational work, the board opened a young ladies' department, in the pioneer Baptist church, with Josephine A. Cutter in charge. April 9, 1866, this school was transferred to the college building and a boys' school was opened with Mr. Nash in charge. The school closed June 22, with an enrollment of 76 pupils.
Ill health compelled Mr. Nash to relinquish his task, and Rev. I. W. Hay- hurst was chosen principal. Before the close of the next school year, Principal Hayhurst and Miss Cutter had resigned.
Dr. W. H. Dickinson was elected treasurer in August, 1867, and in that capacity he served faithfully for many years thereafter.
At a state convention in Pella in October, 1867, resolutions were adopted cordially endorsing "the University at Des Moines as one of the denomina- tional institutions of the state." commending it to the Baptists of Iowa, and approving of an "effort about to be made to secure for it an endowment of $20,000."
The school was suspended during the year 1867-'68, but was re-opened in September, '68, by Messrs. H. A. Brown and R. M. Stone, who conducted it a year, with an enrollment of seventy-five pupils.
At Marshalltown in October, '68, the case of Des Moines was presented and the convention resolved, as a denomination to "unite in paying off the in- debtedness of its Des Moines school."
Rev. J. F. Childs, of Oskaloosa, started out early in '69 to raise funds for the school and after a hard year reported $12,000 subscribed. Mr. Stone of Chicago, offered to deduct $1,000 if the trustees would, before August 1, 1870, refund the money he had advanced. To save the $1,000 Mr. Childs generously paid off Mr. Stone and assumed the debt himself-and was obliged to carry it, at serious inconvenience for about fifteen years thereafter !
In September, '69, Rev. D. N. Mason became principal. The attendance was about sixty. Next came Col. Alonzo Abernathy, who held the principal- ship during the year 1870-71. The enrollment increased to ninety-three. He was followed by Prof. T. N. Snow, who in turn was succeeded by Mr. Nash, who meantime had served as county superintendent of schools. With Rev. B. H. Briasted as financial agent and Professors Goldthwait and DeWolf as as- sociates, the school began to look prosperous, with an enrollment of 164 students.
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With the close of the year 1874-5, Mr. Nash again withdrew, and Judge Mott, of Winterset, succeeded him. Mr. Nash remaining in charge of Greek and natural sciences. There was a total enrollment of 157. On President Mott's retirement in '77 Mr. Nash, the old stand-by, succeeded.
At this time the University of Chicago honored that deserving preacher and educator with the degree of Doctor of Divinity.
In 1881 Prof. D. F. Call was elected president. Finding no adequate pro- vision had been made for salaries, he and his associates resigned, his resignation to take effect at the close of the school year. Again Dr. Nash responded to the call to fill the breach, serving two years, as head of the school.
Eighteen years had elapsed and the original purchase price had not yet been paid; the debts of the institution were slowly increasing, and part of the prop- erty had been sold on execution. Dr. Nash asked to be relieved of his heavy burden. Colonel Abernathy was offered the presidency but declined. Dr. Ira E. Kenney accepted the position in 1882. Before the close of the year 1883-4, the old campus was abandoned for the new site on West Ninth street, and the old building was taken down and re-erected on the north side of the new campus, ---- where it still stands. Contracts were let for the erection of a new and larger building. During this transition period the school opened, in the fall of '84, with only sixty students, the school housed temporarily in the basement of the Baptist Church.
The new building was to have been paid for by a transfer of a portion of the old campus, but scarcely were the foundation walls in place when the con- tractor failed, and work was suspended. President Kenney's health failed, early in '85, and Colonel Abernathy-who, like Dr. Nash, had come to be regarded as a godfather, -- was persuaded to take his place. Rev. A. R. Button, financial secretary, devoted three years to endeavors to finance the new building, secur- ing about $6,000 new subscriptions and collecting about $3,000 on old subscrip- tions. From 1886 to '89 Rev. C. T. Tucker, financial agent, devoted three successful years to superintending the new building and raising money to pay for it. On Colonel Abernathy's retirement, in the fall of '85, Prof. A. B. Price, of the faculty, succeeded, remaining at the head for two years.
During all these years there was throughout the state a growing sentiment in favor of a union of the Des Moines school and the school at Pella -- to each of which the term "university" had long been attached, though, in fact, both, at that period, were scarcely more than schools or seminaries. The movement took definite form in 1870, when on the 12th day of July an educational convention was held in Iowa City, with a view to locating a university at Pella, Des Moines, or some other city in central Iowa. The point on which all were agreed was- "One Baptist University for Iowa."
The Iowa City convention of July 14, 1870, resolved to locate a university at some suitable place which, in addition to proper buildings and grounds should "lay down a subscription of $50,000 endowment on an equal sum raised by the denomination abroad."
At the convention held in Des Moines October 24, 1870, Dr. Nash objected to the proposed sale of the college to the highest bidder. After much debate it was resolved "that the convention unite in making Des Moines the seat of one Baptist College," and pledged itself to raise $50,000, provided Des Moines would raise that amount, in addition to the present grounds and buildings, by July 1, 1871.
The American Baptist Educational Commission interested itself in the sub- ject giving both Pella and Des Moines patient hearings and sent a committee to "view the land." The committee made a lengthy report. It found that Des Moines had not met the demand for $50,000, and therefore the Iowa City dec- laration was of value only as showing Iowa opinion as to the desirableness of Des Moines. The conditions necessary to the proposed institution were all found centered in Des Moines. "Indeed the beauty and salubrity of the place,
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the enterprise, wealth and culture of its citizens, the natural concentration there," etc., all pointed to the state capital as the desirable point.
Years passed. In 1886 there was a revival of the movement for union. The Pella and the Des Moines board agreed on a committee of five chosen by each school, the ten to choose five other members,-the fifteen to settle the ques- tion forever! Another lengthy report concluded with a unanimous resolution rec- ommending "Des Moines University to the cordial support of the Baptists of the State." The committee congratulated itself that "at length, after so many years of differences," the vexed question was settled !
Meantime, something had happened !
The Cedar Rapids convention of 1886 deeply deplored the action of Central University in rejecting the decision, going so far as to secure from the courts an injunction restraining the board from carrying out the decision of the committee.
In October, 1888, an educational convention was held in Ottumwa. To ob- viate an objection from Pella that the proposed Iowa Baptist Education Asso- ciation might be used "in the interests of certain schools," Rev. H. L. Stetson, of the First Baptist Church, Des Moines, moved that neither the Des Moines nor the Pella school be recognized by the society. The Des Moines Convention in '89 came and went and made no sign. Surely, the movement was dead!
Meantime, new forces for higher education were introduced in "Des Moines University." The fall of 1887 found Rev. J. P. Stephenson acting president and professor of Greek, and Mrs. Florence T. Stephenson professor of modern languages, and Rev. H. L. Stetson, of the First Church, professor of Bib- lical Literature and Christian evidences. There were sixty-nine students enrolled.
In 1889, the Des Moines board modestly changed the name of the institution from "University of Des Moines' to "Des Moines College." It elected Dr. Stet- son president. The year was notable for a conditional gift of $25,000 from Joseph V. Hinchman, of Glenwood, and one of $12,500 from the American Baptist Edu- cation Society, the conditions being that the trustees of the college raise $62,500 additional before January 1, 1891, and that they clear the college of all debts.
President Stetson, Rev. H. B. Foskett, Dr. Rairden, Prof. Goldthwait and others made strenuous efforts to meet the conditions and on June 15, it was re- ported that the conditions had been met. William Aitchison became treasurer of the college in 1890, and served with rare fidelity and ability until 1905.
In the year, 1891, President Harper visited the college, and addressed the students ; and on July 1, 1892, the college was formally affiliated with the Chicago University. It continued for several years with a fair degree of success, with an enrollment ranging from 157 in 1892, to 181 in 1898.
We have now reached the Marshalltown convention, marking another move- ment for consolidation. Resolutions were adopted in '96 urging the Education Society to secure the federation of the church's educational interests in Iowa.
That society convened in Des Moines October 26, 1897. After consideration of the question a special committee of eleven was named and a conference was called by the committee to be held at Marshalltown December 21, 1897, the conference to consist of fifty members of the Baptist church in the state to be named jointly by the committee and by the churches.
The conference considered the question in all its bearings and finally reached a ballot of preference as to locality. The result was: Des Moines 85, Pella 26, Waterloo 5, Osage 3, Iowa Falls 2. The conference pledged itself to make good all losses sustained by Pella as a result of its action. Measures were taken to raise an endowment for Des Moines college. Again the question was settled !
The convention of 1898 commended the action taken, and congratulations were generously extended. Central University accepted the plan of cooperation on these conditions : a satisfactory indemnity for losses ; the honoring by Des Moines College of Central University's outstanding scholarships and the relinquishment of the academic department by Des Moines. Des Moines College accepted the second and third conditions ; and declared that with the first, it had nothing to
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do. Meanwhile the American Baptist Education Society was asked to contribute $25,000 toward the $100,000 endowment fund. So far, all was well.
A committee of five on endowment was created. Prof. A. Loughridge, presi- dent of the society, was appointed chairman, with power to select his associates. He chose Colonel Abernathy, J. A. Earl, H. L. Stetson and A. B. Chaffee. Presi- dent Chaffee declined to serve-discouragement No. I. The American Baptist Education Society failed to make good its unofficial assurances of financial aid- discouragement No. 2. Pella refused to cooperate-discouragement No. 3. The financial secretary, failing to secure the cooperation of Pella, or of the national society, resigned, --- discouragement No. 4. President Loughridge, chairman of the committee was called to the presidency of Bishop College, Texas, thus leaving the committee without a head-discouragement No. 5.
The end of the movement came in July, 1899, when the Central University Board finding no indemnity in sight, and threatened with suits by Major Curtis and Captain Barker for the recovery of funds secured by them for the endow- ment of Central University, deemed it "unwise to longer delay with the matter, and urged the maintenance of both colleges as the way to secure harmonious cooperation." In 1899, President Stetson made a brief report to the effect that little had been done toward unification, and with that the whole subject was dropped.
President Stetson tendered his resignation at the close of the college year 1900.
Rev. George D. Adams, of Kalamazoo, succeeded to the presidency, January I, 1901, and served two years. Dr. J. K. Richardson, of Calvary Baptist Church, Des Moines, succeeded, serving till June, 1904. In October Dr. Stetson was unanimously recalled, but the call was declined. Dean J. P. Stephenson was again temporarily placed at the head of the college. In June, 1905, the board elected Rev. Dr. Loren D. Osborn to the presidency, and in July Dr. Osborn entered upon his work. He devoted six resultful years to the college. His resignation was presented and accepted in the spring of 1911 to take effect at Commencement, June 14. His administration covers a period which will be known as one of growth, in buildings, in organization, and in publicity. The gymnasium was erected in 1906, and the main building, Nash Hall, was re-built and enlarged in 1909.
During the years 1906-7, still another effort was made to unite the Baptist colleges. The movement began at the State Convention in Shenandoah, in Octo- ber, 1906. A committee of seven was appointed to canvass the claims of Des Moines College and of Central University for recognition and support as the one denominational college in the State. At the meeting of the convention the following year at Grinnell, the report of the committee was presented recommend- ing Central University. The resolution calling for the appointment of this com- mittee also provided that a two-thirds vote would be required to adopt. When the vote was taken it was found that a majority of the votes were for Central, but not the requisite two-thirds. Since that time it has come to be generally recog- nized in the denomination that each school will be left to work out its own destiny.
The new president, Rev. John A. Earl, D.D., of Chicago, was elected April I, 19II. He arrived in Des Moines August 18, to enter upon his work. Dr. Earl is an alumnus of Des Moines College having graduated in the class of 1892. Since the coming of the new President, the college has fast forged ahead. President Earl has himself raised about $60,000-$20,000 of which was given by Mrs. Childs of Waterloo for a girls' dormitory.
The attendance at the college for the last year was 238. The number of regular professors in the college proper was nine. The number of instructors in all departments was 22. Dr. and Mrs. Stephenson have been with the college 24 years ; and Miss Harris has served 19 years.
The college library contains about five thousand volumes.
.
Alamo Abernethy
One of the creators and sustainers of Des Moines College
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Drake University-1881-191I.
Drake University 4 is the youngest of the important educational institutions of the state, and one of the youngest in the country, having but recently celebrated its thirtieth anniversary. In Iowa, as in the other states of the West, a multitude of small schools sprang up, whose chief asset was the faith of their promoters. Each had a building worth perhaps $20,000, provided as a bonus by the commu- nity to secure the location of the institution in its midst. Equipment of every sort was meager. Endowments were projected but only occasionally realized. The small tuition paid by the students, perhaps $30 a year, was practically the only source of revenue, and the institutions were only kept open at all by the heroic sacrifices of the teachers.
In June, 1855, a convention of the Churches of Christ in Iowa was called to meet at Mount Pleasant to consider the two questions, Education and Missions. At this meeting a motion was introduced providing for the founding of an institu- tion of higher learning at Mount Pleasant, Iowa. A substitute motion was offered, naming Marion as the location. Differences over this point caused the question to be dropped for a year.
The next convention met at Marion in June, 1856. At this convention a reso- lution was adopted to found a college in that town and county of the state which should pledge and secure the largest amount of money. Oskaloosa, with a $30,000 subscription, won over Marion's $25,000 pledge. An endowment subscription of $20,000 was also provided. The college was chartered late in 1857; but the finan- cial crisis caused contractors to fail and subscriptions to shrink. It was only by the aid of an outside supplementary subscription of $10,000 that one wing of the building was completed in 1861.
School work actually started in September of that year, when the brothers George T. and W. J. Carpenter were allowed the use of the building to conduct a private school. For twenty years a struggling college was maintained, the Car- penters being prominently connected with it most of the time. It did a creditable work and numbered among its presidents and faculty many educators of ability and power, but the financial struggle was a losing one, and faculty after faculty was starved out.
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