USA > Iowa > Johnson County > Leading Events in Johnson County, Iowa, History > Part 24
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tions are given in the report and this was a crucial point in the affairs of the institution. The principal acts in which the public took an interest were these: "The Preparatory De- partment was abolished. The languages, ancient and modern, and the Mathematics except the mere applications were thrown out of the course; the appropriation of some three thousand dollars for library purposes, and one thousand for apparatus, authorized by the old board, were rescinded," and to cap the climax, the institution in all its departments was suspended for at least one year. All this was done at the first meeting of the new board. From the point of view of the writer of that date some criticism on such action was proper. A little history here, concerning the terms used, may be necessary : "In relation to the institution, they say that, prior to its crea- tion as a unit, and its location at Iowa City [permanent loca- tion is probably meant] it seemed necessary that it should go into activity, and lay up at least the semblance of a university in order to prevent the legislature from dividing it into branch- es. . That necessity has now ceased and with it the policy to which it gave birth."
Then the "Citizen" who signs himself thus, says: "Why then in the name of decency and conscience did not the former Board when they called men from distant points to come to take positions in the University tell them all this in advance- tell them the peculiar policy under which they thought of run- ning the institution? Why did they not tell them honestly that if they came they must do so at their own risk, as perhaps in a few months a 'new policy' might be inaugurated and in virtue of which every man of them might be ousted and set adrift?"
This attack, or explanation, at this time continues to say : "The published report of the new board said, 'that up to this time [May, 1858] the instruction dispensed in the University has been without a library or apparatus'." The critic says, "All this is easy enough to say but does not accord strictly with the facts. For about one year, some five hundred vol- umes of choice works, carefully selected, with special reference to the wants of the professors have been on hand. Five hun- dred volumes thus selected are equivalent to fifteen hundred as libraries usually run. It might possibly have occurred to
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these gentlemen that the members of the faculty may have a few books of their own. Now, great libraries are no doubt desirable things; but who needs to be told that they are about as much for show as for use? The same remarks, substan- tially, might be made in relation to the apparatus on hand and about to be supplied. So far, therefore, as these matters are concerned the institution might have been kept a running.
"The next ground of justification which is plead for this change of policy and suspension is that the institution should be thrown out of entire range of competition with the high
SVENDI HALL
schools and colleges of the state. Well, the change contem- plated will very probaby secure this result. . . The same thing might have been accomplished by removing the institu- tion to Central America or beyond the Rocky Mountains.
"The new curriculum is not only beyond the academies and colleges of the state but also beyond the wants and reach of the great mass of the people, for the next twenty years at least."
This course was pronounced "inaccessible" since no one was prepared for it. The preparation must be had somewhere and the "people," from the point of view of the critic, would expect the institution to furnish it right at home.282
Officially, the new board of trustees gave as their reasons
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for suspending the University for one year the following: The library and apparatus were deficient which argument the critic before endeavors to answer. Its students had been confined to Iowa City, with few exceptions, those of the University proper being limited to a very small number, and that number was supplied by the preparatory department connected with it. The new school law made no provision for a preparatory department, hence the trustees were compelled to abandon it. Since all western colleges had such a department it seemed wise to dispense with it, and trust to the colleges and high schools of the state, to prepare students for the University. It was felt that the University, if kept up, would be little more than a high school, and that for the community in which it was located. It was further argued that expenditures and income were so nearly balanced that no fund accumulated for the development of new departments or enlargement in any. The problem, therefore, was not of choice, but of necessity, and the only way open seemed, a suspension of all work, until a fund accumulated, unless they chose to run the institution at so low a point of efficiency, that its movement, or progress would be questionable. Another reason was the necessary repair of the only building the institution could use, prevent- ing the commencement of the fall term on time. Suspension was proposed for at least one year from September, 1858, or possibly longer. It was promised that when it opened again, an able body of professors would be present to teach by lec- ture "in Intellectual Philosophy, Moral Philosophy and His- tory, in Natural Philosophy and Natural History, in applied Mathematics and in Chemistry." It was proposed to teach these sciences, "so important to fit young men for the duties of life, not only in their elements, but in their applications." This report was published by order of the board of trustees and signed by their secretary, Anson Hart.
At a full meeting of the board in August, 1858, the lan- guages and mathematics were restored to the course of study, and there was a tie vote on the question of opening the institu- tion in the fall of 1858, sometime before January first. It was further resolved to open the "Normal Department" in Sep- tember if a professor could be secured. The Chancellor was asked to nominate some one for that department. The chan-
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cellor, Amos Dean, was also requested to inform the board, "whether or not he would enter upon his duties in person in September, 1859." This request had probably come about through the agitation over the closing of the institution, and the demand for a head who did not live so far away as Albany, New York.
According to the determination of the trustees, the Normal department of the University opened on November 1, 1858, with D. Franklin Wells as professor in charge, he having been reappointed from the previous two years. Candidates for admission were to be examined as to proficiency in reading, spelling, penmanship, elementary grammar, geography, and arithmetic "through compound numbers and vulgar frac- tions." All would be required to sign a declaration to teach in the state of Iowa, and the object in attending must be to prepare for that duty. Instruction was gratuitous. Both males and females were admitted if seventeen years of age or over. The course of study was so arranged that it could be completed in two and one-half years.
The trustees met again, in annual session, in July, 1860, when Dr. Totten, the new president, presented his plan of or- ganization, after the suspension of the institution for the year before. The organization by departments instead of by class- es was proposed by the new president, and approved by the board of trustees. Six departments were to be provided for : "Ancient and Modern Languages, Mathematics and Astron- omy; Natural Philosophy and Chemistry, Natural History, Rhetoric, Oratory, and Belles-lettres, and Moral and Intellec- tual Philosophy." Three new professors were elected at this session of reorganization : E. O. Spencer, of Indiana, for lan- guage; N. R. Leonard, of Burlington, for mathematics, and Rev. Dr. James Lilly, of Des Moines, for natural philosophy; Prof. T. S. Parvin was transferred to the chair of natural history.
It was arranged now to put the University into full opera- tion in September, 1860. The minimum age for students was fixed at sixteen years and all who entered the Department of Languages, must take an examination in Latin, grammar, three books of Cæsar, four orations of Cicero, and six books of the Aeneid, besides the Greek grammar and reader, and two
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books of the Anabasis. Examination, also, was required in arithmetic and algebra, through equations of the first degree, to admit to mathematics. Students who were eighteen years of age could be admitted to other departments for practical courses without examination. The tuition was four dollars per session, or eight dollars per year, in each de- partment. Dr. Totten, H. D. Downey, Dr. Bowen, R. Hutchinson and P. A. Dey, were appointed a committee to supervise the repairs on the old buildings and also to su- perintend the construction of the new. The normal depart-
MEDICAL BUILDING BURNED MARCH 10, 1901
ment, however was to occupy the old Mechanics Academy, which was rented and put in repair for its use under the direction of the same committee.288
Since Iowa City was an educational center from the begin- ning it was quite natural that institutions of a special nature in education should locate here. This, indeed, was true of schools for unfortunates, and we may find many families tak- ing advantage of the state law later in regard to these insti- tutions.
In 1852 Samuel Bacon established an institution for the instruction of the blind at Keokuk. By a law passed in Jan- uary, 1853, it was adopted by the state and located at Iowa
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GENERAL VIEW OF CAMPUS, S. U. I.
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City under the name of the Iowa Asylum for the Blind. In April, 1853, it was opened for the reception of pupils, being free to all the blind of the state. It was first located in the brick building on the corner of College and Johnson streets, known as the old land office, and later the name was changed to the "Iowa Institution for the Instruction of the Blind" and the school was moved into the building on the corner of Linn and Bloomington streets, now the Slezak corner. However, in 1862 the institution was moved from Iowa City to Vinton.
As a scholar and teacher, Mr. Bacon, although entirely blind, ranked with the best. He was the founder of the blind asylum at Jacksonville, Illinois, before coming to Iowa.284
The first institution in Iowa for the education of the deaf and dumb was opened in Iowa City as a private enterprise by W. E. Ijams in 1854, he being encouraged to do so in the hope of recognition by the state legislature and this anticipated recognition was secured in 1855, by an act approved January 24, under which act the institution was opened as a state af- fair on February 3, 1855, with Mr. Ijams as principal and his mother, Mrs. M. A. Ijams, as matron. Twenty pupils were admitted in the beginning to be educated at state expense and during the first two years the number more than doubled. There was a gradual growth of the school until 1866, when it was determined to make its location permanent at Council Bluffs, since no buildings had ever been erected at Iowa City. It had no abiding place in the first capital and occupied its "fourth set of premises," due to its growth, when it was re- moved. Upon the official recognition of the institution one finds several applicants from this county, who were sent to the school on the authority of the county officials after due request from parents or guardian.285
In 1853 the Rev. A. Russell Belden of the Baptist church inaugurated the plan of establishing under the auspices of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows the Iowa Female Collegiate Institute. In July, 1853, $600 was subscribed for the building by the Odd Fellows of the city and in a short time $6000 in cash was contributed. The institute was incorporated for a period of twenty years from July, 1853. The capital stock was not to exceed twenty-five thousand dollars and was to be divid- ed into shares of twenty dollars each. The articles of incor-
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poration provided that the sole government of the school with the use of the buildings and profits should be vested in A. Rus- sell Belden and Sarah L. Allen for a period of twenty years, under the direction of the board of trustees. In 1853 the city council granted the west half of College hill park to the trus- tees for a site for the seminary. Plans for the building were prepared by Thomas Banbury and were for a building of brick with stone trimmings. The building was to be thirty by eighty feet and three stories high. The basement and part of the first story was completed when work was stopped by the death of
DENTAL BUILDING
Mr. Belden in the fall of 1855. In 1856 Rev. C. Billings Smith succeeded Mr. Belden as pastor of the Baptist church and he endeavored to revive the abandoned project but failed to awak- en any interest in it, and after standing for some years the unfinished walls were torn down, the site reverted to the city, and the failure of the last attempt of the citizens of the city to establish an institution of higher learning closed the history of one academy, two seminaries, one college and one university that had been created and had disappeared within twelve years.286
The articles of incorporation of the Iowa Female Collegiate Institute are recorded "in Book 10, pages 227-228 of the Rec- ords [deeds and mortgages] of Johnson Co., Iowa, July 29, 1853, by Samuel Workman, Recorder for said County." Such
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is the tabulation upon an enclosing sheet which is now deposit- ed in the old box taken from the corner stone of this institu- tion. The "by-laws" are found here but the copy of the "articles" has at some time been removed. Regular meetings of the "Board of Trustees" were to be held on the first Friday evening of each month, in the hall of the Odd Fellows, the annual meetings to occur on the first day of August in each year. It was provided in the by-laws that "at an early day as practicable" they should arrange a "course of study" and provide for the tuition in the Institute which should be ad-
COLLEGE PROCESSION ON WAY TO ARMORY HALL
justed as the "interests shall make such change necessary."
The construction of the building of brick, made on the very ground where the structure was to be placed, is provided for in the contract which is found with other papers in the recep- tacle mentioned above, now in possession of The State Histori- cal Society of Iowa: "Articles of Agreement made and con- cluded between the Board of Trustees of Iowa Female Col- legiate Institute at Iowa City, and Sylvanus Johnson, this 1st day of March in the year 1854 Witnesseth : That the said Syl- vanus Johnson for the consideration hereinafter named does for himself, his administrators and assigns, promise and agree, to and with, the said Trustees to make, at his own cost, four hundred thousand good, well burnt, and merchantable Bricks; to be made and delivered to the said Trustees as follows : Two hundred thousand, to be delivered in good order to the said
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Trustees on the block of land in Iowa City, known as College Green, on or before the first day of July, 1854; and the remain- ing Two hundred thousand to be delivered in good order and in the same place on or before the first day of October, 1854. And the said trustees do on their part promise and agree to permit the said Sylvanus Johnson to occupy and use so much of the west half of College Green as may be necessary for a yard and for a kiln for making the Bricks aforementioned. And to dig and use the clay on said College Green, for the making of said Bricks. Provided, said Sylvanus Johnson shall not disturb the works, nor injure the foundation of any edi- fice now laid on said College Green.
"And the Board of Trustees still further agree to pay said Sylvanus Johnson Five dollars per Thousand for each one thousand Bricks made and delivered to them as aforesaid, as follows: Five hundred Dollars when said Johnson shall have fully prepared the ground for his yard and kiln, and com- menced work in moulding bricks, and Five hundred dollars when Two hundred Thousand Bricks shall have been delivered to said Trustees, and one thousand Dollars when the remaining two hundred thousand Bricks shall be delivered to said Trus- tees in the condition and at the place aforesaid.
"In Witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands this 11th day of March, 1854.
"Sylvanus Johnson.
"Signed by order and in behalf of the Board of Trustees. "A. Russel Belden, President. "F. H. Lee, Secretary."
At the laying of the corner stone the mayor of the city de- posited an outline of the government, the officials and some general information of conditions in 1853:
"This city was incorporated as 'Iowa City,' by an act of the general assembly of the state of Iowa, approved on the 24th day of January, A. D. 1853, with all the powers and attri- butes of a Municipal Corporation.
"The Legislative authority of the City, is vested in a City Council, consisting of a Mayor and board of Aldermen, com- posed of three from each ward of the City.
"The first election for City officers under the Charter was
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held on the first Monday of April, 1853, and the following persons were elected, to-wit:
"Jacob P. DeForest, Mayor.
"Anson Hart, Recorder.
"Robert M. Hutchinson, Marshal.
"C. H. Buck, Treasurer. "Benjamin R. King, Assessor.
"Aldermen 1st Ward 2nd Ward 3rd Ward
"William H. Hunt Thomas Snyder Peter Roberts
"Edward Lanning Francis P. Brossart John Van Fleet
"Erastus C. Lee William P. Clark Peter Statzer
"In consequence of vacancies occurring, the board of Al- dermen as at present constituted is as follows :
"1st Ward 2nd Ward 3rd Ward
Geo. W. McCleary Morgan Reno
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"The same as above
Thomas Snyder Peter Roberts
Francis P. Brossart Peter Statzer
"Officers holding under appointment of the City Council are :
"William P. Clarke, Attorney. McBride, Street Commissioner. "Jacob N. Seydell, Deputy Marshal.
"The present population within the corporate limits is prob- ably over Two thousand five hundred.
"The number of Churches within the City is as follows, to-wit: Two Presbyterian, 1 Babtist, 2 Methodist, 1 Roman Catholic and 1 Universalist."
"The City forms one school district, under the charge as principal teacher, of Henry W. Lathrop, with two female as- sistants, in separate departments, the Misses Virginia Pattee and Lydia Lanning. There are also several private and select schools within the limits of said City. Iowa City 27 October, A. D. 1853.
"J. P. DeForest, Mayor."
The city obtained control of the uncompleted building of the Odd Fellows known as the "Female Collegiate Institute" in the fall of 1856 and agreed to "issue scrip in the payment of the debts due on the property not to exceed six hundred dollars." The presidents of the several boards of education
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of Johnson county presented a plan for securing the "Female College" for a county high school and a committee appointed to confer with them reported their unwillingness to donate the building or grounds for such a purpose. This occurred in August, 1858, and the committee recommended the completion of the building on the part of the city in the near future. How- ever, the next move in this matter was in reference to the prop- osition of Rev. Mr. Covert regarding the transfer of the city's
KAPPA SIGMA FRATERNITY BUILDING
rights to him on certain conditions, which involved the transfer of the real estate and a bonus of $10,000 in bonds provided he expended $20,000 and kept the building in use for educational purposes for not less than twenty years and called it "The Iowa Female Collegiate Institute." This must be completed by January 1, 1860.
However, May 22, 1864, the city council agreed by resolu- tion to give the "stone, brick and other material on College Green" to the Iowa State University to be used in the erection of a new building on the University grounds. In considera- tion for this the University authorities were to "idemnify the city of Iowa City against the payment of a certain mortgage
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held by Kosciusko Lodge of I. O. O. F. on the west half of . College Green." 287
The Iowa City Academy, now owned by Professor W. A. Willis, was organized in the early seventies. During its his- tory it has had many different owners and principals, among them, William McClain, the Hiatt brothers, Principals Graves and Galer, as well as R. H. Tripp, and Albert Loughridge, the latter two purchasing the institution in 1887 from Mr. Graves.
OLD MECHANICS HALL AND FIRST MERCY HOSPITAL
Professor Loughridge left here after one term, to take up the work of the teaching of Latin at the State Normal School. He is now a teacher in Des Moines College. The present owner came into possession of the Academy in 1891 in connection with Mr. Williams, but in 1895 the partnership was dissolved, Professor Willis remaining in possession since that time.
The Academy formerly occupied buildings on the corner of Dubuque street and Iowa avenue, then later, on Clinton and Jefferson streets when in 1905 it was moved to its present loca- tion on Washington street. Students from many states at- tend here at various times and many who are now well known in public life, and who occupy prominent positions in educa- tional, church, political or professional life have begun their
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work in this institution. Among these, Hon. W. S. Kenyon, recently chosen United States Senator from Iowa, a govern- ment official of national reputation, is numbered. There are also Judge E. K. Young, of North Dakota; Ira D. Orton, an attorney, of Alaska; Guido H. Stemple, professor of philoso- phy in the University of Indiana; Dr. B. F. Shambaugh, of the University of Iowa, head of the department of political science, and superintendent of The State Historical Society ; J. C. Monnett, chancellor of the new law school of Oklahoma; Miss Elizabeth Irish, of the University Business College; Miss Julia Rogers, author of several books on nature study, notably The Tree Book; Rev. M. H. Lyon, a well known Congregation- alist; Dr. George Shambaugh, a Chicago physician; Professor H. G. Plum, of the department of history of the Iowa State Un- iversity; Hon. Shirley Gilliland, a leader of the State Senate; M. L. Ferson, Law Librarian for many years, and S. K. Steven- son, attorneys of Iowa City and many others, doubtless who have made the old Academy a good reputation.268
Irish's University Business College on Washington street, Iowa City, is an excellent testimony to an Iowa woman's bus- iness ability. In 1895 this institution was founded by the present owner, Miss Elizabeth Irish, who having recently re- turned from California where she had spent considerable time in commercial pursuits, saw an opportunity for such a school in the city of her birth. Her reasons for putting faith in such an enterprise are expressed in these words: "During my services, in various capacities, in the business world, I found many young people who failed through lack of thor- ough training in their line of work, to secure power in appli- cation and that self-reliance and high moral standard which should obtain in business relations." Miss Irish was the bus- iness manager of the Iowa State Press, of Iowa City, for a number of years, and when her uncle, John P. Irish, went to California, she accompanied him and during her stay on the coast occupied many positions of responsibility, thus fitting her for the present undertaking, the most recent, of the private schools in the city that has had such a variety of experiences in the matters of education. This institution furnishes in- struction in all the departments of business training, in ac- cordance with modern methods.
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CHAPTER XV
Methodist Churches
E ARLY in the development of the county, provision was made for buildings, that usually were constructed in all civilized and cultured communities, for religious purposes. Yet the movement begun when the new capital of Iowa terri- tory was platted was more than ordinary, since special lands were set apart for the use of any religious body that would use them for "church or literary purposes."
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