USA > Iowa > Des Moines County > The history of Des Moines county, Iowa, containing a history of the country, its cities, towns, &c., a biographical directory of citizens, war record of its volunteers > Part 67
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"On the 4th of July, 1853, the corner-stone of the present main building was laid, with appropriate public ceremonies, and July 4, 1854, the completion of the building was celebrated with similar public demonstration. A preparatory school was also opened in the basements of the Baptist and Congregational Churches of this city, while the work upon the building was yet in progress, January 4, 1854. Rev. G. W. Gunnison, A. M., being Principal and Professor, and Mrs. M. A. P. Darwin, Preceptress. Mr. Gunnison, though an excellent scholar and teacher, yet did not remain long in charge of the school. Mrs. Darwin, also an accomplished teacher, soon afterward resigned. Passing over several names which, following Mr. Gunnison, were for brief periods succes- sively in charge of the institution, in 1857, Rev. L. B. Allen, D. D., became the presiding officer, and for several years did worthy service. As associate with Dr. Allen, and soon after him, Rev. J. T. Robert, LL. D., who, to all the scholarly attainments. added the highest social qualities, was also secured to the school as a Professor and Instructor. Associated with these gentlemen teachers were also in turn and in the order named, the following ladies, in charge of the female department, each an accomplished and efficient preceptress : Miss Anna Chamberlain, Miss Cornelia Skinner, Mrs. Sophia Bishop, Miss Josephine A. Cutter and Miss Emma Brown.
" During the years these teachers were in service, the school attained to a high degree of prosperity. the number of pupils increased, and the standard of scholarship was elevated. During these years also, various improvements were made upon the building, and important additions in the appointments of the institution. Now rooms were constructed in the main edifice, and a smaller building was erected upon the premises for purposes of dwelling and boarding. A library of 1.500 volumes was also purchased, to which over 500 volumes have been subsequently added. Apparatus was also secured for philo- sophieal, chemical and astronomical purposes, which is still unsurpassed in this vicinity : and a museum embracing several hundred enriosities and collections in natural history.
" In the spring of 1857, a second large edifice, intended more especially for the ladies' department, was commenced, and July + the corner-stone was laid. A subscription of over $10.000 was seenred for this enterprise, but, ere the foundation and basement-walls were completed, a financial revulsion swept over the country, which compelled the summary surrender of the work, destroyed the larger part of the subscription on which the work had depended, and threatened for awhile the breaking up of the institution itself A few years after came the war of the rebellion, with its gloom and paralysis, during
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which the teachers who had so long and well served the school, most of them, went to other and stronger institutions, or into other relations in life, and num- bers of the young men of the school entered into the service of their country. Thus for awhile little progress was made.
"But toward the closing of the war and after, came again brighter pros- pects ; money was once more plentiful and hopes were high. Efforts were then put forth to relieve the institution of the heavy indebtedness incurred by the reverses of 1857 and otherwise, and a happy success was the result. And not only were all debts soon paid, but the buildings and various property also repaired and important improvements made, and then by the liberality of one generous friend, $5,000 to aid in the future support of the institution were paid into the treasury. It had been hoped that a large sum conditionally promised to the school by Dr. Richard F. Barrett, one of the Board of Trus- tees from the beginning, and an earnest friend and liberal supporter of the institution while he lived, would now be added to its funds, but after several years of litigation, it was decided that only $2,000 and the interest thereon should be derived from that source.
" The institution has, as is always necessary to the very existence of an insti- tution of learning, been surrounded by a few specially earnest and faithful friends. In the earlier years, Mr. Wm. B. Ewing was Chairman of the Executive Committee, and while his strength allowed him, was ready and effi- cient in all work for the cause. In these years also, when large demands were made by way of time and service, and many perplexities, too, were connected with the office, T. W. Newman, Esq., performed efficiently the duties of Treas- urer. Mr. Newman is now the Chairman of the Executive Committee. Rev. G. J. Johnson has, from the beginning, been the Secretary of the Board of Trustees and Clerk of the Executive Committee, and in all ways of looking after its general and particular interests, served the enterprise. Later in the day, but with equal heart and efficiency, came also into the committee Mr. H. H. Hawley. and yet a little later Mr. Erastus Chamberlain, present worthy Treasurer of the institution. Nor should the names of Hon. J. M. Beck, the present President of the corporation, and Hon. A. C. Dodge, the Vice Presi- dent, be omitted in the list of those who have done, and are still disposed to do. the enterprise their best possible service."
The present condition of the University is gratifying to the friends of cdu- cation, but there is much which might be done to extend its usefulness. Liber- ality toward such institutions is repaid a thousand-fold by the improvement wrought in the growing minds of the young, who must soon take the places left vacant by the dropping-away of former leaders. The buildings are finely located, and from them an extended view of the city and surrounding country is afforded.
The present Trustees and Faculty are here given : Trustees-Hon. J. M. Beck. President ; Hon. A. C. Dodge, Vice President ; Hon. T. W. Newman, Secretary ; F. T. Parsons, Esq., Treasurer. Faculty-L. E. Wortman, A. B., Principal and Professor of Latin, Greek, etc .; Miss C. DeW. Hague, Pre- ceptress and Teacher of Mathematics, English Language and Literature, etc .; Mrs. Marie Sprenger. Teacher of Modern Languages ; Louis Richard, Profes- sor of Instrumental Music; Mrs. L. W. Williams, Teacher of Music.
The college edifice is of brick, three stories high and beautifully situated in an ample campus. Including endowments, this property is worth in the vicinity of $85,000. A commodious building was erected last year, which contains refectory and janitor's rooms, principal's apartments, etc. The erection of this
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building has made boarding accommodations for fifty pupils. Good board is furnished at the low rate of from $2.00 to $2.25 per week. Tuition is fur- nished at low rates, no extra charge being made for the languages. A high grade of work is being done, the thoroughness and efficiency of which is stead- ily bringing the school up in the estimation of its patrons and the public gen- erally. Although this school bears the modest name of College Institute, it is working with the hope and prospect of being able, at no distant date, to do the work of a college, and of assuming its chartered name. The citizens of Bur- lington and vicinity ought to take hold of this Institute, with its ample grounds, with its present endowment and enviable reputation, and make it a first-class college. At least, more attention should be given to this institute of learning, and put it still farther up in the grade of educational prominence in our State. It only wants the combined efforts of some of our public spirited men, and the donations of the liberal citizens of this part of Iowa, to cause it to climb the ladder of promotion, until it reaches that creditable eminence in Burlington, of being a college of high capacity and rank.
PRIVATE SCHOOLS AND EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS.
Allen's Burlington Business College was organized by Bryant & Stratton, in 1865. The full business course includes bookkeeping, commercial arith- metic, commercial law and political economy, business correspondence, pen- manship and a course in the practical department. The College is now con- ducted by Mr. W. P. Allen and is open to both sexes.
The German-American School was organized in February, 1866, and run quite successfully for ten years, after which it was discontinued. Miss Wree now keeps a private school in the room formerly occupied by the above-named institution.
There are several private schools maintained, independent of church organ- izations or the public system. The "Conservatory of Music " is well patron- ized, and is a credit to the city.
EARLY EDUCATIONAL ENACTMENTS.
As interesting reminders of the first steps toward the development of edu- cational interests in Burlington and Des Moines County, we condense from the old session laws the following bills :
The Philandrian College, in the town of Denmark, was incorporated by an act of the Legislature, approved January 19, 1838, and the following Trustees were appointed : Rev. Jeremiah Porter, Samuel Barrett, James P. Stewart, Robert A. Leeper, Timothy Fox, Lewis Epps and H. M. Dixon.
An act was approved January 19, 1838, establishing in the town of Bur- lington an institution of learning, for youth of both sexes, to be called " The Burlington Seminary," with George W. Hight, Jesse P. Webber, Jonathan J. King, William R. Ross, John Parson, Hiram C. Bennett, Jeremiah Lamson, Isaac Leffler and James Dyer as corporators.
" The Union Seminary of Des Moines County," a school for the youth of both sexes, was established by an act of the Legislature, which was approved January 19, 1838, with a board of incorporators consisting of William Morgan, Stephen Gearheart, Solomon Perkins, Israel Robinson, Henry Walker, John B. Berry and David R. Chance.
In June, 1838, the " Burlington Academy of Science and Literature " was opened by J. P. Stewart, in the " spacious upper rooms of the building formerly occupied by Mr. C. Neally as a storeroom."
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HISTORY OF DES MOINES COUNTY.
The same month, Miss L. W. Gay opened a select school for young ladies in Burlington.
An act was approved by the Council and House of Representatives of the Territory of Iowa, on the 23d of January, 1839, for the incorporation of a seminary of learning in science and literature, for youth of both sexes, in the town of Burlington, Des Moines County. Charles Mason, George Temple, William H. Starr, James P. Stewart, George H. Beeler, William B. Remey, James W. Grimes, Jeremiah Lamson, John S. David, Augustus C. Dodge, Ver Planck Van Antwerp, Enos Lowe, James Clark, David Rorer, Gilbert Knapp and S. S. Rawson, and associates and successors were declared a body politic and corporate in law, under the name of "The Burlington Academy." " The Union Academy, of Des Moines County," was established in Town 69, Range 3 west, in Des Moines County, on the 23d of January, 1839. William Morgan, Stephen Gearheart, Solomon Perkins, Israel Robinson, Henry Walker, John B. Berry and David R. Chance were the corporators.
" The Augusta Academy," an institution of learning for both sexes, was established at Augusta, January 23, 1839. The corporators were John Whit- aker, Levi Moffit, William Smith, Berryman G. Wells, Joseph Edwards, George Hepner, Y. L. Hughes, Francis Redding, Joshua Holland, Isaac Basey, Daniel Harty, William Buchanan and John O. Smith.
The Burlington Mechanics' Institute was incorporated on the 25th of Jan- uary, 1844. The object of this Institute was to improve its members in literature, the sciences, arts and morals ; the establishment of a reading-room, cabinets of geological, mineralogical, botanical and other specimens; the endowment and support of a school for the children of indigent mechanics and others, and to advance the social, intellectual and moral condition of its members generally. The corporators were George Temple, James McKell, Silas A. Hudson, Anthony W. Carpenter, Morgan Evans, John L. Corse and Jacob K. Field.
" The Jefferson Academy " was established in Yellow Springs Township, February 7, 1844. Its corporators were Frederick Heizer, James Bruce, Levi Anderson, Thomas Blair, A. L. Leonard, Joshua Heizer, James Hukill, John Anderson and P. B. Bell.
PUBLIC LIBRARY.
The Burlington Public Library is not a free public library, supported by general taxation, but the property of an incorporated association. The first meeting with a view to the establishment of this institution was held at Union Hall on the 22d day of February, 1868, when it was resolved and encouraged by the offer of $5,000 for the object, by Hon. J. W. Grimes, to organize an association, for the purpose of founding a public library. At an adjourned meeting held on the 7th day of March, 1868, Articles of Incorporation were adopted and the following-named Trustees elected, viz., C. H. Phelps, J. J. Owen, Phillip Harvey, James Putman, William Salter, J. W. White, W. B. Chamberlain, J. S. Schramm and J. C. Peasley. Temporary quarters were secured in Marion Hall, but the active existence of the library dates from September, 1868, when 2,000 volumes, presented by Mr. Grimes, were placed upon the shelves. After several removals, the Association finally, in Septem- ber, 1876, took possession of its present very accessible and beautiful room in Mr. S. H. Jones' block, corner of Fourth and Jefferson streets. The number of volumes now on the shelves is 6,670, which have cost $9,104.16. The periodicals have cost $682.28. The furniture and fixtures have cost $890. The present officers of the Association are as follows: J. S. Schramm, Pres- ident ; J. C. Peasley, Treasurer ; J. B. Fuller, Secretary and Librarian. The
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original permanent membership was about three hundred. The present Trus- tees of the Association are : J. S. Schramm, J. C. Peasley, J. B. Fuller, J. G. Foote, L. H. Dalhoff, John Darling, Thomas Hedge, Jr., William Salter and .J. W. Blyth.
RELIGIOUS HISTORY OF BURLINGTON.
In the fall of 1833. William R. Ross built a cabin for religious and day school purposes. This was the first building erected solely for such uses in Southern Iowa. The cabin stood a little southwest of what is now the park. In the winter of 1833-34, the cabin was occupied as a residence, by the Phil- ips family ; and in the spring, a young man named Zadoc C. Inghram, opened therein the first day school in Burlington.
In February, 1834, Peter Cartwright, Presiding Elder of the Northern Dis- trict of Illinois, held a quarterly meeting at Mr. Pierce's, which was about twenty miles east of Burlington. W. R. Ross sent a letter to the venerable preacher asking for a supply at Burlington. Rev. Peter licensed a young man named Barton G. Cartwright, to go there and preach. The new man procured a team of oxen, and in March, 1834, he arrived at Mr. Ross' house. Young Cartwright was willing to work and pay his own way; so Mr. Ross hired him to break thirty acres of prairie. During the week, he labored with his oxen, while on Sundays he preached in the log cabin already spoken of. Because of this double duty, the people in the Hoosier settlement, whither he also went to preach occasionally, or to hold prayer-meetings, gave him the title of "Ox- driver Preacher."
About the 1st of April, Asa McMurtry was the second preacher that called at Burlington. He was on his way to Rock Island, as a missionary to that mission. He was traveling by steamboat, and stopped two or three days.
During this same spring, at a two-days meeting, held in Dr. Ross' wood- land pasture, just back of the public square, the venerable Peter Cartwright formed a class, composed of six members, of which Dr. Ross was made leader. About the 1st of May, W. D. R. Trotter, who preached at the Henderson River Mission, and was called the " trotting preacher " by the Indians, held services at Burlington for a few days.
When Peter Cartwright returned from Galena, and the upper part of his mission, he stopped at Rock Island to preach to the Sacs and Foxes. Mr. McMurtry joined him, and returned with him to Burlington, to hold a two-days meeting in company with Barton G. and Daniel Cartwright. Mr. Ross asked Peter how he had succeeded with the Indians at Rock Island. The " fighting parson " " replied that he could do nothing with them, for " they were under the influence of the devil, alias old Davenport."
Mr. Ross remarked to the writer: "In my pasture, near my residence, a lynn tree had been blown partially down, with the bend of the tree about as high as my head. Upon this tree we made a stand for the preacher, and after those service were concluded, we formed a class of half a dozen members. I was chosen Class-Leader."
In the summer of 1834, James H. Jameson, of the Missouri M. E. Confer- ence, came to Iowa as a missionary to the Sacs and Foxes, to ascertain the prospects of establishing schools among them. Mr. Ross interceded for him with Keokuk, but the chief said he would have to go to St. Louis, and see Gen. Clark, the Superintendent, before he could give an answer. As Mr. Jameson could receive no satisfactory response from the Indian, he preached at Mr. Ross' house, and also in the country, and then returned home.
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HISTORY OF DES MOINES COUNTY.
In the summer of 1834, Mr. Ross organized the first Sunday school in Iowa, furnishing a library from Cincinnati at a cost of $12.50. He taught the school himself. As the population increased, a new library was needed ; the old one was donated to Mount Pleasant, where a school had been organized, and a new lot of books, costing $25, was put in. Of those denominations who joined in the work of maintaining the school, Mr. Ross remembers Mr. and Mrs. J. Edwards, W. H. Star (then a lawyer), of the Congregational faith ; George Partridge (who became a wholesale merchant of St. Louis), of the Unitarian faith ; David Rorer, of the Presbyterian faith ; John B. Gray, of the Baptist faith. Mr. Newhall and Dr. John Campbell are warmly spoken of in this con- nection, also.
The day school was taught by Mrs. Shelton and Mrs. Mayfield; and after the Old Zion M. E. Church was built, Rev. E. M. Scott, the tallest man in the neighborhood, lived in the basement of the church and taught school therein. Afterward, a man named Townsend taught.
In the winter of 1834-35, L. B. Stateler, of the Missouri M. E. Confer- ence, whose mission was on the Des Moines River, preached in Burlington once every four weeks. In the spring of 1835, Andrew Monroe, Presiding Elder of the Missouri Conference, accompanied by some others, went to Bur- lington and held a quarterly meeting. In the fall of 1835, the Missouri Con- ference formed the Burlington Circuit and appointed John H. Ruble preacher in charge. The circuit included all of the territory south of Rock Island to the Missouri line, and west to the Missouri River. In May, 1836, Mr. Ruble died, and Peter Bovin preached his funeral sermon. Wilson Pitner then sup- plied the charge for a brief time. In the fall of that year, the Illinois Con- ference took charge of the Burlington Church, as Peter Cartwright asserted that the Missouri Conference had " jumped his claim." The Illinois Confer- ence made all of Iowa one district, with Henry Summers Presiding Elder, and Norris Hobart preacher at Burlington. In the fall of 1837, Mr. Ross went to Jacksonville, Ill., where the Annual Conference was in session, to procure a stationed minister for Burlington, and by the aid of Peter Cartwright and Jesse L. Green, who introduced him to Bishop Soule, he obtained Nicholas S. Bastion. The next year, the station was given up. Mr. McMurtry had charge of the circuit in 1838. In 1839, Asa West was in charge; in 1840, Joel Arrington was the preacher. In 1841, Burlington was again made a station and supplied by Isaac I. Stewart. A portion of the year 1841 Mr. Whitford was in charge. In the winter of 1842-43, there was a revival under his direction which lasted three weeks. One hundred and sixty members were added to the Church.
At a camp-meeting held at New London, Henry County, under the charge of Henry Summers, Presiding Elder, there was an accession to the Church of upward of one hundred.
An amusing incident may, perhaps, be here introduced, while we are writ- ing of the early Methodist settlers, although the anecdote is not, strictly speak- ing, of a local nature.
Dr. George W. Teas had formerly been in the traveling connection with the M. E. Church, and held license as an Elder. In the spring of 1836, he settled near Burlington. The fall of that year found the Doctor fully launched on the sea of politics, as a candidate for a seat in the lower branch of the Territory of Wisconsin, from Des Moines County. He was successful, and served in the Legislature which convened at Belmont in the winter of 1836. But, alas, his success in politics, as is too often the case, proved his downfall in spiritual mat- ters. During that session. some brother in the church criticised, with some
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severity, his political course, which called forth from the Doctor a publication in one of the newspapers, stating in substance that he had been wounded in the house of his friends, and closing with the following lines :
" Be it known from shore to shore That I'm a Methodist no more."
In the year 1837, the Doctor became a resident of Mount Pleasant and engaged in the practice of law. Finally, in 1843, he recovered his former bearing, and joined the church on probation. In December, he was licensed to preach. When the Doctor united a second time with the church, some en- emy of his noticed the fact in the papers, and closed by saying :
" Know ye from Florida to Maine That I'm a Methodist again."
The Doctor ever afterward maintained his Christian integrity, joining the traveling connection and filling several important churches. He died at Wash- ington, Iowa, early in the sixties.
On the 20th of June, 1858, Rev. William Salter, Pastor of the Congre- gational Church, delivered an historical sermon in the city of Burlington. The discourse was published in the Hawk-Eye of July 28, 1858. It is valu- able for many reasons, but especially on account of the date of its delivery. Twenty years ago one could obtain information much more readily than now, because of the presence of many who have since passed away. The sermon treats of the " Progress of Religion in Iowa," but deals particularly with Burlington. We make such extracts from the discourse as apply to the development of religious interests in Burlington and vicinity.
"We owe, to our Methodist brethren the earliest introduction of Christian institutions in Iowa. They followed close upon the steps of the hardy pioneers who first ventured upon our soil. So far as I have been able to learn, the first Methodist minister, and the preacher of the first sermon in Burlington, was Barton G. Cartwright, a local preacher from Illinois. He is said to have been sent over here by the eccentric backwoods preacher, Peter Cartwright, who was at that time Presiding Elder of the Quincy District, Illinois, which embraced all of that State lying west of the Illinois River. This was in 1834. The same year a Methodist class was formed, of which Dr. W. R. Ross, an active Christian and a man of public spirit, was appointed leader. A Methodist class was also formed that year, in Dubuque, composed of four persons. Peter Cartwright, his son-in-law, W. D. R. Trotter, who was then preaching on the Henderson River Mission, embracing the country in Illinois opposite to this vicinity, and Asa McMurtry held a two-days meeting here, in the summer of 1834. In his autobigraphy, Mr. Cartwright says (page 302): 'There were then only a few cabins in the place, and but a scattered population. The cab- ins were small, and not one would hold the people. We repaired to a grove (said to have been in the vicinity of the public square, North Hill), and hastily
prepared seats. Years before this, an old tree had fallen across a young sap- ling, and bent it near the earth. The sapling was not killed. and the top of it shot up straight beside the tree that had fallen on it, and it had grown for years in this condition. The old tree had been cut off, and they scalped the bark from that part of the sapling which lay parallel with the ground. They drove a stake down, and nailed a board to it, and to the top of the sapling that grew erect. This was my hand-board, and I stood on that part of the sapling that lay near to and level with the ground. This was my pulpit, from which I declared the unspeakable riches of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And we had a good meeting.'
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HISTORY OF DES MOINES COUNTY.
" Old Zion was the first Methodist house of worship, and the first of any Protestant denomination built in Iowa. It was erected in 1838. Meetings were held at various places previously ; among others, in a house on Columbia street, and in a log house on Main street, near the corner of Valley street.
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