USA > Illinois > Cook County > Chicago > Historical review of Chicago and Cook county and selected biography, Volume I > Part 15
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of his learning, but especially in the field of comparative theology. Professor Harper was a great, strong man, and a deep, lovable char- acter, an American ideal of a university president, and the $22,000,000 which John D. Rockefeller has piled into the treasury of the Uni- versity of Chicago since its organization eighteen years ago is largely a tribute to the personal worth of its late lamented president.
On July 11, 1891, the executors and trustees of the estate of William B. Ogden announced that seventy per cent of the portion devoted to benevolent purposes was donated to the University of Chi- cago, and it is expected that from this source half a million dollars will eventually be realized for the Ogden School of Sciences. Thus does one of the founders of the old Chicago University hand down his name and influence to the new and greater institution. Work on the first building was commenced November 26, 1891, and when the university was opened to students, October Ist of the following year, its structures consisted of Cobb Lecture Hall and the graduate and divinity dormitories. Mr. Rockefeller's original donation of $600,000 was followed by his gift of $1,000,000, by which the boy's academy at Morgan Park was established and the Baptist Union Theological Seminary became the university's divinity school. In December, 1895, Miss Helen Culver of Chicago presented the tini- versity with property valued at $1,000,000, the entire fund to be devoted to biological sciences. The College for Teachers, now the University College, was established in 1898, and March 19, 1901. President Harper made announcements to the following effect: That the Collegiate Institute, founded by Mrs. Emmons Blaine, was to be the University School (School of Education) ; that the South Side Academy was to be one of the secondary institutions, and, with the Chicago Manual Training School, would be connected with the Uni- versity School of Education, and that the two combined preparatory schools would be designated the University High School. At the be- ginning of the academic year 1901-2 the freshman and sophomore years of Rush Medical College were transferred to the university, and in October, 1902, the university law school was founded, .\t the death of President Harper, in 1906, Dr. Harry Pratt Judson was chosen acting president, and on February 20, 1907, succeeded to the full title. In the discussion of Dr. Harper's successor, several 'cading educators were mentioned who had not heretofore been con-
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nected with the constructive work of the university; but Dr. Pratt Judson had been one of the original faculty, as head professor of political science and dean of the faculties of arts, literature and science. He had evinced his abilities not only as a profound scholar, but as a broad and practical administrator of university affairs, and during Dr. Harper's last illness had faithfully and successfully carried many heavy burdens upon his shoulders. The final decision of the management, by which he became premanent head of the university, was generally deemed an act of wisdom, justice and gratitude.
The activities of the University of Chicago are now so broad and complex that it is impossible to more than hint at their character. Its score of huge buildings on the Midway Plaisance cover twenty- four' acres of ground, being generally constructed of limestone in the Gothic style. It has more than five thousand students (nearly half from Illinois), and the university is broadly divided into gradu- ate, law, medical and divinity schools, senior and junior colleges and the School of Education. The university management has always paid much attention to the physical culture feature of education, both men and women being included in its benefits. Bartlett gymna- sium, Marshall field, and smaller grounds for outdoor sports and ex- ercise, have given the University of Chicago a high reputation for turning students into the world who are physically strong and de- pendable. Its educational scheme also includes a paternal solicitude for thousands of ambitious and poor students, many of whom have supported themselves while pursuing their studies. The employment bureau connected with the university furnishes such pupils with about $30,000 worth of work yearly, their employment being in such insti- tutions as department and shoe stores, newspaper offices and the post- office. The university educates through such departments as those of philosophy, political economy, sociology, history, mathematics, household administration, the sciences, and languages and literature; but its work is far broader, and therein it becomes an exponent of the modern university idea. Its mental extension work is prosecuted through its publications, its lectures and its correspondence study de- partment. Original researches by its faculty in science, history, phil- osophy and all other fields of scholarship, and explorations to the orient and other ancient countries, have carried its name to the educated of many lands. But one of the greatest features of the
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university work is at home, and may be called a phase of its moral extension. It centers around the University settlement in the south- west corner of the stock yards district. In that poor and stifling quarter it forms and conducts among the unfortunate classes study- hour groups, kindergarten classes, dramatic clubs; opens library and social rooms; encourages economy by introducing penny savings banks; furnishes the ignorant with redress through such organiza- tions as the Legal Aid Society, and tones the physiques of tired workers by founding gymnasiums in the small city parks and in other localities. This phase of extension work is a part of the modern idea as to what constitutes the province of the modern university. and is most creditably illustrated in the Chicago institution.
Chicago has also a number of professional schools unconnected with any university, and two technical schools of the first class, which are also independent institutions-Armour Institute and Lewis In- stitute. The name of the Armour family, as identified with the moral and educational benefactions of Chicago, was first consecrated by Joseph F. Armour, younger brother of Philip D., and a man of strong and lovable traits of character. At his death he bequeathed ARMOUR INSTITUTE. $100,000 as a foundation for the Armour mission A strong bond of affection existed between the brothers, and Philip D., who was the executor of the estate of the deceased, not only founded the mission upon his brother's bequest, but more than doubled the amount from his private means. He erected the Armour flats, on Armour avenue, which have proved a large source of constant revenue in support of the family benevolences, but in 1892 personally furnished the means for the founding of Armour Institute, at the corner of Thirty- third street and Armour avenue. With Dr. Frank W. Gunsaulus, its active president from the first, he was the great personal power behind its development into one of the greatest technical schools in the country. now enrolling eighteen hundred students and having ninety teachers on its faculty. Its main building is a large five-story structure, at the locality named, and the central feature of its organization is a technical college, giving a four years' course in mechanical, elec- trical and civil engineering, and empowered to grant degrees like other similar institutions. It is provided with well equipped labora- tories, an extensive library (twenty thousand volumes ) and a fine
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gymnasium, its outdoor athletics being conducted on Ogden field- the grounds named being presented by J. Ogden Armour. Its depart- ments also embrace an academy, or preparatory school, and schools of music and architecture. With the growth of the institute its work has expanded into several of the Armour flats, and two of its depart- ments are conducted in distant parts of the city. The artistic and technical branches of the architectural course are conducted at the Art Institute, while the technical work of the course in fire protec- tion engineering is pursued at the Underwriters' laboratory, on East Ohio street, north side. Armour Institute also provides evening classes and summer schools for those whose duties prevent them from pursuing regular day courses, or who desire to perfect themselves in certain specialties. During his lifetime Philip D. Armour expended some $4,000,000 upon the institute, and in April, 1901, his widow and son presented it with $1,000,000.
The main building of the Armour Institute was completed in 1892 and the work of instruction begun in September, 1893. In the College of Engineering four years' courses in mechanical and elec- trical engineering were first organized, and soon afterward a union was effected with the Art Institute for the purpose of developing the _ course in architecture, by which was established its School of Archi- tecture. In 1899 the course in civil engineering was added, in 1901 that of chemical engineering and in 1903 that of fire protection en- gineering. The engineering courses all lead to the degree of Bachelor of Science. In September, 1902, the institute completed a ยท massive four-story building, machinery hall, whose name is sufficiently de- scriptive of its purposes. Other buildings are the assembly and din- ing halls, the latter being a red brick structure at the north end of Ogden field. In view of the unusual development of Armour Insti- tute and its great prominence as an educator of young men, an offi- cial statement of its aims is here presented in an extract from its first public announcement : "This institution is founded for the purpose of giving to young men an opportunity to secure liberal education. It is hoped that its benefits may reach all classes. It is not intended for the poor or rich, as sections of society, but for any and all who are earnestly seeking technical education. Its aim is broadly philan- thropic. Profoundly realizing the importance of self-reliance as a factor in the development of character, the founder has conditioned
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his benefactions in such a way as to emphasize both their value and the student's self-respect. The institute is not a free school; but its charges for instruction are in harmony with the spirit which ani- mates alike the founder, the trustees and the faculty, namely, the de- sire to help those who wish to help themselves."
The Lewis Institute on the west side occupies much the same field as Armour Institute, with the difference that provision is made
LEWIS INSTITUTE. for the education of girls and women, both in the literary and domestic courses. Eclectic courses are -also offered, making the Lewis Institute the virtual union of a literary, scientific and technical school. At the conclusion of the preparatory course, or entrance from an accredited high school, it offers either literary or scientific work for two years; or an en- gineering course to the degree of M. E .; or an engineering training, during the first two years, with literary or scientific branches during the balance of the course; or the literary student may pursue some line of work not strictly in his course. This latitude of choice is cal- culated to turn out broad-minded students, and, if they are undecided as to the future, it enables them to make a thorough investigation and a test of individual abilities and tastes. The institute grants the degree of Mechanical Engineer for four years of college work, the title of Associate in Arts for a two years' course, and the acad- emy certificate for four years in the academy.
Lewis Institute is the posthumous creation of Allen C. Lewis, a generous, thoughtful and benevolent hardware merchant of Chicago. The last years of his life were spent in a search for health in this country and abroad, and as his thoughts dwelt more and more upon the ambition to donate some permanent benevolence to posterity he took into his confidence and counsel his sympathetic brother, John Lewis. The last three years of the invalid's life were spent in Holland, Belgium and France, and in these countries, even more than in the United States, he witnessed the bitter struggle for existence among those who had enjoyed no special training in the mastery of practical vocations. In the case of young women, this truth impressed him with especial force. Upon his return to Chicago the plan of founding an educa- tional institute to meet this demand commenced to take definite shape, and, with the death of his wife, child and other near relatives, noth-
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ing stood in the way of devoting virtually his entire fortune to its realization. At his death in 1876 he thus disposed of nearly his en- tire estate, valued at $600,000, his will providing for the investment of that sum until it should be increased to at least $800,000. In 1894 the trustees appointed by the bequest found an available fund of nearly three times the amount of the original gift, and after some difficulty secured the present site on the southeast corner of Robey and Madison streets. With an abundance of working funds the erection of the building and the development of the educational scheme progressed rapidly, few institutions of the kind in the coun- try being able to show so marked a growth in a lifetime of little more than a decade. The institute was opened in September, 1896. Its departments of electrical engineering and household economics are especially strong, and it has a fine library of about 15,000 volumes and 1,000 pamphlets. Books are loaned only to students, but the reading room is thrown open to the public. George N. Carman has been director from the first. The total number of students is now 2,598, of whom 1,262 belong to the evening and 1,336 to the day classes. Of the college students (319), 128 are men connected with the engineering department and 131, both men and women, with the department of science and arts. The academy students number 827 and the summer pupils 190.
Armour Institute and Lewis Institute are fine illustrations of an- other modern development of the educational scheme-that by which men and women are made cultured members of society, but masters of the practical work upon which it rests. The Public library, the Crerar library, the Newberry library, the great universities, and to a large extent all the other institutions mentioned, all have their in- fluence on the practical activities of life, elevating them to a higher plane, and consecrating labor through the education of the intellect, the imagination and the heart.
Music, as an educational influence, has manifested itself in many forms in Chicago. The Chicago Harmonic Society of 1835 was
MUSICAL short-lived, and although for fifteen years after- CULTURE. ward various organizations for the cultivation of
vocal and instrumental talents were formed, it was not until the German element had acquired considerable strength that a society of this character was supported enthusiastically and sub-
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stantially. In 1850 Julius Dyrenfurth founded the Philharmonic So- ciety which, for a number of years, was a favorite with lovers of music. In the early fifties Jenny Lind, Christine Nilsson, Adelina Patti, Ole Bull and others scarcely less noted, sustained and strength- ened the local enthusiasm, and soon afterward Frank Lumbard com- menced to organize societies and choirs as a Chicago leader in the field. He is best remembered. however, as the singer of patriotic songs and the organizer of concerts during the Civil war. In the summer of 1871 Crosby's Grand Opera House, standing on the site of what was afterward Central Music Hall, was transformed into one of the finest temples of art. music and the drama in the country. and extensive preparations were made to open the season, on the evening of October 9th, with a series of grand symphony and popu- lar concerts by Theodore Thomas and his orchestra of sixty pieces. The world knows what happened that day; at night the beautiful opera house was a fragment of the Chicago ruins. On the 7th of October, of the following year, however, the Thomas Orchestra opened the Aiken theater, on Wabash avenue and Congress street, the second house of amusement to be erected after the great fire. and in 1874 Central Music Hall arose on the site of the Crosby Opera House. The latter was somewhat a misnomer, as the hall was devoted more to lectures and religious services than to concerts. General steps in the progress of music in Chicago are marked by such events as the Peace Jubilee concerts of 1873, led by Gilmore's band, with a musical background of one thousand voices; the sev- enty-second saengerfest of the North American Saengerbund ( 1881). under the direction of Hans Balatka, one of the most famous leaders and violinists in the country, and the May festivals of 1882 and 1884. The latter, conducted by Theodore Thomas, in the old expo- sition building on the lake front, constituted an era in the musical THEODORE THOMAS history of Chicago, as they demonstrated not only the grand flexibilities of orchestral combinations. ORCHESTRA. but the impressive beauties of massed human voices and the wonders of such artists as Anna Louise Cary, Madame Materna and Campanini. William L. Tomlins, as a choral leader, and Clarence Eddy, as organist, were also established for all time in the hearts of Chicagoans; but it was Theodore Thomas who henceforth became the greatest and most revered musical edu
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cator in Chicago and the west. When the Auditorium hall was dedi- cated December 9, 1889, the outpouring in honor of the elevated cause which he represented was the impressive and brilliant climax of what had already been acknowledged as a national event. Present at the opening of this, the grandest of all the world's edifices de- voted to music and drama, were Benjamin Harrison, president of the United States; the governor of Illinois, Joseph W. Fifer; the mayor of Chicago, DeWitt C. Cregier; Ferdinand W. Peck, the founder of the temple; Adelina Patti, Frederick Grant Gleason, W. L. Tomlins and Theodore Thomas. Here were foremost representa- tives of the power of the state, and masters of the harmonies, sci- ence and technique of music, in their highest impersonations. It was the strongest object lesson which Chicago had ever given to the country at large that it had become a great musical center of the nation. From this time for years, the Auditorium became the head- quarters of the Thomas Orchestra, and the electric generator of a superb inspiration which not only was a constant power during the life of its noble founder and leader, but the current has been passed onward in its full intensity through the management of Frederick Stock, Mr. Thomas' friend, assistant and disciple. Theodore Thomas died March 4, 1905. He lived to see the raising of a grand popular subscription (amounting to $750,000) for the establishment of his orchestra, and his last acts as a conductor were in connection with the dedication of the beautiful hall which has since been its home. Sixty of the seventy years of his life were passed in America, and, in the words of one of his long-time Chicago friends, "It is easily within bounds to say that no other musician during these years has done so much as he for the development of musical taste in the United States."
Eliphalet Wickes Blatchford, for more than half a century a prominent business man of Chicago and a leader, as well, in the de-
E. W. velopment and conduct of many institutions of en-
nobling influence, is now retired from the most BLATCHFORD.
burdensome of the broad activities in which he was so long one of the energetic forces. His keen, practical insight, his sound judgment, and his disinterested counsel are still valued and generally utilized, and his personality is strong, inspiring and ele- vating.
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Mr. Blatchford was educated with the law in view, and but for the accident of ill health in his early manhood would undoubtedly have made a mark in that field, as his mind is eminently logical and judicial. He is a native of New York, born at Stillwater, on the 3Ist of May, 1826, and is a son of Rev. Dr. John and Frances (Wickes) Blatchford. Ile is also a grandson of Samuel Blatchford. D. D., who came from Devonshire, England, to New York in 1795. He himself commenced a preparation for a professional career first at Lansingburgh Academy, New York, and then at Marion College, Missouri, finally graduating at Illinois College, Jacksonville, Illinois, in the class of 1845. from which college in later years lie received the degree of LL. D. After graduating he was employed for sev- eral years in the New York law offices of his uncles, R. M. and E. H. Blatchford, men of distinction in their profession, but his health becoming precarious on account of the confining office work, he re- linquished his plans of professional life and returned to the west in 1850, and engaged in the manufacture of lead in St. Louis. After a time he associated himself with Morris Collins, of that city, and in 1854 the firm of Blatchford & Collins founded a branch of their prospering business in Chicago. Mr. Blatchford assumed the man- agement of the business in this city, and with the dissolution of the firm a few years afterward became a permanent resident of Chicago. This was the commencement of an extensive manufactory of lead pipe, sheet lead and shot, and linseed oil, to which other related manufacturers were added. Since his retirement from the active management of the business, Mr. Blatchford's younger brother, Na- thaniel H., has been at the head of its affairs.
From being a stanch Whig in his earlier manhood, Mr. Blatcli- ford graduated to Republicanism, at the formation of that party in 1856, and during the period of the Civil war was among the most patriotic of Chicago's many patriotic citizens. A large portion of his time was devoted to the northwestern branch of the United States Sanitary Commission, of which he served as treasurer during the war. The broad scope of his usefulness is indicated by an enumera- tion of the offices which his fellows have called upon him to fill : Trustee of Illinois College (1866-75) ; president of the Chicago .Acad- emy of Sciences; member and for seventeen years president of the board of trustees of the Chicago Eye and Ear Infirmary; trustee of
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the Chicago Art Institute; executor and trustee of the estate of the late Walter L. Newberry, and since its incorporation, president of the board of trustees of the Newberry library; trustee of the John Cre- rar library; one of the founders and president of the board of trus- tees of the Chicago Manual Training School; life member of the Chicago Historical Society; for nearly forty-two years president of the board of directors of the Chicago Theological Seminary; during his residence in Chicago an officer of the New England Congrega- tional church; a corporate member of the American Board of Com- missioners for Foreign Missions, and from 1885 to 1898 its vice president ; a charter member of the Chicago City Missionary Society, and of the Congregational Club of Chicago, and a member of the Chicago, Union League, University, Literary and Commercial clubs, of which last he has been president.
On October 7, 1858, Mr. Blatchford was united in marriage with Miss Mary Emily Williams, daughter of John C. Williams, an old and honored resident of Chicago, and the seven children born to them are as follows: Paul, Amy (married Rev. Howard S. Bliss, D. D.), Frances May, Edward Williams, Florence, Charles Ham- mond and Eliphalet Huntington.
On the 19th of October, 1889, died John Crerar, successful mer- chant and cultured gentleman, a Chicago citizen who left behind him
neither wife nor children to inherit his fortune. In-
JOHN CRERAR. stead, he bequeathed a million and a half of dollars to various institutions of a religious, historical and literary character, aside from the four million for a free public li- brary. But, although he left no direct relatives, it was not in his nature to forget his mother's cousins in New York and his numer- ous friends. They were remembered in countless acts of affection and practical helpfulness during his lifetime, and at his death found that he had bestowed upon them the princely sum of $600,000. Chi- cago and many Chicagoans have reached a higher plane of life through the rich character and the wisely bestowed riches of john Crerar.
Mr. Crerar was born in New York in 1827, his father being a native of Scotland who died in the American metropolis when the son was only a few months old. Little of his early life in New York City has come down to the local historian, but it is known that a
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