USA > Illinois > McLean County > The good old times in McLean County, Illinois : containing two hundred and sixty-one sketches of old settlers, a complete historical sketch of the Black Hawk war and descriptions of all matters of interest relating to McLean County > Part 6
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St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, Rev. T. N. Morrison, pas- tor, is on the corner of Washington and West streets. It was organized July 31, 1853. It now numbers about one hundred and fifty members. The Sunday-school was organized about the same time as the church and numbers about one hundred and forty members.
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BLOOMINGTON.
The Christian Church, Rev. J. H. MeCullough, pastor, is lo- cated at 401 West Jefferson street. It is strong and flourishing. The Sunday-school, superintended by M. Swann, numbers one hundred and sixty scholars and thirteen teachers. The Mission School of the Christian Church meets at the corner of South Grove and Vine streets, and numbers one hundred and ten scholars and ten teachers.
The First Congregational Church, Rev. J. M. Baugh, pastor, meets at Schroeder's Opera House. It numbers eighty members. The Sunday-school, superintended by S. D. Gaylord, has thir- teen teachers and one hundred and fifty scholars.
The Free Congregational Church, Rev. C. C. Burleigh, pastor, is located on the corner of East and Jefferson streets. It was organized in 1859, and has one hundred members. The Sunday-school, superintended by Thomas Metcalf, has one hun- dred and ten scholars and eleven teachers.
The German Evangelical Lutheran Trinity Church, Rev. E. Mangelsdorf, pastor, meets at corner of Madison and Olive streets. The number of voting members is five hundred and seventy-five. The congregation is now building two day school houses, as the number of pupils at the day schools of this de- nomination amounts to one hundred and twenty-five. The Sun- day-school has about one hundred and fifty scholars.
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BLOOMINGTON HIGH SCHOOL.
BLOOMINGTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
THE public schools of Bloomington are a matter of just pride to its citizens. The willingness of the people to submit to many sacrifices for their children, and the interest they have taken in the cause of education, have made the schools efficient and given them a high standing. Until the year 1857 the public schools of Bloomington were managed under the common school system ; but during that year a Board of Education was organ- ized under an act of the Legislature. The board consisted of seven members, elected for two years, and possessed very full powers. But after the first of April, 1869, it was continued by electing two members in each of two years and three members every third year. It first met and organized in the office of O. T. Reeves, on the eighth of April, 1857. The members of the board were C. P. Merriman, O. T. Reeves, E. R. Roe, Eliel Barber, Samuel Gallagher, Henry Richardson, and R. O. War- riner. C. P. Merriman was made President; R. O. Warriner, Secretary, and O. T. Reeves, Treasurer. It was soon evident that the Board of Education meant to do something in the way of making the schools efficient and giving them a high stand- ing, for it immediately chose a board of three examiners into the qualifications of teachers, and a committee of three to ex- amine into the wants of the city with regard to school rooms. The latter committee reported it necessary to build school houses costing ten thousand dollars, and their report was adopted by the Board of Education, and measures were taken to carry it out. But some difficulty was experienced, as the City Council refused to levy the tax required for the schools. The Board of Education therefore, at the session in June, 1857, passed the following resolution :
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" Resolved, That the superintendent be instructed to employ Hon. A. Lincoln to take the necessary steps to procure from the Circuit Court a writ of mandamus to compel said City Council to levy the tax as required of them by section eight of said school law."
But the matter was finally settled without resorting to the courts. In 1857 the board decided to rent school houses in four of the districts, and some idea of the value of property at that time may be obtained from the prices paid as rent for these school houses. They rented houses as follows :
District No. 1 $45 per quarter.
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2 30
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3 20
4 30 66
The first superintendent of schools elected by the Board of Education was D. Wilkins, Jr., who was chosen in October, 1857. He seems to have acted very efficiently and to have understood his responsibilities. But the "hard times" were felt very severely, and in March, 1858, the wages of teachers in the lower grades were cut down to $35, $30 and $25. In July of the same year the High School was re-organized, with Mr. HI. Kellogg as principal, and in the following year Mr. Gilbert Thayer was elected superintendent of schools.
The government of the schools was early a subject of anxiety to the Board of Education, and on the second of March, 1859, it was
" Resolved, That this Board of Education disapprove of cor- poral punishment in our free schools."
In July following it was
" Resolved, That no teacher hereafter shall condemn or cen- sure any pupil until said pupil shall have the opportunity of being heard in his or her own defence, and that the language used by a teacher in administering discipline shall always be respectful and dignified."
On the twenty-ninth of June, 1868, Mr. Samuel M. Etter, of Kewanee, was unanimously chosen superintendent of the Bloom- ington schools. He filled his position with marked ability until October, 1872, when he resigned for the purpose of en-
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PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
gaging in other business. The following is the resolution passed by the Board of Education, accepting Mr. Etter's resig- nation :
" Resolved, That the resignation be accepted, to take effect on or before October 25th, and that we hereby declare our confi- dence in the ability of Mr. Etter as a manager of the many per- plexing details of a comprehensive school system ; and that in parting with him we desire hereby to assure him that he has the best wishes of this board for his success in his new field of labor."
On the thirty-first of August, Mr. B. P. Marsh, of Galesburg, was elected principal of the High School, which position he has filled with honor to the schools and credit to himself. IIe re- signed this position at the close of the school year in June, 1873, for the purpose of engaging in the practice of medicine. On the twenty-first of September, 1868, the Board of Edu- cation contracted with Packard. & Thomas to put up the High School building for $28,499. This was absolutely necessary, in order to accommodate the growing wants of the scholars.
On the twenty-ninth of May, 1871, it was resolved that the superintendent be instructed to report to the Board of Educa- tion a plan for the introduction of the German language as a branch of study in the public schools of the city. On the last of July following Mr. Etter reported that he had visited and corresponded with various parties at Davenport, Iowa; Rock Island, Chicago, and Beloit, Wis. ; and said that the teaching of German in the schools could be made successful. The com- mittee on teachers and course of instruction was directed to report a definite plan, and the superintendent was directed to correspond with a view of procuring a German teacher. On the twenty-fifth of September, 1871, Herr Von Loewenfells was appointed teacher of German in the various schools of the city, at a salary of $900 for eight months' work. On the twenty- seventh of November, 1871, Von Loewenfells resigned, and Rev. Mr. Deininger was appointed in his place, at 'a salary of $100 per month. On the third of June, 1872, Professor E. Duis was chosen teacher of German, and continued in that capacity until June, 1873.
On the nineteenth of October, 1872, S. D. Gaylord was
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elected superintendent of schools, and continues to fill this re- sponsible position with satisfaction to all.
In the city of Bloomington are ten school buildings, of which six are brick and four are frame. These buildings with their furniture have cost the city more than one hundred and seventy thousand dollars, and can accommodate more than twenty-seven hundred scholars. At the close of the year 1872 twenty-seven hundred and fifty-one scholars were enrolled in the city, and of these twenty-six hundred and thirty were in actual attendance. The colored school is open to pupils from all parts of Bloom- ington. The city is divided into eight school districts. The departments below the High School have ten separate grades. In the High School are three separate courses of study : the scientific, requiring four years, the classical, requiring five years and the course preparatory for college, requiring three years. In the scientific course great attention is paid to mathematics ; in the classical course hardly as much attention is given to math- ematics, but more than four years are given to Latin. In the course preparatory for college three years are given to Latin and two years to Greek. German is taught in the High School. English literature receives much attention and one entire year is devoted to it. The natural sciences are not neglected. One term is given to geology and two to physiology, botany and chemistry.
The members of the Bloomington Board of Education are : Samuel S. Parke, Jacob Jacoby, Cyreneus Wakefield, J. A. Jackman, K. H. Fell, E. M. Prince and B. P. Marsh.
The Superintendent of Schools is S. D. Gaylord. He was chosen Superintendent of the Bloomington Public Schools, Oc- tober 19, 1872. Mr. Gaylord was born of American parentage at Ashford, Conn., in 1833. He was the third in a family of seven boys, all of whom, with their parents, have been school teachers during some part of their lives. He received his edu- cation principally in the public schools and academies of New England. He educated himself, as his father, though in com- fortable circumstances, was not able to educate his large family. Mr. Gaylord graduated at the Connecticut Literary Institute at Suffield. He began to teach in district schools when eighteen years of age. He taught for three years in Mt. Hollis Seminary
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PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
at Holliston, Mass., and while there continued his studies under Prof. E. J. Cutter of Harvard College, until he completed the course required in that institution. He came to the West in the year 1858 in answer to a call from the Board of Education at Oshkosh, Wisconsin, to take charge of the free schools in that city. In 1861 he went to Sheboygan, Wis., where he became the superintendent of schools. In 1867 he received a call to the Milwaukee High School, which was being re-organized, and remained there two years; but failing health compelled his resignation. Some time afterwards he accepted a call to organize the public schools of Mineral Point, Wisconsin, but at the end of two years he found that entire rest from school room duties was necessary to restore his health, and therefore resigned his position and spent some time in traveling. On the nineteenth of October, 1872, he accepted the invitation of the Board of Edu- cation of Bloomington to take charge of the public schools in place of Mr. Etter, resigned. Mr. Gaylord has had twenty years of experience in teaching, and has always been promi- nently identified with educational movements and institute work. He was a member of the State Board of Examiners for state certificates in Wisconsin, and in 1866 was President of the Wis- consin State Teachers' Association.
B. P. MARSH.
B. P. Marsh was born 1841 in Nunda, New York; he ob- tained under difficulties an education which prepared him for his favorite study, that of medicine, which he has made his profession. He graduated from Knox College, Galesburg, in 1864. He has been principal of the High School during the past five years, longer than any one before, and has done much for the schools. While engaged here he has several times been offered professorships in educational institutions ; but as it is not his intention to spend his days in teaching, he resigned his position as principal of the High School in June, 1873, and com- menced the practice of medicine. He is now connected with Dr. H. B. Wright, with whom he has formed a partnership. IIe still takes an interest in educational matters and is a member of the Bloomington Board of Education.
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PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
SAMUEL M. ETTER.
Mr. Etter is not now in any way connected with the schools of Bloomington, but he filled the position of superintendent during a very important period, while nearly all of the school buildings used at present were constructed, and while various changes were made and modern improvements introduced. Something concerning his life is therefore called for by those who have taken an interest in the Bloomington schools. From a sketch published in the Illinois Teacher are taken the items for a short account of his life.
Mr. Etter was born May 16, 1830. His father was of Ger- man descent. He lived in Pennsylvania during the first ten years of his life and then went with his father's family to Ohio, where he exercised his youthful muscle on a farm. During the first fourteen or fifteen years of his life he received very little education, but determined to acquire knowledge at all hazards. At the age of sixteen he attended a boarding school at Twins- burg, Ohio, and walked fifty miles to get there. He succeeded in his studies of course, for such pluck as he showed was sure to win. When his money was exhausted he taught school to ob- tain more funds. Mr. Etter attended the High School at Mas- sillon, Ohio, and afterwards the college at Kalamazoo, Michigan. He taught school at Perrysburg, Ohio, at Lacon and at Galva, Illinois. Without discontinuing his school at the latter place, he was in 1861 elected County Superintendent of Henry County. In 1863 he was chosen President of the State Teachers' Associa- tion, which was held the following year at Joliet. In 1864 he received the degree of Master of Arts from Knox College, and during the same year was chosen Superintendent of Schools at Kewanee. In 1868 he was unanimously elected Superintendent of Public Schools of Bloomington, which position he held until October, 1872. Mr. Etter has been remarkably successful as a teacher wherever he has gone. He has the determination and good judgment which makes him successful and the pleasant manner and kind disposition which make him popular. He has been ever careful never to neglect his duties, and he certainly has the good will of all the old teachers and friends with whom he labored.
ILLINOIS WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY.
IN 1850, a number of the leading citizens of Bloomington agi- tated the subject of founding a university complete in all its departments. Illinois was felt to be a growing State, and these citizens were anxious that its educational advantages should be of the first order. It was decided that the university should be placed under the control of the Methodist Church. This was not done for the purpose of making it a sectarian institution, for science can never be made sectarian. It was felt that it should be placed in careful hands, where it would be likely to have good management ; and as the Methodist Church was then, as now, very large and influential, the care of the new univer- sity was confided to it. It was intended that its influence should be of a Christian character, but the students of all de- nominations should find a home within its halls. This idea has been faithfully carried out.
The first Board of Trustees organized under the general laws of the State on the second of December, 1850. Their names were Hon. Isaac Funk, Silas Waters, Rev. James C. Finley, C. P. Merriman, Rev. W. D. R. Trotter, D. D., David Trimmer, Rev. C. M. Holliday, John Magoun, Wm. H. Holmes, Col. James Miller, Lewis Bunn, Rev. John Van Cleve, D. D., John N. Ewing, Rev. John S. Barger, William Wallace, Rev. Peter Cartwright, D. D., Rev. Calvin W. Lewis, James Allin, Rev. Reuben Andrus, A. M., W. C. Hobbs, Rev. Wm. J. Rutledge, K. H. Fell, Rev. James Leaton, Rev. J. F. Jaques, A. M., Dr. T. P. Rogers, Linus Graves, Rev. Thomas Magee, Hon. John E. MeClun, Dr. Ezekiel Thomas and Wm. H. Allin.
In the winter of 1850 and '51 a preparatory school was or- ganized under the charge of Rev. R. Andrus, A. M., in the basement of the Methodist Church. Subscription papers were
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WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY.
at once circulated to obtain funds necessary to put up suitable buildings, but the amount raised fell far short of the necessities of the institution. Nevertheless the work was begun and the foundations of the building were laid.
In July, 1851, a second professor, Rev. Wm. Goodfellow, A. M., was elected, and at the opening of the college year in Sep- tember the school was much enlarged. On the sixth of July, 1851, Rev. John Dempster, D. D., of Concord, New Hampshire, was elected president. The first annual commencement was held on the seventh of July, 1853. At this commencement the de- gree of Bachelor of Arts was conferred upon James Hughes Barger, the first graduate. The degree of Master of Arts, in course, was also conferred upon Daniel Wilkins, A. B., a grad- uate of the University of Michigan. Shortly after this President Dempster moved to Evanston. In the meantime the work of raising funds and of putting up the building went on very slowly, and the institution began to be much involved in debt. The members of the faculty would not get even the small sala- ries which belonged to them, and resigned and sought other fields of labor. On the 9th of August, 1855, Rev. Clinton W. Sears, who had been a professor in the institution, was elected president, and a strong effort was made to establish it on a firm basis. The building was so far advanced that a part of it could be occupied, but the great difficulty in procuring funds caused the failure of all of these plans. The faculty all resigned, the 'school was discontinued and the building sold under a mechanic's lien. But the friends of the institution did not despair. They secured the services of Rev. Charles W. C. Munsell as canvasser to procure the funds necessary for placing the institution once more upon a sound basis. Mr. Munsell went to work enthusi- astically and used his own private means to redeem the building after its sale under the mechanics' lien. A new charter was granted to the institution by the Legislature and a new Board of Trustees was nominated by the two Methodist Conferences.
This Board elected Rev. Oliver S. Munsell, A. M., president of the University, and authorized him in connection with the Executive Committee to organize the faculty and decide upon the courses of study and re-open the University. A small loan was effected and the building was completed. On the tenth of
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WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY.
September, 1857, the school was re-opened with three professors and seventeen students. But even this small number of students was not kept up during the term. Some four or five of them began to feel so lonesome in walking through the almost deserted halls that they, too, left the school. During the entire year only sixty students were enrolled, and of these all but seven were in the primary and preparatory departments. The agent of the institution worked hard to secure funds and was successful. But it was not until July, 1860, that the trustees assumed the pecuniary responsibility of the institution. At that time they felt justified in giving the president and professors each a salary of five hundred dollars per annum. During this year there were in the institution ninety-one students, of whom only nineteen were in the collegiate department. The faculty numbered five professors. At the annual commencement of 1861 Harvey C. De Motte, of Metamora, and Peter Warner, of Kappa, received the degree of Bachelor of Science, and were the first graduates under the new organization. Mr. De Motte was immediately elected Professor of Mathematics, a position which he retains with credit to the institution.
The institution suffered quite seriously in the autumn and winter of 1862 by the volunteering of the students. In the sum- mer of 1863 upon a sudden and urgent call from the Governor of the State, Professor De Motte and thirty-two out of forty-three students then in attendance volunteered for three months, and were transferred for garrison duty to Alexandria on the Poto- mac. Of the three graduates at this annual commencement one, W. C. Adams, was graduated while absent in the army and died soon after. Another, Henry W. Boyd, enlisted for the war as a private within a week after his graduation ; but having studied medicine, he was by his own merit promoted to the rank of brigade surgeon. The growth of the University during the war was slow but sure, and in 1865 the University became free from debt.
In the year 1866 the Methodist Church in America celebrated its first centennial anniversary and the sum of fifty-four thou- sand dollars was subscribed on this occasion by the friends of the institution. Twenty thousand dollars of this was subscribed by the city of Bloomington, and also ten thousand dollars was
5
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WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY.
given by the Funk family to endow the Isaac Funk Professor- ship of Agriculture. The total endowment of the University was then seventy-nine thousand dollars. In addition to this, the various departments of the University had been provided with apparatus necessary for them, and the museum of Natural His- tory and the libraries had been growing steadily. All of this gave the institution a respectable standing, and one of the results was an increase in the number of students.
But the increased number of students made a larger building a necessity, and in March, 1868, an educational convention of the friends of the University met and decided that the trustees should take action in the matter immediately. Before long, thirty thousand dollars were subscribed for the building, and of this twenty thousand dollars were given by the citizens of Bloom- ington. The trustees immediately proceeded with the work in accordance with a beautiful plan drawn by R. Richter, Esq., architect, of Bloomington. The work was steadily pushed and a fine brick building, seventy by one hundred and forty feet, five stories high, with a stone basement and Mansard roof, arose as a monument of their efforts. When the time came to finish the chapel, Col. W. H. Coler, of Champaign City, stepped forward and pledged five thousand dollars for that purpose on the sole condition that it should be called Amie Chapel in honor of his mother.
The Belles Lettres and the Munsellian Literary Societies have fitted up the halls assigned to them with the finest taste, and have expended on them not less than four thousand dollars.
Amie Chapel was dedicated on the sixteenth of June, 1872, by the Rev. B. J. Ives, D. D., of Auburn, New York, and the large congregation present celebrated the occasion by subscrib- ing twelve thousand dollars to prosecute the work, and it is hoped that the entire University building will be finished at an early day.
In 1870 the trustees were called upon to decide whether or not ladies should be admitted to the privileges of the University. This important question was referred by the trustees to the two conferences (the Illinois and Illinois Central), and by their de- cision the ladies gained the day, and twenty-five of them were immediately enrolled as students. The first lady graduate was
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WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY.
Hannah I. Shur, of El Paso, upon whom the degree of Bachelor of Science was conferred on the twentieth of June, 1872. The courses of study for the ladies are precisely the same as those marked out for the gentlemen.
The classical and scientific courses of study, both require four years in the collegiate department, and one and two years re- spectively in the preparatory department. At first the scientific course required only three years to complete, but this was changed to the present extended course, and now the degree of Bachelor of Science means something.
The department of agriculture is also well attended to. The Professorship of Agriculture was endowed by the Funk family and is named after Hon. Isaac Funk, of McLean County. It is well filled by Bradford S. Potter, A. M., an enthusiast in the natural sciences. In addition to the regular collegiate course of study, lectures are given on International and Constitutional Law; on Anatomy, Physiology and Hygiene, and on Music. The lectures on law are delivered by Robert F. Williams, Esq., those on Physiology by J. L. White, M. D., and those on Music by Prof. F. A. Parker. These lectures are not designed as schools of law and medicine, but it is hoped that they may pre- pare the way for the organization of such departments at some future time.
The fact is conceded that the Wesleyan University is yet only a college, but its friends are slowly and surely preparing the way to make it a university of the highest standing, and add to it regular departments of law, medicine and theology. In order to do this, time and, most of all, money is required. There is hardly a college or university of good standing in existence which is self-supporting. The cause of learning everywhere must depend upon the generosity of the people. It is not easy to over-estimate the effect of a university upon the people of a state. It gives them a higher standard by which to judge of themselves. The University of Michigan places that State in the highest rank among those of the Union and the same may be said of the relation of Harvard and Yale to Massachusetts and Connecticut. We are called upon then by every considera- tion of philanthropy and of patriotism to take care of our schools and colleges. It is earnestly hoped that the Wesleyan Univer-
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