USA > Indiana > Marshall County > A twentieth century history of Marshall County, Indiana, Volume II > Part 2
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This great phalanx of turretted buildings that has sprung up as if by magic along the shores of Lake Maxinkuckee is but the housing for execu- tive and educational experience gained through half a century under great divergence of place and circumstances, and brought together by Providence for concrete expression in the erection of a great school. The philanthropic plan of the founder was not the impulse of a moment, but was the outgrowth of a desire that had been born of his own youthful struggles against adversity, and the yearning of his magnanimous heart to assist others in the pursuit of knowledge. The wisdom that chose so advantageous a site was gained through many years of successful business experience. This wisdom saw the gushing fountains of pure artesian water, and realized their relation to the health of the student body; it took into account the exquisite lake and its resources for healthful recreation; it considered the purity of the atmosphere, the absence of temptation, and the beautiful surroundings with their unconscious influence upon impressionable youth.
The knowledge of men that selected the educator under whose guidance the internal machinery of the school was put in motion and perfected was gained through half a century's experience with many men in many walks of life. The prudent business sagacity that guided the great material growth, building for utility only, but building for all time the best and the fittest buildings counted a model of their kind, was an inheritance to young, enthusiastic, capable business men, building a great monument to their father, its founder, stimulated by filial loyalty and affection, and proceeding with judgment and foresight.
Behind the success of every school must lie the same simple causes, the excellence of its training, and the adequacy of its equipment.
The original main barracks was built complete in itself, with quarters, class rooms, and mess hall, to accommodate about the number to which a school in the ordinary run of things would grow in the first ten years of its existence. With the absorption of Col. Fleet's school from Missouri, this building at once became inadequate, and Mr. Culver, without even waiting for the snow and ice of winter to pass, at once constructed the west barracks to accommodate forty-four cadets and two officers, and containing six section rooms, one physical laboratory and one chemical laboratory. This was in 1897. This enlarged plant did not meet the entire demand for admittance for even one year, and two years later, in 1899, another building
354
HISTORY OF MARSHALL COUNTY.
was added, the east barracks, to accommodate sixty cadets and two officers, with hospital of four rooms, two laboratories, and library. The latter room made an important addition to the academic equipment of the school. This has since been increased by adding the adjoining laboratory, which was con- verted into a stack room, the original library being now furnished as a com- fortable and attractive reading room. The library contains over 4,000 volumes.
In the year intervening between the construction of the west and the east barracks, a building was erected which marked an epoch in the school's development, and was an unmistakable indication of the unusually broad and comprehensive lines along which it was the intention of the trustees to develop the school. Many people wondered at the time, and doubtless questioned the policy that erected as subsidiary equipment to a compara- tively small school, a riding hall which was finer than those built by the national government for its cavalry posts or at West Point, and probably without a superior in the world. This remarkable building, one hundred and four by two hundred and twelve feet, of brick and stone, with great steel trussed roof, of ornate architecture and incorporating every essential of the complete riding arena, was erected at a cost of $50,000. Indeed it was a wonderful building for a private school of 122 cadets; but time has justified the policy that built it. No school investment ever paid bigger dividends of benefit to its students. There are strong-bodied, virile young men effectively fighting the battle of life today who went into this laboratory of muscle and energy as spindling youngsters and who came out of it strong and vigorous, with abounding energy stored in their fibres that never could have been acquired throughout an ordinary school course.
So even in the infancy of the school the trustees gave it this wonderful source of physical development, a splendidly equipped cavalry department, at once an assurance of a broad policy, and an emphatic evidence of their confidence in the future of the school.
The additional barracks necessitated greater capacity for the heating and lighting plant, and between January and May of 1899 the boiler room was enlarged, two additional tubular boilers installed, and six rooms for employes were built over the engine room, a brick stack one hundred feet high being also constructed. A powder magazine, covered gallery for formations, and new walks in the grounds were other improvements of that year.
Notwithstanding the addition of the east barracks to the school's capacity in 1899, the fall of 1900 found the school again full to overflowing, and so large a waiting list of disappointed applicants that it was decided to build immediately a third story to the north wing of the main barracks .. This was pushed as rapidly as possible, and rooms to accommodate twenty- two cadets and two officers were added to the school's capacity and at once filled.
Between the years of 1900 and 1904, despite a waiting list each fall, no additional barracks were built, but an important addition was made to the
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TROOP DRILL IN WINTER AT CULVER MILITARY ACADEMY. COPYRIGHT 1908.
14 14
CADETS OF CULVER SUMMER NAVAL SCHOOL AT BOAT DRILL.
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HISTORY OF MARSHALL COUNTY.
academic facilities of the school. In 1903 a fourth story was added to the large main barracks, this being solely for academic purposes, and containing a drafting room, physical laboratory, chemical laboratory, biological laboratory, Y. M. C. A. room, chemical and physical lecture rooms, dentist's office, barber shop, and dark room for amateur photographers.
This addition to the school's academic facilities made it possible to instruct effectively an increased number of cadets, and opened the way for the construction of new barracks. Consequently in 1904 the south barracks was built, with capacity for ninety cadets and three officers.
During 1903-04 a splendid gymnasium was constructed. In its relation to the physical training of the cadets this was as important and complete an addition to the school's equipment as was the riding hall, erected some years previous, and was again a demonstration of the school's policy to build only the best and fittest, and to afford its cadets unequalled facilities in every department. This building was destroyed by fire June 1, 1906, but was immediately rebuilt. This is the largest and most complete private school gymnasium in existence. It is constructed in the Tudor Gothic style of architecture. The main gymnasium hall is seventy-five by one hundred and forty feet. It has walls of white enamel brick, capped by a heavy oak rail, to which are fastened pulley weights and other wall apparatus. The floor is of polished hard maple. A suspended running track-seventeen laps to the mile-and gallery, skirt the four walls. The roof is supported by steel trusses, and no pillar or post mars the ample floor space. Opening into the main hall are apparatus room, measuring room, filled with the best anthropo- metric apparatus, director's room, locker room, drying room, and baths. In connection with the latter is a system of showers designed, or it might be said, invented, especially for this building. The class, after exercising, marches around the shower room, and on completion of the circuit has received a scientifically regulated shower bath, warm on entrance and gradually, by an ingenious arrangement, decreasing in temperature so that the water at the end is of an invigorating coolness.
In 1907 a separate hospital building was erected, of strictly fireproof construction, and equipped with the latest sanitary appliances. It is two stories high, has a diet kitchen, independent heating and lighting systems, and accommodations for twenty-five patients. The style of architecture is the Tudor Gothic, which admits of highly ornate trimmings and is peculiarly adapted to buildings for this purpose. The architectural treatment combines the restful and quiet effect essential to hospitals, with the massive and digni- fied appearance appropriate to military buildings. A reception hall divides the first story longitudinally ; this hall also serves as a waiting room. On the left of the reception hall are located the surgeon's office and chambers, also the operating, sterilizing, and emergency rooms. On the right of the reception hall is the contagion ward, with separate baths, nurse's quarters, kitchen, etc. This portion of the building is absolutely isolated from the other rooms for the purpose of safe quarantine in case of contagion.
And so from year to year the remarkable growth of the school has
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HISTORY OF MARSHALL COUNTY.
steadily continued, until today an imposing group of eight large buildings and numerous smaller structures, with beautiful grounds and athletic fields, stands as a monument to Mr. Culver, perpetuating his name in connection with the highest type of complete mental, moral, and physical training that can be afforded to youth.
The following table shows the attendance of the school from year to year :
Year.
Cadets.
Year.
Cadets.
1896-97.
192
1902-03
279
1897-98.
158
1903-04.
.327
1898-99.
171
1904-05
.386
1899-00.
. 242
1905-06
529
1900-01
260
1906-07
.514
1901-02.
949
1907-08.
677
The school has been from the first distinctly a military school. Its uniform has been no mere idle sham to tickle the fancy, but has stood for the highest standard of honor and discipline. The fact that this twelve- year-old school, out of the hundreds of military schools in this country, is today designated by the war department as one of the six distinguished institutions of the United States, indicates at once the superiority of its methods.
The school has appreciated from the start that the best results could be obtained from a military system that was as real and as thorough as if the making of soldiers were its chief and only aim. Such a system enlists at once the boy's pride and interest, and impresses him with its force and reality. It strips him of every artificial garnishment of parental wealth or social or political prominence, puts him absolutely on his own merits, garbs him in the same uniform, locates him in the same sort of room, and affords him exactly the same opportunities as his fellows ; places him in an atmosphere where he learns to know and respect true merit for its own sake, and where he will make the best of himself.
The school has realized also that interest and variety must furnish the incentive in a military course in a private school, and has provided facilities for a range of military instruction which approximates in the scope and extent of its practical features the course at West Point, and is equaled by that of no other private school. Infantry, cavalry, artillery, signaling, first aid, and military engineering, all contribute their quota to the training of the Culver cadet.
The cavalry school was added in 1898, and was at once provided with the splendid riding hall, already described. The first mounts for the cav- alry department were purchased from the famous Troop A, of Cleveland, and were the handsome blacks on which the troop rode when they acted as President McKinley's escort at his first inauguration. This is a depart- ment that makes a powerful appeal to a boy's interest, and every facility has been provided to contribute to his full enjoyment and benefit. The result
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HISTORY OF MARSHALL COUNTY.
has been that the cadets have acquired a proficiency in their riding that has given the Culver cavalry department a world-wide reputation. They have distinguished themselves as the official escort of Gov. Mount and Gov. Durbin, of Indiana, as Admiral Dewey's escort in the Dewey parade in St. Louis; in the jubilee parade in Chicago; and on various other public occasions. At the World's Fair in St. Louis they attracted especial attention, and many foreign correspondents gave them prominence through the periodicals of their various countries. The stimulus to the esprit de corps of such widespread praise is easily imagined, and has furnished an incentive to continued and even greater excellence.
The infantry battalion also has gained an enviable reputation for the precision of its drill, and for the splendid set up and military bearing of its cadets. Various officers from the war department who have inspected the battalion have accorded it the highest praise. Maj. John S. Mallory, in his report of May 13 and 14, 1906, states: "It is in fact a splendidly equipped up-to-date military school, and shows what can be accomplished at a private military institution when supplied with abundant capital." And Capt. J. A. Penn, in a report dated May 9 and 10, 1907, says that the cadets at the Culver Military Academy "would compare most favorably with the cadets at the United States Military Academy."
Returning to Mr. Culver's original idea and in order to afford an opportunity for an organized vacation, and to avoid the undesirable effects of a summer aimlessly spent, the school in 1902 started its summer naval school. Through the efforts of the Indiana delegation in congress, a law was passed authorizing the loan to the academy of man-of-war cutters for the practical instruction of cadets, in a course of boat drills similar to those given to the fourth class at Annapolis.
The naval course, with its wholesome, open-air exercises, its pic- turesqueness, and its touch of romance, has proved an ideal solution of the summer problem, giving boys a change of thought and action, a coat of tan and the hardened muscles that every boy considers a necessary part of a successful vacation. At the same time, the school has retained during the summer its experienced staff of teachers, and has afforded to those cadets who desire it an opportunity for careful tutoring in their studies. The summer school has grown rapidly, and in five years has increased from an attendance of twenty-two cadets to 345.
In 1907, the summer cavalry school was also started, in order to afford boys who were fond of riding an opportunity of taking the cavalry course during the summer months. This bids fair to be as successful as the naval feature.
During the summer session of 1907, the cadets of both the naval and cavalry schools made an extended excursion to the east, visiting the James- town Exposition, Washington, and Annapolis. Their work was highly complimented by distinguished officers of both the army and the navy.
It has been thought proper, in connection with the sketch of Mr. Culver's life, to insert this much of the history of the Culver Military Acad- emy, which was his gift primarily to Marshall county and the state of Indiana, and because its success has been largely due to his wisdom in its location and to the plans laid by him for its future development.
358
HISTORY OF MARSHALL COUNTY.
LXVII. THE PLYMOUTH AND OTHER POSTOFFICES.
There is no part of the public service so intimately connected with the entire people of the country as the postal department, and as such a brief sketch of the Plymouth postoffice, and those who have served as post- masters during the seventy odd years since it was established, October 17, 1836, and matters connected therewith, will, undoubtedly be a matter of historical interest now, and for all time to come.
The Plymouth postoffice was the first established in Marshall county, and for some time afterwards all the people in the county were obliged to come to Plymouth for their letters and papers. There were two mail routes at that time, a four-horse stage line along the newly laid out Michigan road, from Logansport to South Bend, and thence to Niles, Michigan, and a two- horse stage line from Plymouth to La Porte. These lines made three trips a week, carrying the few travelers that ventured into the wilderness and among the 1,500 Indians that were here then. Plymouth was a starting and stopping place for one line and a stage office and a change horse station for the other. The stage driver and mail carrier stood much higher than the post- master, and for many years was the biggest man in the country round about. Days when the stages were due to arrive the entire population would congre- gate at the Yellow river hotel, the regular stopping place, and patiently await their coming. When in sight of town it was the custom of the driver to blow a loud, long blast on a tin horn which he carried for that purpose, crack his whip, rein up his horses, and drive into town at break-neck speed. How our young boys did envy Old Jake Rhinehart, with his rock-a-way coach and four-in-hand, as he alighted from his coach the "observed of all observers." According to these growing citizens and statesmen, no such exalted position was to be thought of, unless it might be a drum major in a country brass band. If a stranger came in on the coach, every inhabitant of the town knew it immediately, what his name was, where he came from, where he was going, what was his business, and how long he was going to stay in town. By this time the driver had eaten his meal, fresh horses had been hitched onto the coach, the driver mounted his high seat on the outside, gave his long black-snake whip numerous cracks and away the coach went at automobile speed. In the meantime the postmaster had opened and distributed the mail, and to the postoffice nearly the entire population wended their way to inquire if there was "anything for me." The post- master knew everybody and he would hand out their letters as they came, or would say, "there is nothing for you," and then they would wonder how he could remember the names of so many people and whether there was anything for them without looking over the letters in the proper box.
The business of the postoffice was conducted on an entirely different plan then to what it is now. There was no such thing as postal stamps then, and not until some time in the latter '50s. Letter postage was 5 cents for every half ounce, except to California, which was 10 cents, and advance payment was not required. This credit system resulted in a great many letters not being called for or "refused," thus making it necessary to advertise them as "not called for," and in due time sent to the dead letter office. In this manner of doing business, the government lost heavily,
359
HISTORY OF MARSHALL COUNTY.
which resulted in devising the stamp system and requiring the requisite amount of stamps to be affixed to each letter before it could be forwarded by mail. This was a great improvement on the old system, the saving in revenue being sufficient to enable the government to reduce the rate of postage from 5 to 3 cents. Newspapers that came regularly to subscribers were charged so much per quarter to be paid by the subscriber. This was worse than unpaid letter postage, and it was almost impossible for the postmaster to keep track of them and collect the postage. Often the subscriber would refuse to pay the postage, and decline longer to take the paper from the office, thereby necessitating the postmaster to notify the publication office, and report the same to the postoffice department at Washington. Not more than one-half the postage on newspapers could be collected, which convinced the government of the necessity of adopting a more efficacious system, and so it came to pass that a law was enacted requiring publishers to pay the postage on papers sent to subscribers at pound rates at the office of publication, except that newspapers circulating in the county where published were sent free of postage. This revolutionized the whole newspaper postage business and relieved postmasters of much trouble and annoyance, as well as saving the government free from loss.
In the early times in mailing letters the postmaster was required to send all destined for New York and the New England states in a package accom- panied by a way bill giving name of mailing office, with date, the number of letters, the amount of postage paid and unpaid, to a distributing post- office, and for Plymouth, Toledo, Ohio, was the designated office. If the sender did not wish his letters to go through a distributing postoffice he wrote on his letter "Mail Direct," and it was then the duty of the postmaster to do as directed. At the end of each quarter the postmaster was required to make a full itemized statement of the number of letters forwarded, with the amount of prepaid postage, and amount unpaid; the amount collected on letters received, the amount on hand uncollected, and the amount of newspaper postage collected. For the Plymouth office in the early days, this was not a very big job, but for the Plymouth of today, with the rural free delivery system added, it would be impossible for the postmaster to do the business as it was then done.
During my incumbency of the office in 1853-54, as I remember very well, the amount I paid the government each quarter was only or little more than $50. The reason I remember it is because I made it a rule to pay the government postal agent, when he came around quarterly, a Cali- fornia gold slug which bore the government stamp as containing $50 worth of gold bullion. These slugs were made of gold dug out of the Cali- fornia mines during the previous two or three years, and found their way into circulation before the mints had time to coin them.
But I have wandered from the subject I set out especially to write about. Through the courtesy of Hon. A. L. Brick, member of congress from this district, I am enabled to present a correct list of all those who have served as postmasters of Plymouth with date of service, as follows :
Wm. G. Pomeroy, October 17, 1836, to January 3, 1838.
Amzi L. Wheeler, January 3, 1838, to January II, 1841.
Wm. G. Pomeroy, January 1I, 1841, to December 27, 1844.
Amzi L. Wheeler, December 27, 1844, to May 16, 1845.
360
HISTORY OF MARSHALL COUNTY.
James Bannon, May 16, 1845, to March 23, 1849.
Joseph B. Griffith, March 23, 1849, to September 23, 1850. Levi C. Barber, September 23, 1850, to January 7, 1853. Daniel McDonald, January 7, 1853, to August 23, 1854. James F. Van Valkenburgh, August 23, 1854, to June 17, 1856. John K. Brooke, June 17, 1856, to February II, 1857. Wm. C. Edwards, February 11, 1857, to March 6, 1860. James F. Van Valkenburgh, March 6, 1860, to March 9, 1861.
O. H. P. Bailey, March 9, 1861, to September 28, 1866. Gideon Blain, September 28, 1866, to March 11, 1867. O. H. P. Bailey, March 11, 1867, to April 6, 1869. John M. Moore, April 6, 1869, to May 15, 1869.
Wm. M. Kendall, May 15, 1869, to July 18, 1885.
Geo. R. Reynolds, July 18, 1885, to August 17, 1889.
John W. Seiders, August 17, 1889, to May 23, 1893.
John C. Jilson, May 23, 1893, to June 3, 1897.
Wm. H. Conger, June 3, 1899, to June 6, 1901.
J. A. Yockey, June 6, 1901, to
As soon as.the postoffice was established in Plymouth it became the center around which the leaders of the then whig and democratic parties concentrated their forces for organization and future aggressive political operations.
By common consent, William G. Pomeroy was accorded the leadership of the whig party, while Amzi L. Wheeler had no opposition as general manager of the democratic party. These two men were about as equally matched as any two political leaders ever were. They were both men of learning and experience and of more than ordinary intelligence, both became residents of Plymouth about the same time, prior to the organization of the county in 1836, and were both establishing themselves in mercantile pursuits. Politics was a game that both liked to play at, and they laid their plans prior to the first election in the county and the battle royal between these two political gladiators was on in earnest. Each planned to use the post- office as a machine to advance his political ends, but they did not confine themselves solely to local politics. In 1839 Mr. Wheeler was elected rep- resentative in the state legislature from the counties of Marshall, Kosciusko and Starke; from Marshall and Fulton in 1842, and from Marshall and Starke in 1855. He was also elected a member of the constitutional con- vention in 1850.
Mr. Pomeroy was elected to the state senate from the counties of St. Joseph, Marshall and Fulton and served from 1845 to 1849. He was a son of Grove Pomeroy, one of the first settlers in Plymouth, and in whose house, which then stood on the corner of Michigan and La Porte streets, now known as the Corbin block, the county was organized and the county seat located at Plymouth, July 20, 1836. The postoffice was not established until two months later.
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