Centennial history and handbook of Indiana : the story of the state from its beginning to the close of the civil war, and a general survey of progress to the present time, Part 46

Author: Cottman, George S. (George Streiby), 1857-1941; Hyman, Max R. (Max Robinson), 1859-1927
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Indianapolis : M. R. Hyman
Number of Pages: 542


USA > Indiana > Centennial history and handbook of Indiana : the story of the state from its beginning to the close of the civil war, and a general survey of progress to the present time > Part 46


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73


bright, and the young city was buoyant with ex- pectations of the future of the new school sys- tem, when the courts decided that the taxation provided for by the Legislature was illegal, and the schools were compelled to depend for their maintenance on what was received from the gen- eral school fund. In consequence of this decision the schools languished for some years, but after a while a brighter day dawned, and once again the people were permitted to tax themselves to maintain schools for the general education of


Indianapolis Speedway .- Photo by W. H. Coburn.


of the people of Indianapolis, have united in building up the present great free school system. Just when Indianapolis first began to feel the impetus of the legislation in favor of free schools received a severe setback by an adverse de- cion of the Supreme Court. It was just emerg- ing from the first crude efforts to establish free schools, and was getting on a higher plane when this decision came. Graded schools were being tabhshed in different parts of the city, and the "old ommars," wherein many of the youth in the quels day of the city had been prepared for Fall of had been changed into a high school mache me buon of the city. Hope was


their children. From that day the progress has been steady and rapid. The city has been fortu- nate in its selection of those chosen to have gen- eral management and control of this great interest. One idea has been steadily before them, and that was to bring the schools up to the high- est grade possible, while at the same time fur- nishing ample provision to accommodate all the children. Under the law all persons between the ages of six and twenty-one years are entitled to school privileges.


Other Schools .- The efficiency and number of schools which Indianapolis possesses in addition : to those belonging to the public school system is


349


CENTENNIAL HISTORY AND HANDBOOK OF INDIANA


also a matter of pride and importance. Several schools of music are conducted where pupils are brought by eminent instructors to the highest degree of skill and knowledge to which they are capable. In the Herron Art Institute painting. sketching, pen-drawing and modeling are taught by capable artists. This school is maintained and controlled by an association of liberal citi- zens. The schools which are connected with the Catholic churches are popular and attended by many pupils from distant parts of the country, and there are other schools of education, of sten- ography, telegraphy, business colleges and others in great number. For literary culture the people of Indianapolis have the advantage of two large and several small but very valuable libraries.


The Manual Training High School is one of the largest and most thoroughly equipped insti- tutions of its kind in this country. The history of manual training in Indianapolis schools began in the establishment of the Gewerbe Schule, which was organized by a number of German citizens, particularly active among whom was Clemens Vonnegut, Sr., who had been a mem- ber of the public school board for twenty-seven years. Later the Gewerbe Schule was disbanded and merged into the Manual Training school. With the year 1889, when a course of wood- working and mechanical drawing, in charge of W. H. Bass, was opened at high school No. 1 (now Shortridge High school), it became a part of the public school work. The numerous appli- cations for admission to this department soon proved the popularity of a course of this nature in the high school curriculum, and the school board of 1891 conceived the idea of the estab- lishment of a school in which special attention should be paid to manual training. The city council sanctioned the establishment of such an institution, and levied a special tax of five cents per hundred dollars for its erection and mainte- nance. Consequently ground was purchased in 1892 and the building begun, costing $165,000, in March, 1894. The school was opened February 18, 1895. The curriculum of the school includes a regular high school course and a course in me- chanic and domestic arts. The latter consists of woodworking, forging, foundry work, pattern making, machine shop practise and mechanical drawing for the boys ; cooking, sewing, hygiene


Manual Training High School, Indianapolis.


Shortridge High School-Caleb Mills Hall, Indianapolis.


-


-


CENTENNIAL HISTORY AND HANDBOOK OF INDIANA


and home nur-ing for the girls. Further, courses in -tenography, typewriting and bookkeeping.


Free Kindergarten and Domestic Training Schools .- There are schools of this character in the city under the supervision of a board of di- rectors of the Free Kindergarten Association.


The State Library was started soon after In- diana became a State, but for several years it met with but little encouragement from the Leg- islature, and through carelessness and neglect many of its most valuable books were lost or destroyed. Within the last few years, however, the Legislature has been more liberal in furnish- ing means for the purchase of new books and caring for the library. The library occupies several elegantly appointed rooms in the state- house. The library contains about 70,000 vol- umies and a large number of pamphlets.


Public Library was established in 1873 under the authority of the school commissioners. It occupies a handsome stone building erected for its use by the city. It has connected with it a reading-room for consulting the books, and for the use of those who desire to read the papers and periodicals kept there for that purpose. The reading-room is kept open from 9 A. M. until 10 P. M. on cach day of the week. Any citizen is entitled to withdraw books from the library for home reading. The whole is under the control of the board of school commissioners. Branch libraries were established the latter part of 1896 in various parts of the city, each being supplied with 1.500 to 5,000 volumes, and newspaper, magazine and reading-room accommodations. There are now five Carnegie and seven sub- branch libraries in the city. Beside these there are fourteen delivery stations where books are delivered to and received from the patrons of the library. There are 195,899 volumes and pamphlets in the library.


Agricultural Library of the State Board of Agriculture, located in the state-house, contains about 1,200 volumes.


Marion County Library, located in the court- house, was established in 1844, and contains about 5,200 volumes. It is open on Saturdays.


State Law Library, which was separated from the State library in 1867, contains over 40,000 volumes. It is located in the state-house.


Indianapolis Bar Association Library, in the


Marion county court-house, contains over 8,000 volumes and was established in 1880.


Horticultural Library, of the State Horticul- tural Society, in the state-house, contains over 500 volumes.


Other Libraries are Bona Thompson Library, Butler University, at Irvington ; the St. Aloysius, St. Cecilia, Y. M. C. A., Y. W. C. A., Law School library and excellent special libraries in the dif- ferent medical colleges.


Butler College, Indianapolis .- Was incorpo- rated by special act of the Legislature in January, 1850. Its charter was obtained under the auspices of the Christian churches of Indiana, and its name was then "Northwestern Christian University." In 1877, on account of the large gifts of land and money from Ovid Butler, the institution was renamed in his honor; but the charter was otherwise unchanged, and the spirit and scope of the work carried on remained the same. The first location of the college was at College avenue and Fourteenth street, Indian- apolis, but it was changed to the present campus in Irvington-then outside of the city-in 1873.


The college began its work with a subscription of $75,000 to its funds. This amount was in- creased from time to time by gifts, and still more largely augmented by the sale of the old campus when the removal was made to the present site. Until 1907 the income-bearing endowment had for a long time remained stationary at about $200,000; but in March, 1907, a movement for the increase of the resources of the institution culminated in the addition of $250,000 to the productive endowment. This additional fund has now been collected so that the work of the col- lege can be greatly strengthened. The physical equipment of the college represents an invest- ment of about $300,000 in addition to the amounts named above. The campus and adjoin- ing property comprise about twenty-five acres, the campus proper being beautifully wooded. There are five substantial buildings, besides the astronomical observatory. The most noteworthy of these is the Bona Thompson Memorial Library building.


The college has always been associated with the Christian church. It is bound by its charter "to teach and inculcate the Christian faith and Christian morality as taught in the sacred scrip-


-- -


351


CENTENNIAL HISTORY AND HANDBOOK OF INDIANA


tures," but is under no other religious or sec- tarian limitation. The institution has maintained from the beginning a liberal attitude toward all classes of students that have come to it. It is the first college in the world to open its doors to women on exactly equal terms with those offered to men. In educational policy the college has adhered to the theory that it is the function of a college to give a liberal education in the arts and sciences. It has resisted the tendency toward


America and Europe. In 1907 Doctor Scot But- ler, for many years president of the college, was retired on a pension by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. He was suc- ceeded as president by Professor Thomas C. Howe, for many years head of the department of Germanic languages.


Indiana University School of Medicine, Indi- anapolis .- By provision of an act of the Legisla- ture, Indiana University was expressly author-


-


.


Butler College Buildings and Campus.


excessive specialization, and continues to stand for general culture. It has, nevertheless, kept pace with the educational progress of the coun- try, advancing its requirements for a degree and adding new departments, as these steps were re- quired by the educational movements of the age. The requirements for admission and graduation are now equal to those of the largest universities of the country, and the degree of Butler College is recognized as equivalent to the corresponding degree of any other educational institution.


The college maintains a faculty of trained spe- cialists in their respective departments, who have enjoyed the advantages of the best universities of


ized to teach medicine. Acting upon this provision, for many years science courses were given which led up to the course in medicine. About 1890 a full biologie course was established which was equivalent to the course given in the freshman year of the best medical colleges of the time, with the exception of dissection in human anatomy. In 1903 a full two years' course, in- cluding every subject taught in the freshman and sophomore years of the standard medical college, was established.


Indiana University School of Medicine now represents a union of all of the medical interests formerly represented by the Medical College of


152


CENTENNIAL HISTORY AND HANDBOOK OF INDIANA


Indrom, located at Indianapolis, organized in 1869. the Central College of Physicians and Surgeons of Indianapolis, organized in 1879 ; the Fort Wayne College of Medicine at Fort Wayne, Ind., organized in 1879; the Indiana University School of Medicine at Bloomington, Ind., organ-


Indiana Dental College.


ized in 1903, and the State College of Physicians and Surgeons of Indianapolis, organized in 1906. In September, 1905, the Medical College of In- diana, the Central College of Physicians and Surgeons and the Fort Wayne College of Medi- cine merged under the name of the Medical Col- lege of Indiana, the School of Medicine of Purdue University. In the summer of 1907 the Indiana University School of Medicine and the State College of Physicians and Surgeons merged under the name of the Indiana University School of Medicine, and in April, 1908, negotiations were completed whereby the Indiana Medical College was united with the Indiana University School of Medicine.


The progressiveness in higher medical educa- tion is shown in this school by its requirement that each student must possess a credit of at least two years of a college course before he is entitled to matriculate as a student of medicine and sanc- tion must then be given by the Indiana State Medical Board. The American Medical Associa- tion placed this school among the A-plus schools. Out of the 106 medical institutions now in exist- ence, there are but twenty-two given this superior standing. The Robert W. Long Hospital, which was dedicated June 15, 1914, is a part of the equipment of the University Medical School, and immishes superior facilities for clinical teaching. The building, complete in every particular, was reggel at a cost of $250,000, and is a token of


the generosity of Doctor Robert W. Long and Mrs. Long, of Indianapolis.


The clinical advantages, in addition to its own hospital, the Long Hospital, are derived from the City hospital, Protestant Deaconess, Methodist, St. Vincent's and the Central Indiana Hospital for the Insane. Bedside teaching is paramount. In addition to this is the Bobbs and City Dispen- sary, which is also conducted by the college.


The officers of the university are: William Lowe Bryan, Ph. D., LL. D., president ; Charles Phillips Emerson, A. B., M. D., dean of the School of Medicine; Burton D. Myers, A. M., M. D., secretary at Bloomington ; Edmund D. Clark, M. D., secretary at Indianapolis, and John F. Barnhill, M. D., treasurer.


The Indiana Law School (Department of Law of the University of Indianapolis) .- The Indiana Law School was organized in 1894 for the purpose of giving to the law students of the middle west an opportunity to acquire a more thorough and systematic knowledge of the law than has heretofore been afforded them by any institution within easy reach of their homes, and especially to give to those young men who con- template the practise of law in Indiana the same facilities and advantages which are to be found in the oldest schools of law. The school, now


College of Missions.


entering upon its twentieth year, has already taken high rank among the professional schools of the country. Being the capital city of the State. where the Supreme and appellate courts, the federal courts and the local courts, both civil


353


CENTENNIAL HISTORY AND HANDBOOK OF INDIANA


and criminal, are in session practically through- out the year, the students have unusual oppor- unity for witnessing court procedure in all its various forms, and the sessions of the Legisla- ure enable them to see how the business of law-


GE


Indiana Veterinary College, Indianapolis.


making is transacted. With the rapid growth of the State in wealth and population, the law of Indiana, while in its general and elementary fea- tures like that of the other States of the Union, has developed a jurisprudence of its own. A thorough and practical knowledge of this law can not be acquired at law schools located in other States. The course of study covers a period of three years of thirty-two weeks each, and the two classes have separate and distinct instruction throughout the course. The dean of the Indiana Law School is James A. Rohbach, A. M., LL. B.


Indiana Dental College, Indianapolis .- Was established in the fall of 1879. The course in the college consists of three sessions of eight months each. The institution is co-educational, admitting women on the same terms as men.


The college has about 1,500 graduates, and they are in practise all over the globe. Many of them have attained national distinction in their profession.


The clinic of the college is large and interest- ing. The operatory is eighty feet long and fifty- four feet wide, on the second floor of the build- ing, facing on both North and Meridian streets. Here work is done for the general public. The college sees about 3,000 patients each year, and as the most of these have several operations per- formed, the total of operations runs into the tens of thousands. Every operation known to dental surgery is performed. The oral surgical clinic


is especially good, and all operations which do not require that the patient be put to bed after it are performed at the college. Graver operations are performed at one of the hospitals, the stu- dents having an opportunity to be present. The dean of the college is Frederic R. Henshaw, D. D. S.


Indiana Veterinary College, Indianapolis, was established by Louis A. Greiner in 1892. It is one of the most distinguished of this character of educational institutions in the United States. In its earlier development it was materially as- sisted by Ferdinand A. Mueller, its present sec- retary and treasurer, in the financial direction and erection of the present college building in 1909. Doctors William B. Craig, dean of the faculty ; G. H. Roberts, president, and Joseph W. Koltz, vice president, notable veterinarians and educators, are the executive officers of the college. The college maintains one of the finest hospitals for the treatment of animals in the country, which is one of the most important ad- juncts to the college building. Graduates of this school are eligible to membership in the Ameri- can Veterinary Association and are recognized by the Bureau of Animal Industry of the United States.


Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis.


Indianapolis College of Pharmacy was or- ganized in 1904 as a department of Winona Technical Institute, at Indianapolis. Since its organization its development has been steady and several hundred students have graduated from


23


354


CENTENNIAL HISTORY AND HANDBOOK OF INDIANA


it from all parts of the United States and foreign countries. The course leading to the degree of Ph.G. covers two years of twenty-six weeks each. Each year is divided into two terms of thirteen weeks each. A period of about five months sepa- rates the two college years. This often is of great advantage, enabling students to spend the intervening time in practical and profitable work in pharmaceutical establishments. The college was reorganized May 14 with a capital stock of $50,000 to secure added facilities for the work. The officers are Ferdinand A. Mueller, president, and Edward H. Niles, secretary.


Teachers' College .- The Teachers' College of Indianapolis has become one of the most favor- ably known teacher-training schools in the


Lain Business College.


United States. Mrs. Eliza A. Blaker, the presi- dent of Teachers' College and superintendent of the Free Kindergarten schools of Indianapolis since their organization in 1882, was called to Indianapolis by Mr. A. C. Shortridge to estab- lish a kindergarten in the Hadley-Roberts Acad- emy. Later she organized the system of free kindergartens in Indianapolis, which has received the indorsement of Indianapolis citizens and the substantial support of the General Assembly of Indiana. Teachers' College of Indianapolis was first founded in 1882 under the name of Kinder- garten Normal Training School, which later was changed to the Indiana Kindergarten and Primary Normal Training School. In 1893 the name was again changed to the Teachers' College of Indi- anapolis. The aim of the school during its for- mative period was the training of kindergartners. While this is still continued as an essential de- partment of the teacher-training, the courses of instruction now inchided in the curriculum of the college are not only arranged for the training of kindergartners and grade school teachers, but also afford the specialized training so necessary


to the teachers of domestic science, art, music and manual work. In 1907 the Teachers' College was fully accredited by the State Board of Edu- cation and thus has obtained official recognition. In addition, the students are also fitted for play- ground work, for teaching defective children and for work in social settlements. During the thirty-three years of its existence some 3,000 students have received diplomas, while at least double that number have taken partial courses and work in certificate courses.


Lain Business College is the leading private commercial school in Indianapolis. It was estab- lished in 1906 by Mr. and Mrs. Marvin M. Lain. The building occupied by the school was built by them, and is one of the largest business col- lege buildings in the State.


The Normal College of the North American Gymnastic Union is an institution established for the purpose of educating teachers of physical training for schools maintained by gymnastic so- cieties, for public schools and for higher educa- tional institutions. The college is empowered by law to confer academic titles and degrees on students that complete certain prescribed courses.


The Normal College is associated with, and controlled by, the North American Gymnastic Union, which was organized in 1850 for the pur- pose of bringing up men and women strong in body, mind and morals, and for the promotion and dissemination of progressive and liberal ideas. It is not a money-making institution, as the tuition fees cover but a fraction of its ex- penses. The additional income required for the defrayal of expenses is derived from appropria- tions made by the North American Gymnastic Union and from assessments that are levied on a guaranty fund created by subscriptions. The college is located in the east wing of the German House.


College of Missions .- The Sarah A. Davis- Deterding Memorial is located in Irvington and is conducted under the auspices of the Christian Woman's Board of Missions for the purpose of training missionaries and Christian workers. The ground was broken for the erection of the building August 29, 1907. The offices of the Christian Woman's Board of Missions are lo- cated in this building.


Indiana Central University, just south of In- dianapolis, was incorporated October 6, 1902. It


355


CENTENNIAL HISTORY AND HANDBOOK OF INDIAN.1


was not, however, until September 26, 1905, that its doors were opened for the reception of stu- dents. The school came as the result of a want long felt by the Church of the United Brethren in Christ for a school in Indiana. In a sense the school is the logical successor of the old Harts- ville College, which for many years flourished at Hartsville, a village east of Columbus, Ind. The latter school had gone down under the disastrous fire which destroyed the building, and certain differences which had arisen from changes of the fundamental laws of the church. Several times there had been put forth plans for the re- newal of church educational enterprises in the State, in the interim between the closing down of the old school and the opening of the new, but it was not until the summer of 1902 that plans sufficiently matured and practicable to invite co- operation were advanced. The church felt at that time the work could be done, and the subse- quent history of the new school has justified the hopes of those who backed the enterprise. The proposition laid before the three annual confer- ences by William L. Elder, a well-known busi- ness man of Indianapolis, to give, upon certain conditions, the land for a campus and to erect a college building thereon, met with favor in the conferences, and the college is the direct out- growth of his proposition. The present beauti- ful and imposing administration building was erected and the property turned over to the board of trustees.


University Heights, the home of the college, is at the junction of the Pennsylvania railroad and the Indianapolis, Columbus & Southern Traction Company, a little more than a mile south of the present city limits of Indianapolis.


Railway Facilities .- The great resources of Indianapolis have been made available as ele- nents of progress by the development of trans- portation facilities that are exceptional in their completeness. The earliest years of the State's history preceded the railway era, and during hose first years the towns that were located upon he Ohio river and the lower Wabash had a great advantage over any other of the locations in the State. Soon afterward came the canal building tra, when American enterprise manifested itself ill over the country in the endeavor to give con- renient outlets to the products of the various ections through the medium of artificial water-


ways, Indiana especially participating in the ex- tensive canal building activity by constructing the Wabash & Erie canal from Toledo to Evan- ville, 476 miles, which is the longest in the United States, part of which is being held by the slack- water navigation on the Maumee and Wabash rivers. The Whitewater canal, from Lawrence- burg, on the Ohio, to Hagerstown, was also built. and these waterways for many years constituted the principal features, outside of the Ohio river. in the transportation facilities of the State. The




Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.