USA > Kansas > Shawnee County > History of Shawnee County, Kansas, and representative citizens > Part 42
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
531
AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS.
Physicians and Surgeons at Keokuk, Iowa, graduating therefrom in February, 1864. In 1861 he had enlisted in the "Silver Band" as a musician, enlisting as a member of the 10th Regiment, Iowa Vol. Inf., Colonel Purcel command- ing. While in the service, he continued his study of medicine and was ap- pointed assistant surgeon at Estie Hospital at Keokuk, continuing as such until he was mustered out in 1864. He was in the engagement in which his regiment was ambushed by the guerilla forces of Gen. M. Jeff. Thompson and 18 members of his company killed.
Doctor Coldren first started in practice at Nevada, Iowa, and after three years moved to Hazelgreen, Wisconsin, where he practiced continuously for 17 years. He came to Topeka, Kansas, in 1882 and has met with remarkable success as a general practitioner. He is a member of the Kansas State Medi- cal Society, American Medical Association; Academy of Medicine and Shaw- nee County Medical Soicety, and is a member of the medical staff of The Jane C. Stormont Hospital. Politically he is a supporter of Republican principles.
In 1865, Dr. Coldren was joined in marriage with Jane Ellen Simpson, a daughter of Anthony and Elizabeth (Bronson) Simpson, her parents being natives of Yorkshire, England. They came to America and were prominent citizens of Dubuque, Iowa, Mr. Simpson being largely engaged in lead mining. Our subject and his wife are parents of the following children: Clarence E., a member of the DeWolfe Hopper opera company, who was married in 1892; Aline, who married George Brenning, of St. Louis, Missouri, and has two chil- dren,-George and Lorine; and Lorine, who married A. M. Officer, of Topeka, and has two children, Aline and Margaret. The Doctor and his family reside in a pleasant home at No. 1018 Polk street.
REV. MARTIN GUY DEAN.
REV. MARTIN GUY DEAN, an esteemed citizen of Topeka, and a mem- ber of the Central Congregational Church, of which Rev. C. M. Sheldon is pastor, and of the Central Association of Congregational Churches of Kan- sas, was born at Woodstock, Ontario, Canada, October 14, 1829, and is a son of Samuel and Hannah ( Aldrich) Dean.
On the paternal side, the ancestry is from Dublin, Ireland, and on the maternal from New England, our subject's mother having been a native of New Hampshire. The early years of Martin G. Dean were filled with hard- ships incident to residence in the Michigan forests, far from the benefits and advantages of civilization. When he was 12 years of age, circumstances
532
HISTORY OF SHAWNEE COUNTY
threw him upon his own resources, on account of the death of his uncle, who had adopted him when five years of age, when he was orphaned by the death of his mother. He was ambitious and early determined to secure a college education and in bringing about the possibility followed various lines of work as a boy, earning $12 a month when 14 years of age. Prior to his ordi- nation to the ministry, he worked in the insurance field, on newspapers and also earned many an honest dollar by selling books and by working in the pine woods of Michigan. In 1845 he entered Albion Seminary at Albion. Michi- gan, and pursued his studies there for three years. In 1848 he entered the Western Theological Seminary at Meadville. Pennsylvania, where he was graduated in 1851. having relinquished the idea of going to the University of Michigan on account of defective (weak) eyes. After preaching about 18 months, he was ordained to the ministry in October, 1852. From 1854 to 1860 he had the advantage of coming directly under the instruction of that famous educator, Horace Mann, at Antioch College, Yellow Springs, Ohio, where he graduated in 1860. Upon taking up his ministerial labors in the Christian Church, he accepted his first pastorate at Monroe, New Jersey, and later was located at Honeoye Falls, New York, a village situated 14 miles. from Rochester. For the next 14 years he was a resident of St. Paul. Min- nesota, where he had gone to regain his health. During this period he trav-
eled and preached in three or four states. During his long life in the ministry, he has filled charges in 10 different states, including Ohio, Illinois, Indiana and Kansas, and as many Eastern states. Since November, 1879. he has been a resident of Kansas, and of Topeka for three years, where he owns a hand- some residence at No. 1734 West street, in the pleasant neighborhood of Washburn College. During the Civil War he saw a year of service, as chap- lain of the 145th Regiment, New York Vol. Inf.
Rev. Mr. Dean has been married four times. In 1903 he was united to Mrs. Maud ( Moore) Street, a most charming lady, and an admirable house- keeper. Mrs. Street, by her former marriage, had one little daughter, Reba, who is the light of the household. Dr. Dean has one daughter, Grace, whose- mother. Kate (Slawson) Dean, died in Kansas in the year 1882.
Although in his 76th year, our subject presents no venerable appear- ance ; on the other hand. he appears more as a man of 30 years. He is one of those fortunate individuals who can boast that he has never been afflicted with even a headache, backache or rheumatism. His family is one rather noted for longevity and vigor, two of his sisters, older than himself. still enjoying health of mind and body, one of whom, 85 years old, travels exten- sively alone. He attributes his present very remarkable vitality to abundant outdoor exercise and to sensible dieting, believing that to cure one's self the chief thing is to leave doctors, pill bags and drug-stores alone. During the,
THE CHAPEL
BOSWELL MEMORIAL
2
1
VIEW OF A PORTION OF THE COLLEGE CAMPUS
WASHBURN COLLEGE
535
AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS.
bicycle craze, after he had reached his 70th year, he was fond of bicycle riding and his faithful wheel registered 75,000 miles in three years. As an edu- cated Christian clergyman, he has a wide circle of attached and admiring friends, and he possesses all the attributes which make him a charming com- panion, a faithful friend and a valuable citizen.
WASHBURN COLLEGE.
Period of Construction-1865-1896. For the origin of Washburn Col- lege we must go back to New England. We find it in that spirit which the first New England settlers brought over with them in the early part of the seventeenth century, those who in their poverty founded Harvard College in 1636. It was traditional in the church of the Massachusetts and Connecticut Puritans to make sacrifices for the higher education. Wherever the Congre- gational Church has gone, it has taken that tradition with it. The Congrega- tionalists who came to Kansas, whether they came from New England directly or not, brought with them this tradition. When the Association of Congre- gational Churches was organized, to found a college was one of the first things thought of. At their first meeting in 1857 they adopted this resolution : "That a committee of five be raised to obtain information in regard to the location of a college under the patronage of this body, and if they deem it ex- pedient, to secure such a location." Among those appointed upon the commit- tee of five were John Ritchie and Lewis Bodwell. Lewis Bodwell was pastor of the Congregational Church of Topeka and John Ritchie, one of the leading members. These two men, together with Harvey D. Rice and Harrison Han- nahs, were those most deeply interested in the new enterprise. The Associa- tion of Congregational Churches assumed direction and oversight and the preliminary work for the college was guided by that body. There seems to have been no question as to whether a college should be founded. There was no doubt about that. There was some debate as to where the location should be. Some friends of the embryo college wished it at Topeka, others wished it at Lawrence, others at Leavenworth or elsewhere.
In 1858 the association voted to accept the offers of Topeka subscribers; in 1859 the Topeka subscribers not having redemed their pledges, it was voted to place the college at Lawrence and to call it Monumental College. The Lawrence people were anxious to have the college. Nearly all of the inhabi- tants must have signed the subscription list, for we are told that when un- rolled at the association meeting it reached from the door to the moderator's
26
536
HISTORY OF SHAWNEE COUNTY
desk and half way back again. Mount Oread was offered as a site for the college, hundreds of acres of land and $10,000 for endowment, and a $25,000 building. The Topeka delegation consisting of Harrison Hannahs resisted the action of the association, as they deemed Topeka a better place for a college and claimed that Topeka was at the time making efforts in good faith to fulfill the pledges made the year before. In fact, Mr. Rice was in the East at the time to raise money for Colonel Ritchie, to be used for the college. If 1860 had not been the famine year, Lawrence might have redeemed her pledges, Monu- mental College might have occupied Mount Oread and the State University been forced to occupy another home. As it was, in 1860 the Topeka people were ready to make again the proposal they had made in 1858, and were pre- pared-at least in part-to make their pledges good. One part of the pro- posal made by the Topeka friends of the college was that 160 acres of land should be given within a mile and a half of the town-site. How this was pro- cured is told by Mr. Rice in his "Reminiscences" and has a place in this sketch, for it is the history of the procuring of the site upon which these buildings stand which we now are using.
In 1858 gold was discovered near Pike's Peak and George Davis, who owned this quarter section was anxious to go in the spring of 1859. Previ- ously he had refused to sell. Colonel Ritchie and Mr. Rice accordingly got their heads together and agreed that Colonel Ritchie should mortgage the quarter section upon which he lived and Mr. Rice should give his time to go back to New England and raise the money on the security of Colonel Ritchie's land. Mr. Rice went first to Brooklyn to see Henry Ward Beecher, for he had come to Kansas in the first place as a member of the Beecher Bible Rifle Com- pany. But Mr. Beecher was away and so Mr. Rice went on to Hartford, where he had lived. There, after two weeks of rather discouraging effort, he called upon Mrs. Hooker, Henry Ward Beecher's sister. She and her sisters, Mrs. Stowe and Miss Catherine E. Beecher, became much interested, and soon after Mr. Hooker and his partner, Hon. Francis Gillett, United States Senator from Connecticut, furnished Mr. Rice with a thousand dollars. This, with another thousand dollars already obtained, he took back to Topeka in the form of a $2,000 draft. The draft was cashed in Leavenworth, the Topeka banks not having $2,000, and $1,600 of it were taken to pay Mr. Davis for this land. It was held by Colonel Ritchie who was ready to turn it over to the college when the time should come.
The time came in 1865. February 6, 1865, a charter was granted to the trustees of Lincoln College, and soon efforts were made to realize the long- projected plan. Over $7,000 was subscribed. Colonel Ritchie subscribed $3,000 and Mr. Rice $1,000. The 160 acres now the college site, were deeded to the college by John Ritchie and his wife at $2,400. Lots at roth avenue
537
AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS.
and Jackson they deeded at $200 and Mr. Ritchie gave $400 in cash. The trustees were now ready to build, but an unexpected obstacle presented itself. None of the Topeka contractors had faith in the new undertaking. They re- fused to bid for the work. But Mr. Rice, not much liking to be stopped that way, as he says, proposed to the trustees that he be given the contract at $7,000. The proposal was accepted. United States soldiers from Maine and Massa- chusetts then stationed in Topeka dug the trenches. The stone for the build- ing was drawn by Mr. Rice's ox-team. Stone sills were obtained that had been destined for Bethany College, which had been started then but could not be completed until later. The pine timber was hauled mostly from Atchison and Leavenworth by Mr. Rice. Native lumber was sawed on the Wakarusa twelve miles south. The building thus constructed is the one now standing on Ioth avenue and Jackson street.
Colonel Ritchie and Mr. Rice, two of those most active in giving Lincoln College its habitation, got their impulse largely, the one from Knox College, the other from Williams. Mr. Rice lived in Northern Massachusetts in his boyhood and used very frequently to pass through Williamstown on his way to Troy. He wished much to go to Williams, but, being unable to, resolved that he would do what he could to make it possible for others to go to college. Colonel Ritchie before coming to Kansas had visited President Blanchard of Knox College and was impressed with the work for good done there. Presi- dent Blanchard gave him $200 for the college, of which Colonel Ritchie may already have been thinking. The early history of Washburn touches Knox College in another way. Major Hannahs had also visited that institution, had observed how well co-education worked there, and, when he later became in- terested in the Kansas college, resolved to use his influence to open its doors to young women as well as young men.
School opened in the new building January 3, 1866. There were three teachers, Rev. Samuel D. Bowker, George H. Collier and Rev. H. Q. Butter- field. Mr. Bowker had already been working in the interests of the college and had secured several thousand dollars and several hundred "valuable vol- umes" as a nucleus for a library. Each of the teachers was encouraged to make efforts to help raise an endowment fund. A special effort was being made in Kansas in 1866 to raise $10,000 for endowment. The movement met with some success as $3.300 was pledged on it by January, 1866.
The first term seems to have been a successful one. We learn that "the examination at the close of the winter term was quite thorough and creditable to the institution. The classes in the languages and mathematics evinced by their clear conception and ready answers the work of the teacher and pupil during the term. Between thirty and forty students were in attendance." Thirty-eight names were given in the catalogue. These were all in the pre-
538
HISTORY OF SHAWNEE COUNTY
paratory department. The next year opened with two college students and 65 others. In 1868 Addison P. Davis was given his diploma, the first student to be graduated.
The last part of this year, 1868, Lincoln College became Washburn Col- lege. November 19th, a meeting of the trustees was held at which a letter from Rev. Mr. Butterfield was read announcing a gift of $25,000 from Deacon Ichabod Washburn of Worcester, Massachusetts, and suggesting the propriety of changing the name of the college in honor of the donor. Some felt, among them John Ritchie, that Lincoln College was a name peculiarly fitting and were reluctant to give it up, especially as Lincoln himself had ex- pressed an interest in the college, and shortly before his death had promised it a contribution ; but there were several other literary institutions in the United States bearing the name of Lincoln and it was regarded as most fitting that the college should bear the name of the one who, up to this time, had been its greatest benefactor, and who had secured its permanence.
The next year Rev. Mr. Butterfield was elected President. He remained president a little over a year and was succeeded in 1871 by Rev. Peter Mac- Vicar. The first important task of Dr. MacVicar was to push through the erection of a building upon the permanent site. The building at roth avenue and Jackson street had from the first been regarded as a merely temporary abode of the College. The trustees had since the formation of the corpora- tion held the 160 acres deeded to them by John Ritchie, and although there had been some hesitation about going out into the prairie so far, and some attempts had been made to secure a location nearer the center of the city, it was decided to put up a building, if possible, on the site now occupied. Ac- cordingly a subscription book was passed around upon which the citizens of Topeka generously pledged themselves in 1872 for $31.500. $25,000 was. subscribed in 25 days. The academy building and site were sold to the city for $15,000 and by December, 1872, the new building was enclosed.
The northeastern corner of the quarter section was chosen for a campus. The trustees hoped to lease the rest to those who liked to breathe the learned atmosphere of a classical institution, and thus establish a college community. The campus was plowed up and around it was planted an osage hedge and outside of that a high board fence. The osage hedge has grown and the board fence is no longer necessary. Two hundred and fifty white elms and 200 cottonwoods were set out. It was hard to make the trees live, the wind blew so continually and the ground was so dry. It was largely to protect the trees that the fence was built and the ground kept plowed. Corn was usually raised in the summer. At one time Dr. MacVicar was paid in part by 314 bushels of corn at 18c a bushel.
It did not prove practicable to make the building ready for occupancy
539
AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS.
until 1874. Then two rooms and a kitchen were finished off, and in the autumn the college was moved to the building we now called Rice Hall.
Meantime they had to vacate the building sold to the city and hold their sessions at such places as they could find. In 1872-73 the school was held in a grocery store on the west side of 10th avenue between Kansas avenue and Jackson street. In 1873-74 it was held in the building at the south- west corner of Eighth and Kansas avenues, while the library remained stored in boxes in the basement of E. H. Blake's residence, corner of Sixth avenue and Tyler street.
At the time the college was moved to College Hill, the most of the teacli- ing was done by Professor Dunbar and Prof. George C. Merrill. Professor Merrill remained until 1875, when he was called to Phillips, Andover. Pro- fessor Dunbar remained until 1878. Professor Merrill excelled in mathe- matics, and surveyed the ground for the original campus. Professor Dunbar was an unusually proficient student of languages. Washburn students of those days thought he had too little patience with their shortcomings. The number of students from 1874 to 1878 was not large. When C. K. Holliday entered, in 1876 or 1877, there were only 13, in 1878 there were 20. The few ladies who boarded at the school had rooms in the basement. The boys had rooms in the second story. Dr. Mac Vicar and other members of the faculty occupied the floor between. On the first floor also were recitation rooms, the library, and at the west end, the chapel.
These were discouraging years for the president and trustees. It was hard times financially, the prospect for students was unpromising. In 1874, however, $10,000 was procured in the East to add to the endowment fund. The vested funds of the college in June, 1877, were reported to be a little over $45,000. After a trip East in the spring of 1878 the president thinks the situation encouraging. In fact, from this time on for a decade substantial growth is the order of the day. New buildings are erected, students increase in number, new departments are added.
In 1879 Hartford was built. Professor Stearns in the summer went East and in the city of Hartford succeeded in a very short time in raising $3,000. With the proceeds work was at once begun upon a new cottage for young ladies. It is to be remarked that this building was not placed upon the campus enclosed by the hedge and the board fence. For one thing boys are human and might be distracted if the cottage were too near the dormitories in the main building; for another, President MacVicar wished no buildings but large substantial ones of stone on the campus. Hartford was ready in the autumn of 1879. a little late for the beginning of the term. Until it was done the young ladies boarded in the city, making the trip to and from Col- lege Hill in a hack. "So impatient were we," one of them has written,
540
HISTORY OF SHAWNEE COUNTY
"to move into the cottage, that while the sitting-room floor was covered with shavings and the house was all unfinished we took possession." The first meal under the new roof was an event. A plentiful supply of crackers, milk and syrup was spread upon the kitchen table, guiltless of a tablecloth, and otherwise primitive in its appointments, and eight girls sitting on inverted crocks made a hearty meal. They made a bed all across one room and slept sweetly under the protecting care of "our dear matron, Mrs. Webster." It was the purpose of the board of trustees to add such buildings as Hartford as there should be a demand for them. The catalogue published in 1880. contains the following statement : "In the founding of Washburn College as a Christian institution of learning, it was the intention to provide facilities of Christian culture for young women as well as young men. In pursuance of this intention, the Trustees have set apart an eligible tract adjoining the college campus as a site for the ladies department. Instead of attempting, however, to erect extensive buildings at great cost, the Trustees have adopted what may be called the 'Cottage Plan'-that is, the erection of buildings in the form of dwellings, at a cost of about $3,000 each, capable of accommodat- ing twenty or twenty-five pupils, under the care of a preceptress. The first of this style of buildings has been erected and is now wholly occupied. An- other cottage is partially completed and occupied.
"This plan prevents the congregating of large numbers in one building, obviates the objection to extended stairways, is safer in the event of fire, and renders the whole arrangement more attractive and homelike. The domestic economy is on the Mount Holyoke principle. Each pupil is re- quired to aid to the extent of an hour a day in household work. under the personal supervision of the matron."
The cottage referred to as partially completed and occupied was Cottage No. 2, later South Cottage. This was burned to the ground in December. 1890. In the catalogue of 1882-83 a third cottage to be called the "Kansas Cottage" is prophesied. But this was never erected. Some money was sub- scribed for it, but not enough, and when Holbrook was built there was not the need of it.
In January. 1883, Whitin Hall was ready to be used as a cottage for boys. The catalogue announced that about 75 young men could be accommo- dated in the two buildings, College Hall and Whitin. Board could be furnished at from $2.00 to $2.50 per week. "At this low rate, very little would be gained hy self-boarding. Generally also the deleterious effect of boarding one's self is such as to render it quite objectionable. On the plan effected the food is prepared in a neat and wholesome manner, as in a well regulated family. By the formation of boarding clubs the expenses of board may be still further reduced."
541
AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS.
In 1886 Holbrook was occupied. For several years before this it had been impossible to receive all the young ladies who wished to enter the college. By this addition about 100 girls could be taken.
During this same year Boswell Memorial was completed. That has served us for a library now for 19 years. Previously the books had been shelved in a room on the first floor of the main building-now Rice Hall. The room was dark, dingy and unpleasant. The books were not arranged in order and there was no catalogue. No periodicals were subscribed for. Satur- day mornings it was opened for a little while so that students might take out books. When the new building was ready and the books moved there, they were classified and catalogued by Professor Whittemore. Presiously there had been a list of books made by Professor Lovewell.
Professor Whittemore spent his time in the summer of 1886 moving the books from the main building to Boswell Memorial. He served as librarian for 12 years after this, and all the old books, together with those added during that time, were entered by him in the accession book.
When the new library was opened, periodicals were subscribed for, and the rooms were open in the afternoons. A little later they were opened for two hours in the morning besides.
July 3, 1889, the contract for the Chapel was let, and in 1890 it was occupied. Dedicatory services were held in the afternoon of baccalaureate Sunday 15 years ago.
During this period, 1878-1890, the campus was also improved by the planting of hundreds of trees. Two hundred evergreens were planted in the spring of 1882. The next spring 1,000 forest trees were set out west of the cottages, to be transplanted later. A year or two after this, several hundred evergreens were planted. Some were placed south of the cottages, others put in groups of five about the campus. A number were set out in "Potato Park." Potato Park has disappeared now. It used to be situated between +lie cottages and Whitin. A square with a road around it was fenced in and inside potatoes raised. Through this ran the board walk con- necting Hartford with the main building.
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.