USA > Kansas > Shawnee County > History of Shawnee County, Kansas, and representative citizens > Part 43
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Outside the campus there had also been striking changes. In 1880 the trustees had purchased a tract of 135 acres north of the college site. It was to be divided up into building lots and sold to persons in smypathy with the college. The investment proved to be a good one, as the land increased in value. Many lots were sold and houses put up. Three in the row west of College avenue were built by Washburn professors. We are told under date of September, 1888. that in less than two years over 200 dwellings in easy access of the college had been erected, that it was much easier to rent houses
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near the campus than formerly. At that time on College Hill there were being erected four residences at an average cost of $5,000 each.
In June, 1884, the college was brought nearer the city by the extension of the street railway to the campus. Before horse-cars ran out here, the young ladies of the cottages had had to depend upon a hack to convey them to the city. It made a trip regularly every Sunday to take them to church; some- times it took them on a shopping expedition on a Saturday, and, once in a great while was enlisted for a party. Now, with the horse-car running nine times a day, trips to town could be made more frequently. The trip to the Santa Fe Station and back was made in one hour and 40 minutes. A few years later the electric line was put in, and the two lines ran in competition for a while. Miss Lyman used to be sorry for the neglected horse-car driver and ride down with him, while the girls rode down by the more rapid electrics. The trustees had labored strenuously to get the company to extend the car tracks to the college. They had paid $5,000 to the company to accomplish that result and it was a manifest material advantage that the city should be accessible. Yet the faculty were a little anxious as to the moral effects of contact with the city. Young persons who made frequent trips were dis- cussed in faculty meetings. A group of boys setting out one afternoon was intercepted by Professor Craigin and made to return.
The remarkable increase in material advantages had been attended by a corresponding enlargement of opportunities. But this was made possible only by increased resources. These came through additions to the endowment, by special contributions, and through increased attendance. The endowment fund was increased to over $100,000. One of the most generous contributors was Mrs. Williston who used to send a draft for $1,000 or more every year until her death. Upon her decease the estate went to Williston Seminary.
In 1878 Professor Lovewell came to Washburn. He, C. D. Merrill, and Professor Stearns with Dr. MacVicar were the working force. In 1879 Miss White became preceptress. Professor Merrill, however, was not retained. From this time on the teaching force was added to rapidly. We opened the year 1882 with five teachers besides Dr. MacVicar, instead of three. 1886 and 1887 were years of expansion and by 1890 there were nine who gave their full time to the college, besides Miss Ingalls and Miss Case in the music department, and Mr. Harshbarger who taught three hours as assistant in math- ematics. One of those who made a deep impress upon the college in the early '80's was Professor Bliss. He was offered the presidency of Washburn upon Dr. MacVicar's resignation, and is now president of Roberts College, Con- stantinople.
With the increase in the staff the work of the teachers was systematized. Each one was enabled to confine himself to that branch in which he was most
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.proficient. Professor Whittemore taught the Latin; Professor Phelps, the Greek; Professor Lovewell, physics and chemistry; Miss Storrs or Miss Aldrich, the French and German; Miss White or Miss Merriam, preceptress, English literature and a little history; Professor Curtis or Mr. Adams, the mathematics, while Professor Puffer drilled the students in declamation and oratory. The music department received more systematic attention from 1883. Miss Carrie Barnes, now Mrs. Lovewell, was given charge of that depart- ment that fall. Miss Lard succeeded Miss Barnes for several years and then canie Miss Ingalls and at the same time a division of the department into vocal and instrumental. A good deal was said then about increased facilities in the science departments. Professor Craigin, now residing in Colorado, was ยท especially active in procuring fossils and other specimens in natural history. For a time he issued a scientific publication. In 1887 Professor Lovewell was allowed $1.300 for scientific apparatus. Among other things there were pro- cured a Holtz machine, a saccharometer, a polariscope, a cathetometer, a sperometer, a Sprengel's mercury air-pump, Watt's "Dictionary of Chemistry," the works of Faraday, Maxwell, Prescott, and other volumes.
There had during these years been a marked increase in the number of students. In 1878 there were about 20 in the fall term; in 1879, about 50; in 1882, 130; in 1885, over 200; and so on. In 1890 a class of 12 graduated. Up to that time the graduating class usually numbered three or four. The college was growing at the top and that was encouraging.
They were conscious of the growth at the time. The Telephone for February, 1889, the publication of the Congregational churches, sums up this growth thus:
Within the last four years the number of students in the four college classes has doubled, and in the highest class of the preparatory department there has been a similar increase * * All of the members of the present Junior class have * . been connected with the college for more than four years. The courses of study have been undergoing a gradual development as the means of the college and as necessity has required
And Dr. MacVicar's text for his baccalaureate sermon the next Com- mencement was: "Thou shalt see greater things than these."
The body of students as it had grown in numbers, and still more in importance-since the growth was at the top-had developed a self-con- sciousness and a corps d'esprit heretofore unknown. Student organizations and enterprises had come into being; literary societies had been started; a Christian Association had been begun; a magazine conducted entirely by the students was issued; football and baseball teams were organized. Some of "the time they had a glee club.
During the latter part of the '80's and early '90's there developed unusual
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interest and success in oratory. This is attributed partly to the instruction. and inspiration of Professor Puffer, whose constant drill for the monthly public rhetoricals must have had its effect. Perhaps it was due partly to the happy chance which sent to Washburn at about the same time those who had special talent in oratory. Whatever the cause, Washburn won first place in the State Oratorical Contest three times in four years from 1889 to 1892,- Brewster winning in 1889, Naylor in 1890 and Poston in 1892. In 1890. Naylor won first place in the Inter-State Contest, as everybody knows.
After the Washburn victory at Emporia in 1889 the State University Times came out with the following editorial. I quote in part :
Look at Washburn. Every month her students have some kind of contest; a prize debate, a contest in declamation or oratory, or a splendid musical entertain- ment given by the students.
What is the result? Their college life is not a monotonous drudgery *
* It is these contests that have given Washburn her Brewster, and threaten to send his peer to Lawrence next February to again take off the prize. It is this college life and activity that made such a grand showing for her at Emporia last month. There was her orator, her glee club, her cherubs, her banners and colors, and almost every one of her enthusiastic sons and daughters was there to sound her praises. Going out of the hall that night, we heard the remark, "This just as an advertisement has been worth a thousand dollars to Wash- burn College,"-and so it was-We can learn a great deal from the lesson she has taught us at Emporia, and from her college spirit at all times.
That dignified body, the Washburn faculty, had not looked with so much favor upon the manifestations of college spirit at Emporia. What the offense was I am not informed, but certain it is there was one, for it was ruled by the faculty that the next year the young ladies of the academy should not be allowed to go to Lawrence to the State Oratorical Contest. Whether the faculty had just cause for condemnation, those same young ladies could truly say now after the lapse of 15 sobering years. Then they thought the faculty to be unjust, and the other students did, too. There resulted a sympathetic strike. The students all refused to attend classes for several days. They were induced to come to terms, however, by the President, and the girls did not go to Lawrence.
It remains for me to say a few words about the remainder of Dr. Mac- Vicar's administration from 18go to 1895. It was a trying period for the president and trustees. The very success and expansion of the preceding years had brought serious problems. More buildings, more students, ampli- fied opportunities for them, had brought largely increased expenses. It was. not a time to increase the endowment, for the country was suffering from one of the worst financial depressions in its history. The trustees felt that "to cut down the work would be to miss an opportunity in the State," yet feared that it might have to be done.
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At the trustees' meeting of June, 1892, after reports from different members of the faculty, a report from which the following was taken was. made by a committee appointed to consider the needs of the college. After a suitable introduction they go on to say :
"The department of Elocution needs relief ; that of Modern Languages, enlargement ; the departments of Greek and Latin need illustrative materials ;. that of Mathematics and of Astronomy need instruments; while History and English Literature need an enlarged library.
"But there are other needs which press equally upon the slender re- sources of the college and cause one need to be felt above all others, the need of money to supply all needs.
"With a view of making more obvious, both the sympathy of the Trustees with the enlightened views of the devoted instructors in the college and their own estimate of the needs of the college, the Trustees hereby declare that the college needs immediately :
"First, the endowment of a chair of Mental and Moral Science to be filled by the President.
"Second, the endowment of a chair of History and Social Science, in- cluding Political Economy.
"Third, a chair of Belles Lettres and Logic.
"Fourth, a chair of Mathematics and Astronomy, later to be separated.
"Fifth, a professorship of Greek and Latin, later to be separated.
"Sixth, a professorship of Natural Science and Chemistry, later to be subdivided into several professorships.
"Seventhi, a professorship of Modern Languages.
"Eighth, a professorship of Elocution.
"These are immediate needs, and each one obviously involves expenditures other than those required for the salary of the head of the department. The Library must be greatly enriched to make it serve the uses of any one of these departments. Apparatus and illustrative material can be most useful only * where each department has exclusive lecture or class rooms. * * If an effort were made to raise twenty thousand dollars from the Alumni and their friends toward the endowment of the Peter MacVicar Chair of Mental and Moral Science, its success would be assured by the aid of the former teachers of these graduates. If at the same time twenty or thirty thousand more were raised through other efforts, some of the income of our present funds might be used for the present urgent needs of all departments.
"Something must be done. We must advance or die. Trusting in Him who has so wonderfully guided and blessed Washburn in all its history, we face the future. and for the better college that is needed we will at once plan to raise first :- fifty thousand dollars, then a second fifty thousand, then a third'
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fifty thousand, not resting until one hundred and fifty thousand is added to our present endowment fund, and permanent professors with special depart- ments take the place of teachers having various topics of instruction, and little time for the preparation of any topic. *
It seemed impossible to raise the $150,000 or even one third of that amount. For a time the only possible alternative seemed to be a policy of re- trenchment. That policy, however, proved to be the impossible one. The college had been growing so large and progressing so fast that it was im- possible to check it. The momentum was too great. When in 1895 it was decided that some courses must be cut out, that conditions would not warrant so large expenditures, the college resisted. To go ahead seemed to invite financial ruin, but suddenly to check our strong and lusty college was a worse ruin. Dr. MacVicar who had given the best years of his noble life to Washburn was not able to carry the increased burden.
The Washburn of 1895 was a more weighty burden to carry than the Lincoln College of 30 years before. That it was so was due in large part to Dr. MacVicar. To build the college had been his life work. He is the dominating person of this period I am writing of. He had planned for the college. He was in fact as well as in name the head of it. He more than any other one man had made a foundation worth while for others to build upon still further. His competent business management, his splendid courage and faith, his uplifting words and thoughts many who are present remember and those of another generation can be told. It is more difficult to tell of the quiet power which was of the very essence of his nature. In 1895 Dr. MacVicar was compelled to give up his active work. How the burden has been courageously borne and how the promises of earlier years have not been disappointed, it is the task of my colleague to set forth.
-A. M. Hyde.
Period of Expansion-1896-1905. The period in the history of Wash- burn College called the period of expansion is too recent to view with any historical perspective, especially by one whose connection with the college is practically contemporaneous with it. Any history of this period would, however, be incomplete and misleading, that failed to give the fullest recogni- tion to the splendid work that has preceded it. One cannot read the simple record of the board of trustees month by month and year by year through the formative period of its history without being impressed with the wisdom and devotion of the men who founded the college, and with no resources but its endowment of splendid opportunities carried it on through the unstable and trying years of our State's history and gave to these comparative pros- perous times an institution already rich in tradition and character and ideals.
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Whether the nine years that have passed since Peter MacVicar laid down the load that had bent his broad shoulders and exhausted his powerful mind, the period of which I am to speak to-day, be a realization or a promise I do not know. I believe it to be both. A realization in that it is a partial fulfillment of the hopes and ambitions of the early heroes of the college, the legitimate fruitage of their many years of careful planting and patient nurtur- ing. A promise that the period of slow and painful development is past. and from this time forth the workers may sooner see the fruit of their labors. What has been accomplished in this period is best shown by a simple state- ment of facts. In 1896 the work of the college was organized in three de- partments-the college, the college preparatory and a department of music, enrolling altogether 214 students and employing 14 instructors. In the col- lege proper 96 students were enrolled, having the choice of 75 courses of study of one-half year each. In 1897 the attendance in this department had increased to 119; in 1900 to 151; in 1903 to 172; and in 1905 to 247. In the year 1895-96 10 instructors were employed in college work. In the fall of 1896 a chair of history was added. In 1899-1900 instruction was pro- vided in elementary law, courses in sociology were first added and an addi- tional instructor was secured to take charge of the work in German. In 1902 the department of physics and astronomy was organized under a separate instructor, and new electives were opened to students in law and the fine arts. During the present year 19 instructors have been giving courses in the college department, offering to their students 134 half-year courses. To sum up, there has been an increase of nearly 100 per cent. in the teaching force and in the amount of work offered in the college department, and a gain of 150 per cent. in the attendance. During the same period the teach- ing force of the academy has been doubled and the attendance increased 50 per cent. These figures show that the period under consideration has been a period of rapid development in the departments with which the college started.
Since 1896 there has been added to the work of the college a department of art, a school of law and a school of medicine. During the year 1902-03 the departments of music and art were combined, a school of fine arts was organized, including work in painting and illustration and in oratory. This school has employed the time, wholly or in part, of nine instructors and has enrolled during the year just closing 218 students. It offers four year courses leading to the Bachelor's degree in piano, organ, voice, violin, painting and oratory. Its development has been materially assisted by the enterprise of the city of Topeka in planning the massive pipe organ in its auditorium.
The school of medicine was formed by merging the Kansas Medical College of Topeka. This institution was organized in 1889. It grew out of
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the conviction of many of the physicians of the city that there was an oppor- tunity here to establish a medical school that would bring to Topeka many young men anxious to enter the profession of medicine and put them in touch with the splendid opportunities that the city affords. Small in its beginnings, the school steadily grew in numbers and efficiency and at the time of its merg- ing into Washburn College, during the spring of 1903, it had a faculty of 34 members, 100 students and a substantial building at the corner of 12th and Tyler streets. The courses of lectures, originally three in number, had been increased to four and following the merger the length of each course was increased from six to seven months. The greater part of the medical work is still carried on at the medical building, but a portion of the laboratory work is given on the college campus.
In the spring of 1903 the board of trustees announced the organization of a school of law. It was believed that the city of Topeka, containing as it does courts of so many different kinds, ranging from the Police to the United States District Court, offered superior opportunities for instruction in law.
A thorough curriculum covering three years of nine months each was adopted and in the fall of 1903 work was begun in suitable rooms in the city near the State and City libraries. The school has shown great vigor and promise of success. It already has a good working library, the gift of T. W. Harrison of this city. The enrollment of students for each of the two years of its history has been about 40.
In 1896 the college had six buildings-Rice Hall, Boswell Memorial, the Chapel, Whitin. Holbrook and Hartford. These buildings were erected at a cost of $145,000. The endowment at this time was $70,000 and the equip- ment was valued at $24,000. Estimating the campus and other lands at $100,000, the total value of the material equipment was $339,000. In June, 1902, in addition to the above the college had an observatory building cost- ing $30,000, containing $19.250 worth of equipment, and a central heating plant and mains valued at $7.500. In June, 1903, the Jewell Fund had been completed, adding $20,000 to the endowment. The medical building with its equipment had been secured, valued together at $15.250. The law library valued at $5,000 and land worth $2,000 had come into the possession of the college. Since 1903 the college has come into possession of the Cooper col- lection of minerals worth $15,000 and other equipment estimated at $5,000. The president's residence has been erected at a cost of $7,500 and the Carnegie library at a cost of $40,000.
To summarize, during the years 1896 to 1905 the attendance of all departments of the college has increased from 214 to 663. The equipment, including land, buildings, books and apparatus has advanced in value from
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$339,000 to $506,000. The number of courses of instruction offered in the departments that existed at the beginning of this period has almost doubled and there have been added the schools of law and medicine and a large amount of work in the school of fine arts.
I have said that this gratifying growth of the college is a promise that the day of slow development is past. The resources of our State are rapidly increasing, our young people are intelligent and earnestly desirous of the opportunities for an education. Is it not a reasonable hope that Wash- burn, situated at the very heart of the State, may keep pace with the common- wealth in its rapid development? Indeed, may we not expect it to maintain a place of leadership in the great work of educating the mind and the heart of those who are so soon to be the history makers of our great State?
D. L. McEachron.
REV. PETER MACVICAR.
REV. PETER MACVICAR, deceased, who became president of Washburn College, Topeka, in 1871, and held that office for many years, was one of the leaders in educational work in Kansas. He was born June 15, 1829, at St. George, New Brunswick, Canada, and was a son of George and Christiana Mac Vicar.
Rev. Mr. MacVicar came of Scotch ancestry and possessed many of the leading traits of character which placed his ancestors, in years gone by, in the front rank of professional eminence. His father was a farmer and he grew up in healthful country surroundings but his tastes did not lead in the direction of agriculture. In his boyhood the family removed to the Territory of Wisconsin, settling near Waukesha, where the youth was able to attend school and in 1852 became a student at Beloit College. When he graduated four years later, as valedictorian of his class, his friends predicted for him a bright and successful future. They never had occasion to change their opinions, for his whole subsequent life demonstrated on what a firm founda- tion his early success was founded.
After one year as a member of the faculty of Beloit College, he entered Union Theological Seminary and completed his theological course at An- dover, in 1860.
In the fall of 1860, Rev. Mr. MacVicar came to Topeka and accepted a call to the pastorate of the First Congregational Church. In the changes brought about by the Civil War, his energies were diffused in many direc- tions, and he was a member of the State militia during the period when troops were called out to repel the advances of the Confederate forces.
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In 1866 our subject accepted the superintendency of the Department of Public Instruction for the State of Kansas, although, at that time, no suit- able provision had been made for the carrying on of the work. It was at this time that his influence was shown, by which the school land in the Osage Indian Reservation was secured as a part of the school fund. He was one. of the leaders in securing this great public service to the State, and during his whole incumbency, lasting until 1870, his efforts were never relaxed.
One of the great results of the united efforts of a body of educators, who. were also practical business men, was the establishing at Topeka at the close of the Civil War of an educational institution which, in its scope, was far beyond any other school in the State. Thus Washburn College came into. existence in 1865. Rev. Mr. MacVicar had much to do with the drawing up of its charter, and remained closely identified with its interests until his. death, which occurred January 5, 1903. To-day the institution stands as an an enduring monument to his disinterested public spirit, to his great executive ability as well as to his persistence, courage and culture.
From nothing tangible has arisen a magnificent group of buildings which have been erected at a cost of $150,000, surrounded by a campus of 160 acres. Every opportunity for educational development is given here where great libraries offer their store of the wisdom of the past and present,. and equipped laboratories invite scientific research. Its faculty has been called from other great institutions, and its finances are in such shape that its future progress is well assured.
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