USA > Kentucky > A history of Kentucky and Kentuckians; the leaders and representative men in commerce, industry and modern activities, Volume I > Part 62
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Toulmin was succeeded as head of the sem- inary by James Moore, and two years later, in 1798, an act of the Kentucky legislature was approved uniting with the seminary a school recently organized under Presbyterian auspices at Pisgah, eight miles southwest from Lexington, and the consolidated institu- tion was given the name of Transylvania Uni- versity, which title it formally assumed on January 1, 1799. The first president was James Moore, who soon instituted the col- leges of law and medicine. The first grad- mates from the university were Austin Res- pess and Josiah H. Johnston, the latter of whom was an uncle of Col. J. Stoddard John- ston, of Louisville, one of the most widely and best beloved of Kentucky's citizens. Josiah H. Johnston, in later years, served with much distinction as a United States senator from Louisiana.
President Moore was succeeded in 1804, by the Rev. James Blythe, who was both a doctor of medicine and of divinity. In the second
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year of his term Henry Clay was appointed a professor in the law department of the university, which office he held until 1807, re- signing to become a trustee, which position he held continuously until his death. Dr. Blythe was succeeded in 1818, by the Rev. Horace Holley, LL. D., of Yale. By the sale of certain lands, a three-story brick building was erected at a cost of $30,000. The city of Lexington gave $6,000 for further library equipment. During the early part of Dr. Holley's administration Jefferson Davis, who was afterwards to play so great a part in the country's history, was a student for nearly four years and until his appointment to a cadetship at West Point. The university spread its influence as never before over the whole south, hundreds of students coming from the distant Gulf states. Before the close of Dr. Holley's administration in 1827, five hundred and fifty-eight graduates had gone out from the institution as opposed to only twenty-two during the years preceding 1818. The Rev. Alva Woods, D. D., was president from 1828 to 1831. During his term the city of Lexington donated over $10,000 to meet the expenses of the uni- versity. On May 9. 1829, occurred the loss by fire of the central hall, built during the preceding administration. John Lutz suc- ceeded Dr. Woods and was president from 1831 to 1833, being succeeded by the Rev. Benjamin Peers, who served until 1834. On November 4, 1833, a new building, now Mor- rison College, was dedicated. This was built from funds derived from the bequest of James Morrison, a wealthy land owner and trustee of the university.
The next administrations were those of Rev. Thomas W. Coitt, D. D., 1835 to 1837; Rev. Louis Marshall, D. D., 1838 to 1840, and of Rev. Robert Davidson, D. D., 1840 to 1842. In 1841 the trustees committed the academic department, then known as Morrison Col- lege, to the Kentucky Conference of the Meth-
odist church. Under its auspices, the Rev. Henry Bascom, D. D., and LL. D., held the presidency from 1842 to 1849. He, like Holley, was a man of great natural power : unlike Holley, had enjoyed more of the ad- vantages of collegiate training. He was, however, in all his youthful wanderings as a circuit rider, a hard student and his own severe master. An orator and a natural leader of men, he had attracted the notice of Henry Clay, through whose recommendation he was made chaplain of the house of rep- resentatives at Washington. A second era of great growth began for the university; in 1843 five hundred and fifty-two students were in attendance, a revival of influence which continued after Dr. Bascom's resigna- tion in 1849, when he became one of the greatest and best beloved bishops of the Methodist church in the south.
Upon the resignation of Bishop Bascom, James B. Dodd, A. M., became acting-presi- dent until the academic department was re- organized in 1856 under the presidency of Rev. Lewis W. Green, D. D., as a state school for teachers. At the close of his administra- tion in 1858, the university, owing to the unrest of the years preceding and during the War between the States, became almost dor- mant. Only small classes were in attendance in Morrison, chiefly in the law department. During the height of the war, the buildings were seized by the federal government and used as military hospitals, the groans of wounded and dying filling the classic halls which had so often echoed to the logic of Holley, the fire of Bascom or the eloquence of Clay.
During the seventy-five years of Transyl- vania's then existence, thousands of students from all over the south had been in atten- dance and about two thousand degrees had been granted in arts, medicine and law. The medical department alone had registered 6,406 students and had 1,854 graduates.
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On February 28, 1865, through the efforts of John B. Bowman, LL. D., Transylvania University, that had been made and declared University, then located at Harrodsburg, under the patronage of the Christian church. This latter institution had grown out of Bacon College, the earliest institution of its grade among the Disciples of Christ, more popularly known as the Christian church ; had been established in Georgetown, Kentucky, in 1836, and in 1839 removed to Harrodsburg, where it was conducted until insufficient means led to its suspension in 1850. In the winter of 1855-6 Major James Taylor and Mr. John B. Bowman, both of Mercer county, entered on the work of founding a university which should be the successor of Bacon Col- lege. Mr. Bowman's appeals for financial aid were successful beyond expectation and the preparatory department was opened in 1857. An amended charter, approved January 15, 1858, in which the provisions of the first charter were greatly extended, and the name changed to Kentucky University, was ac- cepted by the trustees of Bacon College, Feb- ruary 2, 1858. The collegiate department was opened under the presidency of Robert Milli- gan, A. M., September, 1859. The destruc- tion of the college building by fire, in 1864, necessitated the removal of the institution from Harrodsburg. After invitations from Louisville and Covington had been consid- ered, an offer of the property of Transylvania University, that had been made and declined in 1860, and which was now renewed, was accepted.
The first session of Kentucky University, in consolidation with Transylvania, began in Lexington, October 2, 1865. To the College of Liberal Arts and the Academy which had been conducted at Harrodsburg, the College of the Bible and the College of Law were now added. The office of regent of the university was created July 17. 1865, and John B. Bow- man, LL. D., succeeded to that dignity which
he retained until June, 1878. During his ad- ministration the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky was affiliated with the university, but the arrangement proved un- satisfactory to so many of the people of Ken- tucky that it was. discontinued in 1878.
In the summer of 1878, the last session of the College of the Bible under the charter of Kentucky University, closed and the new Col- lege of the Bible which had been established in 1877, took its place. Since then this col- lege, organized under its own charter, is in administration and control entirely independ- ent of the university. The office of regent was discontinued June 12, 1878, at which time Henry H. White, LL. D., was elected president of the university. He filled this office until 1880, when he resigned and was succeeded by Charles Louis Loos, LL. D. In President White's administration, in 1887, the College of Liberal Arts and the Academy were opened to female students. President Loos having resigned Reuben Lindsay Cave, A. M., was elected his successor in 1897, serving until February, 1900, when he re- signed and was succeeded by Alexander R. Milligan, A. M., as acting president until June, 1901, when Burris A. Jenkins, A. M., was elected president, and was forced by reason of ill-health, to resign in 1906, being succeeded by Thomas Benton McCartney, Jr., dean of the College of Liberal Arts, as acting president. In June, 1908, he was succeeded by Richard Henry Crossfield, A. M., to the presidency, and at the time of this writing (June, 1911) he continues at the head of the institution.
The one hundredth anniversary of the open- ing of Transylvania University was commem- orated on the evening of January 1, 1899. The governor of the state was present and the parts of an appropriate programme were borne by gentlemen at the head of sister in- stitutions of learning and by prominent min- isters.
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By an act of the legislature, approved March 20, 1908, and effective on June 12th of that year, the charter of the university was so amended as to confer upon the curators of Kentucky university, all the rights and privileges of the trustees of the old Transyl- vania University and the name of the institu- tion was changed back to Transylvania Uni- versity.
The Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, although the most recently estab- lished institution of higher education of its own or of any other rank in Kentucky, is not really new in idea, but dates back in spirit and conception to the earliest attempts of the Presbyterians of the state to establish a theo- logical seminary, which culminated in the foundation of the Danville Theological Sem- inary in 1853. The new seminary really stands in the same relation to the seminary at Danville as Central University did to Centre College before the union of the two institutions, Louisville Theological Seminary and Central University being representative institutions of the Southern Presbyterian church while Danville Seminary and Centre College represented the original organization ordinarily called, in contra-distinction, the Northern Presbyterian church. These sep- arate organizations in the Presbyterian, as in the Methodist church, grew out of the ques- tion of slavery, settled by the war, and al- ready, at this writing, efforts are making, with evidences of success, to eliminate the terms Northern and Southern, and bring these great and useful organizations into a union never again to be disturbed by political questions. Upon such a union all right-minded persons would look with favor.
As a result of the establishment of the Southern Presbyterian church in 1861, and of the division of the synod of Kentucky between the two churches in 1866, the Southern church, although representing by far the largest part of the former constituency of the institution,
lost control of the Danville Seminary, which had been founded for the whole church in the south and west, but, in the disruption had remained under the original assembly. Thus deprived. of any general institution for the higher professional education of its ministry, the Southern synod of Kentucky, after an unsuccessful attempt to obtain an interest on the control of the Danville Seminary upon what was deemed by them a desirable basis, determined, in the spirit of the fathers of the church in Kentucky, to establish a semin- ary of their own as early as practicable. The contemplated plan was held in abeyance for some time on account of the demands upon the church's resources of more pressing needs, but was never lost sight of, and finally reached its fruition in the establishment of the Louisville Presbyterian Theological Sem- inary in 1893.
In 1891, Rev. I. S. McElroy, D. D., as the financial agent of Central University and the synod of Kentucky, began to take active steps to raise funds for the proposed institution. He succeeded in the next two years in obtain- ing in various parts of the state, pledges for an endowment fund of $104,314, and for a building fund of $43,000. In securing the latter fund especially, which was given by the denomination in Louisville on condition that the seminary be located there, he was very efficiently assisted by Rev. L. H. Blan- ton, D. D., chancellor of Central University. Among others who may be named as especially instrumental in forwarding the plan of the proposed school were Rev. E. M. Green, D. D., Rev. T. D. Witherspoon, D. D., Rev. Charles R. Hemphill, D. D., Rev. J. S. Lyons, D. D., Walter N. Haldeman, Col. Thomas W. Bul- litt. A. J. Alexander, William T. Grant and George W. Swearingen. Of these laymen all have since passed to their reward as have several of the ministers named.
The preliminary steps looking toward the immediate opening of the seminary were taken
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in 1892 by the synods of Kentucky and Mis- souri, which agreed to join in the control of the institution. They invited the participation of the synods of the other southern states and appointed a provisional board of directors, with Rev. E. M. Green as chairman, whose duty it was to draw up a charter as a legal basis for the school, and frame a constitution for its organization and administration. The charter and constitution were adopted early in 1893 by the associated synods of Kentucky and Missouri, by whom the first board of directors, composed of ten members from each synod, was chosen. This board was soon after organized in Louisville, where it was de- cided by them to locate its seminary on ac- count of the large building fund offered by the citizens of that city, the strength of its Presbyterian churches, its accessibility, and its admirable advantages in other respects. The organization of the institution may be said to have been complete when the super- vision over it, provided for by its charter and constitution, was accepted by the general as- sembly of the church meeting at Macon. Georgia, in the latter part of May, 1893.
The charter bears the date of May 3, 1893, and constitutes the seminary a perpetual cor- poration under the statutes of Kentucky, de- claring its purpose to be "the education and training of young men as ministers of the Gospel according to the Confession of Faith, catechisms and other standards of the Pres- byterian church in the United States, com- monly known as the Southern Presbyterian church, and their support and maintenance while in attendance, as far as may be deemed advisable and practicable."
The charter put the proposed institution temporarily under the management of a board of directors consisting of ten members from each of the synods of Kentucky and Missouri as already constituted, but provision was made that this board, in the future, might consist of not less than ten nor more than fifty mem-
bers, chosen by the synods joining in its con- trol, one-fifth of them to be chosen each year. All direct control of the institution, both as to its property and other affairs, is vested in this board, but the general assembly of the church is given the power to veto the elec- tion of any professor or his transfer from one chair to another.
According to its constitution, the funds be- longing to the seminary are designated as (1) the building fund; (2) the endowment fund; (3) the library fund; (4) the current expense fund; (5) the scholarship fund, and (6) the lecture course fund. Its course of instruc- tion is modeled on the university plan in dis- tinction from a fixed curriculum of study, and, as originally outlined, is divided into the nine independent schools of Biblical introduc- tion; Old Testament exegesis; New Testa- ment exegesis; English Bible and Biblical theology; systematic theology ; church history and polity ; homiletics and pastoral theology, apologetics and elocution. Students are re- quired to be graduates of colleges or to pass a prescribed examination. Each professor, upon entering office, is required to publicly subscribe to the standard of the church. There are no distinctions in the faculty except that the senior professor is its chairman. Dr. Marquess thus became the chairman of the first faculty of the institution which was con- stituted as follows: Rev. William Hogs Mar- quess, D. D., professor of Old Testament exe- gesis and of the English Bible and Biblical theology; Rev. Charles R. Hemphill, D. D., professor of New Testament exegesis; Rev. G. D. Witherspoon, D. D., professor of homiletics, pastoral theology and of Biblical instruction ; Rev. Francis E. Beattie, D. D., professor of systematic theology and apol- getics ; Rev. T. M. Hawes, professor of elo- cution ; Rev. Edward Muller, adjunct profes- sor of church history and church polity. It is interesting to note that the Rev. T. M. Hawes, an accomplished Presbyterian minis-
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ter of Louisville, named above, is also pro- fessor of elocution in the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in that city. The pres- ent chairman of the faculty is the Rev. Charles R. Hemphill, D. D., a southerner by birth ; an accomplished gentleman and minister, who is beloved by all who are in the enjoyment of his acquaintance.
The seminary was first opened on October 2, 1893, a commodious house on Second street near Broadway in Louisville being pur- chased for it, while another near by was rented and fitted up as a dormitory for stu- dents. The Sunday school rooms and Bible class rooms of the First and Second Presby- terian churches were at first used for lecture rooms and for chapel exercises. Three val- uable libraries, especially suited to its needs, the gifts of Rev. J. B. Roger, Rev. Dr. Sym- ington and of the heirs of Rev. Stuart Rob- inson, D. D., furnished the seminary with three thousand volumes as the foundation of a future collection. Twenty-five students were present at the opening, and before the close of the session thirty-one were in at- tendance, representing nine states of the union and three foreign countries. There has been a continued increase in the number of stu- dents yearly as the institution has become more widely known and its influence for good recognized by those of the Presbyterian faith.
Through contributions from many persons, notably from the late Walter N. Haldeman, William T. Grant, and the heirs of the late James Todd of Louisville, the seminary now occupies the most handsome building in Ken- tucky as its home, located at the corner of First and Broadway, Louisville-a building which attracts the attention of every observant per- son, and which is in keeping with the high purposes of its use and the fine sentiment of those whose gifts made possible its con- struction.
The state normal schools were established by an act of the general assembly of 1906.
The act authorizing the establishment of a normal school in western Kentucky and one in eastern Kentucky passed both houses of the legislature without an opposing vote. The establishment of normal schools in Kentucky came through the evolution of public opinion. It is doubtful whether legislative history will show where two state institutions were any- where else established by the same act with- out an opposing vote in either branch of the legislature. For their establishment every friend of education in Kentucky labored for years. Those who were devoted to the cause of the elementary public schools, especially the rural schools, worked unceasingly for the creation of state normal schools because it was evident that Kentucky's growth depends upon the efficiency of the teachers of the rural schools. Those who had at heart the welfare of the colleges and universities of the com- monwealth, worked for the success of the normal school movement because it was evi- dent that the higher academic, professional and technical institutions were prevented from doing the best work of which they were capa- ble because their pupils lacked thoroughness and preparation. College and university men, who were able to see that to have properly equipped teachers in the lower schools meant properly equipped students entering the col- lege with a zeal for learning, were among the most ardent advocates for the establish- ment of these new training schools for teach- ers; and so in spite of some opposition from the short-sighted and selfish, Kentucky normal schools have begun their great work of train- ing teachers for efficient service in the schools of Kentucky.
The normal schools were established and are maintained primarily to prepare young people for the teaching service of Kentucky. The purpose of the schools is to train teach- ers, with special emphasis along the following lines: (1) scholarship; (2) character; (3) teaching skill.
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The normal schools are not the exclusive agents for the training of teachers but they are the state's chief agents and, as such, they must build up the professional spirit, estab- lish the standards, create the ideals and send out men and women whose call is to educa- tional leadership. The school demands of those who are to become graduates strength of of character, moral stamina, the ability to stand and count for much in life.
While in session at Maysville, Kentucky, in
ally and realizing the importance of concerted action upon the part of the whole people, met in conference at Frankfort in response to a call issued by James H. Fuqua, state superin- tendent of public instruction. This confer- ence appointed the following persons as a committee, with instructions to meet with the committee of educators appointed at Mays- ville and, if possible, to form an educational organization embracing both educators and private citizens: Dr. E. E. Hume, Frankfort,
ENTRANCE TO MAMMOTH CAVE
The foggy appearance in the center of the picture is caused by the cold air of the cave meeting the warmer air outside.
June, 1904, the Kentucky Educational Asso- ciation appointed a committee of three to de- vise a plan for the organization of the teach- ers of the state into a federation and re- quested said committee to report its work to the association at Mammoth Cave, Kentucky, in June, 1905. This committee consisted of the following persons: M. O. Winfrey, Mid- dlesboro, chairman; E. H. Mark, Louisville ; and J. A. Sharon, Paris. In April, 1905, a large body of citizens and educators, recogniz- ing the backwardness of Kentucky education-
chairman ; Dr. Burris A. Jenkins, Lexington ; Dr. F. W. Hinitt, Danville; Pres., Jas. K. Patterson, Lexington; Supt. Jas. H. Fuqua, Frankfort; Pres. H. H. Cherry, Bowling Green.
The committees met in joint conference at Mammoth Cave, Kentucky, during the ses- sion of the Kentucky Educational Association in June, 1905, and after due deliberation formed the Educational Improvement Com- mission in the following manner: (First), The joint committee recommended that the
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Kentucky Educational Association select a state campaign committee of thirty-three members, three from each congressional dis- trict, to serve for a term of one year and outlined the duty of the members of this committee as follows: To co-operate with all influences in their respective districts in the development of a more wholesome educa- tional sentiment among the masses, to visit and address educational associations and teachers' institutes, to aid in the distribution of educational literature, and in the collection of funds for the use of the committee in all matters pertaining to educational conditions in their respective districts, with suggestions as to ways and means of remedying the same ;
(Second) It recommended that an execti- tive committee of five members be elected by the Kentucky Educational Association for a term of three years. This executive commit- tee was made custodian of all funds collected with authority to spend the same in the pro- motion of the purposes above set forth. It was also authorized to act as a legislative committee to appear before the general as- sembly in the interest of such legislation as affected public education and to direct the work of the officers of the commission. The members of this executive committee as selected at Mammoth Cave consisted of as follows: Dr. E. E. Hume, Frankfort ; E. H. Mark, Louisville; J. H. Fuqua, Sr., Frank- fort ; H. H. Cherry, Bowling Green, and J. A. Sharon, Richmond ;
(Third) The joint committee recom- mended the election by the Kentucky Educa- tional Association of a president, secretary, and treasurer of the commission, these officers to be nominated by the executive committee of the commission and to serve for a term of three years. As a result of the first elec- tion Supt. M. O. Winfrey of Middlesboro, was elected president of the commission, and Supt. E. R. Jones of Frankfort, treasurer. As the executive committee was unwilling to Vol. I- 24
make a nomination at that time for secretary, the Kentucky Educational Association, by a unanimous vote, authorized Pres. M. O. Win- frey to act as secretary, which he did for more than two years.
At the first meeting of the executive com- mittee it was decided that no effectual reform in our educational system could be wrought except through those who teach ; hence, it was determined to make the first fight for the training of teachers. As a part of the plan looking to this end, a fund of $1,500 was raised by voluntary subscriptions at Teach- ers' Institutes. Suitable literature was col- lected and distributed to every corner of the state; speakers were sent to various localities to arouse the people to the importance of local taxation with which to build and equip better houses, pay better salaries to teachers; the press of the state was enlisted in the cause and the commission furnished nearly two hundred papers with educational articles weekly. A legislative committee consisting of the officers and members of the executive committee remained before the general assen- bly during the entire session of 1906, looking after the interest of various educational bills but giving special attention to the establish- ment of the state normal schools. A strong sentiment for the establishment of teachers' training schools had been created, and the opening of the general assembly of 1906 wit- nessed an aggressive public sentiment for this progressive educational move.
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