USA > Kentucky > A history of Kentucky and Kentuckians; the leaders and representative men in commerce, industry and modern activities, Volume I > Part 63
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On January 9, 1906, the bill creating state normal schools was introduced by Hon. R. W. Miller, of Madison county, in the lower house of the general assembly. This bill appropri- ated $5,000 for equipment and repairs and $20,000 annually to the school located in the Eastern district, and the same amount to the school located in the Western district for maintenance. The measure was put on its final passage in the house on March 2nd and in the senate, March 9th, and received the
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unanimous support of both houses. It was signed by Governor Beckham on March 26th ; and, as the bill carried an emergency clause, it became a law at once. On April 5, 1906, the governor appointed the commissioners to locate the two normal schools. Messrs. B. M. Arnett of Nicholasville, John Morris of Cov- ington, Geo. E. Payne of Paducah, Geo. B. Edwards of Russellville, Basil Richardson of Glasgow, E. H. Mark of Louisville, M. G.
spect the site offered by that city ; on May 3d they visited Bowling Green to inspect the site offered at that place; and, on May 7th, they met in Louisville and named Richmond and Bowling Green as the homes of the new schools.
Richmond gave to the state, for the home of the Eastern Normal, the buildings and campus of the old Central University, the famous Presbyterian institution which was re-
OLD FORT, RESERVOIR PARK, BOWLING GREEN
These breastworks were constructed by Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston a short time beforethe battle of Shiloh.
Watson of Louisa, constituted the commis- sion. These gentlemen met and organized at Louisville, April 12th, with Mr. Arnett as chairman and Mr. Morris as secretary. At this meeting a tentative agreement was reached as to the division of the state into two normal school districts, and invitations were issued to eligible towns to bid for the location of the schools. The most prominent candidates for the location were Bowling Green in the Western district and Richmond in the Eastern district. On May 1, 1906, the locating commission visited Richmond to in-
moved to Danville and united with Center College in 1901. Bowling Green gave to the state, College Square including all the build- ings formerly occupied by the old Southern Normal school-a private institution which had built up a large attendance and a strong school organization. In addition to this the private owner of the Southern Normal school presented to the state, without cost, the good will of the institution which at this time en- joyed an annual attendance of about one thousand students and a strong school or- ganization. On May 9, 1906, Governor Beck-
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ham appointed the regents and, on June 2d, they met at Frankfort in joint session and ef- fected organization. On the afternoon of the same day, the regents of the Eastern Normal met and named R. N. Roark, at that time an honorary fellow in Clark University as president of the Eastern school; and the regents of the Western Normal met and named H. H. Cherry, who had for fourteen years been at the head of the Southern Nor- inal school, as president of the Western school. Neither educator was an applicant for the position. The recognition came to both without solicitation.
Immediately following the organization of the schools Superintendent Jas. H. Fuqua at the direction of the regents made formal ap- plication to Auditor W. S. Hager on June 13th for the $5,000 appropriated by the gen- eral assembly for equipment and repairs. This application was promptly met by the fil- ing of papers enjoining the auditor upon con- stitutional grounds from the payment of the money. The injunction was filed in the name of R. A. Marsee of Bell county, by Rhorer, Ainsworth & Dawson of Middlesboro, and T. S. Edelen of Frankfort, attorneys for the plaintiff. The injunction was denied by Judge R. L. Stout of the Franklin circuit court on July 20, 1906, and when the question of the constitutionality of the act came before him, it was decided in favor of the schools Septem- ber 27th. An appeal was taken to the court of appeals on December 18th, which tribunal finally affirmed the decision of the lower court on April 24, 1907. Following the denial of the injunction by Judge Stout, the regents met in joint session at Frankfort, July 25, 1906, and directed the presidents of the schools to proceed at once to their organization. Acting upon the hope that the decision of the court would be favorable, the Normal Executive Council, composed under the law of the state superintendent and the presidents of the two schools, had met in Bowling Green and spent
a week in formulating the course of study and outlining plans for the internal organization of the schools. After experiencing many difficulties and much hard organization work, the normal schools opened for student-teach- ers on January 15, 1907. The Model schools, however, opened earlier in the year.
On June 20, 1907, at a meeting of the exe- cutive committee of the Kentucky Educational Improvement Commission, which was held in the parlors of the Capitol Hotel, Frankfort, President H. H. Cherry of the Western Nor- mal introduced the following resolution :
Be it resolved by the Educational Improvement Commission of Kentucky :-
First, that we invite the governing boards of the State Agricultural and Mechanical College, the Eastern Kentucky State Normal School and the Western Kentucky State Normal School, each to appoint a committee of three of their members to meet with the executive commission at its next meet- ing to be held in the Galt House, Louisville, during the session of the State Development Association for the purpose of discussing needed legislation looking to the unifying and uplifting of our entire educational system.
Second, that we invite the Federation of Women's Clubs of Kentucky to appoint a committee of three to meet the aforesaid commission at the same time and place and for the same purpose.
The resolution was adopted unanimously and the committees were appointed. The pur- pose of this resolution was to bring the com- bined influences of the three institutions and other educational influences together in one tinified effort to crystallize a strong educational sentiment that existed in the state into needed school legislation. In line with the above reso- lution, the executive committee of the Educa- tional Improvement Commission, representa- tives of the three institutions and the Federa- tion of Women's Clubs, members of the exe- cutive committee of the Improvement Com- mission, and other educators and citizens, con- vened in a joint session in the parlors of the Galt House during the session of the State Development Association.
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After much earnest discussion concerning educational conditions in Kentucky and needed legislation, the joint session adjourned on mo- tion made by Supt. E. H. Mark in order to permit the representatives of the two Normals and State College to hold a conference with a view of harmonizing the educational interests of these institutions. Judge W. T. Lafferty and Mr. Tibbis Carpenter, trustees of the State College, Mr. Phil Grinstead and Judge
lege, hereby report the following points of agreement upon matters considered by us :
First : The establishment of a State University of standard grade, by such legislative act or acts as may be necessary in order to transform the State College into such an institution.
Second: The elimination of the Normal Depart- ment of State College, as it now exists, and the establishment of a Department of Education in the university, with collegiate rank. leading to the usual degrees of pedagogy as maintained in other similar state institutions.
BOWLING GREEN FROM RESERVOIR PARK
J. A. Sullivan, regents of the Eastern school, Mr. J. Whit Potter and Supt. E. H. Mark, regents of the Western school, and Jas. K. Patterson, R. N. Roark, and H. H. Cherry, presidents of the three institutions, were pres- ent at this conference. After a careful study of the educational interests represented by each institution and an impartial discussion the following agreement was reported :
"We, your joint committee of regents of the State Normal Schools and trustees of the State Col-
Third: The gradual elimination of all subfresh- man work as part of the university curricula, the same to be brought about as rapidly as conditions now existing and that may be created by legislation hereafter may permit, without violating any exist- ing obligations to appointees to said subfreshman classes.
Fourth: To change the provision for life diplo- mas to be granted by the State Normal Schools, so that, instead thereof, a diploma will constitute evi- dence of qualification to teach, during the period required by law for Normal graduates and when legally defined obligations are fulfilled the state
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superintendent shall issue a life diploma to such Normal graduates.
Fifth: The joint legislative committee will in- spect the three schools, and agree upon just and proper appropriations for the respective institutions and labor together for the passage of acts to their mutual interest."
Before the conference adjourned, a legis- lative committee composed of Judge W. T. Lafferty, Mr. Tibbis Carpenter, Judge J. A. Sullivan, and Messrs. Phil Grinstead, J. Whit Potter, and H. K. Cole, was appointed to visit the three institutions with a view of studying their specific and imperative needs and of de- termining the amount of special and annual appropriation each institution should ask of the general assembly.
This committee visited the three schools and made a careful examination of their needs. Sessions of the committee were held at the seat of each institution. At the last session, which was held in the office of the Western Normal, the committee came to the following conclusions :
There is a great body of earnest Kentucky boys and girls, men and women, and a magnificent school spirit in the institutions, but each school is seriously crippled and embarrassed on account of not having sufficient funds. The crying need for additional school buildings, dormitories, grounds, libraries, class-room equipment, additional instructors, etc., is apparent to every member of the committee. In view of the imperative needs of the institutions, the committee should request the general assembly to make a special appropriation of $500,000 and $70,000 annually in addition to the amount they are now receiving, the appropriation to be divided as follows: -$200,000 of the special appropriation to the State University, $150,000 to the Eastern Normal, $150,000 to the Western Normal, $20,000 annually for the State University, $20,000 for the Eastern Normal, and $30,000 for the Western Normal. This agree- ment was reached by unanimous consent and with- out being put to a vote.
Before the adjournment of the legislative committee at Bowling Green, it appointed a committee composed of Judge W. T. Lafferty, Judge J. A. Sullivan and President H. H.
Cherry to draft a bill and to embody in it the points of agreement and to meet with Hon. J. G. Crabbe, the newly elected state superintendent of public instruction, on De- cember 26, 1907. The meeting was held in the Normal building of State College. The state superintendent, after suggesting many valuable changes, gave the bill his unqualified endorsement and put the State Department of Education behind it. This bill, making a special appropriation of $500,000 and $70,000 annually to the three institutions, was intro- duced by Judge J. A. Sullivan of Madison county, who was chairman of the Agricul- tural and Mechanical College and the State Normal School Committee. The bill passed both houses with a good majority.
Following the meeting of the general as- sembly of 1908, the Board of Regents pur- chased the new site of the Western Normal, including one hundred and sixty-three acres of land and the Potter College grounds and buildings. A more magnificent site could not have been found in the state. The grounds of the new site are located west of the city, and a great educational plant is being laid out for the Western Normal. The regents of the Eastern Normal were more fortunte in hav- ing a larger amount of land upon which to build the Eastern Normal. They are develop- ing a modern plant upon the grounds of the old Central University.
Dr. Ruric N. Roark, the first president of the Eastern Kentucky State Normal School and a great educational leader who took a pioneer interest in the establishment of state normal schools, was taken suddenly and se- riously ill early in the spring of 1909 and died within a few weeks. He was president of the Eastern Normal for almost three years and, during this time, rendered the state and the institution a highly efficient and patriotic service. He died while in the harness and while fighting for the children of Kentucky. He gave his life in order that the children of
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Kentucky might have life and have it more abundantly.
Dr. J. G. Crabbe, who, at the time of the death of Dr. Roark, was state superintendent of public instruction, was unanimously elected president of the Eastern Normal, and is at this time ably serving the state in that capacity. President Crabbe was not an applicant for the position.
Georgetown College is located in George- town, Scott county, and it has been claimed it is on the site of the first permanent settle- ment north of the Kentucky river. In No- vember, 1775, John McClelland and a few others came down the Ohio river from Pitts- burg and, after wandering through north- eastern Kentucky, finally stopped and built a cabin in the vicinity of what is now George- town, near a great spring which they called the "Royal Spring." This spring, now known by the simpler and more descriptive title of the "Big Spring," is one of the features of Georgetown today. The town, by act of the Virginia legislature in 1790, was named in honor of the first president of the United States.
Georgetown College was founded January 15, 1829, and was the first collegiate institu- tion of the Baptists south and west of the Alleghenies to receive a charter, and the fifth in order among the Baptist colleges estab- lished in the United States. The college was incorporated by the Kentucky legislature under the name of the "Kentucky Baptist Education Society." In the same year the Rittenhouse Academy, founded in 1798 at Georgetown and in the enjoyment of a state grant of 6,000 acres of land, transferred all of its property, real and personal, to the trustees of the new Education Society for the benefit of Georgetown College. At the same time, Issacher Pawling placed at the disposal of the trustees the sum of $20,000 for the benefit of the college and to this good man may be given the distinction of being the real founder
of the college. And he was not a rich man either, as riches went in those days. The citi- zens of Georgetown supplemented Pawling's gift with $6,000 which had been subscribed to secure the location of the college.
The first president of the college was Rev. William Stoughton, D. D., of Columbia Col- lege, Washington, D. C., who died while pre- paring to assume the duties of the position. Stephen Chaplin of Washington and Irah Chase of Newton, Massachusetts, were re- spectively the second and third choices for presidents each, in his turn, declining to ac- cept the proffered honor. On June 21, 1830, Dr. Joel S. Bacon, of Massachusetts, was chosen as president and accepted. The academic department was presided over by Charles O'Hara as principal, and was at- tended at the opening by forty-three pupils. A mathematical class in the college had for its teacher, Thornton F. Johnson of Virginia, professor of mathematics and the first mem- ber of the college faculty chosen by the trus- tees, the title of his chair being "professor of mathematics, natural and experimental philosophy and the French language." The salary of each of the several professors was $800 per annum ; that of the president $1,500, the latter's chair being known as the "Pawling Chair," in honor of the first benefactor of the college.
Dr. Bacon only remained president of the college about two years, on account of a lack of funds. From 1832 until 1836, the college was without a head, being managed as a private institution by Thornton F. Johnson. In 1836 Rev. B. F. Farnsworth was chosen as president, but resigned during the same year after an unsuccessful effort to place the institution on a sound financial basis. In October, 1838, Rev. Rockwood Giddings be- came president, but died October 29, 1839, and was succeeded by Dr. Howard Malcolm, who remained in office until 1850 when he re- tired impelled thereto largely by the arising of
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political conditions with which he was not in full sympathy. Notwithstanding the Com- promise measure of 1850, the question of slavery was not settled and the political atmosphere was already filled with the mutter- ing thunder of the storm that was to break upon the country in 1861. The next presi- dent was Dr. J. L. Reynolds, of South Caro- lina, who, being a southerner, was probably in close political accord with those who con- trolled the college or supported it with their patronage. He retired at the end of two years and was succeeded by the Rev. Duncan R. Campbell, D. D., who entered upon the dis- charge of his duties in 1853, and proved to be one of the most energetic, tactful and effi- cient presidents the college has ever had. He remained in office until his death in 1865, having secured a subscription of $100,000 for the institution as an endowment fund. Of this amount one half was collected and in- vested by the trustees. The remainder, car- ried along for a number of years in the form of personal bonds and pledges, was swallowed up in the whirlpool of the war which carried down many a southern institution and brought financial ruin to many a home. Misfortune thus rendered many donors unable to meet their obligations and the college was obliged tó cancel them.
Dr. Campbell was succeeded by the Rev. Nathaniel M. Crawford, who resigned in 1871 owing to ill health, being succeeded by the Rev. Basil Manley, D. D., who continued in office until 1879, when he resigned to resume his connection with the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary whence he had come to Georgetown.
Rev. Richard M. Dudley, D. D., suc- ceeded Dr. Manley. He was a native Ken- tuckian and had graduated from Georgetown College in 1860, being the first alumnus of the institution to reach the high dignity of the presidency. He remained in office until his death, January 5, 1893, a period of thirteen
years-a longer term than any of his predeces- sors had served. The college was very suc- cessful financially and otherwise, during his administration. He was succeeded by Rev. Augustus C. Davidson, D. D., a graduate of the college in the class of 1871 who resigned after six years service. He was succeeded by Professor Arthur Yager as chairman of the faculty, who subsequently became presi- dent of the college, which position he holds at this time (19II).
The college has been richly endowed since the war by some of its alumni and others in- terested in the educational cause and its funds are safely invested. One writing of the col- lege several years ago said: "The immediate outlook for Georgetown College is highly en- couraging. In its past achievements and in the character of its graduates is found in- spiration for the future. The increase in the attendance of students, the expansion of the course of study, the recent growth of the endowment, the new buildings and enlarged faculty and better facilities generally, all these are signs of progress,"
The Kentucky Military Institute, located at Lyndon, eight miles from Louisville, was founded near Frankfort, Kentucky, in 1845 by Col. R. T. P. Allen, a graduate of West Point in the class of 1834. This institution was incorporated by an act of the legislature in 1847, according to the terms of which act it was placed under the control and direction of a board of visitors appointed by the gov- ernor of Kentucky who is ex-officio, an in- spector of the school. The superintendent, faculty and cadets are constituted a quasi mili- tary corps, the officers being commissioned under the seal of the commonwealth and being responsible to the board of visitors for the faithful performance of their prescribed duties. The institution has always been really a private enterprise, its only relation to the state being that the latter furnishes the mili- tary equipment and assumes supervision over
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its military organization. Colonel Allen was connected with the management of the school from its foundation until 1874, except that he severed his relation in 1848 for a short time and again from 1854 to 1865, during which time he was at first engaged in educa- tional enterprises in Texas, and later, served in the Confederate army with distinguished gallantry as a colonel of infantry. From 1851 to 1854 Col. E. W. Morgan, also a graduate of West Point, was associated as joint pro- prietor with Col. Allen, and in 1855 became sole proprietor and conducted the school suc- cessfully until the opening of the War be- tween the States, when most of the students being from the south, left to join the Confed- erate army in which many of them rose to high positions by reason of their previous military training. The departure of these young men resulted in the closing of the school until 1865, at which time Colonel Mor- gan retired and was succeeded by Colonel Allen, the founder, who was soon surrounded by a larger number of students than had ever before been in attendance, there being 166 cadets in 1866-7 and 177 in 1867-8. Colonel Allen, by reason of advancing age, retired in 1874, and was succeeded by his son, Col. R. D. Allen, a graduate of the school in 1852. He remained as superintendent until 1887, when he was succeeded by Col. D. F. Boyd, a graduate of the University of Virginia, and a teacher of many years experience. At the outbreak of the war, Colonel Boyd was a pro- fessor in the Louisiana Military Institute, one of his associate professors being . William Tecumseh Sherman, who subsequently won high military distinction in the Federal army. In 1893, the school suspended operations on the resignation of Colonel Boyd and was closed until 1896, when Col. C. W. Fowler, an alumnus of the class of 1878, took charge and removed it to the present location at Lyndon, where he has since successfully conducted it. An unique feature of this school is that it
spends its winters in Florida and its early spring and fall sessions in Kentucky. It is believed that no other school in the United States holds its sessions in two such widely separated states as Kentucky and Florida.
There are many other institutions of learn- ing in Kentucky, most of which have been successful in their efforts to give proper train- ing to the young women and men of the state. Among these may be mentioned South Ken- tucky College at Hopkinsville, chartered in 1849 for the education of girls only, John M. Barnes being the first president. In 1879 the plans of the college were broadened and in addition it became a coeducational institu- tion and has continued so. The college though meeting many troubles, including losses by fire, has done a great work for many years, practically without endowment. If some of the many wealthy men of the splen- did county of Christian would leave behind them enduring monuments, they would endow this modest but useful college.
Bethel College, at Russellville, is the result of a desire of the Baptists of the state to sup- ply the educational needs of the southern and western portions of the state. The first prin- cipal was Rev. B. T. Blewett, who came from Georgetown College to raise funds and put the proposed institution on its feet. It was modestly known at first as Bethel High School, but subsequently attained the well-deserved dignity of Bethel College, under a charter granted by the legislature in 1856. The first session of the new college was attended by 150 students. Earnest friends of education gave of their means and soon the college was prosperous. Then came the war and the col- lege, like everything educational in the state, suffered and barely managed to exist.
President Blewett resigned in 1861 and the college was closed until 1863, when it was re- opened under the presidency of Rev. George Hunt, who resigned in 1864 and was suc- ceeded by J. W. Rust, A. M., who success-
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fully conducted Bethel Female College at Hopkinsville for many years, before and after the time of his coming to Russellville. His administration of Bethel College, lasting about three and a half years, was a prosper- ous one in the history of the institution, which, soon after the beginning of his term of office, began to almost equal its best days prior to the war. Failing health compelled Professor Rust to resign on February 1, 1868. He was a man of practical judgment, of tire-
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