USA > Kentucky > History of Kentucky, Volume II > Part 71
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On April 7, 1802, the first degree, bachelor of arts, was awarded Robert R. Barr, and on the following October 6th the same degree was conferred on Josiah S. Johnston, later United States senator from Louisiana, and A. C. Respess.
For the next several years the attendance was under fifty, and there was no marked increase in the influence of the institution in the com- munity. The malady of ever-present sectarian strife sapped the energies of the faculty, the enthusiasm of the students, and impaired the con- fidence of those who wished the institution well, but wished it free from denominational control. On October 4, 1804, President Moore, after a controversy with the trustees, resigned, and Dr. James Blythe, one of the first Presbyterians in Kentucky, was made acting president, which position he retained until 1816.
Under the wise and tolerant administration of Doctor Blythe, the university was placed for the first time upon a firm footing, financial and otherwise. The original grant of 8,000 acres had, under long term leases at a low rental, yielded but a meager income. By 1812 most of these lands had been sold and the proceeds, $30,000, invested in stock of the Bank of Kentucky. In this year the cash endowment amounted to $67,- 532. Doctor Blythe first gave his attention to the academic department and brought its standard up to an equality with the Eastern colleges. After this accomplishment he energetically undertook the reorganization of the professional departments, and at this time the first regular medical faculty was organized. It was composed of Doctor Brown, Dr. Elisha Warfield and Rev. James Fishback, M. D., but for some reason, not indicated by the records, no teaching was done in this department at this time, and the entire faculty resigned in 1806.
The law school was more fortunate, and on October 10, 1805, Henry Clay was chosen professor of law and remained on the faculty until October 16, 1807, when he resigned to become a trustee of the university, a position which he held for more than forty years. During the several years following, James Munroe, elected October 16, 1807; John Pope, elected March 1, 1814, and John Breckinridge, elected April, 1817, lectured to the students of law. For a number of years little or nothing was accomplished in the medical department. Several attempts at reorganization failed. In the autumn of 1815 several appointments were made to chairs in this department, but practically all were declined. However, Dr. Benjamin W. Dudley, just returned from four years of professional study in Europe, lectured to about fifteen students of med- icine in Trotter's warehouse, then located on the southeast corner of Main and Mill streets. Finally, on December 10, 1816, the celebrated Dr. Daniel Drake 1 was appointed as a professor of medicine, and on on February 28, 1817, Dr. James Overton also became a member of the medical staff. These, with Drs. Benjamin W. Dudley and William H. Richardson, constituted the first active medical faculty of Transylvania University. During the session of 1817-18 medical lectures were deliv- ered to a class of about twenty students, and in 1818 the first medical commencement in the Mississippi Valley was held at Lexington, John L. Mccullough being the first graduate to receive the degree of doctor of medicine.
1 Doctor Drake, together with Doctor Goforth, was founder of the Ohio Medical College, an institution which still exists, and under the late Dr. Christian R. Holmes received a new impetus.
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The hopeful outlook for the medical department at this time was somewhat clouded by an unfortunate controversy between two of its ablest instructors, Doctors Dudley and Drake, which resulted in the resignation of Drake and the shooting of his friend, Doctor Richardson, by the pugnacious Dudley. The disagreement arose over a post mortem held upon an Irishman who had been killed in a fight. There was a heated exchange of notes and Dudley challenged Drake to a duel, which Drake, because of his long opposition to this method of settling disputes among gentlemen, declined. The challenge, however, was accepted by Drake's close friend, Dr. William H. Richardson, professor of obstetrics in the medical department. In the encounter Doctor Richardson was shot in the groin by Doctor Dudley, who, seeing the critical condition of his adversary, asked permission to arrest the hemorrhage, and under the skillful fingers of the great surgeon, the severed artery was quickly re- paired, Richardson's life was saved, and an enduring friendship estab- lished between the two men.
Since the humble beginning of the seminary in the log dwelling of "Father" Rice, the growth of the institution had been hampered by fierce religious dissensions, and with the years it had become increasingly ap- parent that the university, under denominational control, could not suc- ceed. Two factions were charged to exist in the Board of Trustees- "the friends of evangelical religion and the open or disguised abetters of deism or infidelity." It was these conditions, emphasized by the fact that from 1799 to 1818 the institution had graduated only twenty-two students, which, no doubt, caused the Legislature to appoint a committee to inquire of the trustees of the University as to "the causes which have retarded its reputation."
In November, 1815, the Board of Trustees appointed Rev. Horace Holley, a celebrated Unitarian minister of Boston, president of the uni- versity, but, through factional influence, the appointment was rescinded. In March, 1816, Doctor Blythe, who had been acting president for sixteen years, resigned, and the board met and elected Rev. Luther Rice, a Bap- tist clergyman, who declined the appointment. In April, 1817, Philip Lindsley, later president of the University of Nashville, was elected, but he also declined. Then on October 25, 1817, Doctor Holley was again voted on, without definite results, but on November 25th he was elected at a salary of $2,250 per annum. That the choice was not unanimous was indicated by the Kentucky Gazette of November 22, 1817, which, in . recording the proceedings of the board on that occasion, states that Rev. Robert Stuart "objected to Doctor Holley's religious tenets, which would not suit the Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists and Episcopalians," to which Joseph C. Breckinridge replied that "the Board had no right in the selection of a president, to inquire into the sectarian belief of the gentleman, this subject being too sacred-they were not a church appoint- ing a preacher."
In the summer following his appointment Doctor Holley visited Lex- ington and, having accepted the position, brought his family to his new home, assumed his duties as head of the institution that was soon to become second to none in the country. The administration of Doctor Holley was the golden era of Transylvania University. The times were most auspicious for the advancement of learning. Kentucky had emerged with great credit to herself from the War of 1812, and, although she had left many of her bravest sons in the woods at the Raisin and along the breastworks at New Orleans, the conflict was over, security from Indian invasion was assured, and the people turned to the pursuits of peace and civic improvement.
The university grounds were planted in shrubbery, and through the liberality of Henry Clay and others the grounds were enlarged by the
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acquisition of the Higgins lot, now the western part of the present campus. A large, commodious brick building three stories in height and containing thirty rooms, surmounted by an ornate cupola, was erected near the center of the old grounds at an expense of more than $30,000. And, as if to remove every possible obstacle from the path of the incom- ing president, the Legislature removed the old board and appointed a new one composed of prominent men of the commonwealth who were as far removed as possible from sectarian prejudice. On this board were Henry Clay, Robert Trimble, Edmond Bullock, John T. Morris. Jr .; Robert Wickliffe, John Pope, John Brown and Charles Humphreys.
Doctor Holley was a man admirably fitted for the great task he had undertaken. Born in Salisbury, Connecticut, in February, 1781, he had graduated with high honors from Yale in 1803, at 22 years of age. Studying law in New York for a while, he abandoned it for the ministry and had been, since 1809, the pastor of the Hollis Street Unitarian Church of Boston, Massachusetts, where he had been eminently success- ful. Dr. Christopher C. Graham, a student at the university during Doctor Holley's administration, described him as a "man of ordinary size, perfect symmetry, a handsome, smiling face, bright eyes, a remarkably sweet, musical, well-modulated voice and clear articulation." His en- gaging personality won him instantly warmest friends among the most influential citizens, two of whom were Henry Clay and Col. James Mor- rison, the staunchest supporters the university ever had. On the 19th day of December, 1818, Doctor Holley was formally inaugurated, the ceremonies taking place in the Episcopal Church, and the university be- gan immediately an almost phenomenal development. The various de- partments were reorganized and many changes were made in the personnel of the faculty. Doctor Holley, from his wide acquaintance among the scholars of the day, filled the various chairs with men of na- tional reputation.
It was not long before the new president had obtained the confidence of the Legislature and the community generally, which resulted in the state granting the university the bonus of the Farmers and Merchants Bank for two years and appropriating $5,000 from the State Treasury for the purpose of buying books and apparatus for the medical college. With this fund Doctor Caldwell personally selected a library in Europe, which made the medical department the equal of any medical college in the country in equipment, and second only in numbers to the University of Pennsylvania.
During the first session under the new administration, the number of students increased considerably, and by 1820 the medical department alone had ninety-three students.
In a short time Transylvania became known throughout the United States for its able and learned faculty and the thoroughness of its courses of instruction. The reputation of the university at this period is best indicated by a comparison of its enrollment with the schools of recog- nized standing in various parts of the United States. In March, 1821, Transylvania had 282 students; Yale, 319; Harvard, 286; Union, 264; Dartmouth, 222, and Princeton, 150.
In this year the commonwealth granted the university one-half of the net profits of the Lexington Branch Bank of the commonwealth for two years, which in cash amounted to about $20,000. This was followed the next year by a lottery privilege of $25,000 for a new medical build- ing and an allowance of 2 per cent of the auction sales in Fayette County for a law library. This financial assistance from the state, together with liberal contributions from the City of Lexington, were, for the time being, sufficient to meet the requirements of the growing institution.
In October, 1821, the faculty was composed as follows: Academic
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department, Rev. Horace Holley, A. M., LL. D., president ; philology, belles lettres and mental philosophy, Rev. R. H. Bishop, A. M .; natural philosophy and history, J. F. Jenkins, A. B .; mathematics, John Roache, A. M., languages; Constantine S. Rafinesque, probably at that time the most eminent scientist in America, in natural history, botany and modern languages; J. W. Tibbatts and B. O. Peers, tutors. Medical depart- ment : Charles Caldwell, M. D., institutes of medicine and materia medica ; Benjamin W. Dudley, M. D., anatomy and surgery; Samuel Brown, M. D., theory and practice of physic; W. H. Richardson, M. D., obstetrics and diseases of women and children; James Blythe, M. D., D. D., chemistry. Law department : William T. Barry, later United States senator, professor. To this body of eminent scholars shortly was added Dr. Daniel Drake, again a member of the medical faculty, and Judge Jesse Bledsoe, who joined the law faculty.
On April 23, 1823, Col. James Morrison, devoted friend of the uni- versity and warm admirer of Doctor Holley and for some time chair- man of the Board of Trustees, died, leaving a generous legacy to the university of $20,000 for the endowment of a professorship, and a residuary estate of $50,000 to erect a new college building which should bear his name.
It is obvious that the purpose of the Legislature in removing the old Board of Trustees upon the eve of Doctor Holley's acceptance of the presidency was to prevent the denominational dissension which had proved such a hindrance to the progress of the university during the earlier years of its existence. Being a state university, supported by taxpayers of every religious faith, it should be strictly non-sectarian. In this prin- ciple Doctor Holley and the trustees heartily concurred. It was an- nounced by the board that "Students were enjoined to attend public worship somewhere on the Sabbath, but nothing is further from the in- tentions of the trustees than to propagate by means of this regulation the particular tenets of any sects. The trustees feel it a solemn and primary duty to preserve the institution open alike to all denominations." And it was in the courageous and steadfast performance of that duty that Doctor Holley was attacked and finally destroyed by sectarian bigotry.
The Weekly Recorder, a Presbyterian journal published in Chilli- cothe, Ohio, was Doctor Holley's earliest and most relentless critic. Conceding to him, for none could deny it, the advocacy of virtue and morality, it charged that he had no faith in creeds and was therefore an enemy to Christianity, observing unctiously that "Christ is of more im- portance to the college than Doctor Holley, or any of the people of Lexington" and "the Gospel of more value to the Western Country and Lexington than all the science on earth."
As the fame of the University increased, the clouds thickened about the distinguished president-the Presbyterians, Baptists and Methodists united in attacks, insidious and open, against Doctor Holley and his ad- ministration. It was charged that he taught a dangerous and unorthodox religion, was "too fond of worldly amusement; and that the school was a rich man's school, closed to the poor." That his enemies were blinded by prejudice to the broad, deep, but tolerant, Christianity of the man is proved by the following extract from one of his sermons: "What is Christianity? It is the love of God and man. What is the Christian faith? The intelligent and honest acknowledgment that Jesus is the Christ. I say that the Bible is a better creed than any you can make and Christ a better teacher than any you can follow. Were Jesus now before you in person, what would he say to your minister? 'Preach me, and not Calvin, nor Arminius; not Edwards, nor Priestly; preach the Bible and not the creed of Scotland, Saybrook, Cambridge or Savoy;
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preach practice and not speculation; preach union and not division ; preach effort and not sloth; enlarge your charity and stint it not.'"
Through the whole unhappy affair, the friends of Doctor Holley had made in his few short years in Lexington, the ablest men of his faculty and his students, defended him against every slander with a loyalty that never wavered. The great Barry and Bledsoe of the law department issued pamphlets vigorously answering Holley's critics, and a newspaper communication addressed to "the People of Kentucky" and signed by the graduates of Transylvania for the years 1821, 1822 and 1823, testified to the purity of character, sterling worth and genuine religion of their president.
But Calvary was in sight for Doctor Holley. Harassed by espionage, overwhelmed by the combined assaults of his enemies, opposed by the Legislature and the executive, the wells of public opinion poisoned, he could bear his burden no longer, and in 1826 he tendered his resignation, which was finally accepted January 18, 1827, to become effective the following March.
Upon leaving Lexington on the 27th of March, 1827, Doctor Holley and his family removed to New Orleans, where his services were in- mediately engaged in erecting an educational institution out of the ruins of the old College of New Orleans. The climate, however, did not agree with him, and, worn in body and depressed in spirits, he embarked at New Orleans in July for a trip to New York by sea, hoping to find recuperation in the cooler climate. When scarcely clear of port, the yellow fever broke out on the vessel and in Doctor Holley it found a ready victim. On July 31, 1827, during a fierce tempest, after five days of intense suffering and delirium, the troubled soul of Transylvania's greatest president was set free and his body was given sepulchre in the troubled waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
With the departure of Doctor Holley, the institution, which in a few years had achieved such fame and distinction, fell into a decline which was both rapid and, in the main, permanent. Fairly successful and of considerable local reputation under Doctor Blythe, it had required the fine scholarship, magnetic personality and executive ability of Doctor Holley to give the university national prominence, which produced an illustrious allumni. The library had increased from 1,300 volumes to 6,500, and instead of 22 alumni, it had, at the close of Doctor Holley's administration, 666. The medical department alone had increased from 20 students and I graduate in 1817-18 to 281 students and 53 graduates in 1825-26. During that time Transylvania had, among other distin- guished visitors, entertained President Monroe, General Andrew Jackson, Lord Stanley, later Earl of Derby, and General LaFayette.
Upon the resignation of Doctor Holley, the university passed under denominational influence-first Baptist, then Episcopal, again Presbyte- rian, and finally Methodist. Pending the selection of a successor to Doctor Holley, the academic department was in charge of the four pro- fessors of its faculty. Both the law and medical departments were under their respective faculties, and it was while thus controlled that in 1827 a new and attractive medical hall was built.
In June, 1828, Dr. Alva Woods, prominent Baptist minister of Rhode Island, was elected president, and it was during his administration, on the night of May 9, 1829, that fire completely destroyed the main build- ing of the university. the law library and much valuable apparatus. The loss was approximately $30,000, thus wiping out the original endowment of Transylvania Seminary. Discouraged with this calamity, Doctor Woods resigned in 1830, and only the medical department, conducted by its illustrious faculty, among which were Doctors Dudley and Drake, continued a prosperity which lasted to the very end of its existence, enrolling a total of 6,406 and graduating 1,854.
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In 1833 Rev. B. O. Peers, an alumnus of Transylvania and an Epis- copalian clergyman, was appointed to the presidency, and for the first time the department of theology was established under the control of his denomination. Under President Peers, Morrison College, the dig- nified old edifice still standing in the center of the present campus, was completed with the legacy of Col. James Morrison, and on November 14. 1833, it was dedicated with elaborate ceremonies. Disagreement with the Board of Trustees caused the resignation of President Peers Febru- ary 1, 1834. On July 1, 1835, Rev. Thomas W. Coit became president, and, having unsuccessfully attempted to convert the university into a state normal school, resigned in 1838. About this time the waning for- tunes of the university affected the medical department. Doctor Cald- well and a majority of the faculty attempted to move the department to Louisville. While the plan was frustrated and the department reor- ganized under Dr. Benjamin W. Dudley, Doctors Caldwell, Cook, Short and Yandell of the Transylvania faculty withdrew and established the Medical Institute of Louisville.
Aroused to the precarious condition of the institution, the City of Lexington donated $70,000 to the school, and a contribution of $35,000 was raised by popular subscription. This financial assistance more than made up the loss sustained by fire, although the morale of the school could scarcely be stimulated, and the professional departments during the next few years maintained their former excellent standard, the law school having at this time the finest library in the West. In 1839 the Transylvania law department had seventy-one students, while Yale and the University of Virginia had forty-five and seventy-two students, re- spectively. Its faculty was composed of three celebrated Kentucky jurists, George Robertson, Aaron K. Wooley and Thomas A. Marshall, but by 1840 state aid and control had practically been withdrawn, and the trustees, having offered the presidency to various eminent Presbyte- rian ministers who had declined, finally induced the Rev. Robert David- son, D. D., a prominent Presbyterian clergyman, to accept the position in November, 1840. Upon the resignation of Doctor Davidson in March, 1842, control of the university passed to the Kentucky Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, with Rev. Henry B. Bascom, D. D., acting president, becoming the president in 1844. From the beginning of President Bascom's administration until the division in the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1844-5, the University experienced a revival in all its departments. The session of 1843-4 had 552 students and graduated 102, but upon the separation of the Methodist Episcopal Church, under the Southern branch of that body, the institution lapsed into its former depressed condition.
From 1850, the university, ahandoned, and without definite policy, declined hopelessly. Becoming a school for teachers under Thomas B. Todd in 1855, it sank to a local grammar school during the Civil war. Troops were quartered in its buildings, its libraries and apparatus scat- tered and destroyed, and the spacious medical hall, used as a United States General Hospital, was burned. In the violence and bloodshed of the Revolution the institution had been born, and amidst fratricidal con- flict, under the old name and regime, passed away.
On June 20, 1865, the remains of the old university was consolidated with and under the name of the Kentucky University, which latter insti- tution had been removed from Harrodsburg to Lexington after losing its buildings by fire at the former place in 1864. To these units was added the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky, recently established by act of the Legislature. The Hon. John B. Bowman, a wizard in educational organization, was made the official head of Ken- tucky University, under the title of regent. From 1865 to 1878 the new
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institution prospered greatly. Under the wonderful executive ability of Mr. Bowman, the endowment reached $400,000, with property valued at $200,000, and with a library of 15,000 volumes. It had four departments : College of Arts and Sciences, College of the Bible, College of Law, and Agricultural and Mechanical College. Eminent educators were on the faculty, such as James K. Patterson, J. H. Neville, H. H. White and Robert Peter, of the College of Arts and Sciences; President Milligan and John W. McGarvey, of the College of the Bible. The average at- tendance was 700 students, drawn from thirty different states and coun- tries. In 1878 the sectarian and denominational issue again appeared, which resulted in the Agricultural and Mechanical College being sep- arated by legislative enactment and maintained thereafter wholly as a state institution, out of which grew the present University of Kentucky
During the last forty-three years the school founded by Todd, Wal- lace, Rice and other pioneers, and nurtured by Colonel Morrison and Henry Clay has been conducted chiefly as a College of Liberal Arts, which in 1890 opened its doors to women as well as men. Attempts have been made to revive the College of Law, and for a number of years the medical college was maintained at Louisville, but neither at- tained the success of former days and neither now exist.
In 1908 the name was changed to Transylvania College, which now maintains within the classic walls of venerable Morrison College an ex- cellent course of instruction in the liberal arts. under an able faculty headed by Dr. T. B. Macartney, a scholar who would have honored the institution even in the days of Holley.
No institution in America has had more distinguished sons than Transylvania. Only a partial list of graduates and former students will serve to show her contribution to the talent and genius of the nation :
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