USA > Massachusetts > Hampshire County > Amherst > The history of the town of Amherst, Massachusetts, pt 2 > Part 15
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By an act of the General Court passed April 18, Massachusetts accepted the grant from the national government. The governor was authorized to receive the land scrip to which the state was entitled and to appoint a commissioner to locate and sell the same, the proceeds to be
2
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537
THE TRUSTEES INCORPORATED.
deposited with the state treasurer who should receive and hold the same. April 27, an act was passed dividing the income from sale of the scrip, giving one-third to the Institute of Technology. April 29, an act was passed to incorporate the trustees of the Massachusetts Agricultural College. The names of the incorporators were : Marshall P. Wilder, George B. Loring, Charles L. Flint, Paoli Lathrop, Hollis Tidd, Henry Colt and Charles G. Davis. The leading object of the institution was to be that expressed in the congressional grant. The board of trustees should never number more than 14 and the governor of the commonwealth, the secre- tary of the board of education and the president of the college faculty should be members ex-officiis The trustees were empowered to elect a president and members of the faculty of the college, to determine their duties, salaries, etc., to purchase or erect buildings, to make rules for the government of the college, to determine the course of instruction and to confer degrees. The General Court might appoint overseers or visitors of the college. The trustees should determine the location of the college and should purchase or obtain by gift a tract of land containing at least 100 acres for an experiment farm in connection therewith, and should make such provision for manual labor on the farm by students as they deemed just and reasonable. One-tenth of the money received from the sale of land scrip should go toward the purchase of a farm, provided the college should procure by valid subscription or otherwise the sum of $75,000 for erecting buildings thereon.
Jan. 6, 1864, George Marston, William S. Southworth and Charles L. Flint, a committee of the trustees, submitted to the General Court a report of the doings of the board. The corporation had been organized in con- formity with the statutes of the commonwealth, Nov. 18, 1863, with His Excellency John A. Andrew as president, Hon. Allen W. Dodge vice-presi- dent and Charles L. Flint secretary. By-laws had been adopted for the government of the corporation. A committee had been appointed to have in charge the raising of subscriptions to the funds required by law to put the Agricultural College in operation, to consider the subject of a location for the college and to receive proposals concerning the same. Several propositions had been made to the committee with reference to the location of the college. Early in 1864, the trustees petitioned the General Court to enact a law enabling them to accept subscriptions and locate and organ- ize the college with the least possible delay. A memorial to the same effect was presented by the State Board of Agriculture. May 11, the General Court passed an act changing the name of the corporation to the Massa- chusetts Agricultural College. Authority concerning the location, plan of organization, government and course of study at the college was taken
538
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF AMHERST, MASS.
from the General Court and given to the governor and council. The governor was authorized to transfer to the college one-tenth of the land scrip received from the United States, the proceeds from the sale to be devoted to the purchase of land. The sum of $10,000 per annum was appropriated to defray the necessary expenses of establishing and main- taining the college. All moneys received by the state treasurer as the annual interest or income of the fund established by sale of the land scrip should be applied to the payment of this annual appropriation, the balance to be made up out of the state treasury.
The matter of selecting and securing a suitable location for the college was one of the most difficult problems with which the trustees had to contend. Many towns in the state were anxious to secure the benefits that would arise from the location of the college within their limits, but few were ready to comply with the requirement of the General Court that $75,000 be raised and presented to the trustees ere a location was granted. In January, 1863, the trustees of Amherst College petitioned the General Court that the Agricultural College be located in connection with their
institution. This petition was refused as was one of similar purport from the trustees of Williams College. The early labors of President Hitch- cock in behalf of agricultural education had awakened a deep interest in the subject in the minds of Amherst residents, and once it had been deter- mined that the Agricultural College was not to be connected with Harvard College or the Institute of Technology, but would be a separate institution. there was a general and earnest desire on their part that the college should come to Amherst. A special town-meeting was held Jan. 25, 1864, to see if the town would vote money for an agricultural college. Only about 100 voters were present but a strong sentiment in favor of the college was expressed. Short speeches were made by Col. W. S. Clark, Luke Sweetser, I. F. Conkey, Edward Dickinson and A. P. Howe. It was voted to give the trustees of the proposed college $50,000 if the college should be located in Amherst. and the General Court would give the town permission to make the gift. The vote on the question was 79 in favor and 7 opposed. The money was to be raised by giving bonds or by direct taxation. Col. W. S. Clark addressed the meeting and said that the people of Springfield had given up all hope of securing the college for that place. Northamp- ton and Amherst were the only real competitors for the college. The fund bequeathed by Oliver Smith could not be used in establishing the college, and it would be folly to encumber the institution by the provisions of the Smith will. Two tracts of land in Amherst had been suggested as suitable for the location of the college, one owned by Henry Cobb, one- half mile north of the village, the other owned by Alfred Baker and R.
539
THE COLLEGE FARM.
S. Lincoln, just south of the village, where it had at first been proposed to locate Amherst College.
Amherst's petition to be allowed to raise $50,000 by taxation to secure the location of the college came before the General Court for action in February; it was signed by nearly every tax-payer in the town. The petition was opposed by interested parties and was rejected. April 28, 1864, the college trustees visited Amherst. They viewed several farms offered for their inspection, including that of L. D. Cowles, which with two others adjacent contained 414 acres, valued at $40,000. The trustees were addressed by Levi Stockbridge, Prof. W. S. Clark and President Stearns. May 25, the trustees decided by unanimous vote to locate the college at Amherst, provided that town should raise the $75,000 required by the act of incorporation. In June, Governor Andrew and council, together with the executive committee of the board of trustees, visited Amherst. The General Court having refused to the town the right to raise the requisite sum by taxation, it was determined to secure it by subscrip- tion. Public meetings were held in various parts of the town, and subscription papers were circulated, the response being so generous that the Express announced under date of Aug. 2 that the sum of $50,000 had been pledged. In the early part of September field surveyors were employed in surveying the lands which it was proposed to secure for the college farm. Sept. 13, a hearing was given by the governor's council on the question of confirm- ing or rejecting the action of the trustees in locating the college at Amherst. At this hearing the statement was made that many farmers in Western Massachusetts and officers of agricultural societies were opposed to the location. The council sustained the trustees in their action. and the exec- utive committee of the trustees was authorized, Oct. 3, to take conveyances of the lands under contract for the college site and farm. Following is a list of those persons selling land to the trustees, the amount sold and the price received :
Henry Cobb,
42.73 acres,
$6,409.50
Chester Cowles,
60.93
6,7 10.00
John Donahue,
9.63
2,170.00
D. K. Bangs,
29.69
.6
2,000.00
L. D. Cowles,
144.13
66
14.950.00
J. S. Crouch,
23.44
2.760.00
310.55 $34,999.50
On the land purchased there were five sets of farm buildings of no great permanent value. Adjoining the estate, and heretofore occupied as parts of two of the farms comprised by it. was a tract of about 73 acres,
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540
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF AMHERST, MASS.
which the trustees considered it advisable to control for the future use of the college. Dr. Nathan Durfee of Fall River, treasurer of the corpora- tion, advanced from his private funds $8,000, taking in his own name deeds of this addition with the proviso that the college might purchase it when able. Although the sum of $50,000 had been raised by subscription, it was the general desire of the citizens that a tax should be laid covering the full amount, and as a means to this end at the election in November Prof. W. S. Clark was elected a representative to the General Court. At a town-meeting held Nov. 19, it was voted that the selectmen be a commit- tee of the town and instructed to petition the General Court for leave to raise, either by the issue of bonds or direct taxation, the sum of $50,000 and donate the same to the Agricultural College. It was also voted that the district's representative be requested to see that every effort was made to carry through the General Court an act for the above petition, and that the selectmen might employ help to further the object. The Express, in its report of this meeting under date of Nov. 25, says that the sum donated to the college was subscribed and guaranteed by responsible parties. By almost unanimous consent the citizens of the town and sub- scribers to the fund deemed it best to fund the amount to be raised (and as almost all the tax-payers had subscribed the amount of their tax it would make but very little difference) in the corporate capacity of the town, that payments might be extended through a series of years instead of the full amount being paid at once.
In accordance with the town's vote. the selectmen prepared a petition which was presented to the General Court soon after its assembling in January, 1865. At the risk of some slight repetition, a general summary of the contents of this petition is here presented. The college was incor- porated in 1863, the trustees being required to secure, by subscription or otherwise, $75.000 for buildings as a condition of location. With this condition only four towns ever offered to comply, Northampton, Springfield. Lexington and Amherst. Northampton raised $75,000 by subscription : Springfield expected to receive $75.000 from one individual ; Lexington relied on one party for $50,000 and expected to raise the balance by sub- scription. Residents of Amherst, in town-meeting held Jan. 25, 1864, voted to raise $50,000 by taxation and $25,000 by subscription. Applica- tion for authority to tax was made to' the General Court of 1864, the peti- tion being signed by the selectmen and 447 legal voters, there being no remonstrants. The judiciary committee of the House of Representatives reported a bill granting the desired power. In the absence of the member from Amherst, the bill was loaded down with amendments, and. opposed by the members from Northampton, Springfield and Lexington, was
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541
AMHERST'S PETITION.
defeated by the House. The trustees of the college having examined all the farms shown them in the towns named, voted unanimously, May 25, to locate in Amherst, provided $75,000 was secured to them. Accordingly a tax of $50,000 was assessed upon the tax-payers and everyone was asked to subscribe the amount of his or her tax. In this manner $25,000 was subscribed by about 300 tax-payers of the town. While there was no unwillingness to bear the assessment, many felt unable to pay the whole at once. At a town-meeting held July 22, it was voted to hold meetings in different parts of the town for the purpose of raising contributions. At a town-meeting held July 28, it was voted to circulate a pledge among the citizens to see whether they were still in favor of adhering to the vote of Jan. 25. donating $50,000 to the college. There was no opposition, and in two days 442 tax-payers pledged themselves to adhere to the action of the town and to use all their influence to secure the passage of a law authorizing the town to issue bonds. At a town-meeting held Aug. 1, it was voted to continue the effort to raise the sum of $50,000, on condition that the subscriptions should be paid unless the town gained authority from the General Court to assume payment. The sum of $53.000 was pledged, and Aug. 4 the subscription-book was placed in the hands of President French. The latter prepared two legal and unconditional bonds, one for the payment of $50,000, the other for the payment of $25,000, to the Massachusetts Agricultural College, in consideration of its location in the town of Amherst. The first was signed by 15 gentlemen, the second by ten, and these bonds were approved by the governor and council.
In 1864, there were held eight public meetings, including five legal town-meetings, for special consideration of the question of giving $50,000 to the college, and not one word was spoken against the proposition at any meeting. Several articles were published in the Express in favor of the proposition and not one against it. There wereno remonstrants to the petition of the town to the General Court of 1864. Nov. 8, 1864, W. S. Clark was elected representative to the General Court, with the express understanding that he was to assist in the passage of the desired legislation. Out of 761 votes cast in the district he received 754. The petitioners then called attention to the benefits that would accrue to the town from the location of the college there, and to the undoubted financial ability of the town to meet the expenditure. The valuation of the town was $2,000,000 : it had increased $500,000 since 1860. Its debt amounted to $18, ooo and it owned $32,000 in real estate. The rate of taxation in 1864 was SI.Io on $100, while the average rate in the state was $1.45. Since the purchase of the college farm in December, a few selfish and designing men had striven to awaken opposition to the plan which the town had unanimously
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£
542
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF AMHERST, MASS.
voted to adopt, Nov. S. Having elected a representative to the General Court with the express object of gaining authority to tax the town. they now remonstrated against such taxation, without assigning any reason. Their reason was obvious ; they desired to secure the benefit of the college without paying for it, and to compel the public-spirited citizens who, rely- ing upon their honor, had guaranteed the $50,000, to pay it. Of the 159 remonstrants, 9 never paid a tax in Amherst, 29 signed a solemn pledge in July to use all their influence to obtain authority from the General Court to bond the town, 48 signed either the petitions of 1864 or 1865. and all legal voters either failed to vote for representative or voted for one whom they knew would endeavor to secure the passage of the bill now before the General Court; 12 had signed a paper averring that their names were pro- cured by false statements. The remonstrants paid less than 11 per cent. of the taxes and their leaders were farmers for whose special benefit the college was designed. None of them were distinguished for public spirit. The 4S4 petitioners comprised all the lawyers, physicians. settled ministers and teachers, including the entire faculty of Amherst College, all mer- chants, mechanics and business men, as well as a large majority of the most enterprising and successful farmers.
In accordance with this petition, the committee on judiciary brought in a bill authorizing the town to raise $50,000 for the benefit of the college. on condition that at a legal town-meeting, called for that purpose, two-thirds of those present and voting should be recorded in its favor. This bill was passed by the General Court and approved May 5. At a special town- meeting held May 15, the town voted, 359 to 104, to accept the authority granted by this act. Hon. Edward Dickinson, Leonard M. Hills and A. R. Cushman were appointed a committee to advise with the selectmen and treasurer in relation to the disposal of the bonds. The thanks of the town were voted to Col. W. S. Clark for his successful work in securing the passage of the act.
543
7
PRESIDENT FRENCH.
CHAPTER LX.
HON. HENRY F. FRENCH ELECTED PRESIDENT .- PLAN FOR ORGANIZA- TION .- LOCATING THE BUILDINGS .- PROF. PAUL A. CHAD- BOURNE SUCCEEDS PRESIDENT FRENCH .- INJUNCTION AGAINST THE TOWN .-- COURSES OF INSTRUCTION .-- BUILDINGS CONTRACTED FOR. - COLLEGE BONDS AND LOANS. -- WILLIAM S. CLARK ELECTED PRESIDENT. - REQUISITES FOR ADMISSION. - THE COLLEGE OPENS .- PRESIDENT CLARK'S REPORT .- GRANTS BY THE GENERAL COURT .- NEW BUILDINGS .- GIFTS TO THE COL- LEGE .- UNSUCCESSFUL EFFORT . TO REMOVE THE COLLEGE FROM STATE CONTROL.
Nov. 29, 1864, Hon. Henry Flagg French was elected by the trustees the first president of the Massachusetts Agricultural College. Judge French was born Aug. 14, 1813, at Chester, N. H. He was graduated at Dartmouth College, studied law at Harvard College and was admitted to the New Hampshire bar Aug. 14, 1834. He practiced his profession at Chester, Portsmouth and Exeter, N. H. and at Cambridge and Boston, Mass. He was postmaster of Chester, N. H. in 1840; county solicitor and bank commissioner of Rockingham for several years; judge of the court of common pleas of N. H., 1855-59 ; assistant district attorney of Suffolk county, Mass., 1862-64. He took a deep interest in agriculture and agricultural education. In 1857, he traveled in Europe for the purpose of studying drainage, and his work on that subject had much to do with the introduction of tile drainage in America. He was associate editor of the New England Farmer and wrote much for the Massachusetts Ploughman, Country Gentleman and other agricultural journals. When elected to the presidency of the Agricultural College, the affairs of that institution were hardly in condition to attract the services of such a successful and distin- guished man of affairs as Judge French. The commissioner appointed by the governor to sell the land scrip had disposed of about 100,000 acres at an average price of 80 cents an acre : the proceeds had been deposited with the state treasurer and placed at interest. There was no immediate prospect for the sale of the balance of the scrip.
The college trustees, at a meeting held Feb. 3, 1865, adopted by unanimous vote a plan of organization and course of study, which were
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544
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF AMHERST, MASS.
submitted to the governor and council for approval. After a hearing before the latter authorities, the papers were returned, accompanied by the suggestion that approval at that time would be premature. The plan, in outline, was as follows: The estate was to be furnished with model farm buildings, to be erected from time to time as the increasing productiveness of the farm should require ; to be supplied with farm implements of the most approved kinds. and stocked with a variety of the best thoroughbred and other animals that might be procured ; the farm to be conducted. primarily, for the education of the pupils, by way of illustration in agri- culture, horticulture, botany, stock-growing and other affairs. A college building should be erected immediately, for lecture and recitation rooms, library, museums of natural history and of farm implements and products, chemical laboratories, halls for exhibition and military drill, armory and chapel, and rooms for president, librarian and other officers. The college should have a president, to reside at the farm and have general charge of its affairs under the trustees, and a faculty composed of the president, the resident professors and the farm superintendent. There should be . established departments of agriculture and horticulture, physics, mathe- matics, engineering, natural history, chemistry, political economy. philos- ophy and Christian morals, comparative anatomy and animal physiology including veterinary surgery and medicine, modern language and literature, physical education including military tactics. The general course of study should embrace four years, with permission for shorter elective courses. Applicants for admission as students should be at least 16 years of age and should pass such an examination as is required for admission to the state normal schools and such further examination as might be required. Manual labor should be required daily of every student, under conditions arranged by the faculty, who might allow compensation for extra work. The charge for tuition should be fixed by the trustees, with such free scholarships as might be established by public and private bounty. A comparison of the list of studies recommended by the trustees with that suggested by President Hitchcock in his report in 1851, and with the sugges- tions made by Gov. Andrew in his address to the General Court in 1863, shows great similarity. The sciences were to be taught with special refer- ence to their application to agriculture.
April 1, 1865, the executive committee of the college trustees leased the college lands for one year at the rate of five per cent. on their cost price. It was proposed to enclose the entire farin with a hedge of pines. May 11. the General Court passed an act granting $10,000 to the trustees to aid in establishing the college. The trustees held a meeting Aug. 2 at the Amherst house. A plan for the college was adopted, and a building
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545
PAUL A. CHADBOURNE ELECTED PRESIDENT.
committee appointed, with full power to locate the necessary buildings and instructions to place them at once under contract. The building committee . consisted of President . French, Henry F. Hills, Hon. William B. Wash- burn. Hon. Joseph White, treasurer of Williams College, and Prof. Henry L. Whiting of Martha's Vineyard. They purchased of Dwight Presho, for $500, a granite quarry in Pelham and proposed to construct the buildings of stone. In September, President French established an office in the Amherst Academy building. The first load of stone for the buildings was drawn through the streets of Amherst Oct. 7, by M. F. Dickinson. Trouble arose among the trustees concerning the site for the college buildings. It was at first determined to locate the main building on the site of the Henderson house by the side of the county road. Some of the trustees objected, and the services of prominent architects and land- scape gardeners were secured to settle the controversy. It was at length decided to locate the buildings on the ridge running north and south near the center of the college grounds. President French took an active part in this controversy, and his resignation, which was tendered and accepted Sept. 29, 1866, was largely due to the feeling that his wishes had not been as fully consulted in the matter as they should have been. After leaving the college Judge French engaged in the practice of law, and from 1876 to 1885 served as assistant secretary of the treasury, at Washington, D. C. He was a contributor to the reports of the agricultural department at Washington and vice-president of the United States Agricultural society. He died from an affection of the heart, at Concord, Mass., Nov. 29, 1885.
In January, 1866, a petition signed by ten legal voters of Amherst was presented to the supreme judicial court, for an injunction to restrain the town and its-officers from issuing bonds or raising money to the amount of $50,000, on credit of the town, for the Agricultural College, under votes of the town passed in pursuance of an act of the General Court. A temporary injunction was granted, and this was not removed until Jan- uary, 1867. Nov. 7. 1866, Prof. Paul A. Chadbourne of Williams College received the unanimous vote of the trustees for president of the Agricul- tural College. He accepted the position and entered upon the duties of his office Dec. 1. President Chadbourne was a native of North Berwick, Me., where he was born Oct. 21, 1823. He was fitted for college at Phillips (Exeter) Academy, entered the sophomore class at Williams College in 1845 and was graduated in 1848. being the valedictorian of his class. After graduation he taught school in Freehold, N. J., one year, was principal of the high school at Great Falls, N. H. in 1850, and was subsequently for two years principal of East Windsor (Conn.) Academy. From 1853 until his summons to Amherst he was professor of chemistry, botany and natural
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