USA > Massachusetts > Hampshire County > Amherst > The history of the town of Amherst, Massachusetts, pt 2 > Part 16
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF AMHERST, MASS.
history at Williams College. He conducted a scientific expedition to New- foundland and Labrador in 1855 ; one to Florida in 1857 and one to Greenland in 1861. In 1859, he visited Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Greenland and Iceland for the purpose of studying geysers and volcanoes. At about the same time that he received his call to Amherst he was offered the presidency of two other institutions, the State University of Wisconsin and the Worcester College, just organized.
The trustees, at their meetings held during the year 1866, decided that the first term at the college should begin Oct. 2, 1867. It was pro- posed that two courses of instruction should be offered, a regular four- years' course and a special course of lectures, exclusively agricultural, to be given every winter. A list of studies for the four-years' course was adopted. Provision was to be made the first year for a freshman class only. Students completing the full course should be entitled to the degree of B. Sc. Students not intending to graduate might enter the institution at any time and select any two studies which they were fitted to pursue and attend any lectures of the course. The following buildings were con- tracted for, at the prices named, to be completed by Aug. 1 : A dormitory 100 X 50 feet, four stories high, the upper stories to afford accommo- dations for 48 students, leaving the lower story for recitation-rooms, cabi- nets and a library-room ; the cost to be $30,000 ; a laboratory, 46 x 57 feet, two stories high, costing $9,350; a boarding house, where board could be furnished for 50 students, costing $5,050. The sum of $20,000 was pledged to the trustees for the express purpose of establishing and maintaining a botanic garden, one-half by L. M. & H. F. Hills, one-half by Dr. Nathan Durfee of Fall River. During the year Levi Stockbridge was elected farm superintendent and instructor in agriculture. The bids for constructing the college buildings of stone were largely in excess of the architects' estimates and it was decided to use brick and wood. The dormitory was to be built of brick, the laboratory, a temporary structure. of wood. Provision was also made for building a house for the president, and a model barn ; the estimated cost of all the buildings was $65.000. During the year the General Court passed an act locating at the college the state agricultural library and cabinets.
When the decision of the supreme court was rendered, dissolving the injunction against the town, Agricultural College bonds were at once pre- pared, in denominations of $250, $500 and $1.000, bearing interest at the rate of six per cent. The interest only was payable up to 1870 : after that date $2,000 was to be paid on the principal each year. Owing to a change in the rate of interest by legal enactment, the town was able to dispose during the first year of only $15.750 of these bonds, but $10,000 of them was used as collateral security in raising funds to make necessary
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PRESIDENT CHADBOURNE SUCCEEDED BY WILLIAM S. CLARK.
payments. In 1868, the town voted to destroy the remaining bonds, amounting in face value to $34,000, and secured a loan of $32,000 from the state treasurer, payable on the same conditions as were the bonds. The town was also compelled to pay $1.461.39 during the year for legal expenses incurred in fighting the injunction.
Early in January, 1867, W. S. Clark accepted the professorship of horticulture and botany at the college. June 1, President Chadbourne, owing to continued ill health, tendered his resignation, which the trustees accepted with regret. Aug. 7, the trustees elected W. S. Clark as his suc- cessor. William S. Clark, son of Dr. Atherton and Harriet (Smith) Clark, was born July 31, 1826, at Ashfield. He was fitted for college at Williston Seminary, entering Amherst College in 1844 and graduating in 1848. For two years after graduation he taught the sciences at Williston seminary, then went abroad and studied chemistry and botany at Göttingen Univer- sity, Germany, receiving the degree of Ph. D. from that institution in 1852. From 1852 to 1858, he was professor of chemistry, botany and zoology at Amherst College, and professor of chemistry at that institution from 1858 to 1867. When the civil war broke out in 1861, he was commissioned major of the 2 1st Mass. regiment, being promoted successively to the rank of lieutenant-colonel and colonel in 1862. He took part in all the battles of the regiment up to Antietam, behaving with conspicuous gallantry. On resigning his commission in 1863, he returned to his duties at Amherst College.
Early in January, 1867, the trustees of the Agricultural College arranged for a course of lectures by distinguished scientists to be delivered at the college the next winter, the lectures numbering 90 and to be delivered within a period of six weeks. These were not designed especially for the students, but for a large class of farmers who could not become students at the college and could not devote their time to study at any other season of the year. It was proposed to give such a course of lectures each year. The regular course at the college was to comprise four years, but arrange- ments would be made for " term scholars," whereby persons who could not take the full course might attend for one or more terms and take all or any part of the regular studies as desired. Each student was to have a plot of ground which he should be obliged to cultivate and on which he might try such experiments as he saw fit. Any student willing to do so might pay a part of his tuition by labor on the farm. A large boarding-house was to be erected, where all the studends would board, paying only enough to defray expenses.
Work on the foundation for the main college building was begun in March and completed early in April. At a meeting of the trustees held in Amherst, May 8, it was voted to erect two buildings for botanical purposes,
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF AMHERST, MASS.
on or near the site of the old Henderson place, at a cost of $13,000. Work was begun on one of these buildings, afterwards known as the Durfee plant- house, about July 1. . The Hampshire Agricultural society voted to establish a scholarship at the college ; a similar offer was made by Austin Eastman. In August, President Clark made the following announcement : Applicants for admission to the college must be at least 14 years of age, must bring from a pastor or teacher a certificate of good moral character, and must furnish bonds for the prompt payment of tuition and board. They must provide their own bedding and furniture, except stoves. Tuition would be $12 per term, room-rent $5 per term, board from $3 to $3.50 per week, the former being the established rate at the college boarding-house. The further announcement was made in September, that " Every student will labor six hours per week as directed, without pay, for the purpose of learn- ing the operations of the farm and garden." Any student would be per- mitted to labor 12 hours per week for wages under the direction of the farm superintendent in term-time, and would be furnished work at fair prices in vacation if desired. Entrance examinations . were held Oct. 1. Eight young men residing in Amherst were admitted to the entering class, by name as follows: M. F. Casey, William Barrows, Jr., George G. Graves, A. L. Bassett, F. A. Hall, G. H. Eastman, W. H. Cary, G. II. Bell. Dinner was first served at the boarding-house Oct. 2.
At the meeting of the trustees when W. S. Clark was elected president, Ebenezer S. Snell was elected professor of mathematics and Henry HI. Goodell professor of modern languages. These men, together with the president, and the farm superintendent, who was also instructor in agricul- ture, composed the faculty of the college the first year it was in active operation. The dormitory, the laboratory and the boarding-house were completed during the summer months, and the college was opened Oct. 2, with an entering class which numbered 47 before the end of the term. During the' year the botanic museum was completed at a cost of $5, 180, and the Durfee plant-house at a cost of $12,000. Plans and specifications were procured for a model barn and $7,000 was appropriated for its con- struction. The sum of $6,000 was taken from the building fund and applied to the purchase of additional land, the size of the college farm being increased to 383 1-2 acres. In his annual report of the college dated Jan. 1, 1868, President Clark stated that 'unless other buildings were provided the present class must be retained four years, and when graduated another class of 50 could be admitted. If, however, another dormitory, another boarding-house and two dwelling-houses for professors should be erected the following summer, another class of 60 could be accommodated. This would require an expenditure of about $50,000. It was the intention of the board of trustees to enter upon a course of experiments on the farm
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COLLEGE FINANCES.
such as might be suggested by the Board of Agriculture. During the fall term all students had been required to labor, without pay, two hours every other day, and those who wished were paid for additional labor at the rate of 12 1-2 cents per hour. Thirty-six members of the class had voluntarily worked for wages. The members of the college averaged over 17 years in age. A young man of good talents, healthy and willing to work, could gain at the college a superior education for $100 per annum, in addition to what he could earn on the premises. The college trustees requested that the governor be authorized to issue to the president of the college such military arms and equipments as might in his judgment be so issued without detriment to the military service. During the year the college had received the following donations : From J. T. Ames of Chicopee, some 50 specimens of rare plants for the botanic garden ; from Hon. Marshall P. Wilder, a carload of valuable plants comprising 1,300 specimens ; from Dr. Nathan Durfee, one Cotswold and one. Southdown buck ; from Thomas H. Buffum, one Southdown buck ; from friends of the college, over 100 vol- umes of valuable agricultural works. to serve as a nucleus for a college library. The college catalog for the year contained the names of 56 freshmen, of whom 13 were residents of Amherst, the remainder, with the exception of two, coming from other towns in Massachusetts. The financial statement showed that the total amount received from the sale of 360,000 acres of land was $236,307.40, or an average of a little more than 65 cents an acre. Of this amount $29,778.40 had been expended for a farm. The fund amounted to $207,424.65, the annual income at six per cent. to $12,445.48. Two-thirds of this income, to which the college was entitled, would amount to $8, 296.99. The liabilities of the college, Jan. 1, 1868, were $29.727.61 ; the available funds, $25.446.87. . President Clark was well qualified by ability, by temperament and by experience to guide and control the first effort made by the state of Mas- sachusetts toward providing a means for education in scientific agriculture for its inhabitants. He realized fully the needs and advantages of such education and had an abiding faith in the success of the college. He knew that this success could not be attained in full measure except the state took a genuine interest in the institution and provided generously for its financial needs. It was the child of the state and as such had the best of claims for full recognition and support. In appealing to the state for aid for the college. President Clark did not esteem himself as one asking an alms, but rather as an agent whose duty it was to make of greatest value and usefulness the state property entrusted to his charge. It is well to bear these facts in mind in reviewing the events of President Clark's administration. Others before him had labored long and faithfully to make an agricultural college a possibilty, but his it was to assist at its
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF AMHERST, MASS.
inauguration, to direct its earliest efforts, to gain for it the favor of gov- ernors and legislators and the general public. An experiment when he assumed control, he made it a valuable factor in the educational system of the Commonwealth. An enthusiasm less dominant, a courage less devoted, might well have yielded to the discouragements attendant on its opening struggles for existence. His name must be inscribed with those of Edward Hitchcock and Marshall P. Wilder, men who were the real founders of the college.
In December, 1867, the Botanic Museum was completed and President Clark established his office there. The trustees of the college realized that if a new class was to be admitted in the fall new buildings were a necessity. The building fund provided by the town of Amherst had been practically exhausted and aid must come, if at all, from the state. During the month of February a petition was circulated among the members of the Hampshire Agricultural society, and signed generally by them, urging the General Court to appropriate $50,000 for additional buildings for the college. Feb. 26, some 200 members of the General Court paid a visit to Amherst and the college. Leaving Boston by special train, they were met at the Amherst station by a procession of teams headed by the Cataract Engine company. This procession made its way up Main street, thence to and around the Amherst College buildings, stopping at Agricultural hall, where a dinner provided by the citizens was served. After the dinner, the Agricultural College students gave an exhibition in gymnastics under the direction of Professor Goodell. The visitors then took teams and visited and inspected the Agricultural College grounds and buildings.
Under the terms of the United States grant, the college was required to furnish training in military tactics. To comply with this requirement was, at the first, no easy matter. There was no drill-hall, no military equipment, no member of the faculty who had made a special study of military training. Fortunately, however, the college had secured the services of one, Professor Goodell, whose knowledge of military affairs was gained by service in the Union armies. Under his direction the students received such training as the resources of the institution would permit. In March, 1868, the General Court passed a resolve authorizing the gov- ernor to issue arms and equipments to the college. During the month President Clark acknowledged the receipt from the state of 60 Springfield rifles and equipments, for use of the students. It was not until the follow- ing year that the first detail was made of an officer of the United States army to serve as a military instructor at the college. The members of the General Court who visited the college in February were favorably impressed with what they saw at the institution ; May 1, a resolve was passed granting $50.000 to the college for the erection of new buildings. The trustees met at
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MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE GROUNDS.
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GRANTS BY THE GENERAL COURT.
Boston, May 11, when they adopted a plan for a new dormitory calculated to accommodate 60 students, to cost $35.000 and to be completed by Sept. I. Ground was broken for the new building May 15 and it was completed during the summer months. A new boarding-house was also erected at a cost of $8,000.
President Clark realized that if the college was to succeed it must attract and hold the attention and interest of the agricultural community. As one means of accomplishing this end, he induced the New England Agricultural society to hold a field trial of plows on the college farm in May. There was a large attendance of farmers and persons interested in agriculture on this occasion, which served to attract the attention of the public to the college. The country meeting of the State Board of Agricul- ture was held at the college in December. The report of President Clark for the year ending Jan. 1, 1869, stated that 23 scholarships were maintained by agricultural societies throughout the state. The suggestion was made that friends of the college should establish a labor fund for the payment of students who desired to work upon the farm. Prof. S. F. Miller of Chicago, Ill. had succeeded Prof. Snell in charge of the department of mathematics; Prof. C. A. Goessmann of Syracuse, N. Y. had been elected professor of chemistry. The department of gymnastics and military tactics was under direction of Prof. H. H. Goodell. The entering class in the fall numbered 41. The needs of the college for the ensuing year were summed up by President Clark as follows: For a barn, 100 x 50 feet, $8,000 ; for a farmhouse, $5,000 ; for a supply of running water, $5,000 ; for tools, a tool-house, fencing, grading, roads, tile and purchase of stock, $10.000; for a gymnasium, drill-hall and armory. $8,000 ; for a building for an agri- cultural museum; lecture-rooms, offices, library, reading-room and chapel, S40,000 ; for furnishings, fittings, and apparatus, $10,000 ; for a president's house, $14,000. In addition to this sum of $100,000, an additional $50,000 would be needed the next year for another dormitory and houses for the faculty.
April 25, 1869, the General Court passed a resolve allowing $50,000 to the college for the erection of buildings and other purposes. During the year these buildings were erected : A dwelling-house for the farm super- intendent, at a cost of $4,000 ; a barn, costing $9,000 ; "College hall," at a cost of $20,000. "College hall" was a wooden structure, 60 x 97 feet, three stories in height. In the first story was a chapel 60 x 40 feet, and four rooms occupied by students in practical chemistry. In the second story was a hall for drawing, also used as a recitation and lecture-room by the professor of mathematics and engineering, a chemistry lecture-room and office, and the private laboratory and apparatus-room of the professor of chemistry. In the third story was a military hall, and an armory. The
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF AMHERST, MASS.
old chemical laboratory was incorporated in the new edifice. A reservoir was constructed on the hill, southeast of the plant-house, and the new barn and farm-house were supplied with running water. The Durfee plant-house was filled with specimens of about 1,000 species of such plants as are most important in a scientific and economic point of view. Hundreds of fruit- trees and thousands of grape-vines were set out. Hon. William Knowlton presented to the college $2.000, for the purchase of the herbarium collected by William W. Denslow, which was known thereafter as the Knowlton her- barium. Henry E. Alvord, U. S. A., was detailed for duty at the college, as professor of military science and tactics. This detail was made by the government at Washington, in furtherance of the purpose outlined in the original land-grant, to promote a knowledge of military affairs in connec- tion with an education in agriculture and the mechanic arts. The second national exhibition of agricultural machines, instituted by the New England Agricultural society, was held on the college grounds in June, lasting four days. The roll of students in attendance during the year contained the names of 35 juniors, 41 sophomores. 24 freshmen and a " select class " of 19.
The endowment fund of the college produced a revenue inadequate for the payment of its expenses. A new institution, engaged in a practically new field of educational enterprise, its wants were many and pressing. In supplying these wants a considerable debt was incurred, growing larger every year. June 18, 1870, the General Court passed a resolve allowing the college $25,000 for the payment of debts. The constant demands upon the state treasury by an institution yet in its infancy were viewed with alarm by conservative citizens of the Commonwealth. This feeling culminated in an effort to relieve the state of all further responsibilty for the college toward which it held the relation of a foster mother. The General Court, at its session in 1870, appointed the secretary of the Board of Education and the secretary of the Board of Agriculture a committee, with directions to devise a plan, if practicable, by which the college might, without expense to the Commonwealth, be organized as an independent institution, in analogy with other colleges of the Commonwealth, and also to inquire whether the term of study at the college might not be reduced. The obvious intent of this inquiry was to limit, if possible, the growth of the college, and to prevent the full development of the plan which had been unani- mously adopted by the trustees, wiht the approval of the governor and Council. Hon. Joseph White, secretary of the Board of Education, made a careful and exhaustive investigation of the subject, ably assisted by Sec- retary Flint of the Board of Agriculture. A report based on the results of this investigation was submitted to the General Court in 1871. This report was to the effect that it was not practicable to sever the connection between the college and the Commonwealth and withhold from it further
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EXPERIMENTS IN AGRICULTURE.
aid ; also, that any considerable reduction of the prescribed course of study would violate the terms of the congressional grant. It recommended : That the sum af $50,000 be granted to the college trustees to be expended in the erection of a new building and otherwise completing its establish- ment ; that the sum of $150,000 be added to the fund derived from the congressional grant ; that the board of trustees be authorized to fill vacan- cies in their own number. In accordance with these recommendations, the General Court passed, May 26, an act authorizing the trustees to elect their own successors ; also, on the same date, a resolve allowing the college $50,000 for the payment of debts and of current expenses, and adding $141,535.35 to the perpetual fund of the college ; also, a resolve ordering 10,000 extra copies of the annual report of the college to be printed. Thus the movement instituted to separate the college from the state and close the door to future state appropriations, resulted in binding the two more closely together and securing to the college a most generous sum from the state treasury.
CHAPTER LXI.
GRADUATION OF THE FIRST CLASS .- ENDOWMENT OF PRIZES .- ALUMINI ASSOCIATION ORGANIZED .- CHANGES IN THE FACULTY .- LABOR FUND ESTABLISHED .- EXPERIMENTAL WORK .-- FREE SCHOLAR- SHIPS .- HARD TIMES AT THE COLLEGE .- PRESIDENT CLARK'S RESIGNATION .- REORGANIZATION .- CHARLES L. FLINT ELECTED PRESIDENT .- LEVI STOCKBRIDGE SUCCEEDS PRESIDENT FLINT .- FINAL ATTEMPT TO REMOVE THE COLLEGE FROM STATE CON- TROL .- PROPOSAL TO RAISE A COLLEGE FUND .- PAUL A. CHADBOURNE ELECTED PRESIDENT. .
During the year 1870, the number of students at the college increased largely, so that the dormitories were unable to properly accommodate them. Instruction in the regular course was given by the president and six regular professors, with assistance in special departments by non-resident lecturers. A series of special experiments were undertaken by the agricultural department in connection with the cultivation of the sugar-beet. It was
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF AMHERST, MASS.
proposed to erect a small sugar factory on the farm to work up the product. In his annual report for the year President Clark made the statement : "The Agricultural College ought to be made an experimental station, similar to those so common in Germany." John C. Dillon was appointed farm superintendent in April. Prof. Samuel F. Miller died Oct. 28. Rev. Henry W. Parker was elected professor of mental, moral and social science, and college preacher.
Governor Claflin, in his message to the General Court in 1871, spoke of the college in the highest terms and favored the extension of further aid from the state. During the year, Selim H. Peabody was elected pro- fessor of mathematics, physics and civil engineering. Miss Mary Robinson donated $2,000 for the endowment of a scholarship. The year 187 I was made memorable by the graduation from the college of its first class. Forty-nine years before, in August, 1822, Amherst College gradu- ated its first class numbering three members. The entering class at the Agricultural College in 1867 numbered on its admission 47 ; on its gradu- ation in July, 1871, its membership had decreased to 27, a little more than one-half the original number. Of the thirteen young men residing in Amherst who had entered the class but one was graduated, Andrew L. Bassett. Commencement exercises were held July 17, 18 and 19. Among those in attendance were Governor Claflin, several members of his staff and of the Council, Hon. Justin S. Morrill of Vermont, author of the bill under whose provisions the college was established, Prof. Louis Agassiz and many other distinguished men, including a majority of the board of trustees and overseers. There was also a very large attendance of persons residing in Amherst and vicinity, who showed great interest in the occasion, many of the houses in the village and on the street leading north to the college grounds being handsomely illuminated. The first public exercise was held Monday evening, July 17, consisting of prize declamations by members of the lower classes. On Tuesday afternoon the class-day exercises were held. On Tuesday evening Dr. George B. Loring delivered an address before the literary societies of the college ; this was followed by a reception given to Gov. Claflin, which was attended by several hundred persons. Senator Morrill delivered an address, the students gave a torch- light parade, music was provided by the Springfield Armory band, there was a fine display of fireworks and an artillery salute was fired at midnight. On Wednesday morning the cadets were reviewed upon the campus by the governor. The graduation exercises were held in College hall, which was crowded to the doors. The exercises included orations by members of the graduating class, brief congratulatory remarks by Prof. Louis Agassiz, an address by Governor Claflin and an historical address by Hon. Marshall
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