History of Ingham and Eaton counties, Michigan, Part 20

Author: Durant, Samuel W. cn
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia : D.W. Ensign & Co.
Number of Pages: 772

USA > Michigan > Eaton County > History of Ingham and Eaton counties, Michigan > Part 20
USA > Michigan > Ingham County > History of Ingham and Eaton counties, Michigan > Part 20

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Besides the instruction given in vegetable physiology and agricultural chemistry, there is a department of practical agriculture under the charge of a professor and two assist- ants. Lectures are given to the freshmen daily for one term, and to the seniors daily for one term, on practical agriculture, and the farm and stock furnish abundant means for illustration and for practical work. All the students work three hours a day on the farm or in the gardens. This work system has been maintained from the first. About one-half the graduates follow farming as a vocation, and they take a prominent place in all organizations for the benefit of agriculture in all its various branches. More than twenty graduates have been called on to teach in col- leges, and more than a dozen now hold permanent places as officers of sueli institutions.

For several winters past the college has held six farmers' institutes in different parts of the State. These have proved so popular that similar institutes are common every winter in several of the counties of the State.

The college is supported in part by biennial appropria- tions of the Legislature, and in part by the interest of a

MICHIGAN STATE

ULTURAL COLLEGE.

STATE INSTITUTIONS.

growing fund arising from the sale of lands given to the State by the general government. The number of acres received by the State is 235,673. On Sept. 1, 1879, the State had sold 86,121 acres for $275,104, on which the college receives seven per cent. interest.

The college is managed by a State Board of Agriculture of six appointed and two ex-officio members, of whom two are appointed by the Governor every two years. The suc- eessive Governors of the State have so frequently reappointed the old members that there have been but ten new men appointed in nineteen years. The Hon. H. G. Wells, of Kalamazoo, the president of the board, has been on the board since its creation, and the Hon. J. Webster Childs since 1869. Other officers also have been long connected with the college, its president since the spring of 1858, its distinguished professor of chemistry since 1863. A uni- formity in the policy of the college under experienced managers has resulted in its securing the confidence of all the great State organizations for the promotion of agricul- ture,-the State Agricultural Society, the State Pomologi- cal Society, and the State Grange,-all of which officially recognize the college by standing committees and official visits.

In 1850 a constitution of the State was adopted which says, Article XIII., Section II .: "The Legislature shall, as soon as practicable, provide for the establishment of an agricultural school." Uuder this constitutional provision the friends of the project secured the passage of a bill for its organization in 1855. Among the many earnest advo- cates of the college, it can hardly be invidious to mention the Governor of the State at that time, Kinsley S. Bing- ham, who heartily worked for it and gave an address at the time of its opening, May, 1857. The college was then in the woods, the stumps and underbrush not cleared away from around the three brick buildings where officers, students, and the public had gathered, on a spot selected for the college, under narrow restrictions, by the State Agricultural Society. Photographs of the place as it then appeared hang in the library of the college. But the institution owes more to Mr. J. C. Holmes, now of Detroit, than to any other man for its early organization and success. Mr. Holmes was un- wearied in his efforts to secure its establishment. He drew up the bill, without, however, the clause as to its location, and spent much time in explaining the nature and design of the proposed institution. He also had charge of the horticultural department for three years, and the college still enjoys his valuable friendship. The inaugural of Mr. Joseph R. Williams, the first president, was a production of great merit. A fine likeness of Mr. Williams hangs in the college library, and one of the buildings bears his name. Mr. Williams died in 1861.

The State Board of Education had charge of the institu- tion until the spring of 1861, when the Legislature created a State Board of Agriculture and committed the college to its care. During the war its fate was debated anew by each successive Legislature, which always made, however, a generous appropriation. The Congressional gift of lands in 1862 gave courage to its friends, and the college has gradually grown in influence until now it is one of the cherished institutions of the State.

STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

President, Hon. Ilezekiah G. Wells, of Kalamazoo ; Viee-Presidents, Hon. J. Webster Childs, of Ypsilanti ; Hon. George W. Phillips, of Romeo; Hon. Franklin Wills, of Constantine ; IIon. Milton J. Gard, of Volinia; Hon. Henry G. Reynolds, of Old Mission ; Charles M. Croswell, Governor of the State, Theophilus C. Abbott, President of the college, ex-officio ; Secretary, Robert G. Baird; Treas- urer, Ephraim Longyear.

Faculty .- Theophilus C. Abbot, LL.D., President, Pro- fessor of Mental Philosophy and Logie; Robert C. Kedzie, A.M., M.D., Professor of Chemistry, and Curator of the Chemical Laboratory ; J. W. MeEwan, A.M., Professor of English Literature, and Librarian ; Albert J. Cook, M.S., Professor of Zoology and Entomology, and Curator of the General Museum ; William J. Beal, A.M., M.S., Professor of Botany and Horticulture, and Curator of the Botanical Museum ; Robert G. Baird, Secretary ; Rolla C. Carpen - ter, M.S., C.E., Professor of Mathematics and Civil En- gineering; Samuel Johnson, Professor of Practical Agri- culture ; Robert F. Kedzie, M.S., Assistant in Chemistry ; George W. White, Foreman of the Farm ; James Cassidy Gardener; Ransom H. MeDowell, B.S., Assistant Foreman of the Farm ; Frank A. Gulley, Foreman of the Gardens ; Emory C. Fox, Steward.

MICHIGAN STATE REFORM SCHOOL FOR BOYS .*

LOCATION.

The Michigan State Reform School is located at Lansing, the capital of Michigan.

The city of Lansing is situated on Grand River, about eighty-four miles northwest of the city of Detroit, and about fifty miles south of the centre of the lower penin- sula, and is reached by the following lines of railroad,-viz. : 1. The Detroit, Lansing and Northern ; 2. The Jackson, Lansing and Saginaw division of the Michigan Central ; 3. The Lake Shore and Michigan Southern ; and 4. The Chicago Grand Trunk.

OBJECT.

The object of the institution is the correction and reforma- tion of juvenile offenders. By judicious restraint, by mental and moral instruction, by the teaching of some useful trade or other employment, it seeks to restore to society, as useful citizens, a class of unfortunates, the majority of whom, from circumstances of birth and earliest associations and surround- ings, seem to be upon the high-road to erime and degrada- tion, from which the State hereby endeavors to rescue them, and to give them the comforts of home and fostering care, to which they had hitherto been strangers. That much good has already been accomplished by the institution is a matter of certainty. Many are now occupying positions of usefulness and respectability in society, as the result of the restraint and habits of industry acquired at this institution.

HISTORY.

Governor Andrew Parsons, in his valedictory message to, the Legislature of 1855, said : " I believe it to be the duty

# Prepared by Allen L. Bours, Esq.

HISTORY OF INGHAM AND EATON COUNTIES, MICHIGAN.

of the Legislature to establish a House of Correction for juvenile offenders. There are many children of tender age, when they are easily tempted and cannot estimate the enormity of crime, who are induced to commit offenses which send them to the county jails or State prison, among hardened offenders, where they are likely to learn more injury than good. Many of these, if confined in a proper place, trained to habits of industry, and properly taught the error of their way and their duties, while yet young, would come out prepared to shun temptation and to make good and useful citizens. It is enjoined upon the parent that he train up his children in the way they should go. If the State assumes to take the charge of children away from their parents, or to take charge of orphan children, it should not treat them as men of understanding and hard- ened in iniquity, but, as a parent, train them up in the way they should go, in the hope and trust that when they be- come old many of them will not depart from it."

Governor Kinsley S. Bingham, in his inaugural message to the same Legislature, said as follows : "The presence of several boys and youth among the more hardened criminals in the State prison, induces me to urge upon your attention the propriety of establishing a House of Refuge or Corree- tion, where a milder course of treatment, more especially adapted to their reformation, can be employed. The State has not discharged its duty to these unfortunate victims of ignorance and temptation until it has made provision, by a proper system of discipline, for their instruction in useful knowledge, morals, and piety, taught them some mechanical trade or other proper employment, and prepared them, upon their release from confinement, to become good citizens and useful members of society, as they return to its duties and privileges." In response to the foregoing recommendations of the retiring and incoming Governors, the Legislature by an act approved Feb. 10, 1855, provided for the establish- ment of a " Ilouse of Correction for Juvenile Offenders," " at or near Lansing, in the county of Ingham. Provided, That a suitable piece of land of not less than twenty aeres shall be donated for that purpose." A plat comprising about thirty acres, situated in the eastern portion of the city, at the terminus of Shiawassee Street and fronting westward on Pennsylvania Avenue, was donated by the citizens of Lansing, and 195 acres adjoining the same were subsequently purchased by the State.

The building was first opened for the reception of inmates on Sept. 2, 1856, and from that time to the date of the last annual report-Sept. 30, 1879-there have been 2135 com- mitments, of which 1972 were white boys, 152 colored boys, 3 Indian boys, and 8 girls. The Senate commit- tee on lfonse of Correction, at the session of the Legis- lature of 1859, recommended that the name of the institu- tion should be changed to "The State Reform School," urging as a reason therefor, " These lads will go forth in due time, as it is hoped a greater portion of them will, thor- oughly reformed in character, and prepared for the respon- sibilities of life, with far less stigma resting upon them as having been educated at a Reform School than a llouse of Correction." In accordance with this recommendation, the Legislature, by act approved Feb. 12, 1859, changed the name to the " Michigan State Reform School." The man-

agement of the institution was originally vested in a board of six commissioners, two being appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate at each biennial session of the Legislature. By an act approved Feb. 10, 1857, the man- agement was committed to a " board of control," consisting of three members, the terms of service and manner of ap- pointment being the same as before. By the law of 1855, offenders under the age of fifteen were to be sent to this IIouse of Correction, and those between the ages of fifteen and twenty might be sent if the court before whom they were convicted deemed them fit subjects for the institution. They were sent for definite terms by the circuit judges, police judges, and justices of the peace. The law of 1857 provided that those guilty of prison offenses under the age of sixteen should be sentenced to the House of Correction till twenty-one years of age. The law provides that the board of control may in their judgment place in families, or indenture as apprentices, any boys who are in their opin- ion sufficiently reformed, or return them to their parents, requiring-should they deem it necessary-security for the future good behavior and care of the boy.

By the act of March 16, 1861, the limits of age for commitment to the institution were established at seven and sixteen, and by the act of March 27, 1867, the limit was confined between the ages of ten and sixteen.

By act approved April 28, 1877, it was provided that all boys committed to the institution, except for offenses pun- ishable by imprisonment for life, should be sentenced to the Reform School until they reach the age of eighteen years, or until discharged by law.

The first superintendent of the institution was Theodore Foster, who was also one of the first board of commissioners appointed under the act of 1855. He resigned the posi- tion on July 1, 1860, and was succeeded by the Rev. Dan- forth B. Nichols, who held the office for the term of one year, and was succeeded by Cephas B. Robinson, who had, previous to his appointment, been the assistant superin- tendent.

Mr. Robinson retained the position until his death, which occurred on Aug. 27, 1866. The institution was then under the care of assistant superintendent James II. Baker until the appointment, on Nov. 16, 1866, of the Rev. O. W. Fay, who soon after resigned, and the Rev. Charles Johnson, a former teacher and assistant superintendent, appointed, who continued in office until April 1, 1875, when he was succeeded by the present incumbent, Mr. Frank M. Howe, then assistant superintendent.

The institution has gradually changed from the nature of a prison, which its former name indieated,-with its grates and bars, high fence and locks,-to a school with no prison-like surroundings. The play-ground, containing somne three acres, was formerly inclosed by a very high and unsightly fence ; this has been removed, and a neat pieket fence substituted. The gratings have been removed from the windows, and the locks upon the doors are now only used to protect the institution from nocturnal visits of burglars and tramps.

An ushier, selected from the inmates, is stationed at the door to admit visitors, or to apprise the superintendent of the calls of those having business with him.

STATE INSTITUTIONS.

The principal punishment employed for the refractory is a system of demerit marks, or deprivation of some enjoy- ment which the better boys may indulge in ; corporal pun- ishment is seldom required, and is resorted to only in ex- treme cases. The boys show no disposition to abuse the confidence thus reposed in them, and attempts to escape from the institution are exceedingly rare, and confined almost entirely to boys who have not been in the institu- tion long enough to derive the benefit intended to be con- ferred upon them by its system of discipline.

BUILDINGS.

The centre building of the house proper fronts to the west forty-eight feet, is fifty-six feet deep, and four stories high ; there are wings extending to the north and south, each ninety-five feet long, thirty-three feet deep, and three stories high, with towers at the extremities four stories in height. The north wing extends to the east eighty-three feet, forming an L, is thirty feet wide, and three stories high. On the ground floor of the centre building are a dining-room and kitchen for the officers, and a store-room and laundry ; on the second floor are the office, reception- room, family dining-room, and guest-chamber ; on the third floor are rooms for the officers and employees; and on the fourth floor the chapel, suitably arranged, and capable of seating 300 persons. On the first floor of the north wing are the dining-rooms for the boys; on the second floor the art gallery and rooms for employees, and the upper portion is occupied for dormitories, arranged with separate sleeping-apartments for the boys.

In the basement of the south wing is the bath, or wash- room, where the boys perform their daily ablutions; on the first floor are the school-rooms and the tailor-shop; on the second floor additional school-rooms and the library, and sleeping-apartments on the fourth floor.

In the basement of the east wing are the laundry, store- room, and cellar ; on the first floor the boys' kitchen, bakery, ironing-room, and shoe-shop ; the second floor contains the hospital and bed-rooms, and the upper portion is devoted to sleeping-apartments for the boys.

At short distances north and south of the main building, and fronting to the west, are the two family houses, each forty-two by fifty-two fcet, two stories in height, with a Mansard roof, and, like the main building, built of brick. Each of these houses contains suitable apartments for an overseer and his family, with accommodations for a large number of boys, who are placed here as a reward for good conduct.

A third cottage building more commodious and of finer appearance and proportions than the former two was com- pleted in 1879, and is principally devoted to school-rooms and dormitories.

The shops are located on the northeast portion of the yard, and occupy a substantial brick building, three stories in height, one hundred and forty-six feet long, and fifty-two feet wide, suitably arranged and provided with machinery for the employment of the inmates.

The buildings are all heated by steam supplied by boilers connected with the workshops. About 1000 cords of wood three feet in length, or its equivalent in coal, is required

annually for the purposes of heating, cooking, and operating the machinery.

The question of supplying the institution with an abun- dance of pure water was one that for years caused the board of control a degree of anxiety commensurate with its great importance ; and with the hope of an accomplishment of the purpose, many experiments were resorted to. Wells were dng without success. It was sought by means of a hydraulic ram to convey water from a distant spring, but the supply thus seenred was far from being sufficient. An arrangement was then made for forcing the water by a steam engine from a spring near the east bank of the Grand River, at a point some hundred rods distant from the building ; but this involved an annual expense which it seemed should be incurred only as a last resort. The board therefore decided to sink an artesian well upon the premises. The well was bored to a depth of some 600 feet, and although a flowing stream was not secured, yet an abundance of excellent water was obtained. The well is piped to the depth of 100 feet, to exclude the surface water, and by means of a pump the water is brought from that depth.

The farm, which has been greatly improved of late by the labor of the boys, under the direction of the superin- tendent, is all under cultivation and pasturage, and has for its use a large barn forty-eight by sixty feet, upon a sub- stantial stone foundation, with cellar; also with sheds for stock, wagons, and farm implements, horse-barn, piggery, and all the customary outbuildings and conveniences re- quired or usually found upon a well-regulated farm.

MANAGEMENT.

The board of control hold monthly meetings at the school, at which all accounts for purchases during the preceding month are audited and allowed, applications for discharge are considered, and all matters pertaining to the general welfare of the institution are discussed.

The superintendent has the general charge of the interests of the institution, conducts its correspondence, kceps a record of all inmates received, with their description and history, and such facts pertaining to their place of nativity, age, social condition, habits, cause of commitment, time and reason for discharge, and, in case of death, the disease and its duration, and such other facts as he may deem per- tinent. He also procures the necessary supplies for the school, examines and approves all accounts, visits, at least once a day, each department of the institution, and is ex- pected to require promptness and efficiency on the part of all other officers and employees in the discharge of their various dutics. The assistant superintendent aids the super- intendent in the discharge of his duties, and acts in his stead, for the time being, whenever, from absence, sickness, or other disability, he may be incapacitated.

The teachers have charge of the inmates when in school, and are responsible for the cleanliness and ventilation of the school-rooms.

The female teachers, in addition to their duties in the school-rooms, have the supervision of the dormitories, which they are required to keep clean and in order. The male teachers, in addition to their school duties, in conjunction

HISTORY OF INGHAM AND EATON COUNTIES, MICHIGAN.

with the assistant superintendent, have the oversight of the boys during the hours of recreation, see that they rise and retire at the proper time, and attend to their ablutions, and go to their respective-work-shops at the appointed hours for labor.

The other officers and employees of the institution have charge of the duties peculiar to their various positions.

No regular chaplain is employed for the institution, nor any one form of religious belief or instruction adopted, but the resident clergy of Lansing of all denominations, and such other clergymen as may be visiting at the capital, are invited by the superintendent to officiate, and religious services are held in the chapel each Sunday afternoon. In the forcnoon the boys assemble in the chapel for Sunday- school, and receive religious instruction from the teachers of the school.

A physician is employed to attend at the school, when required, at an annual salary of $150, although, owing to the general good health of the inmates, resulting from a healthful location, with plenty of pure water and the regu- lar habits of the inmates, wholesome food, cleanliness, and the absence of excesses and irregularities, cases of severe sickness rarely occur, and the physician's visits are not frequently required. And when we consider the fact that the majority of the inmates come to the institution with constitutions impaired by disease, inherited from vicious parents, in fulfillment of the divine decree, that " the sins of the fathers shall be visited upon the children," it is a matter of surprise and congratulation that so few cases of severe illness and so few deaths have occurred within its walls. Since the opening of the institution, twenty-four years ago, among the 2135 inmates who have been received, there have been but twenty-eight deaths; and in several instances the victims were suffering at the time of their reception with the disease which ended their lives.

The boys rise at half-past five o'clock in the morning from April 1st to October 1st, and during the remainder of the year at six, and retire at cight o'clock, giving them nine hours and a half for sleep in the summer, and ten hours in the winter. Each boy, unless incapacitated by sickness, is required to work five hours each day, attends school five hours and a quarter, and one hour military drill, and the remainder of the time,-from two and three-quarters to three and a quarter hours,-except while at meals, is de- voted to play and recreation. A pleasantly-located play- ground, comprising about three acres between the main building and the shops, with a play-house, covered to pro- teet the boys from the summer's heat or storms of winter, affords them a fine opportunity to indulge in those sports so highly prized by boys ; while balls and bats, marbles, and similar instruments of amusement have been generously supplied by friends of the institution.

The term of confinement-if a residence at the school may now be properly so called-depending mainly upon the deportment of the inmates, is of unequal duration.

By the operation of law, all boys are sent to the institu- tion to remain there until they complete their eighteenth year, but the same law provides that boys who by uniform good conduct give the best evidence of reformation may be sooner discharged, and that bad and incorrigible boys,

upon whom the reformatory influences have failed to effect an improvement, and whose continuance in the school is deemed prejudicial to its management and discipline, may be returned to the court which issued the commitment, for such disposition as to such court may appear proper.

While it is believed that a great improvement is wrought in the cases of a large majority of the boys committed to the institution, and that many go forth from it to occupy positions of usefulness and respectability in society, it can- not be denied that in some cases boys who have been sent here, and discharged in consequence of good conduct, event- ually find a place in the house of correction or State prison, and to explain why this is so, or to prevent it, would require more than the wisdom or potency of man. Few boys are discharged from the institution wbo have not been there at least a year, and to secure a discharge in so short a time requires the most exemplary behavior and attention to rules and regulations. No distinction is made on account of differences in birth or color. All are on an equal footing, and good behavior is the only pass-word which will allow an inmate to go free from the door. Where a boy has no home to return to, or, worse than that, a home presided over by intemperate and criminal parents, he is retained at the institution, even after he has given the most abundant assurance of his reformation, until a suitable home can be found for him, where the board of control are satisfied his education and religious training will not be neglected.

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History of Ingham and Eaton counties, Michigan, Part 20

Author: Durant, Samuel W. cn Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Philadelphia : D.W. Ensign & Co. Number of Pages: 772

Author: Durant, Samuel W. cn
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia : D.W. Ensign & Co.
Number of Pages: 772