History of Kalamazoo county, Michigan, Part 37

Author: Durant, Samuel W. comp
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia. Everts & Abbott
Number of Pages: 761

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As early as 1785 the Congress of the United States made liberal provision for the education of the masses. In that year, under an act establishing the new system of sur- veys by townships and sections, the sixteenth section of every township was set apart for the use and benefit of public schools.

The ordinance of 1787, for the government of the Northwest Territory, reiterated the provisions of this act, and it was made a part of the act of 1804 for the disposal of public lands.

According to Judge Campbell, the earliest school law of Michigan was passed by the Legislative Council in 1809, but it does not appear of record, having probably been de- stroyed during the occupation by the British in 1812-13.

* Deceased.

Margaret L. Smith.

1829

Henry Gilbert 1810

A. D. P. Van Buren 1822

Lewis C. Kimble .. 1815

Minton Bradley 1812

Jerome T. Cobb. 1821

James H. Bates 1826

Willis Judson 1826 John Baker 1814 1828

Jane Ann Sparks.

1818

Joseph Frakes.

1800

Henry E. Hoyt ...

Moses Kingsley

Enos T. Lovell 1821

Mary B. Crose. 1826

John E. Mills. 1813

Owen P. Morton 1831

Delamore Duncan

Win. G. Dewing. 1809

James Wilson

Preston J. McCrany 1805

John Brown* 1791

Rodney Seymour

Jonathan Sidler. 1822

Asa Fitch*

Frederick Cellem .. 1838

James Armstrong* 1788

Geo. W. Winslow* 1809

George Patterson 1803

Thomas C. Brownell* 1812

Geo. W. Kennicott 1810

A. Louisa Bush

Charles E. Smith. 1824

Ruth Little 1801

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HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

The University of Michigan was created by an act passed Aug. 26, 1817.

The earliest school law which was put in operation was enacted in 1827, when Gen. Cass was Governor of the Territory. This act provided that the citizens of any town- ship having fifty householders should provide themselves a schoolmaster of good morals to teach the children to read and write. Any township containing as many as two hun- dred householders must have a schoolmaster who under- stood Latin, French, and English. Six years later this act was repealed and another passed; providing for three com- missioners and ten inspectors. It also created the office of superintendent of common schools, but there is no recorded evidence that it was ever occupied.

The first State constitution provided for a superintend- ent of public instruction, and under this law Rev. John D. Pierce was appointed superintendent in 1836 .* The law was the work of Hon. Samuel E. Crary and Mr. Pierce. Gen. Crary was a delegate to the convention which framed the constitution, and chairman of the committee on educa- tion. He was soon after elected to Congress.

At the request of the Legislature, Mr. Pierce prepared plans for the organization and support of primary schools, for a university with branches, and for the proper disposi- tion of the university and primary school lands.

A most important item in the general disposition of the school lands was owing to the good sense of Gen. Crary. While in Congress he secured the passage of the act giving the State exclusive control of the sixteenth section in every township, the proceeds to be included in a general fund arising from sales of these lands, so that every township in the State should receive, pro rata, its just proportion of the fund. This was a wise provision, for in many town- ships the sixteenth section was comparatively or wholly valueless by reason of being located in swamps or under the waters of the numerous lakes for which the State is so remarkable. Even the sections which were situated on dry land varied greatly in value, but under Gen. Crary's wise provision each township received its just proportion of the school fund. In this respect Michigan possesses advantages over any other State.

The following incident in the history of education in Michigan is related by Rev. Dr. Fitch, of Detroit, and shows how narrowly the State University escaped being wrecked by designing parties :

"The Governor, Stevens T. Mason, was said to be, when he took the reins of State, not twenty-one years of age, unless his mother told the truth, who said he was, and, as she was sister to the then Postmaster-General, she was supposed to be correctly posted. Michi- gan never had cause to raise the question of his age. He filled the State offices with young men, it is true, not as in child's play, but with manly discretion. Were I to name the survivors who are yet among us, it might not seem true that the State officers were then young men. When Stevens T. Mason died, yet comparatively a boy, a man died. An illustration of one manly deed : Congress had appro- priated to the State lands for a university and other schools. These were selected with such care that their minimum price was fixed at twenty-six dollars per acre, whilst other government lands could be had for one dollar and a quarter. Squatters settled down upon the choice lands, and then combined and got a pledge from their candi- dates for the Legislature that they would favor a law to let squatters have these university lands, valued at twenty-six dollars, at the price

of government lands, and let the university go again into the woods and take other lands worth only one dollar and a quarter. The State capitol was then in Detroit. I happened to be in the house when this piratical bill was proposed in an insidious shape. I saw what was in the wind, and addressed a note to Senator Olney Hawkins, of Ann Arbor, a stranger, calling his attention to this finely concocted scheme. But the trap was sprung, the bill was passed. Senator Hawkins has- tened to the Governor and opened his eyes to the villainy that was being perpetrated. Though Mr. Hawkins was a decided Whig and in a minority, the Governor a Democrat, and the bill' concocted by his supporters, he promptly and manfully vetoed it. The public was astounded at the danger averted. These legislators privately thanked the Governor for vetoing the iniquitous bill, which they voted for against their consciences, only because they were under a pledge. So near did the magnificent university of Michigan come to being robbed and strangled, even before it came to the birth. Thanks to Governor Mason's veto, which put on the brakes as the university train was about to plunge into the chasm of destruction. This is one sample of the kind of guardianship with which Providence has watched over this highly favored and prosperous university from the beginning."

The branches of the university were established in 1837-38,-the first, at Pontiac. The others were located at Detroit, Niles, Tecumseh, White Pigeon, Romeo, and Kalamazoo. The branch system was found not to be as valuable or feasible as expected, and was afterwards aban- doned .; The present normal school was located at Ypsi- lanti in 1849.

HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COLLEGE .;

The chapter on education in Kalamazoo is relatively an important one; indeed, there are materials here for a vol- ume on this theme. The first settlers in this county, as also in the entire State, were largely from New England and New York, and they naturally regarded schools as one of the necessaries of life, and established them almost as soon as they erected homes for their families. There were also so many of these immigrants who had themselves been favored with a greater or less degree of academic culture that they wished their sons and daughters to enjoy the same educational advantages.

The Rev. Thomas W. Merrill, of Comstock, who was a graduate of Waterville College, Maine, was the pio- neer in this work, having traveled over a large part of the State to awaken an interest in the subject. The Hon. Caleb Eldred, who also resided at first in Comstock, but was afterwards known as the Nestor of Climax, was among the active helpers in the work, especially in the efforts to locate the institution at Kalamazoo. The original charter of what is now known as Kalamazoo College was granted April 22, 1833. The petitioners for this charter did not confine their plan to the culture of the youth of a single town or county, but made it exceedingly broad. Hence they gave to the institution the expansive name of " The Michigan and Huron Institute." Of course they designed to provide for all the youth dwelling between these two great boundary. lakes. If the suggestion should be made that they had neglected to embrace the upper peninsula in their descriptive name, they will find justification in the fact that the upper peninsula was not then embraced in the Territory of Michigan.

* His appointment was upon the recommendation of Gen. Crary.

t See history of Kalamazoo College and branch of university, below.

# Prepared by Rev. J. A. B. Stone, D.D., and Rev. Kendall Brooks, D.D.

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EDUCATIONAL.

The trustees named in the charter are Caleb Eldred, William Meek, William Duncan, H. H. Comstock, Na- thaniel Millard, John Clark, F. P. Browning, Anson Brown, John Booth, B. B. Kerchevel, Thomas W. Merrill, John S. Twiss, C. H. Swaim, Robert Powell, Steven Goodman, and C. A. Lamb.

There is no religious character or sectarian test to be found in the charter, although a majority of the first trus- tees were attached to the Baptist denomination, and special appeals were made to that church for support, in conformity with the example of all the colleges that had then been established in this country. Hitherto it was supposed that no college could exist and flourish unless some religious denomination became its special guardian and responsible for its support. After the institution was permanently located in Kalamazoo, the Legislature changed its corporate name to " The Kalamazoo Literary Institute." The termn " institute" was employed rather than " college," because at that time the French name " institute" was fashionable, and there were several schools founded in other States which chose this name, although they were evidently designed to be colleges. That this was true of the college here is evi- dent from the language of the charter, which reads,-

"Said trustees shall establish in said Territory, at such place as they may judge best, a Literary Institute, to promote the knowledge of all those branches of education usually taught in academies and collegiate institutions."

The academy or preparatory studies were embraced in their plan, because there were then no other academies in the Territory, and no schools where students were prepared for entrance on a college course. Nor was there at that time any other college, the university itself coming into existence some years later. The claim of Kalamazoo College to being the oldest classical educational institution in the State is, therefore, indisputable. Indeed, it begins to count itself relatively venerable in this new country, having but a little time left to make preparations for the celebration of its semi-centennial anniversary.

The friends of the new enterprise took hold of the work in earnest. In a short time considerable funds were raised, the Rev. T. W. Merrill and Mr. Samuel H. Ransom acting as financial agents,-the sum of two thousand five hundred dollars being subscribed in Kalamazoo. A large tract of land (one hundred and thirteen acres) was purchased on the south side of the village of Kalamazoo, embracing in its northern portion what is now denominated the Institute Addition to the village. A two-story frame building was erected on what is now Walnut Street, in 1836, and some progress was made soon after toward the erection of a second and larger building. Instruction was commenced, and a considerable number of students presented themselves at once, many of them entering the classical department. We regret to be obliged to state that there is a great paucity of facts in the early history of the institution now obtainable, made more aggravating because the official records of the institute and college, for the first thirty years of its chartered existence, have been unfortunately lost.

The first teachers employed were Nathaniel Marsh, a graduate of Hamilton College; Walter Clark ; Nathaniel

A. Balch, a graduate of Middlebury College, who since he left the work of teaching has been widely known as an. able lawyer in Kalamazoo for forty years ; David Alden, a graduate of Brown University, and Miss Thirza M. Hart, who, in 1840, was married to Mr. Alden.

But the Kalamazoo Institute was not allowed to occupy the educational field without a rival. Its younger sister, the University of Michigan, which had been born some years after the institute, also proposed to cover the whole educational field of Michigan. The regents established branches in various parts of the State, which they de- signed should bear the same relation to the central institu- tion that the gymnasia of Germany do to the universities of that country. Kalamazoo was selected as the site of a branch, to meet the demands for classical and preparatory training in this part of the State. Public-spirited citizens here subscribed a sufficient amount to erect a two-story frame building on Academy Square, which had been already dedicated to educational purposes. The first prin- cipal of the Kalamazoo branch was George B. Eastman, a graduate of the University of Vermont, a very estimable man and an efficient teacher. But there was one serious drawback to the new enterprise,-it had very few students. The public regarded it somewhat in the light of an oppo- sition school, and the patronage of the institute was much greater than that of the branch. But the institute, also, had its difficulties. The speculation fever of 1836 had burned itself out, business matters were prostrate, and the pecuniary condition of the institution was depressed ; their building operations had been suspended, and the future pros- pects of the school were decidedly gloomy. The regents of the university took in the situation, and made overtures to the trustees of the institute for a fusion of interests. The terms of the compromise were essentially of this character : The trustees of the institute might nominate or elect the teachers ; the regents would ratify the election, thus making thein the officers of the branch, and would, more- over, furnish the money necessary to keep the institution alive. This plan of a double-acting engine was carried into effect, probably in 1839, under the principalship of David Alden, who had already been for some time at the head of the institute. The branch building was now used for school and recitation purposes, and the institute building was occupied by the students for dormitory purposes. The success was gratifying, and a goodly number of students resorted hither for instruction.

In 1840, Mr. Alden was succeeded in his principalship of the branch by William Dutton, a graduate of Brown University. Mr. Dutton was a blameless man. His three years' service in the school is pleasantly remembered by his pupils to this day, who always speak of him with grateful respect. He finally resigned, because he had determined to enter the gospel ministry, remaining in town, however, one year longer to pursue the study of Hebrew and biblical literature with his successor in office, J. A. B. Stone.

It was in May, 1843, when J. A. B. Stone and his wife, Mrs. L. H. Stone, appeared on this scene of educational labor, where they continued to work uninterruptedly more than twenty years. Both of them had had experience in teaching, he in academies, in Middlebury College, and in

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HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

Newton Theological Seminary. Literary institutions in Michigan were at this time in a rather primordial state. At least, they appeared to be so to those who had been familiar with the older schools in New England ; even the institute was then hardly ten years old. Four teachers were em- ployed during the first year. A considerable number of the students were entering upon a classical course, while others were more limited and miscellaneous in their studies. Many of the young men went to the university, or to some college out of the State, to finish their course, as no degrees were conferred here until some years later. The regents of the university soon withdrew their pecuniary aid, which had at no time been as large as the promises they made, and measures were taken to reorganize and rehabilitate the board of trustees of the institute. The conviction was gen- eral that the Baptists of Michigan, who had begun this work of establishing a college at Kalamazoo, must carry it on. An eligible and commanding site, embracing more than forty acres of land, was purchased on the west side of the village. A few individuals-John P. Marsh, S. H. Ransom, T. W. Merrill, Leonard Slater, the principal of the institute, and a few others-contributed a sum sufficient to pay for the purchase of the land. Preparations were made imme- diately to erect a four-story college building, one story to be used for recitation-rooms and the remainder for dormitories. For some time the attention of Dr. Stone was given largely to raising funds and superintending the building operations, but he was still responsible for some half-dozen or more daily recitations. Other teachers were occupied in hearing recitations, Mrs. Stone devoting her whole time to the work, while the number of young ladies who received instructions in a liberal course was constantly increasing. It was already evident that public sentiment in Michigan was strongly in favor of a high standard of female education, and it was very soon a foregone conclusion in Kalamazoo that no col- legiate institution in Michigan which overlooked the claims of women could long find favor with the people.

After the regents of the university withdrew from the bipartite educational treaty, those who contributed the funds to erect the branch building claimed it as personal property. They alleged that it reverted to them on account of a non-user on the part of the university, for whose use it was built. The claim seemed a reasonable one ; and their vested rights were purchased by Dr. Stone, individuals making their own estimate of the present worth of their respective shares. Some accepted ten per cent. of their original contributions, some demanded thirty per cent., and one or two persons insisted on seventy per cent. of what they had originally contributed.

Historical completeness in the history of the branch building requires that we should mention its final diversion from its original purpose. When the Western College building had been completed and occupied, and the Eastern or Ladies' College, as it is called, was yet in process of erection, the old branch was still occupied by the college, principally for the use of the female department. The building stood, as before mentioned, on Academy Square, which was dedicated by the proprietor of the village plat for educational purposes. But a project had been started to change Academy and Jail Squares into a public park.

The right of reversion had been purchased from the suc- cessors of the original proprietor of the plat, for the benefit of the village, as had also the same right to Church Square. This gave the village no legal claims to Academy Square, so long as it was used for the purposes for which it had been dedicated. But twenty years' consecutive occupation was likely to make the title permanent and indisputable. Just before the expiration of the twenty years, the village trustees gave Dr. Stone official notice to remove the build- ings from the square, although neither he nor the college were proposing to acquire a permanent title by occupation. But the building having been purchased, with all the rights it entailed, and the continued occupation making the title as complete as the title of the churches to the several sites they occupied on Church Square, no attention was paid to the notice of the trustees. But one morning it was found that while men slept a few wakeful men, and strong horses in their service, had removed the branch, with all its edu- cational machinery, pianos included, and left it standing in the highway. Word was then sent to President Stone that if the trustees were liable for damages they would pay them, and they offered to move the building onto the college grounds, or upon any site in the village he might designate. He accepted the latter alternative, and requested them to move it back to Academy Square. This they declined to do. The building stood for some weeks in the street, an eye-sore to the public, as well as to all the parties concerned. The college was in great need of the building, the old and original institute building on Walnut Street having long since been destroyed by fire, and Mrs. Stone was obliged to rent other quarters, at considerable expense, for the use of the female department. Finally, the trustees, having been puzzled for a long time what to do with their elephant, con- cluded to move it to Williard Street, where it was used for several years for a public school building, and finally sold by the school board, to be used as a dwelling-house. The spirit in which the controversy, as this was considered, was conducted may be gathered from the fact that, whatever the justice or the equity of the affair may have been, it did not interrupt the most friendly relations between the village trustees and the president, nor between them and the col- lege.

This branch episode cannot perhaps be dismissed in any more appropriate way than by a brief quotation, taken from an address delivered at Schoolcraft in September, 1876, be- fore the Pioneer Association, by Mr. A. Depuy Van Buren, who was for some years a classical student at Kalamazoo ; " The old branch building, a two-story frame structure, stood among the burr-oaks on the northeast corner of the park,-truly an academic grove worthy of Plato and his pupils. A spirit of old classical mythology seemed to per- vade the place ; one thought of a genius loci and nymphs and dryads hiding among these oaks, that half-embowered this seat of learning and half-hid the entire village with their beautiful foliage. What that famous old school has done for Kalamazoo, this county and State, who can tell ? The Kalamazoo branch was widely known, and was very popular at home and abroad. Its students had gone out over this State and many others. Probably no similar in- stitution in the land had a more intellectual class of stu-

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EDUCATIONAL.

dents, or one more eager for learning. To come here was to be inspired with a desire for a complete education. A draught from this ' Pierian spring' made the aspirant thirst for more. There was an atmosphere about the institution that stimulated, incited, and urged on all who came within its walls to higher attainments. The great object of the school was to fit students for the university at Ann Arbor ; or to take a full course here or at some other college. Where so many were striving for a full education the student was a dullard who was not inspired by them.

" The course of instruction was ample and most thorough. It embraced, to those who wished it, the college curriculum. To have come from the Kalamazoo branch for admission to the university at Ann Arbor was ever prima facie evi- dence, with the Faculty at the latter, of good scholarship. This was during the palmy days of the old branch, and the ambitious days for learning throughout the State. Here- tofore, save a few private schools in some of the larger vil- lages, the people had nothing in the line of educational facilities above the limited log school-house course,-read- ing, writing, arithmetic, geography, and grammar ; and when Gen. Crary's favorite system of branch universities were scattered here and there over Michigan we felt as if Yale or Harvard, or England's Oxford, Eton, or Cam- bridge, were brought so near to us that we could all go to college, and most of us went. .

" The students, as we have said, could prepare here for the university or for any other college ; or they could go on here in the course and enter the sophomore or junior class at the university ; or they could graduate here, the text-books corresponding with those at the university. I refer now to the branch, under charge of Dr. J. A. B. Stone and his accomplished wife. To them this school owed very much of its celebrity. He had succeeded Pro- fessor Dutton, a man of rare excellence as a teacher and a scholar.

" The daily course began thus : The school-bell rang at fifteen minutes before nine o'clock in the morning. Stu- dents must be in their seats at nine. All assembled, both sexes, in Dr. Stone's room below. First reading the Scrip- tures, then prayer, then singing by the school choir. After this Dr. Stone usually gave a ten or fifteen minutes' lecture, in which useful instruction, hints, and valuable informa- tion were given to the students. Then the class-recitations went on during the day, always thorough and always made interesting. Our teacher had the power to awaken an in- terest in our studies. And here let me revert again to the morning lectures, for in them we got the direction and in- spiring draught for our school-work. Here he at times, in his happy and instructive manner, gave just such a lecture, or ' talk,' as the students from time to time needed. Time was our capital, and in its minutes, hours, and days, if we improved them well, would yield rich and rare treasures to us. These instructions were full of wisdom.

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History of Kalamazoo county, Michigan, Part 37

Author: Durant, Samuel W. comp Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Philadelphia. Everts & Abbott Number of Pages: 761

Author: Durant, Samuel W. comp
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia. Everts & Abbott
Number of Pages: 761