Past and present of Washtenaw County, Michigan, Part 78

Author: Beakes, Samuel W. (Samuel Willard), 1861-; S.J. Clarke Publishing Company
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: Chicago : The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 886

USA > Michigan > Washtenaw County > Past and present of Washtenaw County, Michigan > Part 78

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The first year of President Tappan's adminis- tration the university catalogue contained a list of fourteen officers and two hundred and twenty- two students. The university. during his eleven years' administration. grew until there were thirty officers and six hundred and fifty students.

In the summer of 1863 Erastus O. Haven was elected president of the university, and so con- tinned until 1860. He had been connected with the university from 1852 to 1854 as professor of the Latin language and literature. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, November 1, 1820, and was the son of a Methodist preacher. He gradu- ated from Wesleyan University in 1842 and im-

mediately became a teacher. In 1847 he became pastor of a New York City church. He was a member of the Massachusetts senate from 1862 to 1863. when he was elected to the presidency of the University of Michigan. It was during the administration of Dr. Haven that the principle of a portion of a mill tax was introduced. the tax first being granted for the use of the university being one-twentieth of a mill. Dr. Haven found the university with six hundred fifty-two students, and left it in 1869 with 1,114. In 1869 the literary department contained four hundred twenty-two students, the medical department three hundred fifty-eight and the law department three hundred forty-two. Dr. Haven, in 1869, became president of Northwestern University, but he resigned this position in 1872. In 1874 he was made chan- cellor of Syracuse University, and in 1880 was inade a bishop of the Methodist Episcopal church. He died at Salem, Oregon, on the 2d of August, 1881.

For two years after Dr. Haven's resignation, Professor Henry S. Frieze was acting president. During Professor Frieze's incumbency in the of- fice of president women were admitted to the university. The question of the admission of women had been agitated since 1858, when a number of young ladies petitioned to be admitted to the university. Their request was adversely reported upon by the regents and in 1867 the legislature declared that in their opinion women should be admitted to all the rights and privil- eges of the university. In this year the regents instructed their executive committee to consider the matter and to report at some future time. President Haven, however, opposed the admis- sion of women and urged the establishment of a state college for young ladies. In 1860 the re- gents refused to pass a resolution introduced by Regent Willard of Battle Creek that in the opinion of the board no rule existed which excluded women from admission to the university. This resolution was defeated by a vote of 3 to 5. In 1870, however, the question was finally settled by the adoption of the same resolution that had been offered the year previous. February 2, 1870, the first woman entered the university. She was Miss Madalon L. Stockwell, of Kalamazoo. She

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was already a graduate of Kalamazoo College and after graduating from the literary department of the university in 1872 she taught school two years, when she was married to Charles King Turner. In 1876 the number of women in the university had increased to 117, and in 1904 there were 716 women in attendance, of whom 663 were in the department of literature, science and arts, 32 in the medical department, 4 in the law department. 4 in the pharmacy de- partment, II in the homeopathic college. and 2 in the college of dental surgery. Dur- ing Dr. Frieze's administration it was also decided to admit pupils of high schools which furnish satisfactory evidence of their courses of study and instruction, upon diploma to the university, the university thus becoming, in reality, the head of the public-school system of the state of Michi- gan. In January, 1871, the regents appropriated $75,000 for the erection of a building for the literary department. This was expended in the erection of University Hall properly speaking. the building which connected the north and south wings which had previously been in existence.

Dr. Frieze was born in Boston. September 15. 1817. He graduated from Brown University in 1841 and was made a tutor in that institution upon graduation. In 1854 Dr. Tappan invited him to assume the direction of department of Latin in the university, in which position Dr. Frieze remained for over thirty-five years. He was twice acting president of the university, the first time during the interregnum between the administra- tion of Dr. Haven and that of President Angell, and the second time from 1880 to 1881, during Dr. Angell's residence in China as United States minister. He was a fine musician, a cultured scholar and was greatly beloved by his pupils. The degree of LL.D. was conferred upon him by four different universities. He died December 7. 1880.

Dr. James Burrill Angell was invited to be- come president of the university in 1869, but de- clined. In 1871 the regents renewed the invita- otin, and Dr. Angell entered upon the duties of the presidential office on the first day of August. 1871. He was then forty-two years of age, and it has been during his long administration that

the university has made the immense strides that have placed it in the foremost rank among Amer- ican universities and given it a larger student body than any other college or university in the United States. While the attendance has been increasing at this rate the standard of admission has been greatly raised, so that many who were admitted to college in the early part of Dr. Angell's admin- istration could not at this date obtain admission with such preparation as they had then. The University senate memorial to Dr. Angell on the occasion of the quarter-centennial celebration of his presidency, June 24. 1896, describes the growth of the university in the twenty-five years from 1871 to 1806 as follows:

"During this period of twenty-five years the growth of the University has been truly remarka- ble. Its resources have been trebled, its students have increased from twelve hundred to three thousand, its staff of instruction has grown more than four times as large, while the scope of its work has been extended by the addition of four new departments, the Schools of Dentistry, of Pharmacy, of Homeopathy, and of Engineering. Within the department of Literature, Sciences and the Arts have been created several important chairs, while the numerous facilities in the way of laboratories and seminaries and lectureships and apparatus have added strength and value to all courses of instruction. But as you have often taken occasion to remark, Mr. President, bigness is not greatness, and we find the most satisfactory and convincing proofs of the success of your ad- ministration in those less palpable but more valu- able improvements and advances that are more spiritual than material, and that constitute most clearly the essential elements of a true university. As such elements we would name, first, the closer articulation of the University with the organic system of state education, of which it is the head. Under your fostering care this relation, which was instituted just before you came to us, has been made more vital, and has become increas- ingly fruitful of good both to secondary educa- tion and to the University.

"Another element of University progress is the development of the elective system, and the opportunity it affords for advanced work and

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scientific investigation. Of the beneficial results of this system, in the way of promoting scholar- ship, and of giving to the life of the University a more mature and earnest spirit, there can be no doubt.

"This catholicity of purpose. this breaking down of the traditional class distinctions, and this wide lehrfreiheit have not been purchased at the at the price of solidity and discipline: and this happy result we owe in no small degree to your wise conservatism and broad outlook over the whole field of education. Closely related to this movement for wider choice of studies and greater independence of a routine curriculum is the ef- fort to foster graduate study, and to build up that higher side of the University that in the end must measure its real character and influence.

"Twenty-five years ago no graduate work, prop- erly so-called, was attempted. At present we have graduate courses in all departments of the Uni- versity. To no one subject have your reports called more urgent attention than to the import- ance of building up this the most distinctive part of a true University.

"Closely allied to this forward movement is the constant advance made by our professional schools in their methods and standards of instruc- tion. In looking over the record of these past years, the conviction is gained that the University has in no other direction made greater strides than in this. Twenty-five years ago there was no examination for admission to any one of our pro- fessional schools: today, preliminary training that covers the equivalent of a good high school course is required by all our professional departments.

"Then, the term of both the Law and Medical Schools was six months for two years, and the instruction was given chiefly by lectures. Now. our Medical Schools require a registration of four terms of nine months each, and set a standard for graduation that is as high as that of any medical school in this country, while the Law School has lengthened its course to three years of nine months each, and has signally raised its standard of graduation. In all these departments the old style of instruction has been materially modified or superseded by modern methods, in which lab- oratory practice and scientific research hold the most prominent place.

"The year before your induction into the presi- dency the doors of the University were first thrown open to the admission of women. What was for a time a bold experiment has become an established success, and the hundreds of young women who have worthily enjoyed the full privi- leges and advantages of the University on abso- lutely equal terms with young men, are glad to bring you their tribute of gratitude for your just and wise administration, which has made the interests of women in this university more secure.

"The entire life and spirit of the University during this period which we pass in review have been marked by a steady growth in good order and decorum, in friendly relations between pupils and teachers, and in all that makes for a whole- some intellectual and moral atmosphere.

"That amid much and necessary diversity of interest there has been so much harmony and unity in our councils as a senate, and in the dif- ferent faculties, is due in no small measure to your impartial conduct of affairs, your broad and generous views, your charitable spirit, and your gracious courtesy. That the University has safely passed through many crises, has gained respect and influence throughout our state and the entire land, is to be attributed in a large degree to your skillful management, your experience in educa- tional work, and to your high character as a citi- zen and as a man.

"We congratulate the University, Mr. Presi- dent, upon the reputation you have justly earned for her, a reputation not bounded by the seas. but cherished also in the far Orient and in the centers of European learning as well as at home. We recall with feelings of honest pride how our own national government has thrice summoned you to high service in diplomacy and council. We are glad also to remember that in the discussion of the great educational problems of our day, your words are ever welcomed as those of one who has authority to speak."

Dr. Angell in his response feelingly spoke of many of the men who had aided in making the University what it is. He said :

"What University has had a more choice col- lection of men in its faculties during the last quarter of a century than this! It is they who have pre-eminently made the University what it

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is. In my service and companionship with them is found one of the dearest memories of my life. Alas! that in so many cases the companionship has already been severed by death. Out of the one hundred and seventy teachers now here, only seven were here when I came. You have quoted from the hearty greeting which my old teacher and lifelong friend, Doctor Frieze, gave me on the day of my inauguration. How valuable were his counsels! How dear was his friendship to me to the day of his death! How in our long walks we used to dream dreams of the coming greatness and power and beneficence of this Uni- versity ! Many of these dreams, thanks in part to his labors and influence, have already been realized in fact. Besides him death has snatched away how many noble and distinguished men who had long served the University : Williams- good old Doctor Williams, as we always loved to call him-Douglas, Sager, Crocker, Morris, Ol- ney, Winchell. Campbell. Walker, Wells, Wat- son, Palmer, Crosby, Lyster, Ford, Dunster, the brothers Cheever, and Elisha Jones, and last of all, the venerable Felch. One has only to call this roll of illustrious names to understand why students from all parts of the Union, and from the nations beyond the seas, have flocked to these halls. They have been drawn hither to sit at the feet of these great teachers, and of others like them, who, thank God, are still spared to us."

In 1871 the University was presented with 4,034 volumes on political science and kindred subjects by Philo Parsons, of Detroit. In that year the University had I, IIO students and 33 instructors, and conferred 302 diplomas. In 1872 the number of students was 1,224. of whom 64 were women, and the graduates numbered 341. Professor Watson in 1872 discovered three new planets, making fourteen in all that had been dis- covered at the observatory here since it was built. The Steere collection of 4.538 specimens was added to the university museum. In 1873 the graduates numbered 329. The university in- come had now grown to about $100,000. Pro- fessor Watson ran the number of planets discov- ered at the observatory up to seventeen and was given a year's leave of absence to go to Pekin to observe the transit of Venus. University Hall

was completed and dedicated on October 8, 1873. Besides the original appropriation of $75,000, the legislature had appropriated $25,000 more for this building. In the college year 1874-5 the students numbered 1,193 and the graduates 370. There were seventy schools whose graduates were admitted to the university on diploma. The legis- lature appropriated $8,000 for the building of a hospital for the medical department on condition that Ann Arbor should contribute $4,000 more. The building was erected upon the university campus. A dental school was organized on an appropriation of $3.000 by the legislature, and Dr. Jonathan Taft was appointed professor of the principles and practise of operative dentistry in the new dental school. At the same time a homeopathic medical college was started on an appropriation of $6,000 by the legislature, and a school of mines upon an appropriation of $8,000. Dr. Samuel A. Jones was appointed professor of materia medica and therapeutics, and Dr. John C. Morgan professor of theory and practice, these two to constitute the first homeopathic medical faculty. Professor William H. Pettee was elected professor of mining engineering, and Dr. Doug- las appointed professor of metallurgy and chem- ical technology and director of the chemical lab- oratory ; and these two constituted the first faculty of the school of mines.

In the college year 1878-9 the number of stu- dents was 1.376, of whom 134 were women. This was an increase in the total number of students of 266 in two years. The legislature made an appropriation of $20,000 for the erection of a museum, and of $3,250 for a dental college build- ing. Appropriations were also made of $6.500 for a homeopathic hospital and amphitheater, and $20,000 for a central boiler house and to provide steam heating apparatus for the university build- ings. The following year the number of students grew to 1,430. The total appropriations by the state from the beginning to this date for the sup- port of the university had been $570,000. An in- ventory of the real estate and other property of the university taken this year showed a valua- tion of $681,442, or an excess of $110,000 over the university appropriations. This was partly due to the donations of citizens and professors.

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In 1881 the legislature made the then unprecedented appropriation of $160,000 for the university. Part of this was for the building of a library building. In this year a new school of political sciences was or- ganized. The number of students had increased to 1.534, and exactly the same number attended the university the following year. In 1883 Sen- ator James McMillan, of Detroit, presented the university with a valuable Shakesperean library, and E. C. Hegeler, of Illinois, J. J. Hagerman, of Milwaukee, and President Andrew D., White, of Cornell, presented the university with a peal of five bells. The university appropriations in 1883 amounted to $37,200 and in 1884 to $27,200. In 1884 the attendance had dropped to 1.377, owing to a falling off in the medical department. In this year Henry C. Lewis, of Coldwater, left a valu- able collection of pictures and statuary to the uni- versity, a gift the largest in value ever made to the university by a single individual. In 1885-6 a fund was raised by subscription for the purpose of purchasing German literature, known as the "Goethe Library Fund." A new engineering lab- oratory was built and every inch of it was occu- pied as soon as it was built. In 1886-7 the at- tendance grew to 1.572. of whom 265 were women. The university appropriations for the two years 1887 and 1888 grew to $155.000, of which $35.000 was for the construction of a build- ing for scientific laboratories. The Chinese gov- ernment, through the influence of Dr. Angell. presented the university with the Chinese collec- tion at the New Orleans Exposition. In the year 1888-9 the attendance grew to 1.885. the largest in the history of the university up to that date. The university at this time received $10,000 from Mrs. Elisha Jones as an endowment for one or more classical fellowships. The legisla- ture appropriated the sum of $50,000 for a new hospital on condition that the city of Ann Arbor should give $25.000 for the same purpose, which the citizens of Ann Arbor voted to do, aves 936. nays 10.

In the year 1889-90 the university for the first time exceeded the 2,000 mark in number of stu- dents. the number of students that year reaching 2.159, a larger number than had ever before been

enrolled in any American university. This big increase was due largely to the increase in the number of literary and law students. The at- tendance in the dental college had grown to 103. The students at this time came from forty-three states and territories and fifteen foreign coun- tries and provinces, Japan alone sending twenty- one students. It was evident that the law school, whose attendance had reached 533, needed much larger accommodations, and the next year pro- visions were made for building on an addition to the old building. The old university hospital was given over to the dental college, and an addi- tion built to the old dental college which was now opened to the use of students in engineering. The third and fourth stories of the south wing of Uni- versity Hall were constructed for laboratories for botanical and zoological work. Ten and a half acres of land a half mile south of the campus were purchased for the use of the students in out- door sports. Joshua W. Waterman donated $20,- 000 towards the erection of a gymnasium, pro- vided other friends of the university should con- tribute a like amount.

For a number of years the students at the uni- versity had agitated the question of a gymnasium. The regents were without funds to build one, and although an appropriation from the legislature was several times asked for, the request was in- variably turned down. The feasibility of raising funds by private subscription was canvassed at length but the first real money ever raised for the university gymnasium was really raised for an entirely different purpose. In an effort to quell a postoffice rush, a thing which was then of nightly occurrence in the city of Ann Arbor, the then mayor of the city had ordered out the local company of the state militia who drove back the crowds which flocked the streets, but without dispersing them. as the students separated, one crowd following the rear of the troops while the other part were driven ahead, and as the troops with fixed bayonets tried to disperse the crowd following in their rear, the students who had been in front turned around and followed in the new rear. A large number of special policemen were sworn in and twenty-one arrests of students made in one evening. They were all thrown into

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jail together, and when morning came no special could tell the man he had arrested or what any individual student was doing when arrested. Con- sequently the students were all released. Excite- ment among the students ran high and at a public meeting two important actions were taken. It was "Resolved that we move to Ypsilanti," and committees were appointed to carry out this ac- tion, but unfortunately the committees to secure accommodations in Ypsilanti, becoming too hilari- ous, were locked up by the Ypsilanti police and nothing more was heard of this resolution. The students at the same time levied an assessment of one dollar on each student for the purpose of prosecuting an action against the mayor of the city for the false imprisonment of the twenty-one students who had spent the night in jail. Con- siderable over a thousand dollars was raised for this purpose, but no suits were ever brought and this fund was placed in a bank to constitute the first money raised for a gymnasium, to which pur- pose it was applied. With this as a starter other money was donated by the student lecture asso- ciation and other organizations until the fund amounted to $6,000 at the time of Mr. Water- man's generous gift of $20,000. The under- graduate students subscribed $2,447 more, and the construction of a gymnasium was commenced. When the construction was begun it was found that $40,000 was not sufficient, and that $20,000 more was needed for the main building and $20,- 000 in addition for the women's wing. The gym- nasium was finally completed in 1894 at a total cost of $65.134.14. This did not include the women's gymnasium toward which Regent Bar- bour gave a lot in Detroit valued at $25,000. Re- gent Hubbard secured $10,000 and the women of the university raised $15,000 more, and with this the Barbour Gymnasium was built.

The attendance upon the university continued to increase, and in 1891-2 it was 2,692. At this time the literary department contained 1.330, the law department 658, the medical department 370, the dental college 188, the school of pharmacy 81, and the homeopathic college 79. The number of women in attendance had materially increased, now reaching 531. McMillan Hall had been built through the generosity of Hon. James Mc- Millan, of Detroit, and Newberry Hall had been

erected by the Students' Christian Association, who had raised a large sum of money for this purpose, the principal donation being made by Mrs. Helen S. Newberry, of Detroit. The num- ber of volumes in the library had now grown to 139.457. In 1893 the state legislature passed an act increasing the tax to be levied for the sup- port of the university from one-twentieth to one- sixth of a mill. In 1894 Tappan Hall was built containing class rooms for the use of the literary department at a cost of $30,000 for building and furniture. In 1894 $40,000 was given to the uni- versity library by Dr. C. L. Ford, Miss Jean L. Coyl and Hon. Christian H. Buhl. Mr. Buhl's bequest was in addition to 5.000 law books which he gave the library in 1885. In this year the Columbian organ, valued at $25,000, was placed in University Hall by private subscription.

The attendance in 1893-4 was 2,874 and in 1804-5 the 3,000 mark was passed, the number being 3,019, of whom 601 were women. A sum- iner school had been started in 1894, but while its attendance was 187 in 1895. ninety of these had been counted in other departments, or in other words, were students during the regular college session, so that to make up the total of 3,019 the summer school was counted on for a total of 97. In this year the philosophical library of Professor George S. Morris, of 1, 100 volumes, was donated by Mrs. Morris, and Governor Felch's library of 3.500 volumes was also donated to the university. In 1896 President Angell was appointed United States minister to Turkey, and Dean Harry B. Hutchins of the law department acted as president during his absence. In this year a women's dean was for the first time ap- pointed, that honor going to Dr. Elisha S. Mosher. In 1898 the chemical laboratory was en- larged, a nurses' home was built at the hospitals, and the new law building was completed with ample accommodation for a thousand students. The new law building has a frontage of 208 feet, and a width of 120 feet, and upon it was expended the sum of $65,000. An addition was also built to the library building for the accommodation of an extra 700,000 volumes.

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Past and present of Washtenaw County, Michigan, Part 78

Author: Beakes, Samuel W. (Samuel Willard), 1861-; S.J. Clarke Publishing Company Publication date: 1906 Publisher: Chicago : The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 886

Author: Beakes, Samuel W. (Samuel Willard), 1861-; S.J. Clarke Publishing Company
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: Chicago : The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 886