USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > The city of Detroit, Michigan, 1701-1922, Vol. I > Part 77
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"Passed at the City of Detroit, on Saturday, the 20th day of September, 1817. "J. Monteith,
"President of the University of Michigania."
The sum of $940 was paid over to the university in response to this enactment. In this same connection the following quotation from an old subscription list is of pertinent character:
"In aid of the University of Michigan, No. 1. We the subscribers do agree to pay on demand the sums respectively annexed to our names, in aid of the University of Michigan.
"1817. September 18. James May. $ 25.00
five dollars for five years.
"1817. October 20. James Abbott, paid, 315.32
=
Solomon Sibley, 625.67
"I acknowledge in my hands $625.67, being a part of the donation money donated at Michilimackinac to relieve the sufferers by fire of the late Detroit, which I assume to pay over to the University of Michigan at the expiration of six months, on being indemnified.
"Sol. Sibley.
"October 20, 1817."
The amount of subscriptions soon reached $5,100, one-fifth of which was pay- able on demand, the balance in annual installments extending over a period of nine years. In addition to the original appropriation of $380 ($300 for a building and $SO for a lot) the governor and judges appropriated $200 on the 10th of November, 1817.
A lot was purchased, located on the west side of what is now Bates Street 'between Congress and Larned, and on Wednesday, September 24, 1817, the cornerstone of the University Building was laid with appropriate ceremony. The structure was twenty-four by fifty feet, having two full stories with base- ment. Work proceeded slowly, owing to the delinquency of many of the sub- scribers. While the building was in course of erection, Reverend Monteith and Father Richard took the preliminary steps to open an academy at Detroit and primary or preparatory schools at Detroit, Mackinaw and Monroe. The "Gazette" of January 30, ISIS contained the following announcement.
" A Classical Academy will be opened in this city on the 2nd of February next by Hugh M. Dickie, A. B., who is commissioned by the University, and will teach the Latin and Greek languages and other branches of science at the cus- tomary prices.
"John Monteith, "President."
As the university building was not yet completed, quarters for the school had to be obtained elsewhere. It is not known just where Mr. Dickie taught, but the old records of the university show that on May 12, ISIS the management appropriated $30 "for rent of rooms for the Classical Academy to June 11, 1818." Farmer's "History of Detroit" (1889) states:
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"Col. E. S. Sibley says that in 1817 he went to a school taught by Mr. Mon- teith in the old Meldrum House on Woodbridge Street, just east of what is now Shelby Street. His statement is the only evidence found that either Rev. Mr. Monteith or Father Richard acted as teacher, but an act of August 26, 1817, appropriated $181.25 for their annual salary, and on February 8, 1821, $215 was appropriated for the salary for the president for 1818, 1819, and 1820."
In 1818 the university issued a commission to Benjamin Stead, James Connor and Oliver Williams for the opening of the Lancasterian School. Lemuel Shat- tuck, of Concord, Massachusetts, came here as teacher and opened the first class in the University building on August 10th. Eleven scholars composed this first class, but by the following April the number had increased to 140. Shattuck's first report, on April 24, 1819, gave the number of scholars as 183 and the average price per quarter as $2.60 for each scholar. That the trustees and directors of the school were rather indifferent toward its success is indicated by Shattuck in his report.
AN INDIAN LAND GRANT
When Governor Cass and General McArthur went to St. Marys, Ohio, in September, 1818, to negotiate a treaty with certain bands of Ottawa and Wyan- dotte Indians, in order to settle a controversy over the possession of lands in Michigan, they found that some of the Indians who had been converted to the Catholic faith, wanted to give a portion of the land to the Catholic Church of Ste. Anne in Detroit. A provision of the treaty, which was concluded on Sep- tember 20, 1818, gave "to the rector of the Catholic Church of Ste. Anne of Detroit, for the use of said church, and to the corporation of the College of Detroit, for the use of said college, to be retained or sold as the said rector and corporation may judge expedient, each one half of three sections of land, to contain 640 acres, on the River Raisin, at a place called Macon, and three sections not yet located." Part of the lands thus donated to the Catholic Church and College lay within the strip claimed by both Michigan and Ohio. In 1835 Congress directed that the lands should be sold and one half of the proceeds should be given to the Univer- sity of Michigan, the College of Detroit having no corporate existence.
REORGANIZATION
On April 30, 1821 the original University Act was repealed. Judge Wood- ward's stilted language was done away with and the institution was reorganized in "plain English" as the University of Michigan. Under the new act all the rights and privileges of the old corporation were conferred upon the governor and a board of trustees composed of John Anderson, John Biddle, N. Bolvin, William Brown, Christian Clemens, Peter J. Desnoyers, Henry J. Hunt, Jolin Hunt, Charles Larned, Philip Lecuyer, John L. Leib, Daniel LeRoy, John Mon- teith, William H. Puthuff, Gabriel Richard, Solomon Sibley, Benjamin Stead, John R. Williams, Austin E. Wing and William Woodbridge. Messrs. Monteith and Stead declined to serve and their places were filled by the appointment of Abraham Edwards and A. W. Welton. Abraham Edwards was the first treas- urer of the board, but resigned after a few weeks and was succeeded by James Abbott. Lemuel Shattuck was secretary until December 3, 1821, then Charles C. Trowbridge was appointed and served until February 13, 1835, when he was succeeded by G. Mott Williams.
Lemuel Shattuck resigned as teacher on October 8, 1821 and he was suc-
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ceeded by E. Clapp, who was in turn succeeded April 1, 1822 by Rev. A. W. Welton. The latter was followed in October, 1824, by A. S. Wells, a graduate of Hamilton College; he taught until November 4, 1826, when he was succeeded by Charles Sears, who came under the agreement that he was to be paid $500 per year. He remained until October, 1827. The board then, having contem- plated the state of the university funds, decided that they were inadequate for the support of a classical school, and that the teacher would thereafter have to work at his own risk. The Laneasterian methods of teaching also came up for some discussion at this time and the "Gazette" spoke editorially quite freely in favor of the system. On October 8, 1821, the trustees passed the following resolution :
"Resolved, that Mr. Shattuck be authorized to communicate with Mr. Wil- liam A. Tweed Dale, of Albany, New York, in order to procure some suitable person for a teacher of the Lancasterian school upon the presumptive allowance of five hundred dollars per annum for his services."
The result was that John Farmer, then teaching in Albany, was engaged to teach in Detroit. He was allowed $500 annually for his services. In 1822 Lucius Lyon was assistant instructor and there were two hundred students. Mr. Farmer resigned January 26, 1824. Thereupon Major Thomas Rowland and Peter J. Desnoyers were appointed a committee to look after the affairs of the dwindling school. E. Shepard was engaged as a teacher in October, 1824, and continued until December of the following year. After 1827 the building was granted free, or for a nominal rent, to competent teachers. Although a university in name, the institution never conferred a degree, and the schools taught in the building were devoted to elementary work, the character of the instruction never rising above that of the modern high school.
LOCATION AT ANN ARBOR
By an act of Congress, approved by John Quincy Adams on May 20, 1826, two townships of land (46,080 acres) were granted to the Territory of Michigan for the support of a university. This provision was repeated in the aet of Jan- mary 2, 1837, which provided for the formal admission of Michigan into the Union as the twenty-sixth state. At the first session of the state legislature, in the summer of 1836, John D. Pierce was appointed superintendent of publie instruc- tion, with instructions to "prepare and submit a plan for a system of common schools and for a university with its branches.
Mr. Pierce spent some time in the fall and winter of 1836, consulting educators in various sections of the state, and at the second session of the legislature sub- mitted his report. On March 18, 1837, Governor Mason approved the aet pro- viding for a state university, the control of which was to be vested in a board of regents, to be appointed by the governor and confirmed by the state senate. Two days later, the citizens of Ann Arbor having offered to donate forty aeres of land as a site for the university, the governor approved an act locating the institution at that city.
On May 18, 1837, the trustees of the school at Detroit adopted a resolution tendering the building to the board of regents and asking that a branch of the state university be established therein. At a meeting of the regents on November 18, 1837, the following resolution was offered by William D. Wilkins and adopted:
"Resolved, that Chancellor Farnsworth and Dr. Zina Pitcher be, and they are hereby, authorized to confer with and receive from the president pro tem of
OLD UNIVERSITY BUILDING ON WEST SIDE OF BATES STREET, NEAR CONGRESS, IN NOVEMBER, 1858
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CITY OF DETROIT
the board of trustees of the University of Michigan in behalf of the regents of the University of Michigan the lease of the Academy lot in the City of Detroit, and that the committee on branches immediately thereafter proceed to organize a branch of the University at Detroit."
At a later meeting of the board of regents the sum of $8,000 was appropriated for the support of the branch schools. Of this amount $500 was to be applied to the payment of a teacher in each branch and the remainder of the appropria- tion was to be divided among the branches in proportion to the number of students enrolled.
The first term of the Detroit branch opened on June 20, 1838, with Rev. C. W. Fitch as principal and W. A. Bissell as assistant, the former at a salary of $1,500 per year and the latter at a salary of $800. On January 8, 1841, the re- gents decided to allow the Detroit branch only $500, in addition to the tuition fees of $5.00 per quarter, or $19.50 for the full year. At the last term in 1840 the enrollment was only twenty-five. At the quarterly rate the tuition received from this small number of students amounted to only $500 for the entire school year.
A committee reported to a meeting of the regents on August 19, 1841, that only twenty-four students were then enrolled in the Detroit school and recom- mended that no further appropriations be made for the branches. The report was adopted, but the Detroit branch remained in operation until October 7, 1842, one of the teachers claiming that his contract did not expire until that date. The university building was then used by the Detroit Board of Education for school purposes until the fall of 1858, when the claim of the Young Mens' Society to the lot was sustained and the building, after forty years of service, was torn down. The University of Michigan at Ann Arbor is now recognized as one of the leading educational institutions of the country, enrolling about ten thousand students and having a faculty of nearly five hundred professors and instructors.
COLLEGE OF SAINT PHILIP NERI
When Bishop Rése came to take possession of his newly-erected See in 1834, he brought with him to Detroit two Oratorian fathers to establish "a college for ecclesiastical students and young men." The College of St. Philip Neri was begun and flourished for a time, but sickness and the death of its founders, added to a scarcity of priests in the diocese, were serious handicaps, and when the building was struck by lightning in 1842, St. Philip Neri closed its doors forever. Three years before the misfortune, Bishop Rése had sailed for Rome, never to return, and it was during the administration of Bishop Lefévre, coadjutor of Detroit, that the college was destroyed. Though Bishop Lefévre took the great- est interest in education, yet he found it impossible to reopen the college or estab- lish another.
The St. Philip's College, as it was known, was located on what had been called the Church Farm in Hamtramck Township. In the early years of the nineteenth century, April 5, 1808, to be exact, this farm was transferred to Louis Beaufait, Joseph Cerre dit St. Jean, Benoit Chapoton, Charles and Francis Rivard, known as "Agents of the inhabitants of the Northeast Coast." They agreed to pay an annual rent of $250 to Francis Paul Malcher during his life, and to pay to the son of Hypolite St. Bernard £113 when he became of age. The people living in the vicinity obligated themselves to make these payments on
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condition that the farm might be used for school and church purposes. Within a short time after the transfer was made, a school was opened in the old farm house, and on May 10, 1809, a log chapel was dedicated.
For years it was the dream of the leading Catholics of Detroit to have a college conducted under the auspices of their church. But nothing definite was done until, as stated before, after the creation of the diocese of Detroit and the coming of Rt. Rev. Frederick Rése as the first bishop. An addition was then built to the farm house and the necessary steps were taken to found a college. The old farm house occupied a desirable location fronting the river and when remodeled made quite an imposing structure, having a piazza over one hundred feet in length. When the building was ready the following announcement was made through the newspapers:
"St. Philip's College (Cote du Nordest), near Detroit, Michigan, under the auspices of the Right Reverend Dr. Rese, Bishop of Detroit.
"Rev. Mr. Vanderpoel, Superior of the Institution. Reverend Mr. De Bruyn, President of studies. September 14, 1836."
The tuition was only $3 per quarter, hardly sufficient to cover the incidental expenses of the average student in most of the colleges and universities of the present day. On April 16, 1839, Governor Mason approved an act incorporating the institution, Section 1 of which began:
"That the Rt. Rev. Frederick Rése, Roman Catholic Bishop of Detroit, and his successors in said office of Bishop of Detroit, duly appointed by the See of Rome, be and are hereby ordained, created and constituted a body politic and corporate, in fact and in name, under and by the name of St. Philip's College, and by that name he and his successors shall have perpetual succession and shall be capable of suing and being sued, pleading and being impleaded, answering and being answered unto, defending and being defended, in all suits, complaints, matters and causes whatsoever, either by law or equity; of having and using a common seal; of enacting all by-laws for the regulation of said college. and of the members thereof; of altering from time to time the same; of acquiring by gift, · devise, purchase or otherwise, and of holding and conveying any real, personal or mixed estate whatsoever, necessary and proper; of transacting all business, direct- ing all the affairs, controlling and disposing of the funds, estate and effects of said college, and of doing every other act, matter and thing necessary and proper for the well being and good government of the same, not inconsistent with the constitution and laws of the United States, or of this state."
Other sections of the act provided that the college should be located in Wayne County; that the bishop should have the power to appoint professors and fill vacancies; defined the powers of the bishop under certain circumstances, and how the college should be managed in the event of his absence; authorized the appoint- ment by the governor of a board of visitors of three members, which should have power to examine the institution; and gave the college power to confer "such degrees as are usually conferred by collegiate institutions."
Farmer's "History of Detroit " states that the building was destroyed by fire in October, 1846, but a recent account of the school states that it was struck and destroyed by lightning in 1842. However this may be, the school was aban- doned with the destruction of the building and was never resumed. Among the graduates of St. Philip's College, who afterwards achieved more or less promi- nence in Detroit, were: Christopher Moross, Alexander M. and John Barnabas
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Campau, Henry Campau, Columbus Godfroy, John and Daniel McDonald, John and George Schwartz, Alexander M. Thomas, J. C. Devereau Williams, Jean Baptiste Cicotte, Michael B. Kean, George Cooper and David Stuart.
GERMAN-AMERICAN SEMINARY
While this institution was not a university or college, its history has been included in this chapter, partly because of the place it was originally intended to fill in the educational system of Michigan, and partly because it was one of the few educational institutions which received financial assistance from the state. The manner in which this school was conceived was rather novel. In the repub- lican national convention of 1860, which nominated Abraham Lincoln for the presidency, there were a number of German delegates from different parts of the country. A group of these delegates was engaged in a casual conversation, when one of the number expressed his regret that there were not more schools in the United States for the training of teachers, especially teachers of subjects in which the German portion of the population was directly interested. A conference of the German delegates was held at the close of the convention. At this con- ference it was decided to establish a German Seminary for training teachers, and to locate it in the state that would offer the best inducements. The project was communicated to leading German citizens in various cities and their cooper- ation solicited.
There was at that time in Detroit a German and English school, which had been established in 1856 in a small frame building upon Lafayette Avenue, just east of Rivard Street. A new building was erected in 1858. Florens Krecke, the principal of this school, and other Germans, prominent among whom was Dr. Herman Kiefer, took an interest in the seminary proposition, with the result that on May 15, 1861, Governor Blair approved an act of the legislature appro- priating 25,000 acres of the swamp lands belonging to the state, to aid in erecting buildings for the proposed seminary upon a site to be granted or leased to the association by the City of Detroit. A few days later another act gave the trus- tees of the seminary two years to select the lands, in parcels of not less than 320 acres each.
It often happens that an enterprise launched under the most favorable cir- cumstances meets with obstacles from an unexpected quarter. It was so with the German-American Seminary. The city failed to grant or lease a site and the trustees had no place to erect their buildings. To overcome this difficulty, the legislature passed an act, approved on March 6, 1863, authorizing the trustees to erect buildings upon a site provided by the association. The same act re- quired the trustees to give bonds in the sum of $25,000 that the entire net proceeds of the sales of the donated swamp lands should be "faithfully and forever applied to the purpose named in this act."
It was then proposed to combine the seminary with the school already in operation on Lafayette Avenue. A consolidation was effected and in the spring of 1866 a large three-story brick building was completed. Advertisements an- nouncing the opening of the school were sent out, but only a few students enrolled for the teachers' training course. After an effort to awaken an interest in the normal school idea, the original design was abandoned. The institution was then made a German school for both boys and girls, ranging from the primary to the high school grades, and continued as such for more than a quarter of a century.
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UNIVERSITY OF DETROIT
When the Rt. Rev. Caspar Borgess succeeded to the See of Detroit in 1871 his first thought was for the education of the young of his flock. In 1873 he issued his famous pastoral on the subject of parochial schools and thenceforward gave his best efforts toward the establishment of a college.
In the month of July, 1877, it was announced that "the Fathers of the Society of Jesus are about to open in the City of Detroit an educational institution to be known under the name and title of Detroit College." On April 5, 1877, an agree- ment had been entered into between Bishop Borgess and the general superior of the Jesuits in this part of the country, by which the bishop transferred in fee simple to the Jesuit fathers the cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul and the adjoining residence. The sole condition was that they should establish and maintain in the City of Detroit a college and school for the education of youth. Upon Friday, June 1, 1877, there came four fathers who were to take charge of the future college. They arrived late in the day, passed the entire Saturday in con- fession, and upon Sunday, June 3d, held their first public services in the church. The superior, Rev. John B. Miege, S. J., was the celebrant, Rev. James Walsh, S. J., was deacon, and Rev. Eugene Brady, S. J. was sub-deacon.
John Baptist Miege, the first president of the school, had for twenty years ruled as bishop of the diocese of Leavenworth, when that diocese had embraced all the territory between the state of Missouri and the Rocky Mountains. He had retired as bishop and returned to the simple priesthood, so preferring it, but when the time came to select a man to establish the new college at Detroit his superiors insisted that he again assume the higher responsibilities, which he did.
Without an endowment, the society raised funds and purchased for $23,000 a large, vacant residence, with a lot one hundred by two hundred feet, on the south side of Jefferson Avenue, between St. Antoine and Hastings Streets. Here the first term of the new college was opened in September, 1877, with eighty-four students enrolled and a faculty of five members. There were ninety-eight stu- dents enrolled for the second term and one hundred and thirty-two for the third term. A second story was added to the building in 187S. On April 27, 1881 the institution was incorporated under the laws of Michigan as "Detroit College," with power "to grant such literary honors and confer such degrees as are usually conferred by similar colleges and institutions of learning in the United States."
When the attendance grew to two hundred students, the society purchased another residence on the north side of Jefferson Avenue, with a lot measuring fifty-three by two hundred feet, for $13,750, and expended $500 for alterations to adapt the building to school uses. This property was on the opposite side of the street from the first college building, but on the same side as the church and rectory, separated from the latter, however, by three other residences. In May, 1885, the collegiate and scientific departments took possession of the new building.
The attendance continued to increase and within the next two years the society bought two of the three residences between the collegiate department and the rectory, paying $15,000 for one and $18,000 for the other. The third residence was purchased in February, 1889, for $18,000, largely through the efforts of Rev. John P. Frieden, S. J. By these transactions, though, a debt was incurred and Rev. M. P. Dowling, S. J., who had succeeded Reverend Frieden in March, 1889, appealed to friends of the college for funds to cancel the debt
JESUIT COLLEGE (UNIVERSITY OF DETROIT) ABOUT 1881
UNIVERSITY OF DETROIT
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CITY OF DETROIT
and erect a new building. Six subscribers gave $5,000 each and other subscrip- tions totaled $20,000. The old buildings upon the north side of Jefferson Avenue were then removed and the present main building was erected. It was ready for occupancy in 1890. An addition to the building was erected in 1907.
At the beginning of the year 1911 the institution was reorganized on a broader basis and on January 10, 1911 the corporate name was changed to that of the "University of Detroit," and the first president under the new arrange- ment was Rev. William Dooley, S. J.
Under the direction of Rev. Richard Slevin, S. J., the building on Larned Street was erected soon after the reorganization. It contains eight recitation rooms and the large gymnasium. The engineering building, a modern fireproof structure, is located on the south side of Jefferson Avenue. It is four stories high, not including the basement, fronts one hundred feet on Jefferson Avenue and extends through the block to Woodbridge Street, a distance of two hundred feet. It was dedicated on November 30, 1915. The value of the grounds and buildings now occupied by the university is over a half million dollars.
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