USA > Minnesota > Hennepin County > Minneapolis > History of Hennepin county and the city of Minneapolis, including the Explorers and pioneers of Minnesota > Part 76
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Experience has proved that Minneapolis can elect men worthy of the confidence thus reposed in them. The following is the school board of 1880: Ilon. Dorilus Morrison, president, Hon. A. C. Austin, Ilon. Winthrop Young, llon. J. W. Johnson, Prof. S. Oftedal, Ilon. S. C. Gale, Prof. O. V. Tousley, superintendent of schools.
The University of Minnesota. The Territory of Minnesota was created by act of congress, March 3d, 1849. A subsequent act passed Febru- ary 19th, 1851, authorized and directed the secretary of the interior to set apart and re- serve from sale, a quantity of public lands not exceeding two entire townships, for the use and support of a university in said territory. In an- ticipation of this act of congress, the territorial legislature had on the 13th of February. 1851, passed a law providing for the establishment of an "institution under the name and style of the University of Minnesota," and for its location at or near the Falls of St. Anthony. Under this act a board of regents was elected by the legisla- ture a few days later. This board organized, se- lected a site near the center of St. Anthony (now the east division of Minneapolis) just above the mills fronting on Main street and the Mississippi river, built a small wooden building by means of private subscriptions, and in November of 1851, opened therein a preparatory department. In January, 1854, order was taken for the location of the public lands already mentioned. In the course of the same year, the site at first selected having been found to be in too close proximity to the business and manufacturing of the town, another, being that now occupied, lying on the
high bluff on the east bank of the river, about one mile below the falls, was purchased. Owing to this change, the preparatory department was discontinued. In the summer of 1856, a con- tract was made for the erection of the south wing of a university building of large dimensions, to be completed within eighteen months from Sep- tember 6th, 1856. By this time the public lands had all been located except 11,000 or 12,000 acres.
The state constitution, adopted by the people October 13th, 1857, and approved by congress May 11th, 1858, contains the following generous and emphatic provision for the university:
"The location of the University of Minnesota, as established by existing laws, is hereby con- firmed, and said institution is hereby declared to be the University of the State of Minnesota. All the rights, immunities, franchises, and endow- ments heretofore granted or conferred, are hereby perpetuated unto the said University; and all lands which may be granted hereafter by Congress, or other donations for said University purposes, shall vest in the institution referred to in this section." -Constitution, Article VII, Scetion 4.
The effect of this action was to convert the University of the Territory of Minnesota into the University of the State of Minnesota, but there was no change of administration until 1860, in which year a new board of regents was consti- tuted. This board, during its continuance, was mainly occupied in futile endeavors to liquidate the debts of the old corporation incurred in the erection of the building.
It is but justice to say that the territorial board, composed of honest, high minded men, such as Franklin Steele, H. M. Rice, HI. 11. Sibley, Wm. R. Marshall, Isaac Atwater, and John II. Stevens, erred only as their fellow-citizens had erred in the thish times preceding 1857. They only planned too generously. The sincerity of their interest in the cause of higher education is altested beyond question by their liberal personal contributions. Theirs was not the only noble en- terprise which was overtaken and overwhelmed by the financial reverses of 1857 -8.
In 1864 the legislature appointed a special com- mission. composed of Hon. John S. Pillsbury, llon. John Nicols, and llon. O. C. Merriman, with full powers to sell property and pay debts. This board were occupied until 1867 in this duty,
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when, on December 23d. they reported the in- debtedness substantially liquidated by the sale of less than 12,000 acres of land.
The legislature of 1867 having appropriated a sum of money to repair and renovate the lmild- ing. which had stood idle and empty for nearly ten years, and having authorized the opening of a preparatory department. the board had employed as principal the Rev. W. W. Washburn, B. ... who. on the 7th day of October, 1567, with two assistants, began the work of instruction.
In 1865. the land grant of the general govern- ment for colleges of agriculture and the mechanic arts. had been accepted by the state legislature, and intrusted to the trustees of the state agricultural college, which had been chartered in 1858, and located in MeLeod comty.
All of the foregoing legislation save the con- stitutional enactment may be regarded as tenta- tive and provisional. The University as a reality, dates its organization from the law of February Isth. 1565. entitled "an act to re-organize the University of Minnesota, and to establish an ag- ricultural college therein." This act as modified in some details by subsequent legislation may be found in full in the general statutes of Minnesota for 1578, and may be regarded as the charter of the institution.
This organic act authorizes the opening of va- rious departments or colleges, places the govern- ment in a board of ten regents, three serving ex-officiis, the governor. the state superin- tendent of public instruction, and president of the I'niversity, and seven appointed by the governor. with consent of the senate, holding office for three years; and prescribes the officers of the board and their respective duties. It contains the usual and necessary provisions relating to the election of the faculty. to meetings, and reports, and de- elares the regents a body corporate under the name and style of The University of Minnesota. The only provision of the charter needing special mention. is that contained in section seven, which inviolally appropriates and places at the disposal of the board of regents, all the interest and income of the fund derived from the sales of all lands granted to the state under the act of congress, approved July 2d. 1882, commonly called the " Agricultural College Act." Thus all
the endowments of the general government for higher literary professional and industrial educa- tion were wisely merged and consolidated under a single management.
In pursuance of the organie act a board of re- gents was duly appointed. who met and organ- ized. as required by law. on the first Wednesday in March. 1868. The members were William R. Marshall. then Governor; Mark HI. Dunnel, then state superintendent of public instruction. ex-officiis ; R. S. Donaldson, of Farmington ; A. A. Harwood. of Owatonna; II. II. Sibley, of St. Paul: E. J. Thompson. of Chatfield ; O. C. Mer- riman. of St. Anthony: John Nicols, of St. Paul. and J. S. Pillsbury, of St. Anthony. J. S. Pills- bury was chosen president, O. C. Merriman see- retary, and John Nieols treasurer.
The preparatory department. opened in 1867, was conducted in an efficient and satisfactory manner by Mr. Washburn, and his assistants. Messrs. G. Campbell. Ira Moore and E. H. Twin- ing. throughout the years 1868 and 1869. In the summer of 1869 arrangements were made for beginning college work proper. A faculty con- sisting of nine gentlemen, were elected, and on the 13th of September, entered upon their duties. The only college class being the freshmen. and that not exceeding fifteen in number. the faculty were for the first year, and, indeed. for the two succeeding years chiefly engaged in the instruc- tion of the preparatory students, who numbered nearly two hundred. Young women were ad- mitted from the first. and no proposal has yet been made to refuse them instruction. In the course of the year 1869-70 the matter of a per- manent organization of the several departments of instruction, and courses of study, came under consideration. Upon the recommendation of the president of the University, the board of regents, on the 25th day of June, 1870, adopted that general plan of organization which has since been in operation. and which by its apparent novelty has attracted considerable attention. The board were encouraged to adopt it by reason of warm and emphatic recommendations from edneators of the highest rank and reputation in the country. The essential features of this plan only can be here noticed.
Under the organic law the board of regents are authorized to establish any desired number
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THE UNIVERSITY.
of departments or colleges, the following, how- ever. being specified : "A department of ele- mentary instruction ; a department of seienee, literature and the arts ; a college of agriculture ; a college of mechanic arts ; a college or depart- ment of medieine; a college or department of law."
The department of elementary instruction, otherwise designated, by virtue of a by-law of the board of regents, "The Collegiate Depart- ment," is introductory to the permament colleges of the University. It includes, together with the work of the freshman and sophomore elasses of the ordinary colleges, the remainder of the old preparatory department. so long as any may be retained.
This arrangement of departments emphasizes and formulates the growing tendency and custom of American colleges and universities to make the close of the second or sophomore year, a branching point for the introduction of optional studies, and for certain professional or technical courses. It pre-supposes a separation of the sec- ondary and superior epochs of education, and a corresponding assortment of studies. The high schools and other "fitting schools" of the state are thus invited to extend their work substan- tially up to the junior year. When this shall have been generally done, the University will, as pro- vided by law, dispense with the whole of the De- partment of Elementary Instruction, and will extend her work on post-graduate ground.
The general plan of the University contem- plates a group or federation of distinet colleg- es; having each its own organization, faculty, buildings and equipment. Among the advanta- ges elaimed for this general plan may be named the following:
A faithful adherence to the letter and spirit of the laws, state and national, which have estab- lisbed and endowed the University, and which contemplates it as a federation of literary, pro- fessional and industrial colleges.
That, while offering the old college curriculum and discipline in their best forms to the literary and professional classes, the University will pro- vide for the industrial elasses that "liberal and practical education" required by law and public sentiment.
The separation of the natural epochs of sec-
ondary and superior education, and the ultimate liberation of the University from the elementary work of the former: and coinciding with this di- vision, an advantageous assortment of studies, methods and discipline suitable to the two peri- ods respectively.
A close and vital articulation of the University with the public school system of the state.
The elevation of the high schools by enlarging the recognized sphere of their instruction.
The elevation of the professional schools by requiring of candidates for degrees a good gener- al education as a pre-requisite for admission, while not insisting upon the impossible condition that all shall have gone over the whole of the old college course.
The elevation, in particular, of the colleges of agriculture and mechanic arts to equal rank and standing with other university courses, and the separation of the studies and exercises properly belonging to them, from the elementary branches taught in the primary and secondary schools; which branches it is not the business of the col- leges to teach.
Great freedom in the arrangement of details to varying conditons, the main plan remaining un- changed.
To put the above plan of organization into ef- fect, the board of regents adopted a code of by- laws which have been revised as has been found needful.
From the date of its organization for univer- sity work, (1869) the progress of the institution has been steady and sufficiently rapid. The lack of preparatory schools to fit students for the proper college work, confined the work of the earlier years largely to elementary instruction, believing that the indefinite operations of a full preparatory department would discourage the high schools of the state from assuming the duty of preparatory instruction, the board of regents dropped off the first year of the preparatory course in 1876, and second in 1878. There re- mains accordingly but one sub-freshman class. which serves the useful purpose of supplement- ing the preparatory work of the high schools, still in many cases insufficient. It is confidently expected that the effect of a late act of the leg- islature for the " encouragement of higher edu- cation," appropriating a sum of money to such
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HISTORY OF HENNEPIN COUNTY.
high schools as will give free instruction in regu- Jar and orderly course of study, preparatory to the l'niversity will within a few years render wholly unnecessary any preparatory instruction in the l'niversity. itself. The state of Minnesota by virtue of their beneficent law may possess, what no state of the I'nion is yet provided with. a completed system of free public instruction, primary, secondary and superior. common schools. high schools, and the University federations of colleges, all working in harmony.
The regents have constantly aimed to employ as teachers, men and women of the highest qual- ifications available in such number as the tinan- ces would allow. Next to the instruction they estimate the importance of the means of instrue- tion. They have accordingly expended liberally upon the library, the chemical and other labora- tories, and upon the museum, all of these estab- lishments are in a condition credible to an insti- tution and a state so young. The library is the largest and best in the state, and is constantly in- creasing by careful purchases and by gifts. To furnish the additional rooms already much needed for the library. the laboratories and the museum, as well as to enlarge the facilities for the scien- tifie and industrial work of the University, the legislature of iss1, made an annual appropria- tion of thirty thousand dollars for six years, to be expended in buildings. furniture. books and apparatus. This legislation assures the develop- ment of the institution on a scale commensurate with the progressof the state, and that of simi- lar institutions in neighboring states, and it fur- ther proclaims as a matter beyond question. that the people of Minnesota mean to provide them- selves with the amplest outfit for the higher edu- cation of their south. The people at length, are sovereign in culture as in government.
in 1872, by virtue of an act of the legislature, the geological and natural history survey of the state was authorized and placed under the charge of the Award of regents. Professor Newton II. Winchell was employed as state geologist, and as professor of geology and mineralogy in the I'ni- versity. For some years he continued the work of traching in connection with the duties of the survey. Init the survey having at length required so much of the time, the regents have been obliged to relieve him from instruction. The
work of this most important enterprise is well advanced. and the first volume of the final report is ready for publication. The annual reports of progress of the state geologist may be found in the annual reports of the board of regents, be- ginning with that of 1872, which report, however, is now unfortunately out of print.
The income of the l'niversity has not yet been large enough to warrant the board in opening the colleges of law and medicine named in the char- ter. They have wisely considered it their duty to provide for the education of the industrial classes, the intended beneficiaries of the land grant of 1862, from which a considerable share of the revenue is derived. The branches of learn- ing related to agriculture and the mechanic arts will be constantly and specially fostered, while other classical and scientific studies, which the Jaw forbids to be neglected. will have an honored place in the curriculum. While the majority of the students have always been sons and daughters of farmers and artizans, the undoubted fact that but few of them have been willing to pursue the regular industrial courses of study has prevented the institution from receiving a fair credit for her industrial work. With the increased facilities for instruction in agrienlture and engineering in their several specialties, it is probable that there will be a larger number who will desire to pursue technical courses.
The history of the University of Minnesota, like that of the maiden state history is a brief one, but enough has been done by a few individuals to place the future people of what will soon be a state of imperial magnitude and influence. under obligations. It would not be seemly to omit the mention of a few names even in a brief sketch, such as this. The Hon. John Nicols. of St. Paul, after seven years' continuons service as regent and treasurer, died in 187 . Gen. 11. 11. Sibley, the first governor of the state, already mentioned as a member of the territorial board has been a member of the board under the re-organization from the beginning and for the past sixteen years, has been president. His great finanacial experi- ence. and the high place he deservedly holds in the estimation of Minnesotians of all creeds and parties, have made him a tower of strength to the institution.
Ex-Gov. Win. R. Marshall, who has been on
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PIKE'S INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL.
the board either ex-officio or by appointment, since 1868, has been a most faithful guardian of the interests of the institution.
Conspicuous for his unremitted activity and wholesouled devotion to the University, through a period of years reaching from 1863 to the pres- ent time, must be mentioned Gov. John S. Pills- bury. To say that to his labors and sacrifices, more than to any other agencies the prosperity of the institution is due, is merely to record what is everywhere known and acknowledged.
Among members of the faculty it is proper to mention the names of a few of those senior pro_ fessors whose instructions have given just reputa- tion to the University and secured the gratitude of large bodies of students who have enjoyed the same.
Professor G. Campbell, who in the earlier years of his service. gave most acceptable instruction in the German language, from the text book of which he was the author, was occupied later with history, and mental and moral sciences. Professor Campbell was a master of the art of teaching. and had the faculty of interesting all his pupils in the most abstruse subjects. Hle re- signed his office in 1880.
Professor J. Brooks, D. D., ex-president of Ilamline University, and held in esteem amount- ing to reverence, by the alumni of that institu- tion, has ocenpied the chair of Greek contin- uously since the beginning of college work in 1869. As a veteran teacher in Minnesota he needs no eulogy.
Professor Versal J. Walker, entering the ser- vice of the University at the same time with the other officers mentioned, died in May, 1876. In this event the University was deprived of a teacher of extraordinary gifts, whose noble char- acter, and inspiring christian influence had en- deared to him all his colleagues and students.
Colonel William W. Folwell. a professor in Kenyon college, Ohio, was elected president of the University in Angust, 1869, and began his duties with the first University faculty in the following month. His services have been satis- factory to the board of regents to the degree that that he has been retained continuously in their service to the present time.
Professor Pike's industrial school wasorganized at the University of Minnesota, November 13th,
1880. It meets twice a week, on Monday and Thursday evenings. It is under the charge of Professor W. A. Pike, professor of engineering at the University. Professor Pike is specially qual- ified to conduct a school of this character, being a graduate of the Institute of Technology of Boston, and also has been, for the past nine years, professor of engineering in the Maine State Col- lege. It was suggested by him soon after he eame to this city, after becoming somewhat acquainted with the needs of Minneapolis, and his instruction is given, in addition to the duties which he dis- charges to the University itself, gratuitously. The rooms, lighting, heating, and desks are fur- nished by the University, and the students furnish their own books, tools, etc. It is intended specially for mechanics, to afford them an opportu- nity to gain a knowledge of mechanical drawing, that will be useful to any mechanic. The utmost limit of the class is already reached, there being sixty now enrolled. The first night it was opened there were forty-seven applications, and new ap- plications are made every evening, which cannot be arted upon until vacancies occur. The present membership includes carpenters, mill-wrights, cabinet-makers. stone-cutters, and surveyors, and some of our best mechanies are among them. The class begins with a series of geometrical problems taken from three plates, which are enlarged to hang upon the walls in full view of every student. Then projection drawings follow, and thereafter the work is adapted to the various occupations. one set of plates being prepared for wood, and another for metal workers. The ages of the stu- dents range from sixteen to fifty. The success of this school has already demonstrated that there is an active demand for this kind of instruction in Minnesota, and particularly in Minneapolis.
In this connection it may be stated that a plan for doing some kind of shop work at the Univer- sity has been presented to the board of regents by Professor Pike, suggested by the Russian sys- tem. which was exhibited at the Centenial in specimens from the industrial schools of that country. This system has been authorized by the Boston Institute of Technology, and the Maine State College, and, briefly speaking, it is to teach certain useful trades upon scientific principles, in the shortest time possible.
Macalester College is the outgrowth of the
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HISTORY OF HENNEPIN COUNTY.
Baldwin school. incorporated by the legislature of Minnesota, and opened in June. 1853, in the city of St. Paul. Its design was not the co-education. but the instruction of the youth of both sexes : the boys under a male principal and the girls under an educated and accomplished woman.
The building intended for the female depart- ment was of brick, and is situated next to the City Hall in St. Paul. It was dedicated with ap- appropriate exercises. in December, 1853. and at the time of its completion was the largest building for educational purposes in Minnesota. The first catalogne of a literary institution in Minnesota was issued in January, 1851, by this school. At that time the minber of pupils in attendance in the female department had been forty-three. and in the male department twenty-eight. a total of seventy-one. To prevent confusion and to lay the foundation of a college for male youths. the trustees determined to reorganize the boys depart- ment as the college of St. Paul, and the three- story stone edifice, opposite the residence of W. 1. Banning. in St. Paul. now the house of the Good Shepherd, was erected for the purpose.
During the late civil war. for financial reasons. the schools were suspended. the buildings sold. and the moneys invested. and by an act of the legisla- ture of 1861. both schools were again brought un- der one charter.
I'pon the return of the founder, the Rev. Mr. Neill. from Europe, in 1572, he began the work of reorganization. and leased for that purpose, at a rental of twelve hundred dollars per am, the large stone edifice built for a hotel. in the East Division of Minneapolis. The owner of the build- ing. the late Charles Macalester of Philadelphia, was an old family acquaintance and neighbor of the founder. and by his will. at the suggestion of Mr. Neill, the building was left to be used or sold for educational purposes, and the institution named Macalester College. By an art of the legislature of 1871. it was provided that the Bald- win institution should be called Macalister Col- loge, with the proviso that the preparatory de- partment should be known as the Baldwin school. This school has about thirty boys in attendance. and the Box. R. Marquesten, is the principal.
President Neill has sent in his resignation to the trustees, to take effect whenever $30,000 is
raised for the endowment of the presideney, and a Presbyterian selected for the office. The aim of the institution is set forth in the following ex- tract from an address by its founder, delivered at the dedication of the Baldwin school building, in December, 1853:
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