USA > Missouri > Boone County > History of Boone County, Missouri. > Part 25
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I accept, gentlemen, the place offered me by the Board of Curators, whom you rep- resent, with a mind open to the greatness of the trust I thereby assume, and with the full determination to pursue with zeal, fidelity, and the ability which God has given me, the high and valuable end for the accomplishment of which the appointment has been made.
I notice the ample provision which has been made for the support of the office, as. well as the limitation of the same to the term of six years. These conditions meet. with my entire approbation.
It is my purpose to resign my post here on the first day of December, and if it be the pleasure of your board, I will regard my connection with the University as com- mencing on that day.
My arrival at Columbia must not be looked for earlier than the 12th or 13th of Janu- ary, which, I trust, will be before the adjournment of the Legislature, whom I shall be pleased to see while in session, agreeably to your suggestion. I fully appreciate the importance of enlisting the leading minds in the State in the cause of the University and the cause of education generally.
Be pleased, gentlemen, to accept for yourselves, and to convey to the body you rep- resent, my very grateful acknowledgment for the unexpected honor they have conferred upon me.
With an unhesitating reliance on the co-operation. and indulgent support of the curators, collectively and individually, I look with assured hope to the accomplishment. of their just wishes.
I am, gentlemen, with very great consideration and respect, your obedient servant, JOHN H. LATHROP.
THOMAS M. ALLEN, ESQ.,
WM. H. DUNCAN, ESQ., WARREN WOODSON, ESQ.,
Committee.
Meeting, March 1, 1841 .- President Lathrop having reached Columbia on the - day of - -, 1841, on motion of Dr. Duncan, a committee - Duncan and Woodson - were appointed to wait upon him and request him to deliver an address at one o'clock that day in the Union Church, which request he complied with by the delivery of a most scholarly and finished address, which made a pro- found impression on all who heard it.
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HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY.
The building in which this address was delivered, was a small brick structure on the east side of Eighth street, between Broadway and Walnut, and was among the first church buildings in Columbia. It was called Union Church because it was erected under the joint auspices of the Baptist and Methodist denominations.1 A few years after the delivery of President Lathrop's address, these denomina- tions, becoming more numerous, sold their interest in the building and erected larger places of worship. The gentlemen who bought the old Union Church, fitted it up for theatrical performances, to which purpose it was devoted until 1856, when it became the property of Col. W. F. Switzler, who, purchasing the Guitar mansion adjacent, tore down the front of the church and converted the east half of it into a kitchen and servant's room. It, and the residence adjoining, are now owned by Jefferson Garth.
On March 20, 1841, W. H. Duncan, John Slack and R. S. Thomas, Building Committee of the Board of Curators, received proposals for the erection of " a family house," on University ground, meaning thereby a residence for the President and his family. This building was destroyed by fire in November, 1865.
The first report made by Dr. Duncan, as treasurer of the Board, was at a meeting held at his office, on November 29, 1841, and it showed -receipts, $21,301.85 ; disbursements, $21,281.85, leaving in his hands a balance of $20. How strangely these small sums contrast with the much larger ones at later periods in the history of the insti- tution.
Even at this early time the subject of dormitories for the accommo- dation of students was in the mind of the Board, for at the meeting of November 29, 1841, the president's report was taken up, and in compliance with a suggestion therein, the Building Committee was in- tructed to take into consideration the propriety of so changing the plan of the principal edifice as that dormitories may be secured in the upper stories. The plan, however, was deemed impracticable, and therefore was not adopted ; but the idea was not abandoned, for in other reports of the president and in subsequent proceedings of the Board, the subject of providing cheap accommodations and cheap boarding for students was frequently discussed.
President Lathrop entered upon the duties of his office on March 1,
1 Dr. Wm. Jewell, a Baptist, and Rev. Moses U. Payne, a Methodist, contributed nearly all the means to erect the building.
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PHOTO ENG. CO. N.Y.
PRESIDENT'S HOUSE.
UNIVERSITY.
SCIENTIFIC BUILDING.
MISSOURI UNIVERSITY BUILDINGS. (VIEW FROM THE NORTHEAST.)
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HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY.
1841; and, in accordance with his views, the curators deemed it ex- pedient that courses of instruction should be opened in the old Colum- bia College building, in order to the preparation of students for the regular University classes, when the new edifice should be completed and a Faculty of Arts fully organized. In accordance with this view, courses of instruction were opened on Wednesday, April 14, 1841, in the College building, with John H. Lathrop as president, and Wm. W. Hudson, George Hadley and Wm. Van Doran, professors. In a report made to the Board by President Lathrop, September 30, 1842, he informed them that the whole number of students to whom instruc- tion had been rendered up to that time was seventy-four. Of this number, two- Robert Levi and Robert Barr Todd, the former now cashier of the Exchange National Bank of Columbia and secretary of the Board of Curators ; the latter, one of the judges of the Supreme Court of Louisiana - had been prepared for the Senior Class ; four for the Junior, eight for the Sophomore and eighteen for the Freshman Class.
FIRST UNIVERSITY ORATORICAL EXERCISES IN THE COLLEGE CHAPEL.
The first examination of the classes of the Collegiate and Primary Departments of the University occurred in the chapel of Columbia College, during the last week in April, 1842, concluding with a public exhibition in the old Christian Church. The three days devoted to the examinations were characterized by the Patriot at the time as " auspicious days," and that none " brighter ever dawned upon the literary destinies of old Boone." The following is a copy of the pro- gramme of the public exhibition, which possesses peculiar interest, among other reasons because it is the first University oratorical exer- cise in the history of the institution : -
Orations. - Isaac McCoy, Aspects of the Material Universe; Luther T. Collier, Literature of the West; William White, Reputation; Thomas C. Ready, Early Years of Washington; Alonzo Richardson, Political Morality; William H. Robinson, Ameri- can Revolution : Thomas J. Hardin, Patriotism; Odon Guitar, Fame - an incentive to Virtue ; Absalom Hicks, Mental Progress.
Disputation. - William H. Allen and John C. Scott, Was the Confinement of Bona- parte in St. Helena justifiable?
Orations. - Thomas M. Richardson, Instability of Greatness; John Wilson, Moral Power; Richard E. Turner, State of the Union; Lewis Dameron, Biography.
Disputation. - James H. Parker and William W. Todd, Comparative Merits of Columbus and Washington.
Orations. - James H. Moss, History; Robert B. Todd, Diversities of Taste and Sentiment; Stephen Bedford, Political Education of American Youth.
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HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY.
Eulogy. - Robert A. Grant, Lafayette.
Orations. - William P. Thomas, Mental Power; Robert L. Todd, Literary Renown. Colloquy. - Sleep (anonymous actors), James H. Moss and Robert B. Todd.
The report made by the board of curators to Hon. James L. Minor, Secretary of State, among many other things, stated that the contribu- tions of the citizens of Boone to the State of Missouri in consideration of the location of the University at Columbia amounted to $82,300 in cash and $36,000 in lands. Also that the proceeds arising from the sale of seminary lands is a trust held and administered by the State for the benefit of the University, that in the conversion of this trust into money a policy was pursued by the State extremely liberal to the settler, and that the lands were sold at minimum prices, and in the aggregate at a rate very greatly below their real value. The proceeds of these sales amounted to a fraction less than $78,000. This sum was invested by the State in stock of the Bank of the State of Mis -. souri, and, as ordered by law, it there remained until the investment by dividends reached $100,000. The dividends in 1838 amounted to $4,302.38 ; 1839, $9,945.40 ; 1840, $6,051.53; in 1841, nothing; in 1842, $3,421.91.
These four dividends, added to principal, amounted to $101,662.30,. or 1,662.30 over and above the maximum of $100,000 and therefore a sum available for the use of the University.
As the University relied solely for support on the tuition paid by students and the small and precarious dividends of the bank, the Board of Curators experienced great difficulty in continuing the insti- tution. Fully understanding the embarrassments which on every hand confronted the board, and deeply sympathizing with them in the troubles by which they were environed, on January 28, 1843, President. Lathrop, in a spirit of self-sacrifice and commendable liberality, volun- tarily proposed that, from and after the first of July ensuing, the emoluments of the President of the University be only $1,250, together with the use of the President's house, and $5 per scholar per annum, which proposition, on motion of Dr. Duncan, was unanimously adopted.
AMENDING THE GEYER ACT OF 1839.
On the twenty-fourth of February, 1843,1 an act was approved amendatory of certain provisions of the act of February 11, 1839.
1 See Session Acts 1843, p. 148.
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HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY.
Under this amendatory act so much of the last named law as provided for colleges and academies in different parts of the State, under the visitorial power of the curators, was repealed, and the power was con- ferred on the Board of Curators to appoint the necessary professors and tutors of the University, and to fix their compensation. No one of the professors or tutors was allowed to exercise the functions of a bishop, priest, clergyman or teacher of any religious persuasion, denomination, society or sect, whatsoever, during his continuance in office.
The act also provided that the compensation of the president, pro- fessors and tutors shall be fixed annually, and any of them may be removed at the pleasure of the curators. Also, that so much of the act as requires a curator to be thirty years of age was repealed, and that each curator shall be not less than twenty-five years of age.
The curators were authorized to sell all the lands conveyed to the State for the benefit of the University, with the exception of twenty acres for a university site, on such terms as the curators shall deem best for the interest of the institution, and to convey the same to pur- chasers by deed under their common seal.
The proceeds of the sale of said lands to be applied to the payment of the debts contracted by the curators ; and if there should be any surplus remaining after the payment of said debts, the same to be applied in the manner deemed best for the benefit of said University.
An act was also approved February 28, 1843,1 providing for semi- annual meetings of the Board of Curators in April and October, fixing the number to constitute a quorum, and making it the duty of the Auditor of Public Accounts to report to each meeting the increase of the seminary fund.
1 See Session Acts 1843, p. 149.
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HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY.
CHAPTER VI.
HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY - CONTINUED.
University building dedicated July 4, 1843 - Organization of the Institution - Estab- lishment of the several professorships - Medical Department established in St. Louis - Act of 1848-49-President's salary fixed - Resignation of President Lathrop - Election of James Shannon as his successor in September 1849 - Resolution of the Curators in regard to President Lathrop - Discussion and excitement over the McCracken amendment - Public dinner to President Lathrop -President Shannon - Tribute to him by the students of Bacon College - Prof. Hudson made President ad interim - Inauguration of President Shannon, July 4, 1850 - Portrait of Presi- ident Lathrop - Proceedings of the Curators in regard to it - Affray between Tutor R. A. Grant and Student George P. Clarkson -Proposals to erect for the President a family house - President Shannon declines a re-election and Prof. W. W. Hudson was elected President for six years - Death of President Hudson - Dr. A. T. Bled- soe elected President, and he declines - The University reconstructed, with Prof. Matthews as Chairman of the Faculty.
DEDICATION OF THE UNIVERSITY BUILDING, JULY 4, 1843.
At a meeting of the Board of Curators, held on May 15, 1843, and in accordance with a suggestion of President Lathrop, arrangements were made for the formal dedication of the University building to the purposes for which it had been erected, and according to the following programme : -
1. A procession from the court-house to the Chapel.of the University.
2. Music.
3. Prayer by Rev. T. M. Allen.
4. Music.
5. Address to the President by Wm. G. Minor, of Jefferson City, Missouri, and the delivery of the key of the building by him, in the name of the Board.
6. Address by President Lathrop.
7. Music.
8. Benediction.
The following account of the dedicatory ceremonies is from the Columbia Statesman of July 5, 1843 : -
DEDICATION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI.
The 4th of July, 1843, will long be remembered by the citizens of Boone County, and the immense concourse of visitors and strangers who assembled here on that day to perforin a high and patriotic duty. The occasion was the dedication of the University of the State to its appropriate uses. * * *
Singularly auspicious to the occasion, the morning was ushered in by as bright a sun as ever shed radiance from a cloudless sky.
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HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY.
Early in the day, and up to the hour of ten, every road leading to our town poured' in a continual accession of human beings - thus attesting that the people of the county, unexampled heretofore in the liberality of their donations to the University, were now equally munificent in a feeling of interest for its contemplated dedication to the cause of Mind.
About half past nine the doors of the edifice were thrown open for the admission of the ladies, and in a short time the beautiful and capacious gallery which girts the semi- circular wall of the Chapel was filled for the first time, and that to overflowing, with the " beauty and fashion " of the land.
At ten o'clock, under the control and direction of the Grand Marshal of the day, Nathaniel W. Wilson, Esq., a procession was formed in front of the court-house, which, composed of the Boards of Instruction and Curators, students of the University and District School, and of strangers and citizens generally, marched majestically to. the strains of a band of music, and reached the University building about the hour of eleven.
The exercises of the day were opened by a solemn and impressive invocation to the Throne of Grace by Elder T. M. Allen. Whereupon, William G. Minor, Esq., on be- half of the Board of Curators, delivered the key of the University to the President - accompanying the duty with a short, eloquent and appropriate address. Mr. Minor having concluded, the President of the University, John H.Lathrop, arose and enchained the attention of the vast auditory for upwards of an hour, in the delivery of a most able and eloquent inaugural.
The address of the President was concluded about half-past one o'clock, and the audience, after a benediction by Elder T. M. Allen, dispersed.
ORGANIZATION OF THE UNIVERSITY.
At the meeting of the Board, May 16, 1843, the committee appointed to consider that portion of President Lathrop's communication which related to the complete organization of the University, namely, War- ren Woodson, W. H. Duncan, Joseph Carpenter and John Slack, reported that five professorships were essential to give the institution a- respectable standing, and that therefore they recommend the estab- lishment of the following chairs : -
1st. Of Ethics, History, Civil Polity and Political Economy.
2d. Metaphysics, Logic, Rhetoric and English Literature.
3d. Ancient and Modern Languages and Literature.
4th. Mathematics, Natural Philosophy and Astronomy.
5th. Chemistry, Mineralogy, Geology, Botany, Natural History and Physiology.
At a meeting held on September 6, 1843, Robert S. Thomas was elected to chair second ; George C. Pratt, to chair third; W. W. Hudson, to chair fourth, and Edward H. Leffingwell, to chair fifth - the president filling the first chair.
At a special meeting of the Board held January 21, 1845, it was ordered that their annual report to the Secretary of State, of October, 1844, be recorded. This report was due in October, 1843, but was.
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HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY.
not made, for the reason that a quorum sufficient to transact busi- ness at an annual meeting could not be had. This is a very long and interesting paper, and is to be found on the 137th and subsequent pages of the Board's Journal. We make these extracts from it : -
The curators have the satisfaction now to state that the commodious and splendid edifice -the erection of which was committed to their charge - has been completed, and which for permanency, symmetry, style and finish will compare well with any build- ing of the same cost in the United States. It has been upwards of four years since the foundation, including the basement story, was laid, and two years since the whole weight of the superstructure has rested thereon ; yet there is no appearance of the least defect in the walls or foundation.
* * * *
* * *
The salary of the president is now fixed, and has been since the 1st day of July, 1843, at $1,250, with $100 additional for the hire of a servant to keep the house in order, etc., and one-sixth of the accruing tuition fees. Prior to the above date this salary was $2,500 per annum without perquisites.
The salary of each professor, at $500 and one-sixth part of said fees. The remain- ing one-sixth the Board has been under the necessity of appropriating to the fitting up of certain rooms in the University building. So hard has the Board been pressed to carry on the institution, that they have been forced to take from the faculty a portion of the tuition fees, which is at present their only support. The tuition fees, at $30 per year, or $10 per session, amounting in all to something like $1,800 per annum thus far.
Among the items reported as disbursed or paid is the following : $70,281.08 paid contractors for building University edifice. Amount stipulated to be paid contractors for original contract, $74,494. Amount allowed them for extra work on account of the enlargement of the building, the substitution of copper instead of zinc for roofing, finish of octagon and space within the same, etc., $4,600. Balance due contractors, without interest, $8,812.12.
SEMINARY LANDS AND BANK DIVIDENDS.
Session of the Legislature, 1846-7: From an act directing the Register of Lands to procure from the Commissioner of the General Land Office copies of documents relating to the seminary lands and file the same in his office ; also making it his duty to make out a com- plete list of said lands, specifying range, township and county, mark- ing such as had been sold, the time when sold, to whom, what remaining unsold, and to file a copy of said paper with the Secretary of the Board of Curators. See Session Acts of 1846-7, pp. 131-2.
Two acts passed during the same session in regard to bank divi- dends -requiring the Bank of Missouri to report the amount of
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HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY.
dividends accruing on stock held in trust for the University to the Treasurer of the Board of Curators, and to pay over to him or place to his credit the same. See Session Acts 1846-7, pp. 136-7.
MEDICAL DEPARTMENT ESTABLISHED.
At a meeting of the Board January 26, 1846, President Lathrop, at that time being under the law ex-officio a member of the Board, offered an ordinance to establish the medical department of the Uni- versity, the faculty of which was authorized to hold their sessions and deliver their course of instruction in the city of St. Louis. A vote being taken on the first clause, which established the medical faculty and named the professors thereof, it resulted : -
YEAS-T. M. Allen, W. H. Duncan, T. B. Grant, J. H. Lathrop, Moss Prewitt, Alex. Persinger, John Slack and Warren Woodson -8.
NAYS-Joseph Carpenter and W. A. Robards - 2.
EXCUSED from voting -Eli E. Bass and Caleb S. Stone.
The vote on the sixth clause, which authorized the medical faculty to hold their sessions and deliver their courses of instruction in St. Louis, was as follows : -
YEAS- Allen, Bass, Duncan, Grant, Lathrop, Prewitt, Persinger, Slack, Stone and Woodson-10.
NAYS -Carpenter and Robards-2.
After the adoption of an additional clause to the effect that this connection with the St. Louis Medical College is made upon the ex- press condition that it may at any time be dissolved by a vote of the Board at an annual meeting, the Board elected the following professors of the medical department : -
Joseph N. McDowell, M. D., professor of Anatomy and Surgery.
Thomas Barbour, M. D., Midwifery and Diseases of Women and Children.
J. B. Johnson, M. D., Pathology and Chemical Medicine.
Edward H. Leffingwell, M. D., Chemistry and Pharmacy.
Richard F. Barrett, M. D., Materia Medica and Physiology. John S. Moore, M. D., Theory and Practice of Medicine.
The president of the University. was made ex-officio president of the medical faculty, and the professor of Chemistry and Pharmacy in the faculty of medicine ex-officio professor of Chemistry, Natural History, etc., in the Faculty of Arts. The preparatory department in the Uni- versity was instituted, and the tutor's salary fixed at $250, in addition to a contingent sum equal to one twelfth of the tuition fees.
The committee on lands was instructed to sell the old College 18
1
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HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY.
building and grounds for $1,500, and 80 acres of land on Perche Creek for $50. This land now belongs to The College and grounds attached (about seven acres), were sold to Robert S. Thomas for the sum mentioned on'a credit of 6, 12, and 18 months.
Two nominations were made for tutor in the preparatory depart- ment, viz. : Robert L. Todd, and Thomas H. Bradford ; vote : Todd, 5 ; Bradford, 4. Todd declared elected. Mr. Todd declining to ac- cept, at a meeting held April 27, 1846, Robert A. Grant was elected tutor.
Meeting July 29, 1846 .- John C. Edwards, Governor of the State, took his seat as a Curator. The degree of Bachelor of Arts was granted to Wm. Henry Allen, Thompson Burnham, John Scott Clarkson, Luther Todd Collier, Lewis Taylor Dameron and John Henley Moore, and the president was empowered to confer the same by diploma at commencement on the 30th inst.
RE-ELECTION OF PRESIDENT LATHROP.
Meeting of September 21, 1846. - John H. Lathrop re-elected president of the University.
Meeting of February 24, 1847. - James S. Rollins appeared as a member of the Board for the first time. Salary of the tutor in the preparatory department fixed at $300, and one-twelfth of the tuition fees, the honorary degree of Doctor of Medicine was conferred on Wm. H. Duncan, M. D., of Columbia, Missouri.
Meeting July 28, 1847. - The honorary degree of Doctor of Medicine conferred on Wm. Jewell, M. D., of Columbia, and the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws on Thomas Hart Benton.
ACT OF THE LEGISLATURE, 1848-9.
For an act increasing the number of Curators to eighteen - one from each judicial circuit and four from the county of Boone - fixing their terms of office, times of meeting, and compensation, said com- pensation to be paid out of the seminary fund ; prescribing the man- ner of filling vacancies, and the number necessary to constitute a quorum, etc., see Session Acts of 1848-9, pp. 129-30. .
For an act providing for a Normal Professorship in the University, prescribing the duties of county courts in the selection of students for free education in the same, etc., see same acts, pp. 130-1.
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HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY.
For an act authorizing the curators to appropriate the remainder of the subscription fund to the improvement of walks leading to and from the University, outside of the campus ; also authorizing the Curators to audit and allow any debt justly due by the trustees of Columbia Col- lege at the time of the location of the University, and to pay the same out of any money belonging to the subscription fund, or which may be collected from it, provided said debts do not amount to more than $300; also an act requiring the State Auditor to certify to the treas- urer of the Curators the balance of the subscription fund, uncollected, and authorizing the Board to employ some person to collect the same, see same acts, pp. 131-2,
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