USA > Nebraska > Congregational Nebraska > Part 12
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The First Church in Omaha was organized May 4, 1856. One week later the church in Fontanelle was organized with twenty-three members.
It is quite evident that Congregationalists predominated in influence, for when Mr. Gaylord called a special meeting of the State Association at Fontanelle, January 5, 1858, the Nebraska Colonization company and the trustees of Ne- braska University were ready with proposals to transfer the college to the Congregationalists. In view of these pro- posals and of donations by the citizens of Fontanelle, the association voted, January. 6, 1858, to locate the college at Fontanelle, Dodge county, Nebraska. The next day the association considered the question of a charter for the new college, appointed a committee to look after the matter, and instructed the moderator and clerk, as a committee, "to draw up and arrange a contract with the previous trustees and Nebraska Colonization company."9
In accordance with this contract10 the State Association of Congregational Churches undertook to erect a "building for a preparatory department of sufficient dimensions to accommodate 100 pupils" before the third Monday of the next October, and "a good and substantial building for college purposes of architectural proportions" within a pe- riod of five years.
The revised charter of the Nebraska University secured by act of the legislature October 25, 1858, "changed en-
" The modern spelling-Fontanelle-is used throughout this work.
" Gaylord's Life, p. 188.
$ Manuscript Minutes, p. 12.
"Ibid., pp. 12, 13.
19 Ibid., p. 14.
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THE FONTANELLE SCHOOL
tirely the mode of electing trustees, that power henceforth being vested solely in the Congregational Association."11 In the Ft. Calhoun meeting of the association, October, 1858, "much interest was manifested concerning the present and future prosperity of the institution."12 It was now a child of the church, and had a lofty ambition to become a leading western college.
A series of misfortunes made its history a checkered one. Hard times interfered with its material advancement; the discovery of gold at. Pike's Peak took away many of the inhabitants of Fontanelle; the Indian scare of 1859 had a depressing effect ; and, above all, in 1860 it was, by act of legislature, detached from Dodge county and made a part of Washington county. The coveted county seat of Dodge county went to Fremont, which secured also the Union Pacific railroad, leaving Fontanelle to one side and with hopes of the future largely blasted. College work was sus- pended for a time, debts increased, and Mr. Gaylord be- „ came actively engaged in securing funds from the East.
While these changes and disappointments "proved the death blow to the future prospects of Fontanelle as a city,"13 vet the pioneer churches stood by the infant college with a heroism worthy of larger results.
In 1864 the school resumed work under Miss A. B. Sav- age, who had charge of the "preparatory and ladies' depart- ment," and in the following spring Prof. Henry E. Brown, a graduate of Oberlin College, was engaged as "professor of languages and principal of the preparatory department." Professor Brown began work in midwinter (1866?), and he and Miss Savage continued the work until the spring of 1867, when Professor Brown retired from the school.
11 Education in Nebraska, p. 174.
12 Manuscript Minutes, p. 22.
13 Education in Nebraska, p. 176.
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Rev. Charles G. Bisbee, who for a year had been pastor of the Fontanelle Church, assumed charge of the school, and remained for some three years.
"He was assisted in teaching by Mrs. Bisbee, Miss Sarah Jenny, Rev. J. F. Kuhlman, and perhaps others. The
REV. C. G. BISBEE
records do not indicate precisely the attendance of students during these years. Obviously, in that respect it was the most flourishing period in the life of the school, but at the best the number was small."14
Rev. C. G. Bisbee now resides in Arlington, and writes :15
14 Education in Nebraska, p. 179.
15 June 14, 1904, letter to writer.
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THE FONTANELLE SCHOOL
"You ask for reminiscences in regard to the early history of Congregationalism in Nebraska. I am not one of the pioneers. There were Congregational churches in Ne- braska ten years before I came. I attended the meeting of the State Association of Congregational Churches at Fon- tanelle in September, 1866. The ministers and delegates attending that meeting were in all thirteen. None of them are now living but myself. At that time I was elected stated clerk, and the minutes of the association were printed that year, I think for the first time At the same meeting I was elected a trustee of the Nebraska University, the first school of high order which the Congregationalists of Nebraska undertook to sustain. At the meeting of the board of trustees I was elected secretary of the board and clerk of the executive committee. I kept the records of said institution while it lasted. Said records can be found among the archives of Doane College.
"From the minutes of the State Association and the records of the Nebraska University you will find the im- portant facts for your history (of that period). But the difficulties, trials, and arduous labors attending the estab- lishing and building up of the Redeemer's Kingdom in those early days can not be told in a brief history. This state is one of magnificant distances.
"Yours truly, "C. G. BISBEE."
"About the beginning of 1871 Mr. Bisbee resigned, and Mr. J. J. Boulter was engaged to conduct the school. Un- der his supervision instruction continued until some time in 1872, when it was given up never to be resumed.'' 16
Different causes brought about the downfall of the school : The first in point of time was doubtless the failure of Fon-
16 Education in Nebraska, p. 180.
A SECTIONAL VIEW OF STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA, 1905 Photo by U. G. Cornell
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THE FONTANELLE SCHOOL
tanelle to develop as a town, due to its failure to secure the railroad and the county seat. In the beginning it tried also to secure the capital of the territory.
These disappointments resulted in the collapse of the town, which might have become a small college town had not a second factor entered into the problem of its exist- ence-the removal of the capital from Omaha to Lincoln. This and the establishment of the state university at Lin- coln caused the more rapid development of southern and southeastern Nebraska. Immigration went that way. Con- gregational churches were organized, and by 1871 there was a strong sentiment in favor of a new location for a Congregational college. Weeping Water with its compara- tively strong church made a bid for it. Milford with its academy already in operation wanted it. Crete with its academy, with its pastor Rev. Fred Alley, backed by the strong influence of Mr. Thomas Doane, and the Burlington & Missouri river railroad was persistent in asking for the college. It also put in the plea of having a central location, and Nebraska is a large state. It began to look dark for Fontanelle.
At the Fremont meeting of the General Association, 1869, the report from Fontanelle was discouraging. One must read between the lines to catch the spirit of the meeting. The following resolution was adopted :
"Resolved, That a committee be appointed to have power to convey all the property, right, and title we possess in the Nebraska University to the citizens of Fontanelle, as per original contract, or to such other persons as the trustees may decide upon."17
In 1870 the association heard a report from Fontanelle but took no action.
37 Minutes, 1869, p. 16.
14
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CONGREGATIONAL NEBRASKA
In 1871 the association met in Lincoln. Something evi- dently had been done during the year. The Burlington & Missouri river railroad company gave the association a free excursion to Crete and return. While at Crete the associa- tion assisted in laving the cornerstone of the new academy building. College matters were generally discussed. The following significant resolutions were adopted :
"I. Resolved, That we believe the time has come to take measures for the establishment of two or more academies.
"II. Resolved, That Fontanelle has strong claims upon the association for sympathy, and we commend the institu- tion at that place to the confidence of our people.
"III. Resolved, That the people of Milford and Crete shall have the sympathy and good will of the association. to do all they can in establishing first-class academies at their respective points.
"IV. Resolved, That the thanks of the association are due to the people of Milford and Crete, and also to the Burlington & Missouri river railroad company for the very generous offers they have made us in the matter of locating a college ; and that the association respectfully ask further time for considering the matter."18
At this same meeting Supt. O. W. Merrill introduced the following resolution which was also adopted :
"Resolved, That it is the sense of this association that we should concentrate our educational efforts on our acade- mies and our one college for our order in the state."19
That emphatic "ONE" has a peculiar significance. The resolution is prophetic. Doane College has its "Merrill Hall."
19 Minutes, 1871, p. 12.
1º Ibid.
2II
THE FONTANELLE SCHOOL
Milford and Crete at this meeting of the association pre- sented definite bids for the college. Rev. O. W. Merrill, Rev. Julius A. Reed, and George Lee were appointed a com- mittee to supervise the general educational interests in the state until the next meeting of the association.
This committee in a voluminous report of marked literary flavor, the following year, 1872, recommended that Crete be chosen as the location of the new college. In the mean- time Weeping Water presented a strong showing in favor of the location there, so that there were three competing points, Milford, Crete, Weeping Water. The report of the committee aroused a spirited discussion. It was shown in the report that in 1870 Nebraska had sent thirty-two pupils to Tabor College, Iowa-"enough at that one school to make a respectable beginning were they gathered into a school of our own." This, too, because Nebraska had 110 school for them!
"The conclusion to which we come is that we have al- ready waited too long, and that we can not move too soon or too vigorously."
Some wanted to postpone action till the next October. This was voted down, and the recommendation of the com- mittee that the college be located at Crete was adopted by a decisive vote.20
The association then appointed trustees for the new col- lege and took initial steps to establish it.
A paper respecting "Fontanelle University" was referred to a committee consisting of Rev. Messrs. A. Dresser, John E. Elliott, and J. E. Heaton, to report on the following year, and when the report was called for, it was "No cause of action."21
20 Minutes, 1872, pp. 6-11.
21 Minutes, 1873, p. 10.
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This ends the history of Nebraska University so far as the State Association is concerned. "It can not be said that the enterprise-the Fontanelle School-ever reached secure footing, or even promised permanent success. At the outset the time was not ripe for such undertaking, and long before the general conditions were favorable, the particular lo- cality selected for the school had ceased to claim attention."22 The institution came to an end in August, 1873, but "May 15, 1874, the trustees held their last meeting and concluded their work."2? This might be called the official ending of the Fontanelle school.
Mr. Gaylord was wont to speak of the "removal" of the college from Fontanelle to Crete,24 but the minutes of the association show that Fontanelle was abandoned and a new college organized at Crete.
22 Education in Nebraska, p. 183.
23 Ibid., p. 182.
24 See Gaylord's Life, pp. 327, 430.
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DOANE COLLEGE
II
DOANE COLLEGE
Doane College was more fortunate in its founding than was Fontanelle. It had a better financial backing. Mr. Thomas Doane, a native of Massachusetts, and at the time chief engineer of the Burlington & Missouri river railroad in Nebraska, became interested in the establishment of an educational institution in the state.
Dr. Willard Scott, at the time pastor of St. Mary's Ave- nue Church in Omaha, gave an address at the fifteenth an- niversary exercises of Doane College and presented a graphic picture of the preliminary work attending the planting of Crete Academy :
"Our attention is now directed to Plattsmouth. The Bur- lington & Missouri river railroad company in Nebraska was operating its construction from that place and pressing westward. At the Brooks House we are asked into a room in the winter of 1870-71. It is small; so small that when the necessary articles of furniture are placed, there is room only for two large easy chairs and a fur robe, kept rolled up and strapped ready for use at short notice, in a nook between the bureau and the table. Here evening by evening-and long evenings they seemed to the lady seated upon the fur robe-sit in the easy chairs two gentlemen, a civil engineer and a preacher, the pastor of the First Congregational Church at Plattsmouth. The theme is a college and the idea seems to the lady on the fur robe as 'impossible as es- tablishing one in the moon.' 'Can we secure the land ? Where is the best place for it?' Crete is proposed 'as being beautifully situated upon the Big Blue.'
DOANE COLLEGE, CRETE, NEBRASKA.
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DOANE COLLEGE
"Before February 20 Mr. Alley had located there, enter- ing, it is said, upon a load of lumber, and had contracted with Mr. George W. Bridges for $100 per year for two years to start an academy.
"Articles of incorporation for the Crete Academy were adopted May 22, 1871. June 30 the president and secretary were authorized to execute a note to Mr. Thomas Doane for the amount of $2,000, borrowed for building purposes, and Rev. Frederic Alley was 'requested to act as principal of the academy for the coming year.' "1
The story of the founding of Crete Academy is also told by Professor Show :
"After the associational action of 1869 and 1870 great interest prevailed among the Congregational churches as to the educational problem. Many minds were busy upon it. During the winter of 1870-71, the matter was much dis- cussed by two men destined to play conspicuous parts in the founding of the future college-Rev. Frederic Alley, pastor of the Congregational Church at Plattsmouth, and Thomas Doane, chief engineer of the Burlington & Missouri river railroad in Nebraska, then in the process of construc- . tion. As the result of their deliberations they selected Crete as the most desirable location, and decided to open the way for a college by locating an academy. In the spring of 1871 Mr. Alley moved to Crete, organized a church, and devoted himself, with the constant aid of Mr. Doane and others, to the establishment of Crete Academy. The erec- tion of a building was begun at once, lumber being hauled twenty miles by team. On the 12th of June the corner- stone was laid, the General Association coming down en masse from Lincoln, where it was in session, to witness the ceremony. The building was dedicated November 5, 1871."2
1 Historical Glimpses, pp. 8, 9.
2 Education in Nebraska, p. 186.
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CONGREGATIONAL NEBRASKA
Rev. F. Alley was elected principal for the first year and with him were associated Miss Mary W. Merrill, Miss Kesterton, and Miss Bridges. It was a prosperous year for the school, a good preparatory year for the college about to be organized.
Among those who had much to do with locating the col- lege and pushing forward its interests were George S. Harris, a deacon in First Church, Lincoln, and Rev. Charles Little, the first pastor of the First Church, Lincoln. Through their efforts as well as those of Mr. Doane the railroad company was led to offer very liberal inducements to the proposed college. President Perry relates this incident in connection with the railroad grant :
"An indescribable charm invests the story that Mr. Ed- ward McIntyre of Seward tells of the way in which the prime movers in the college enterprise were encouraged to ask the railroad company for the large grant of 600 acres. These men in earnest deliberation had purposed to limit their petition to eighty acres, but one of them, Rev. Charles Lit- tle. at length, with a peculiar light in his eye, says, 'Why not ask for the whole 600 acres? The Scriptures say, Ask and ye shall receive.' Thereupon these college builders had a large accession of faith, and they asked and received.
"That their faith was rewarded was due in no small measure to the railroad land commissioner, Mr. George S. Harris, who was a large-hearted, broad-minded man who took great interest in all educational and religious work in the new state."3
The larger faith won, and the 600 acres were received.
It was in June, 1872, that by vote of the State Associa- tion the new Congregational college was located in Crete. The academy was made a preparatory school to the college,
3 Historical Glimpses, p. 38.
-
.
Prof. A. B. Fairchild J. L. Tidball
Prof. J. S. Brown Prof. G. D. Swezey
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CONGREGATIONAL NEBRASKA
which was duly incorporated July 11, 1872, and was named Doane College "in recognition of the services of Thomas Doane, Esq., of Charlestown, Mass., who was then among its most devoted friends, and has since proved its most gen- ercus benefactor."4
In addition to the 600 acres donated to the college by the Burlington railroad, the South Platte Land company gave fifty town lots in Crete.
The college began its work in the academy building, which for the time being served well for that purpose.
FINANCIAL STRUGGLE
The land grants above mentioned were conditional on the college raising $30,000 and securing official recognition of the Society for the Promotion of Collegiate and Theologi- cal Education. The indorsement was readily secured; rais- ing the money meant a struggle.5
Mr. Doane came to the rescue. He pledged $10,000 of the $30,000; Professor Perry raised $10,000 in New Eng- land, and the remaining $10,000 was pledged in Nebraska The conditions were met and the land secured.
At the Lincoln meeting of the association in October, 1874, Professor Perry made a committee report in behalf of the board of trustees. From this report the following is taken :
"The committee desire to put on record that the past year. the good hand of our God has helped us. The college year opened the 9th of September with a debt of $6,593.97. Of this $2,250 were in the banks. The financial crisis came, and the banks refused to renew. For a time the college treasurer was in darkness like that of Egypt. A generous
4 Education in Nebraska, p. 187.
5 Ibid., p. 191.
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DOANE COLLEGE
friend east who promised $1,000, payable in five years, upon being informed of our embarrassment, undertook to meet the pledge at once. He borrowed money at 18 per cent interest and sent on the full amount promptly, to our great relief. Others exerted themselves in a similar way. By such sacrifices the college was lifted out of debt."6
"At commencement, 1874, the trustees reported the young institution out of debt, with $500 in the treasury, and with $30,000 in notes and pledges."7
When we remember the financial straits to which men were reduced by the devastation from grasshoppers and by the prevailing hard times, it seems wonderful that Doane College emerged as well as it did out of its financial diffi- culties. Surely the good hand of our God helped it and the people made sacrifices for it.
In these and other trying times Mr. Thomas Doane proved the loyal friend and generous supporter of the college. Through the kindness of Pres. D. B. Perry we are permitted to use the following sketch of his life, which will be of in- terest to all lovers of Doane College.
SKETCH OF THOMAS DOANE
"Thomas Doane, son of John and Polly Eldridge Doane, was born at Orleans, Massachusetts, September 20, 1821. The Doane family_ has been closely identified with the de- velopment of New England, and the Pilgrim ancestry of the subject of this sketch was shown in his life work. Deacon . John Doane was a member of the Plymouth settlement as early as 1630, and from that date until the present the an- nals of that section of New England are filled with the men- tion of members of the Doane family. A descendant of the
6 Minutes, 1874, p. 9.
7 Education in Nebraska, p. 192.
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CONGREGATIONAL NEBRASKA
Puritans, Thomas Doane combined in his character the rugged honesty, the tireless industry, the love of religious liberty, and the hatred of sham and pretense, that character- ized the men and women who landed upon Plymouth Rock and set about to conquer the wilderness of an unknown hemisphere. His early education was received in an acad- emy established in the Cape Cod district of Massachusetts by his father and others. After completing the course re- quired by this academy he spent five terms at Phillips Acad- emy, Andover. Early in life he conceived a liking for civil engineering, and determined to make that his profession. His father, John Doane, was one of the best known lawyers in the Cape district, but the son had no taste for the law. Upon leaving the academy at Andover he entered the office of Samuel M. Felton, one of the noted civil engineers of his time. Mr. Felton's office was at Charlestown, and here Thomas Doane studied for three years, as was the custom at that time. Immediately after this term of study he en- tered upon the active pursuit of his profession. His first professional engagement was as engineer of the Windsor, White river division of the Vermont Central railroad, where his work soon attracted wide attention. From 1847 until 1849 he was resident engineer of the Cheshire railroad at Walpole, New Hampshire. In December, 1849, he re- turned to Charlestown, Massachusetts, and established an office, conducting a civil engineering and surveying business eitlier personally or through capable assistants. He con- tinued this office up to the time of his death. His ability as an engineer was recognized in all engineering circles, and at different times he was connected with all of the rail- roads running out of Boston, particularly the Boston & Maine.
"In 1863 the state of Massachusetts assumed the work of building the Hoosac tunnel, and the board of commission-
COLONEL THOMAS DOANE
222
CONGREGATIONAL, NEBRASKA
ers at once engaged Mr. Doane as chief engineer. With characteristic energy he proceeded to relocate the tunnel line and established new grades. The distance to be tun- neled was nearly five miles. He pushed the borings on four faces from both sides of the mountain and a central shaft, and so accurate were his measurements and levels that the centers of the borings met with a variation in alignment of only nine-sixteenths of an inch in one case and five-six- teenths of an inch in the other. He was a pioneer in the use of compressed air in this country, and he built a damn across the Deerfield river to furnish power for the turbine wheels to operate his air compressors. The successful use of nitro-glycerine, drilling by machine drills operated by compressed air, and 'simultaneous blasting' by electricity were here established for the first time in the United States. Naturally this attracted universal attention, for at that time the Hoosac tunnel was justly considered one of the engi- neering marvels of the world. In his book on tunneling, Mr. Henry S. Drinker pays the following deserved tribute to Mr. Doane's ability as an engineer and his energy in ex- ploring the field of compressed air and mechanical con- trivance for tunnel work: 'Mr. Doane's connection with the Hoosac tunnel in the early days of that great work is not a matter of especial but of universal interest to the engineering profession in America, for to his persistent energy, far-seeing sagacity, and his able management we in a large measure and, in fact, chiefly owe the develop- ment and introduction into 'this country of the present ad- .vanced system of tunneling with machinery and high ex- plosives. It was under his direction as engineer of the commission that the state experiments were made, and the long and disheartening fight carried through which ter- minated in favor of the new system, the system which has since given us the Burleigh, Ingersoll, and Wood drills, and
.
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DOANE COLLEGE
which also first showed Americans practically what the potent agency of nitro-glycerine, first applied by Nobel in Europe, actually was.'
"In 1869 Mr. Doane was called west and became chief engineer and superintendent of the Burlington & Missouri river railroad in Nebraska, an extension of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy system. Though new to the West he gave the men of the West an example in their own push and energy, and in less than four years completed 241 miles of road on the frontier, establishing a steam ferry at Platts- mouth and building and maintaining a telegraph line the full length of the road. And on a rush order he surveyed the branch line from Crete to Beatrice, the distance of thirty miles, and had the road ready for operation in ninety days. He named the towns on the line between Plattsmouth and Kearney, and this will explain the frequent recurrence of New England names-Dorchester, Exeter, Harvard, Low- ell, etc. This line was built with a view to economy of operation, and time has proved the soundness of his judg- ment in constructing the road on the low grades he established.
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