Bi-centennial history of Albany. History of the county of Albany, N. Y., from 1609 to 1886. With portraits, biographies and illustrations, Part 244

Author: Howell, George Rogers, 1833-1899; Tenney, Jonathan, 1817-1888
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1452

USA > New York > Albany County > Albany > Bi-centennial history of Albany. History of the county of Albany, N. Y., from 1609 to 1886. With portraits, biographies and illustrations > Part 244

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128

HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF SCHENECTADY.

UNION COLLEGE.

Union College was founded at Schenectady, Feb- ruary 25, 1795. The Legislature having vested in the regents of the university the right of granting college charters, a memorial was addressed to the board by the trustees of the Schenectady Academy, which led to the granting of a charter to twenty- four persons therein named, and their successors, under the title of "The Trustees of Union College

in the Town of Schenectady, in the State of New York." The first trustees were Robert Yates, Abraham Yates, Jr., Abraham Ten Broeck, Golds- brow Banyar, John V. Henry, George Merchant, Stephen Van Rensselaer, John Glen, Isaac Vrooman, Joseph C. Yates, James Shuter, Nicholas Veeder, James Gordon, Beriah Palmer, Samuel Smith, Henry Walton, Ammi Rodgers, Aaron Conduit, Jacobus V. C. Romeyn, James Cochran, John Frey, D. Christopher Pick, Jonas Platt, and Jonas Coe.

COLLEGE BUILDINGS AND CAMPUS, UNION COLLEGE.

Of these, seven resided in Albany, six in Sche- nectady, three in Ballston; and in Saratoga, Troy, Kinderhook, Palatine, Herkimer and Whitestown, N. Y., and Hackensack, N. J., one each.

Under an act passed March 30, 1805, the charter was amended by the regents, March 29, 1806, by reducing the number to twenty-one and adding the Chancellor, Justices of the Supreme Court, Secre- tary of State, Comptroller, Treasurer, Attorney- General and Surveyor-General, by virtue of their civil offices. The Constitution of 1821, by reducing the number of Judges made further vacancies, which by an act passed February 14, 1823, were to be filled by the Governor and Lieutenant-Governor.

The Constitution of 1846, by abolishing some of the ahove offices, required further changes, and the ex officio trustees are now the Governor, Lieutenant- Governor, Secretary of State, Comptroller and Treasurer. They were empowered to hold an estate with an income of $13,3333, were vested with the usual powers of a college, and were empowered to fill vacancies in their board.

The chronicles of the day record that the event of receiving a college charter was celebrated by great rejoicing, with the ringing of bells, display of flags, bonfires and general illumination.

The name " Union College" was given as express- ing the intention of uniting all religious sects in a common interest for the common good, by offering equal advantages to all, with preference to none.

It is believed that this is the first college in the United States not confessedly denominational in its character.

The college was organized on the 19th of Octo- ber, 1795, by the election of Rev. John Blair Smith, D. D., of Philadelphia, as president; John

Taylor, A. M., as professor of mathematics and natural philosophy; and the Rev. Andrew Yates, as professor of the Latin and Greek languages.

The first commencement was held May, 1797, and the first degree conferred upon three young men, who had completed the course of study re- quired.

This wasan occasion of signal and novel interest all over the country around, and drew together a large and enthusiastic audience. The public ex- ercises were held in the old Reformed Dutch Church.

Dr. Smith was succeeded by Rev. Jonathan Ed- wards, D. D. (son of Rev. Jonathan Edwards, after- wards President of the College of New Jersey), who died in 1801, and was followed by Rev. Jona- than Maxcy, D. D., a Baptist clergyman from Providence, R. I., who resigned in 1804, and went to Columbia, South Carolina, as President of the South Carolina College.

Under the presidency of Dr. Edwards a new ed- ifice was begun on a scale magnificent for that day, and still one of the finest and best built in the city.

Rev. Eliphalet Nott was chosen president in 1804.

Dr. Nott found the college wanting both means and students. The inhabitants of Schenectady had proposed an endowment of $30,000 in lands, obligations and money; but the largest subscrip- tion was only $250, the next $100, and the total sum altogether, from sources other than direct gift of the State, but $42,043.74 Grants were made by the State as follows:

April 9, 1795, for books and apparatus, $3,750; April 11, 1796, for buildings, $10,000; March 30, 1797, for salaries, $1,500; March 7, 1800, for

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CITY OF SCHENECTADY .- EDUCATIONAL.

completion of building, $10,000; March 7, 1800, ten lots, of 550 acres each, in the military tract, for support of president and professors, $43, 483 .- 93; April 8, 1801, and April 3, 1802, sale of gar- rison lands near Lake George, $9,378.20. Total grants before 1804, $78, 112.13.

The building, begun under President Edwards, in 1792, was still unfinished, and the college was burdened with a heavy debt. It was completed during the first year of Dr. Nott's incumbency. The original cost, including the site, was $60,000. It contained a residence for the president, the

THE OLD WEST COLLEGE, NOW UNION SCHOOL.

chapel, library and recitation-rooms, and a consid- erable number of dormitories. In 1815 it was sold to the city and county for a court-house, jail and city offices, and, while thus owned, was com- monly known as the "City Hall." The college received in payment 3,000 acres of land, in de- tached parcels, in various parts of Schenectady County. In 1831 it was repurchased by the college for $10,000, and used for library, cabinets and residents of freshmen and sophomore classes until 1854. It was then resold to the city for the sum of $6,000, and is now known as "Union School." Between 1805 and 1810 a row of two-story brick buildings was erected on College street for use of dormitories. It was known as "Long College," and was sold in 1830. The means that had been provided were quite inadequate to the wants of a prosperous college, and to supply the needed en- dowment recourse was had to an expedient, now forbidden by a better public sentiment, but then deemed proper, for raising funds in aid of every religious, educational and benevolent enterprise of the day and for public improvements. It was therefore deemed advisable to urge the passage of a law, which was secured March 30, 1805, for rais- ing the sum of $80,000 by lottery. This sum was to be drawn by four successive lotteries of $20,000 each. The act directed $35,000 to be applied to the erection of additional buildings; an equal sum

to be invested, the interest to be applied to the support of professorships, and the remaining $10, 000 to be invested, one-half of the proceeds for a classical library and the balance toward de- fraying the expenses of indigent scholars. It ap- pears, from a legislative report made in 1814, that but $55,000 were realized from this grant.

A few years' experience showed that the location in the city was not sufficiently ample, and the ob- serving eye of Dr. Nott, at an early period in his presidency, had noticed in the suburbs a better one, that combined in rare degree every advantage desirable.

A tract of some 250 acres was secured, and new buildings begun, on College Hill, in 1812, and were occupied in part in the summer of 1814. To provide the means for these improvements, and for a substantial endowment, application was made to the State for another grant of a kind similar to the last. An act was accordingly passed, largely through the efforts of Dr. Nott, for raising the sum of $200,000 for Union College and consid- erable sums for other institutions. Of the sum al- lowed to Union College there was specially given :

For the erection of buildings, $100,000; for payment of existing debts, $30,000; for library and apparatus, $20,000; for relief of indigent students, 50,000. Total, including all sums previously given by the State, $331, 612. 13.

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HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF SCHENECTADY.

The proceedings consequent upon these trans- actions extended through many years, and the drawings of the lotteries were not entirely closed until the end of 1833.

From the time of completion of buildings on the new site the college entered upon a season of gen- eral prosperity, and the unusually large proportion in the senior classes shows a fact well known throughout the country, that many students, after passing through the lower classes elsewhere, came hither to enjoy the instruction of Dr. Nott, and receive from him their first degree.

The advancing age of Dr. Nott led to the calling, in 1852, of the Rev. Laurens P. Hickok, D. D., from the Auburn Theological Seminary to serve as vice-president, and upon him gradually devolved the cares of the presidency, although they were not actually conferred in name until after the death of Dr. Nott, in 1866.

SEMI-CENTENNIAL OF THE COLLEGE .- This event in the history of the college was celebrated in con- nection with the commencement exercises in 1845. The occasion called together an immense number of the alumni and literary strangers, to receive whom the common council extended the hospitality of the city, and all the principal citizens opened their houses to receive guests. The Rev. Josh. Sweet- man, of the first class graduated, and the Rt. Rev. Alonzo Potter, of the class of 1818, then recently elected Bishop of Pennsylvania, delivered addresses on the occasion.

SEMI-CENTENNIAL OF DR. NOTT'S PRESIDENCY .- This occasion was celebrated on the 25th of July, 1854. As on the previous gathering, the hospital- ities of the city were tendered to the returning sons of Union, and to the literary strangers called to- gether by so unusual an event. The address of Dr. Nott was a compact and interesting review of the labors, joys and trials of the last fifty years. The principal orators of the occasion were the Rev. Francis Wayland, President of Brown Uni- versity, and the Hon. Wm. W. Campbell, of Cherry Valley.

RECENT HISTORY .- On the retirement of Dr. Hickok, Charles A. Aiken, D. D., of Dartmouth College, was chosen president, and he filled the duties with acceptance until 1871, when, for do- mestic reasons, he resigned ; and in the selection of a successor, the choice fell upon the Rev. Eliph- alet Nott Potter, D. D., the grandson of Dr. Nott and son of Bishop Alonzo Potter.

With the declining years of Dr. Nott the number of students decreased, and during the late war the college was nearly stripped of its students by the withdrawal of the whole number from the South, while many from the North were attracted to new institutions that were competing for favor. It be- came a subject of serious thought on the part of those intrusted with the affairs of Union College as to how the emergency was to be met, and no plan appeared more feasible than that of yielding to the progressive spirit of the age by enlarging its facilities, extending its courses of study, and, in the best sense of the word, render-

ing it fully the peer of the first institutions of the country.

President Eliphalet Nott Potter.

PRESENT BUILDINGS. - The principal buildings of Union College are North College and South Col- lege, six hundred feet apart, and each with a colon- nade facing inward ; a memorial hall midway be- tween but standing back three hundred feet from

Blue Gate.

the front line ; a gymnasium in the rear of South College ; a president's house, and three other dwellings on the line with the main college build- ings, and a professor's residence at some distance east of the principal group of buildings ; also a

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CITY OF SCHENECTADY .- EDUCATIONAL.

semi-circular building facing westward on the campus, the centre of which is used for the library and the wings for recitation rooms.

PRESENT GROUNDS. - The original grounds ac- quired for college uses have been somewhat re- duced by railroad and street improvements, but are scarcely liable to further encroachment, and are amply sufficient for every probable want. They embrace about one hundred and thirty acres, in- cluding the campus, gardens and grounds properly belonging to the college and essential for its use, besides some one hundred acres of woodlands and fields adjoining.

College Brook.

OTHER REAL ESTATE. - The college owns con- siderable land in Long Island City, that was pur- chased by Dr. Nott for Union College from the Hunter family, after whom Hunter's Point was named. The property has been laid out in streets and building lots, and graded. It extends about half a mile along Newtown Creek, and has a front- age on the East River of about half a mile. The property consists of several hundred building lots. In 1873 this property was considered to be worth a million dollars. The estimates now put upon it vary.

In addition to the Long Island City land, the college owns three lots on One Hundred and Eighteenth street, and a house and lot on Fourth avenue, in New York City.

COURSES OF STUDY .- The " classical course " of study usual in first-class colleges is now pursued in Union. In 1802 the required studies for the first, second and third terms of the freshman class were "Latin, Greek and English languages, arith- metic, Sheridan's Lectures on Elocution, and the

writing of Latin exercises as the faculty shall ap- point." "For the Sophomore year, geography, algebra, vulgar and decimal fractions, the extrac- tion of roots, conic sections, Euclid's Elements, trigonometry, surveying, mensuration of heights and distances, navigation, logic, Blair's Lectures, and such parts of eminent authors in the learned languages as the officers of the college shall sub- scribe."

A Department of Engineering was established in 1845; its course of instruction aiming to impart skill and experience in mechanical drafting, instru- mental field-work, and numerical calculation, com- bined with the study of text-books and lectures on numerous subjects where these are wanting. This course was afterward extended to four years, and intermingled with the scientific course of the college proper. This department is unusually well sup- plied with models, the most important of which is the original Oliver collection, purchased in Paris, France, in 1855.

SCIENTIFIC COURSE OF STUDY,

now so popular in many colleges, originated with Dr. Nott, and was first introduced in Union Col- lege. The plan was looked upon with much dis- trust at first by other educators, but its benefits soon came to be appreciated and it was gradually adopted by other colleges. The system has proved its excellency and justifies the foresight of its origi- nator. The scientific course of Union College has always maintained a first position among the edu- cational institutions of the country.

CHEMICAL LABORATORY.

A laboratory was established for chemical analysis in 1855, at a cost of about $7,000 for fixtures and $ 10,000 for chemicals and other stock. It has been successively in charge of Professors C. E. Joy, C. F. Chandler, and of Maurice Perkins, M. D., the present incumbent.

MILITARY INSTRUCTION.

In 1873 Union College applied to the War De- partment requesting that an officer of the Engineer Corps might be detailed for the purpose of giving military instruction, in pursuance of the policy fa- vored by act of Congress, with the view of inducing colleges to supplement in some degree the work of the military academy in this department of use- ful knowledge. The Government has, in accord- ance with this request, supplied the college with muskets and equipments for drill and instruction, under a commissioned officer of the army. A plain, inexpensive uniform has been adopted, and a course of military instruction has been added to the college curriculum without abating anything from the course of studies formerly prescribed. The drill is regarded chiefly as a physical training.

COLLEGE SOCIETIES.

Union College has at present two literary socie- ties with libraries-the Philomathian Society, formed in 1793 by the young men of the town in the old academy building before the college charter was granted, possessing a library of 3, 000 volumes;

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HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF SCHENECTADY.

the Adelphic Society, founded in 1797, and its library, containing about 3,000 volumes; eight "Greek letter " societies, some of which originated with this college; and a chapter of "Phi Beta Kappa Society," established here in 1817, and is a strictly honorary society. There is also a "Sen- ate," formed for purpose of debate on political sub- jects, consisting of the Senior class. The rules of order and method of procedure are modeled, as near as may be, after those of the Senate of the United States.

An Alumni Association was formed in 1857, and has several branches. A modification of the char- ter was procured in 1871, by granting to the alumni a representation in the board of trustees, so that now there are four graduates holding that trust, one being chosen annually for a term of four years. The election is held on alumni day, the one preceding commencement, in the college chapel.

SCHOLARSHIPS.

Under an act passed in 1814, the sum of fifty thousand dollars was set apart as a fund, the income of which has ever since been applied in aiding young men of narrow means. This fund has been increased by several benefactions. Miss Catherine L. Wolf, of New York City, has given fifty thousand dollars in pursuance of a purpose entertained by her deceased father, Mr. John David Wolf, for aid- ing the education of young men from the Southern States. Dr. John McClelland (class of 1832), of New York City, influenced largely by the aid he had himself received while in college, has given fifty thousand dollars, and a worthy son of Union Col- lege has placed a bequest of thirty thousand dol- lars in his will to endow an emeritus professorship.

ORDINARY SCHOLARSHIPS.

To a large class of students Union College pre- sents extraordinary advantages in its numerous scholarships. In the scholarships of the first grade the incumbents, on condition of good conduct and satisfactory application to study, receive at the end of each term a credit on the books of the regis- trar to the full amount of term bills.

In the scholarships of the second grade, the in- cumbents, on the same condition, receive a credit to the amount of half the term bills.

These scholarships are accessible, under certain restrictions, to all who present the requisite certi- ficates of character and sustain the examinations required for admission to the regular classes of the college.

PRIZE SCHOLARSHIPS.

Among the several classes of scholarships founded by the late Dr. Nott-a few of which only are yet actually founded, but their ultimate endow- ment is secured by the prospective sale of valuable lands-is a class of prize scholarships granted ac- cording to certain prescribed rules. The pecuniary emolument of a prize scholarship is thirty-five dol- lars a term, or four hundred and twenty dollars for the whole college course, a provision which enables the incumbent, after paying his college bills, to retain the sum of one hundred and twenty dollars.

The possession of a prize scholarship demands, thoughout the whole course, high standing as a student in all respects; and the incumbent is for- bidden to use intoxicating liquor as a beverage, and tobacco in all its forms. Some of these scholar- ships enable the student to pursue post-graduate studies for a certain time.

PRIZES AND MEDALS.

There are a number of prizes given at commence- ment, consisting of medals, money or books, awarded for proficiency in oratory, essays and de- portment, some of which can be competed for by the seniors only ; others by the juniors and sophomores.

COLLEGE LIBRARIES.

There are three libraries connected with the institution, of which the college library proper con- tains about 20,000 volumes, the Philomathian Society library about 4,000 volumes, and the Adelphic Society about 3,000 volumes.

COLLECTIONS IN NATURAL HISTORY.

The college has long been a center of special interest for students of natural history. In 1841 it received a large collection of minerals and fossils from the State cabinet. In 1860 the "Wheatley Collection " of shells and minerals, worth more than $20,000, was presented by E. C. Delevan. Large and valuable additions of specimens were added by Prof. H. E. Webster as the results of his labors in dredging on the coasts of Maine, Massachusetts, Virginia and Florida.

PHILOSOPHICAL DEPARTMENT.

In this department the collections, under the care of Prof. John Foster, have grown to be among the finest in the country. The donations of friends have added largely to the collection, but the princi- pal part has been purchased by the friends of the college or by special funds raised for this purpose.

ART DEPARTMENT.

Memorial Hall affords a fine opportunity for the preservation and display of works of art, a consid- erable collection of which is already procured. Through a liberal annual gift of Miss Catharine L. Wolfe, of New York, the prospect tliat this depart- ment will become unusually fine is promising.

THE SONGS OF UNION.

This feature of college literature deserves notice. For many years they were floating waifs. Some of them were productions of real merit. A few of these songs are perennial in their fragrance and are always sung on festive occasions. The song of "Old Union," composed by Fitzhugh Ludlow, class of 1856, is always sung on commencement day at the close of the graduating services. The hearty good-will and feeling with which returning sons join in the grand chorus :

" Then here's to thee, the brave and free, Old Union smiling o'er us ;

And for many a day, as thy walls grow gray, May they ring with thy children's chorus."

show that the gifted poet did not attune his lyre in vain.

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CITY OF SCHENECTADY .- EDUCATIONAL.

UNION UNIVERSITY.

About forty years after the incorporation of Union College, the people of Albany conceived the idea of establishing a series of post-graduate institu- tions at the capital, and began by the founding of the "Albany Medical College," April 14, 1838.

The "Albany Law School " was incorporated in 1851.

The "Dudley Observatory" was incorporated in 1852.

The above institutions, together with "Union College," were incorporated as " Union University " in 1873.

" The Albany College of Pharmacy " is also a part of the University.

OFFICIALS .- President ad interim, Hon. Judson S. Landon, LL. D., of Schenectady. President- elect, Rev. Joseph Tuttle Duryea, D.D., Pastor of the Central Congregational Church of Boston, Mass.

TRUSTEES .- Rev. Dr. J. Trumbull Backus, Hon. E. A. Paige, Hon. Platt Potter, Hon. Jud -. son S. Landon, of Schenectady ; Hon. Fred. Townsend, Albany ; Rev. Dr. Wm. Irwin, Troy ; Rev. Dr. J. L. Reese, W. H. H. Moore, Hon. David Murray, LL. D., Albany ; Rev. Dr. Denis Wortman, Saugerties ; Hon. L. W. Rhodes, Troy; Col. D. C. Robinson, Elmira ; Rev. Dr. George Alexander, Hon. Hooper C. Van Voast, Silas B. Brownell, Thomas W. Featherstonehaugh, New York ; Rev. Dr. E. Nott Potter, Geneva ; Dr. P. R. Furbeck, Gloversville ; and the officers of the State of New York, ex-officio.

PROFESSORS. - Henry Whitehorne, A. M., Greek Language and Literature ; Wm. Wells, A. M., Ph. D., Modern Languages ; Maurice Perkins, A. M., Chemistry ; Cady Staley, A. M., C. E., Civil En- gineering ; Samuel B. Howe, Principal Union School ; Chas. S. Halsey, A. M., Principal Classical Institute ; Sidney G. Ashmore, A. M., Latin ; First Lieutenant, First Artillery, Henry W. Hubbell, U. S. A., Military Science ; Winfield S. Chaplin, A. M., Mathematics and Physics (Knight of the Rising Sun, Japan) ; W. E. Griffis, D. D., Mental Science, Adjunct Professor ; James R. Truax, Rhetoric and English Literature ; Henry F. Depew, Adjunct Professor, Mathematics ; Rev. Rudolph Farber, Hebrew.

ACTING TREASURER. -- Cady Staley.

REGISTRAR. - Mrs. M. L. Peissner.

Carlyle says that the history of the world is the biography of its great men. This applies with peculiar force to the life of Eliphalet Nott. He was born in Ashford, Windham County, Con- necticut, June 25, 1773. At the time of his death, January 29, 1866, he had occupied the po- sition of President of Union College for sixty-two years, a period without parallel in the history of our literary institutions. He had long stood in the foremost rank of American educators. His reputation as a pulpit orator was hardly less dis- tinguished; while as a reformer and philanthro- pist he had now an honorable position among the

benefactors of his kind. Such a life well deserves a written memorial.

In 1804 a young Presbyterian clergyman, Eliphalet Nott, was called to the presidency of Union College. A year before the organization of the college he had passed from Connecticut through Albany to a new settlement in Cherry Valley, where he became pastor and teacher. He

Eliphalet Nott.

was soon called to Albany, where, in 1804, he made the most fortunate effort of his life, which told greatly upon his future career. His sermon upon the death of Hamilton, at the hands of Burr, stamped him as one of the rising men of the period, and he was at once called to the presidency. President Nott found the college in imperative need of means and students. He soon appealed to the State for aid, and thus laid the foundation of measures which resulted in training the legis- lators and the people of the commonwealth to consider the matter of popular and higher educa- tion as the paramount duty of a Republican Government. The college was soon so rapidly increasing in numbers under his management that new buildings became a necessity, and the site now occupied by the college was obtained. During 1814 Dr. Nott succeeded in having a bill passed by the Legislature of the State, by which Union College wasto have $200,000. In this period this was a princely sum for such purposes. The dis- cussion attending the passage of this measure at- tracted the attention of the whole State, during which the movement in favor of establishing com- mon schools became so popular that men who were first opposed to it began to tone down their opposition. The president watched the bill day by day, and from this period, down through the days of Marcy, Silas Wright and Seward, the in- fluence of Dr. Nott at the capital was very potent, and aided greatly in advancing the welfare of the institution. It is not our purpose to relate in detail the grand educational work of this man. The best years of his long life were given, un-

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Bi-centennial history of Albany. History of the county of Albany, N. Y., from 1609 to 1886. With portraits, biographies and illustrations, Part 244

Author: Howell, George Rogers, 1833-1899; Tenney, Jonathan, 1817-1888 Publication date: 1886 Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell & Co. Number of Pages: 1452

Author: Howell, George Rogers, 1833-1899; Tenney, Jonathan, 1817-1888
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1452