History of Duchess county, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 80

Author: Smith, James H. (James Hadden); Cale, Hume H; Roscoe, William E
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason & Co.
Number of Pages: 868

USA > New York > Dutchess County > History of Duchess county, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 80

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In 1843, the library comprised less than a thous- and volumes. It now contains 10,822 volumes of well selected literature. In 1874, Hon. George Innis presented the Board a sum of money, which at his suggestion, was expended in the purchase of carefully selected mechanical and scientific works for the use of mechanics and trades-workers. The collection now contains 176 volumes, which are placed in a part of the library designated "Innis Alcove." At various times Hon. James Emott, a former member of the Board, has presented an ag- gregate of 332 volumes of valuable miscellaneous works, which are similarly placed and designated "Emott Alcove."

James VanKleeck was the first librarian in the old " Library Building," a position he held for sev- eral years. He was succeeded for short intervals by Isaac Smith, now Treasurer of the Poughkeep- sie Savings Bank, and D. W. B. Marsh, the latter of whom was succeeded in October, 1869, by Rus- sell Osborne.

Connected with the library, which is open from Io a. m. to 8 p. m., is a free reading room, which was established and has been maintained since April 8, 1872. On its tables are kept the principal current periodicals and reviews-some forty in number-published in this country and Europe. There is a uniform appropriation of $750 per an-

num for the addition of new books-$250 from the State and $500 from the city.

The pioneer among Poughkeepsie's private edu- cational institutions was the Duchess County Academy, which was incorporated by the Regents, Feb 1, 1792, and was the seventh institution char- tered by that body. The germ of this institution was started in Fishkill some years previous to the Revolution, and there Dr. John H. Livingston and other distinguished men in Church and State are said to have received their early academic edu- cation .* It was the first academy in the county, and shortly after the close of the Revolution was removed to Poughkeepsie, where it was located on the corner of Academy and Cannon streets, to the former of which it gave its name. The site is now occupied by the residence and office of Dr. Parker and the Hull block. The first principal of whom we have any knowledge, says a writer in the Poughkeepsie Weekly Eagle, 1871, was Rev. Cornelius Brower, who was then (1794 to 1807) pastor of the Reformed Dutch Church. His suc- cessors in that building were Daniel H. Barnes, John Mc Jimpsy, Stephen Hasbrouck, Edwin Holmes, Eliphaz Fay and R. B. Gregory.

In 1836, an unimproved lot two hundred feet square, situated on the corner of Montgomery and Hamilton streets, was purchased for $1,000, and in that year a brick building, rectangular in form, sixty-eight by forty-three feet, exclusive of projec- tion of portico, and four stories high, was erected at a cost of $ 10, 364.13. The old site was sold to the late Alexander Forbus. The old building was removed to the north-east corner of North Clinton and Thompson streets, and in 1843 was leased for a term of years by the Board of Education, and occupied as a public school.

William Jenny was engaged as principal in the new building. His compensation consisted of the income of the school and the appropriation from the Literature Fund, except $400 per annum, which was to be applied to the payment of the debt and the insurance on the building, which he was re- quired to keep in ordinary repair, and, under direction of the trustees, to employ and pay all teachers required to carry on the school. The number of pupils then attending the school was one hundred and twelve, of whom sixty-four pur- sued classical studies or the higher branches of English education. Mr. Jenny resigned the prin- cipalship April 6, 1843, and was succeeded by

* Local Reminiscences in The Sunday Courier, of Poughkeepsie, June 1, 1873.

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HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY.

William McGeorge, who was employed on the same terms. William B. Wedgewood was principal for a short period. Rev. Raynard R. Hall was the principal in 1845, and until April 13, 1847. He was followed by Peter S. Burchan. Mr. Burchan was the principal until 1851, when Mr. McGeorge again assumed these duties and exercised them until 1864. Stewart Pelham succeeded to the principalship and held the position during the fur- ther continuance of the school, which, it was evident, had outlived its usefulness.

August 21, 1869, the trustees-T. L. Davies, James Bowne, H. D. Varick, John Thomson, L. G. Dodge, J. B. Jewett, George Van Kleeck and C. W. Swift-having received a petition from Will- iam C. Sterling and others, also from the Board of Education of the city of Poughkeepsie, by which many citizens united in asking them to apply to the Legislature for authority to sell their real estate at public auction and give the proceeds to said Board for the purchase of a lot in the central part of the city, and the erection thereon of a building for a Public Library and a High School, “ resolved, that in the opinion of this meeting the interests of the public will be best promoted by a compliance with such petition." A committee was appointed to make application to the Legislature, or unite with the Board of Education in such application, for authority to pay over to said Board " whatever funds or moneys we may then have and also to bestow on said Board the library and philosophical apparatus, desks and all other personal property of said academy." The academy building was con- verted into the Old Ladies' Home in 1871, and is still used for that purpose.

The decade between 1830 and 1840 was, per- haps, the period of Poughkeepsie's greatest activity, and a vast impulse was given to its educational as well as its more material interests. The Duchess County Academy was not only removed to more commodious quarters, but three other institutions of a similar character were chartered-the Pough- keepsie Female Seminary, March 19, 1834, the Poughkeepsie Female Academy, May 10, 1836, and the Poughkeepsie Collegiate School, May 26, 1836. In 1842, there were no less than twelve male and female schools in the village, all "of a superior order."

The Poughkeepsie Female Academy is the oldest of the present schools in the city. It was incorporated by the Legislature May 10, 1836, and by the Regents Feb. 28, 1837. The erection of a suitable building was at once commenced and was

ready for occupancy that year. Miss Arabella Bosworth, who had kept a select school for some years previously in the building on the corner of Cannon and Mechanic streets, became the first principal, and continued for several years in that position. She was followed by Rev. Joseph Wilson, Mr. Galpin, Miss Curtiss, Mrs. Holt and Dr. C. H. P. McClellan.

Up to this time there had always been more or less conflict of authority between the trustees who had control and the principals of the school, which interfered somewhat with its prosperity, but when the next principal, Jacob C. Tooker, was appoint- ed, the management passed more completely into his hands. The result of the new plan was shown in quite a considerable increase in the attendance. Some additions were made to the building, and the institution became widely and favorably known. Mr. Tooker continued at its head until his death, after which Mrs. Tooker occupied the place for a short time. In 1858, Rev. D. G. Wright, S. T. D., the present rector, took charge. Since that time the building, which is a fine brick structure, situ- ated on Cannon street, near Market, has been fur- ther enlarged and refitted, and is now one of the most complete in accommodations and appoint- ments. The heavy Doric columns of the porch give it an imposing appearance, and make it an ornament to that part of the city.

This academy has always ranked among the best in the State. It has a laboratory, with ample phil- osophical and chemical apparatus, a skeleton and physiological charts, and library of more than fif- teen hundred volumes; also a large and fully fur- nished gymnasium.

The Poughkeepsie Collegiate School, a classical and commercial school, perpetuated in the River- view Academy, a classical, English and military boarding school, was incorporated by the Legisla- ture May 26, 1836, and by the Regents Feb. 9, 1839. It was one of the fruits of the " Improve- ment Party" in Poughkeepsie, with whose assist- ance it was founded by Charles Bartlett, a graduate of Union College, who had previously conducted for some six years in Utica, N. Y., a school on es- sentially the same principles as were embodied in this. Mr. Bartlett was burned out in Utica about 1835, when he removed to Matteawan in this county, and was associated with Rev. Mr. Wick- ham in the management of a school in that place for a year. In 1836, having been invited to open a school in Poughkeepsie, he casually visited that village and the afterwards classic grounds of Col-

RIVERVIEW MILITARY ACADEMY, POUGHKEEPSIE, N. Y.

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CITY OF POUGHKEEPSIE.

lege Hill, which he remarked to friends who ac- companied him, (members of the Improvement Party,) would be a beautiful site for a school. He was asked if he would take charge of a school if one was built for him, and answered that he would.

In 1836, the brick building now on College Hill was erected, at a cost of $40,000, and rented to Mr. Bartlett, who opened a school there in Novem- ber of that year, assisted by eight teachers. The structure was modeled after the Parthenon, a cele- brated temple of Minerva at Athens, in Greece. Mr. Bartlett continued at the head of the school until his death April 24, 1857, at the age of sixty years.

On the death of Mr. Bartlett, he was succeeded in the management of the school by Charles B. Warring and Otis Bisbee, who conducted the school for five years, when, in 1862, Mr. Warring retired and established the Institute of which he is now the efficient head. Mr. Bisbee continued the school, and in that year (1862) introduced the military feature, which is now a prominent one in the school.

Riverview Academy is one of a number of schools in the country which have come under the management, not of a board of trustees who pro- cure a principal by the payment of a salary and retain the control and direction of the details themselves, but which rather in all their appurte- nances and property relations belong to the princi- pal. What characterizes particularly such schools is the personal interest and responsibility for the management, and the entire freedom from dicta- tion by any board of direction. The principal in such a school wins his own reputation as a man- ager of boys, and stands or falls as he is approved or disapproved.

Riverview Academy is not a local school. Its pupils are gathered from all parts of the Union, and there are but few sections that have not at different times been represented. Such a school necessarily involves a large outlay of private means, and cannot be expected to compete in cheapness with schools that are endowed. These unendowed private schools, many of them, are preferred be- cause of some excellencies and peculiarities either of discipline or instruction. In the care and over- sight of pupils as to their moral and physical well- being, such schools are claimed to excel. The fol- lowing is taken from a recent catalogue :--

" Riverview Academy is beautifully situated on an eminence near the Hudson River, in the out- skirts of Poughkeepsie, and immediately contigu-

ous to the most finely laid out streets and parks in the city. It occupies an extent of about six acres, bordered with many hundred forest trees of various kinds, deciduous and evergreen, circling the entire place, the grounds rising in a gentle curve to the summit, which the building crowns with its admi- rable proportions. It commands a magnificent view over many miles of river and forest, from the Catskill mountains on the north to the Highlands on the south.

" The building was erected in 1866, has large rooms with high ceilings, provided with hot and cold water on every floor, is heated with steam and lighted with gas ; and great pains is taken to make the boys comfortable and happy.

"It is believed that the building is unrivalled by any in the State for elegance, spacious accommo- dations, and provision for conveniences of school- boy life. The study and school-room is a beauti- ful hall with a fine outlook on either side through lofty windows and is remarkably sunny and cheer- ful. The drill and exercise hall is a spacious room fifty-six by fifty-two feet, heated in cold weather and easily ventilated. It commands a prospect over river, field and forest. .

" All proper recreations that do not encroach upon the work of the school, whether furnished by the city and its life, or originating in the school, are sanctioned. Care is taken to teach the boys how to study; and mere memorizing, unaccompa- nied by an idea of the reasoning processes, is treated as a fault and patiently corrected. If boys begin here young, and continue, a thorough ground- ing, whether in the classics or in English branches, is guaranteed. Boys may be fitted here for any college, scientific school or government academy. Boys of corrupt moral influences are not re- tained."

Speaking concerning the military training pro- vided for by the Government in several schools throughout the country, Adjutant-General Drum, in his annual report says :--

" I do not think the importance of this early and partial introduction of the youth of the country to military studies and habits can be over-estimated. The course of study does not interfere with the scholastic duties of the curriculum, nor prevent them from entering any of the several walks of civil life for which they are preparing themselves. lt, however, leads them to affiliate in after life with the militia of their respective States, and enhanc- ing their value as members of such organizations, increases immeasurably the capacity of the States' National Guards to furnish trained officers to the country in its hour of need.

"Aside, however, from all considerations of mili- tary service, it is generally conceded that a proper training in military drill results in an improvement in the address of the student, in the habit of atten- tion and readiness, and in neatness of person and quarters. The instances are many in which the writer has observed great improvement in the form of the student resulting simply from military drill.

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HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY.

Stooping forms have become erect ; narrow chests have expanded ; an uncertain step has become positive and elastic, and the whole bearing more manly."

Many young men who have spent a happy por- tion of their lives at Riverview, stand ready to give testimony concerning its excellence as a school for training boys.

Cottage Hill Seminary, was nearly contempo- rary in its establishment with the latter institutions. It was founded by Miss Lydia Booth, (who had for years held a prominent place among the thorough educators of girls in Poughkeepsie,) in a dwelling on Garden street, on the northern verge of the city, purchased for her use by her uncle Matthew Vassar, who afterwards founded Vassar College. The building was spacious and surrounded by ample grounds. It had once belonged to one of the Livingston family, and had acquired a little local fame for having sheltered the exiled Bourbon of the Orleans line, Louis Philippe, afterwards king of France, who was accompanied by Prince Talleyrand, the peerless diplomat, and political Vicar of Bray .* It stands on an elevated knoll overlooking much of the city and surrounding country.

Miss Booth was succeeded in charge of the school by Miss Arabella Bosworth, on her retire- ment from the Poughkeepsie Female Academy, and the latter, after an interval, by Prof. M. P. Jewett. Prof. Jewett purchased and reopened the Seminary in the spring of 1855, and during the five years of his management succeeded in placing it in the front rank of the schools of the time. Having been made his associate by Matthew Vassar in the development of his plans for the projection of a college for the higher education of females on a magnificent scale, Prof. Jewett sold the Seminary property and relinquished the school at the close of the summer term of 1860, in order that he might devote his whole time to that great labor. Rev. George T. Rider took the Seminary from the hands of Prof. Jewett, and continued it under the same name as an Episcopal church school for young women as late as 1872. He largely increased the sphere of its usefulness.

The College Preparatory School is the successor (in location) to Cottage Hill Seminary. It was established in September, 1878, by John Miley, at No. 23 South Liberty street. In May, 1879, it was removed to the Hooker place, in Market street, and from thence in May, 1880, to its present location, Cottage Hill, Mr. Miley having retained

its management to the present time. It is designed, unlike its predecessor, for the instruction of boys, having classical, scientific, English and primary de- partments. The average number of pupils is about sixty, about one-third of whom are accommodated with board.

The main building stands on Garden street, be- tween Mill and Mansion streets, in a very pleas- ant location, and in its arrangements and that of its grounds, resembles a large and elegant suburban residence. Connected with it by a covered way is another building, which is also used for the ac- commodation of pupils, and was formerly the resi- dence of Mr. Benson J. Lossing.

The Poughkeepsie Female Collegiate Institute now Cook's Collegiate Institute for Young Ladies, was founded in 1848, by Dr. Charles H. P. Mc- Lellan. Dr. Mclellan continued the school in successful operation for a little more than ten years, during which time the building was doubled in size, and a library, cabinets, and a complete set of philosophical apparatus added. He retired from its management on account of ill health at the close of 1860, and died April 2, 1862, aged sixty. In January, 1861, Rev. C. D. Rice purchased the property, and again added to its accommodations for pupils and to its play grounds, making the es- tablishment one of the most perfect for educational purposes. Under his management the prosperity of the school was even greater than before. He relinquished its charge in 1870, in which year Prof. G. W. Cook, Ph. D., and Miss Johnson pur- chased the property. After continuing it one year in partnership, Prof. Cook assumed and has since retained its entire management. The average num- ber of pupils in attendance is one hundred and fifty, about forty of whom are non-resident boarding pupils. The school has been very successful under its different managements.

Eastman Business College was founded in 1859, by Harvey G. Eastman, who was born in the town of Marshal, Oneida county, Nov. 16, 1832. He re- ceived a common school education, but when a young man became a pupil and afterwards a teacher in a commercial school taught by his uncle in Rochester. Mr. Eastman elaborated a system of business education, and on the 19th of Decem- ber, 1855, opened in Oswego the first commercial college of any prominence in this country. In the spring of 1858, he opened a similar institution in St. Louis, Mo., and had but just entered upon a promising business career, when an undesired pop- ularity, originating in an unpopular course of lec-

* Vassar College and its Founder, 58.

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CITY OF POUGHKEEPSIE.

tures instituted by him in connection with his school, which had also been a feature of his school in Oswego, constrained him to leave that city.

Mr. Eastman then selected the newly constituted city of Poughkeepsie as the scene of his future labors, and, having previously directed public at- tention to his projected enterprise through the means of thousands of circulars sent through the mails at St. Louis, arrived in the former city in October, 1859. He rented a room in the old Library building for seventy - five cents a week, and with tempo- rary desks started his school on the 3d of November of that year, with three students in attendance. He met with much opposition and distrust at first from a class of citizens who regarded him as an adventurer, and were loth to see merit in him or his system of instruction, but the school increased in patronage and favor, and soon required increased accommodations. In 1861, the number of students had increased to

one room to five distinct buildings, used for instruc- tion alone, and sixty-four teachers were employed besides numerous assistants. A secretary and six assistants were required to attend to the official correspondence, the average number of letters daily received and answered being from 300 to 500.

(SOUTH AVENUE APPROACH TO EASTMAN PLACE.)

500; in 1863, to 1,200, "every State, Territory and several foreign countries being represented ;" while in 1864-'65, the daily attendance had reached the extraordinary number of "more than 1,700 students."

In 1864, the college proper had increased from

(EASTMAN PLACE.)

Each building was supplied with a stationery store to supply students, and a bindery belonging to the college was devoted exclusively to ruling, making and binding the blank books used. The entire boarding capacity of the city was taxed to accom- modate this great number of transient young men, who filled up the churches, and by their support stimulated every trade and indus- try. At this time Mr. Eastman was one of the most extensive if not the largest advertiser in the United States. His newspaper advertising alone reached mam- mnoth proportions. He was the first advertiser bold enough to use an entire page of the Weekly Tribune, at an expense of $1,500 for a single insertion. He paid five New York papers $60,000 in one year, an investment which, he often asserted, returned him a profit of more than $100,000. He also distributed vast numbers of cata- logues, papers and circulars, which found their way to almost every section of the globe,

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HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY.

and brought him patronage from the remotest parts.

The college, which now numbers about 400 pupils, occupies a building on Washington, near Mill street. The building, which was formerly seventy-five by fifty feet, two stories high, and once the spiritual home of the Methodists, was enlarged in 1876 by a three-story rear addition of equal diniensions, and a two-story front addition, the lower part of which is used as a stationery depart- ment, and the upper part, as the general office of the institution. The upper floors of the original building and front addition are connected with the intermediate floor of the rear addition, thus making the main business floor one hundred and sixty-two feet in length and fifty feet in width. The lower floor of the original building, also of the rear addi- tion, which corresponds with it, are used as recita- tion rooms ; and the upper floor of the rear addi- tion as a department for special penmanship and telegraphy.

Mr. Eastman died July 13, 1878, at Denver, Colorado, whither he had gone for the benefit of his health. He was a man of prodigious energy, and through his enterprise became one of Pough- keepsie's most prominent citizens. He was ap- apointed a Commissioner of Charities for the Sec- ond district, June 17, 1867, and again March 19, 1873. He represented the 2d district of this Coun- ty in the Assembly in 1872, and again in 1874; and was elected Mayor of Poughkeepsie in March, 1871, and again in December, 1876. The school is continued under the presidency of E. White, with A. J. Cass as secretary, and nine instructors.

Vassar College* was incorporated January 18, 1861, under the name of Vassar Female College, but at the request of the trustees, in compliance with an expressed wish of its founder, the name was changed by the Legislature, February 1, 1867, by the omission of the word "Female." Of all Poughkeepsie's cherished educational institutions this reflects on it the highest honor and has given it the greatest renown.

Vassar College was founded and endowed through the munificence of the late Matthew Vassar, of whom specific mention has been made in the chap- ter on the manufactures of Poughkeepsie. Mr. Vassar, having no children to inherit his property, had long contemplated the application of a large portion of his estate to some benevolent object,

and in 1845, having visited Guy's Hospital in Lon- don, an institution founded by a kinsman more than a century before, and made himself familiar with its history and economic arrangements, returned home strongly impressed with the idea of establishing a similar institution in the place where he had accumulated his wealth. For years this idea, though it had acquired no definite shape, remaineda fixed purpose in his mind. Subsequently another

(BIRTHPLACE OF MATTHEW VASSAR.)

project claimed his attention, but he had, at first, less inclination to execute it. His niece, Miss Lydia Booth, ( a daughter of his sister Mariah,) who was a prominent educator in Poughkeepsie, and the founder of Cottage Hill Seminary, suggested "that he might be a substantial benefactor by appropriating a part of his wealth for the founding of an institution for the education of her sex, which should be of a higher order than any then existing." At a late period Miss Booth's noble idea was am- plified by Prof. M. P. Jewett, who succeeded to the management of Cottage Hill Seminary in 1855, and enjoying a warm friendship with Mr. Vassar, suggested to him that by founding an institution which should be to young women what Yale and Harvard are to young men, he might become a greater benefactor to his race then by any other act.

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History of Duchess county, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 80

Author: Smith, James H. (James Hadden); Cale, Hume H; Roscoe, William E Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason & Co. Number of Pages: 868

Author: Smith, James H. (James Hadden); Cale, Hume H; Roscoe, William E
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason & Co.
Number of Pages: 868