USA > New York > Ontario County > History of Ontario county, New York : with illustrations and family sketches of some of the prominent men and families > Part 26
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In September Geneva College began. The certificate holders who claimed that academic instruction should be continued were defeated, but only for the time being, for, on December 9, 1826, the executive committee of the Board of Trustees established a school (opened the following month), employing as principal U. M. Wheeler, the commit- tee being satisfied that it was expedient to establish a permanent academic school to which the holders of certificates might send on the terms of their subscriptions. The Academic School originated, then, as a concession to a demand-a demand which appears to have had no real foundation.
The Academic School went into operation June 3, 1827. It was abolished July 31, 1832. During the first two years of its existence it was kept on the ground floor of the Masonic Hall, a building erected in 1825 on the site of the original Geneva Academy, the lot being that on which now stands the session room of the First Presbyterian Church. From January 2, 1829, to the date of its discontinuance it was con- ducted in the building best known to the present generation as the Old Chapel, a wooden structure that stood ten or fifteen feet north of Geneva Hall.
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While under Masonic Hall the Academic School received as pupils both boys and girls, and was, in point of grade, essentially a primary school. During this period the number of pupils in attendance at any one time did not, probably, exceed fifty. A new era begins with the term which opened November 26, 1828. The roll ceases to show the names of girls, and the students are divided into two groups, the class- ical and the English, there being ten of the former and sixteen of the latter. The most noted names on the roll are the following : James R. Doolittle, Archibald C. Campbell, Butler G. Noble. The next term opened February 19, 1829, with more flattering prospects, thirty-two students being in attendance. In the following term, which began May 14, the names of fifty-eight students appear on the roll, and noticeable among them are those of Walter Ayrault and Anthony Schuyler. Henceforth the fortunes of the Academic School declined, and Novem- ber 10, 1830, the following resolution was adopted by the Board of Trustees :
Resolved, That all resolutions of this Board authorizing the payment of any salary or other compensation to the teachers of a preparatory school in Geneva be rescinded from and after the 17th instant.
The school was continued, however, by Mr. Walter T. Taylor, under permission from the Board of Trustees, as a private school, and so re- mained till January, 1832. The Board of Trustees then assumed con- trol again, employing a teacher, but in July of that year by resolution permanently discontinued the Academic School.
The teachers (i. e. those employed by the college) and their respect- ive terms of office were as follows : [The Rev.] U. M. Wheeler, class of 1826, from January, 1827, to November of the same year; [the Hon.] George Woodruff, class of 1829, from November, 1827, to January 30, 1828; Mr. R. D. H. Ycckley, class of 1834, from January, 1828, to February, 1829; [the Rev.] Seth Davis, class of 1827, from February, 1829, to November of the same year; from November, 1829, to May, 1830, Mr. Alfred Hall, tutor in the college, 1828-30, with Mr. Walter T. Taylor as assistant; from May to November of 1830, Mr. Taylor remaining as assistant, the Rev. Levi H. Corson; from January, 1832, to July of the same year, Mr. Festus Fowler, class of 1830.
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HOBART COLLEGE.1
The movement for the establishment in the State of New York, at some point west of Albany, of a college of liberal culture under Episco- pal auspices first found expression in a resolution adopted, upon the suggestion of the originator of the movement, the Rev. Amos G. Bald- win, by the trustees of Fairfield Academy, April 10, 1812, petitioning Trinity church, New York, for a grant of funds to that end. This peti- tion was not favorably received, but in the following year, acting upon another petition suggested by the Rev. Mr. Baldwin, the corporation of Trinity church founded in connection with the Fairfield Academy a Theological School. In 1818, however, Bishop Hobart, recognizing the importance, if not necessity, of having in the western portion of his great diocese a school of liberal culture, as well as a theological school, communicated to friends in Geneva his plan to transfer the Theological School from Fairfield to Geneva in connection with a "college and printing press," to be established there. In 1821 the transfer was made, the principal of the Theological School then being the Rev. Daniel McDonald, D.D, the steadfast coadjutor of Bishop Hobart in this edu- cational movement. In 1822, April 10, just ten years after the incep- tion of the movement, a plan for the foundation of a college of general culture having been formed and submitted, it was approved by the Re- gents of the University of the State of New York, and a provisional charter granted. In 1825 new and more satisfactory provisions for theological instruction having been devised, the Branch Theological School, as it was then styled, was abolished, and its endowment trans- ferred to the proposed college. In 1825, February 8, the conditions of the provisional charter having been complied with, a full charter was granted under the title " Geneva College," and in 1826 the first class was graduated.
By the terms of the original charter the corporation consisted of a Board of Trustees, empowered to perpetuate itself by its own action. In 1874, by amendment of the charter, the constitution of the Board of Trustees was entirely changed and all members, except members ex officio,2 made elective. Under the new arrangement the alumni of the
1 From the College Catalogue by permission.
2 There are two members ex officio ; the president of the College and the bishop of that diocese of the Protestant Episcopal Church which includes the college site.
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college are secured a constant representation of at least five members (one fourth of the whole number excluding members ex officio) in the board. A further amendment of the charter, made in 1891, enables the alumni to vote at the annual election by letter as well as in person. The whole number of alumni in the board for the current year is nine.
In the original endowment of the college, the principal item was a sum of money raised by subscription mainly in Geneva and adjacant villages and cities ; the other chief item being an annual allowance from the Society for Promoting Religion and Learning. Of the earlier ad- ditions to the permanent resources of the college, a noteworthy one was the benefaction, in 1851, of Trinity church, of New York, amounting to $3,000 annually. One of the results of this benefaction was the change in the following year of the corporate title of the college to Hobart Free College, which was further modified in 1860 to Hobart College. Since 185 1 the endowment fund has steadily grown through the thoughtful generosity of friends of the college and of liberal education, and for years, though the endowment has been by no means adequate for the constantly increasing wants of the college, it has, nevertheless, proved sufficient for the maintenance, without the incurring of debt, of a high standard in all the essential departments of college instruction. Of recent bequests the most considerable are those of Mrs. Elizabeth S. Seymour, of Buffalo, Alanson Sutherland, of Dunkirk, Peter Richards, of Geneva, the Rev. J. F. Potter, of Pompton, N. J., and the late James Simons, of Geneva, the latter bequest amounting to between thirty and forty thousand dollars.
The following professorships represent special endowments: The Charles Startin Professorship, founded in 1825 by Bishop Hobart out of a legacy left by Mrs. Sarah Startin, of New York; the Hobart Professor- ship, founded in 1852 by gifts from friends of the college on the promise of a gift of equal amount from the Society for the Promotion of Religion and Learning ; the Horace White Professorship, founded in 1861 by the legacy of Horace White of Syracuse; the Prendergast Professorship, founded in 1862 by Mrs. Deborah Prendergast of Mayville ; the Chap- laincy, founded in 1862 by the late John H. Swift of New York.
In recent years the college plant has been greatly enlarged and im- proved. In particular, during the last decade, there have been added
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the south building for laboratories and recitation rooms, the Chaplain's House, the Gallagher or Ayrault grounds and buildings, the Rose house and lot, the Gymnasium and Alumini Hall, and the fire-proof Library building ; while the library itself, by increase in the number of its vol- umes and in its endowment, has been made a more important factor than ever in college life. The general improvement in the college campus and the condition of the college buildings is also noticeable, while three of the college fraternities, Sigma Phi, Kappa Alpha, Sigma Chi, have recently acquired handsome chapter houses on Main street.
At its first meeting after its organization in 1825, the Board of Trus- tees pledged itself to maintain perpetually in the college in addition to the usual course of classical studies pursued in simular institutions, an English or Scientific Course in direct reference to the practical business of life. This was the first instance of action by a college of liberal cul- ture to diversify its curriculum by the offer of a course other than, and additional to, the customary classical course.
Equipment .- The grounds on which are grouped all the college build- ings are a little over fifteen acres in extent. They are situated on Main street in the most beautiful portion of the village, three quarters of a mile from the business center. To the east the prospect opens upon Seneca Lake, at this point two miles or more in width, while to the west it includes the ridge, so called, with its lawns and villas. The col- lege land extends down to the lake, which is here ninety feet below the level of the street. The original college grounds embraced only village lot No. 35, three-quarters of an acre in area, on which stands Geneva Hall.
Geneva Hall, the oldest of the college buildings, was begun in 1821 and finished in the spring of 1822. The funds for its erection were raised by subscription among the inhabitants of Geneva and its vicinity. The building is seventy-four feet by forty-one, and three stories in height. The stone used in its construction was brought from the south end of Seneca Lake. In the history of the college Geneva Hall has served various purposes. At present it is fitted for dormitories. The rooms are arranged in suites consisting of a sitting-room and two bed-rooms, each suite being designed for two students. The building is provided with gas, water and steam heat.
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Trinity Hall, a gift to the college from the Protestant Episcopal So ciety for the Promotion of Religion and Learning, was erected in 1837-8. Architecturally it matches Geneva Hall and is arranged in the same manner and used for the same purpose. The stone employed in the construction of this building is the Waterloo limestone.
St. John's Chapei, which attests the memorable interest taken in the college by William B. Douglas, esq., of Rochester, is a Gothic struct- ure in the Second Pointed Style, erected in 1862-3. It is built of Wa- terloo limestone and is twenty-six feet by seventy- nine internal meas- urement. It has a massive porch on the south side, and on the north side, at the east end, a robing room of octagonal form, connected with the chancel. From the top of the walls rises a steep and ornamental roof of slate surmounted with a ridge crest. Within the roof is open and richly moulded. The seats are parallel with the side walls and rise from the aisle. All the furniture is of black walnut. The windows throughout are glazed with stained glass, the work of Henry Sharp of New York. The chancel window-a window much admired-memo- rializes the founder of the college. The font, a beautiful piece of carv- ing in Caen stone, the communion vessels of richly chased silver, the serv- ice books and book-marks and other chancel furnishings are severally the gifts of friends. The large brass cross and vases are memorials of the Rev. Dr. Metcalf, presented by alumni of the college. Over the entrance to the chapel is a sun dial with the legend : " Percunt et im- putantur."
The Astronomical Observatory stands in the southwestern portion of the campus. The building, which was erected in 1870, is an octagon tower seventeen feet in diameter, with two wings at right angles. The octagon is furnished with a moving dome, and has as a support for the telescope a brick and stone pedestal six feet in diameter. One of the wings is designed for transit observation ; the other for a computing room and library.
The boat house is at the water line of the college grounds, and is but a minute's walk from the college buildings It is a frame structure, fifty feet by thirty- one, in two stories, protected on the south by a sub- stantial stone pier, and was erected in 1877. The cost of construction was largely defrayed by funds raised by ladies of Geneva.
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The South Building, designed especially for the chemical and physical departments, was erected in 1879-80 from funds contributed by friends of the college, the principal sum coming from Mrs. Julia Douglas Mer- ritt through Mr. William B. Douglas. The building is constructed of Waterloo stone, point dressed, and is thirty-five feet by seventy, two stories in height, with a gable roof. It contains in the basement a work- ing laboratory for metallurgy and general chemistry, and on the first floor a large octagonal lecture room for the chemical department, and side rooms for offices, balance and apparatus; and on the second floor for the use of the department of physics, a lecture room similar to that on the first floor, with working rooms adjoining. The building also contains two lecture rooms for other departments of college instruction. In the gable on the north side of the building are mounted the college clock and chimes, the gift of the Misses Cammann of Geneva.
The Library Building is a substantial fire proof edifice in the early English style of architecture, with basement and sub-basement. It stands forty-eight feet west of the chapel, and architecturally harmon- izes with that building. It is constructed of Waterloo stone with On- ondaga limestone trimmings, and is sixty-four feet by thirty six, and was erected in 1885-6. It is furnished with galleries and is arranged in alcoves, each alcove being suitably equipped for reading and study. The furniture and the woodwork throughout, except the floors, are of polished ash. The building is well lighted and is heated with steam. The basement is fitted as a lecture room For this long needed acces- sion to the college plant, the college is indebted to many friends, and especially to Mrs. Julia Douglas Merritt through Mr. William B. Doug- las, the senior trustee. Conspicuous in the building are the many tab- lets of engraved brass which have been erected to perpetuate the names of benefactors or of their kindred, and the memory of benefactions to the library and the college. The building is constructed with reference to extension to the north at a future date, when the present porch will be- come the center of the completed work.
Alumni Hall, erected in 1886-7, principally from funds contributed by the alumni, is a substantial brick building, eighty eight feet by twenty-seven, with an extension on the north side twenty-one and one- half feet by fourteen for hall and stairway. It stands on the south line
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of the college quadrangle, half way between the south building and the astronomical observatory. It is four stories in height. The first two stories are occupied by the gymnasium. The third story is fitted for lecture rooms with special adaptation to the wants of the departments of mathematics and drawing. The rooms on this floor when thrown open form a hall for the use of the alumni at their meetings. The fourth story is devoted to the geological and mineralogical cabinet and the museum.
College Residences .- There are six buildings for members of the Fac- ulty on the college grounds. Additional residences are also owned by the college. The practice has been introduced of leasing lots to officers of the college with permission to build thereon. In 1885 the college purchased the Gallagher mansion and grounds. This purchase was pe- culiarly important as completing the college site. The house has un- dergone extensive alterations and enlargement, and is at present occu- pied by the president of the college. In 1883-4, a chaplain's house, a brick building with stone trimmings, was erected on the lot adjoining the chapel on the north. The college is indebted for this beautiful resi- dence to Mrs. Merritt through Mr. W. B. Douglas. The Hale house, first acquired in 1840, the hospitable home of Presidents Hale, Jackson, Stone, Rankine and Hinsdale, and for a time the office of President Pot- ter, is now the residence of a member of the Faculty. The college resi- dence erected under lease by Professor McDaniels, stands on the lake side south of the Hale house. The house occupied by Professor Rose passed into possession of the college November 7, 1891, by purchase. The senior professor occupies the dwelling which adjoins Professor Rose's residence on the north. It was the second building erected on the college grounds, and has within a few years been enlarged and im- proved.
The Physical Laboratory is in the second story of the south building, which was erected for the special accommodation of the scientific de- partments of the college. In addition to the general apparatus belong- ing to the physical department, and especially designed for lecture illustration, there is another collection in the physical labaratory for de- termination of physical units and constants, comprising in part delicate balances, apparatus for laws of flexure, strength of materials, modulus
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of elasticity, fluid pressure, specific gravity, and for determinations of density, mass and volume, and for standardizing thermometers ; also for measurement of electrical and magnetical currents by various forms of dynamometers, ammeters, volt meters, tangent galvanometers, etc. The various forms of batteries are also well represented, and also motors and dynamos, with armatures of the ring and drum type. The re- sources and equipment of the laboratory are quite adequate to pre- pare the students for the more advanced work of the special scientific schools.
The Chemical Laboratory, which is in the basement of the building that contains the physical laboratory, is fitted up with tables for indi- vidual work. Each table is provided with gas and water and all the ordinary reagents. There is also provided for general use all the ap- paratus necessary for quantitative as well as qualitative work. In con- nection with the laboratory is a large dark room admirably adapted to photography, for which study special facilities are offered.
The chemical and the physical laboratory are largely indebted for their efficient equipment to the liberality of the late William Constable Pierrepont, of Pierrepont Manor.
The large observatory is furnished with the following instruments :
An equatorial telescope, ten feet focal length and nearly nine inches aperture. It is driven by clockwork, and furnished with spectroscopic attachment.
A transit instrument, with electro- chronographic register.
A sidereal clock ; a mean time chronometer and a repeating circle, several sextants, and artificial horizon.
The equatorial telescope was procured from funds contributed for the purpose mainly by Mrs. Dean Richmond and the late Samuel G. Cor- nell, of Buffalo. The sidereal clock was the gift of the late Albert Gal- latin Heminway, of Palmyra, a graduate of the college in the class of 1843.
Students in practical astronomy receive instruction in the use of the instruments and in actual observation, and to facilitate this a small ob- servatory has been erected near the college buildings. It contains an equatorial telescope of five inches aperture, furnished with three microm- eters ; one spider line and double-image (rock crystal), and a solar
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prism ; and spectroscope, all driven by clock work, as is also the A. R. circle.
The Geological and Mineralogical Cabinet embraces an extensive and valuable collection of minerals, including duplicates of the New York State Geological Survey, also a paleontological collection amply suf- ficient for the purpose of instruction, with a set of the well known Ward casts of celebrated fossils. These collections in general geology, miner- alogy, paleontology and conchology are displayed in the fourth story of the Museum Hall, an open room eighty-eight feet by twenty-seven, with a side extension twenty- two feet by fourteen, and are sufficiently extensive to fill the entire room. A beginning has also been made towards a museum of natural history and antiquities. Gifts to the mu- seum or any of the cabinets will be welcome and will be suitably acknowledged and cared for. For the Ward casts and valuable addi- tions to the geological and mineralogical cabinet, the college is indebted to Mr. William B. Douglas, who added to these gifts a sum of money to be expended in the purchase of illustrative scientific works. The college is further indebted to Mr. Douglas for providing during the past year the much needed addition of cases for the museum.
The Botanical Cabinet is also in Alumni Hall. It consists chiefly of an herbarium of about five thousand species, late the property of the Rev. H. M. Denslow, of Seneca Falls. The herbarium contains many species collected by the late owner in Connecticut, Vermont and Michi- gan, also many from the collections of Curtis, Canby, Jones and Rusby in the South and West, besides many from the West Indies, England, Germany and France. It is particularly rich in certain orders, as the Filices, Orchidaceæ, Boraginacea and Rosacea, which have been made the subject of special study. The specimens are all mounted on good white paper, and arranged in genus covers, with full labels within and without. The whole collection is arranged systematically in special cases, according to the " Genera Plantarum " of Hooker and Bentham. The provision for illustration and demonstration in the department of botanical instruction includes also a full series of the admirable botanical charts of Professor Denslow.
The Library contains over twenty-nine thousand volumes and three thousand pamphlets, including one thousand three hundred and fifty-four
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volumes on deposit. Its characteristic excellence is the extent to which in the various departments of instruction in the college it is supplied with the standard works and those which represent the latest and best thought in the several departments. In recent years the library has grown steadily and with relative rapidity. Since November 19, 1885 -the date of the fire which destroyed the building in which the library was then quartered, and from which it was soon to be removed to the present fire-proof building-there have been added by gift and by pur- chase over fifteen thousand volumes, a large portion of the increase being by purchase.
The scholarships and prizes offered to the students of the college represent a capital sum of $80,000. Three prize scholarships, given by the college itself, are assigned yearly by competition and are of the annual value of two hundred and eighty, one hundred and seventy-five and one hundred and fifty dollars respectively. Besides these, there are the Ayrault scholarships, representing $54,000, the Henry Laight and John Watts scholarships, representing $2,000, the Pierrepont scholarships, representing $6,000, and the Alanson Sutherland prize scholarships, representing $2,000. The latest addition to the number of scholarships is one of $5,000, established by Mrs. Demorest, of Buffalo. The prizes are those established respectively by the late Horace White, of Syracuse, by the children of the late Augusta H. Cobb, and by the Rev. Walter Thompson, of Garrison's.
Succession of Presidents-Jasper Adams, 1826-28 ; Benjamin Sharp Mason, S.T.D., 1830-35; Benjamin Hale, S.T.D., 1836-58 ; Abner Jackson, S.T.D , LL.D., 1858-67; Jacob Kent Stone, S.T.D., 1868-69; James Rankine, S.T.D., 1869-71; Maunsell Van Rensselaer, S.T.D., LL.D., 1871-76; Willian Stevens Perry, S.T.I)., 1876; Robert Gra- ham Hinsdale, S.T.D., 1876-83 ; Eliphalet Nott Potter, S.T.D., LL.D., 1884.
Presidents Pro Tempore-Daniel McDonald, S.T.D., 1825-26; William Dexter Wilson, S.T.D., LL.D., L.H.D., 1867-68; Hamilton Lanphere Smith, M.A., LL.D., 1883-84.
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