USA > New York > Monroe County > Rochester > History of Rochester and Monroe county, New York, from the earliest historic times to the beginning of 1907 > Part 33
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board of education, had taken an active part for several years past in bringing free secondary edu- cation to the youth of Rochester.
The development of this school into our present high school systemn is an interesting chapter in the history of our city. The school was organized under the general act of 1850. In 1861 the board of education applied to the regents of the univer- sity of the state of New York for a charter incor- porating the "Rochester High School." A similar application was made a year later, asking for its incorporation under the name of the "Rochester Free Academy." This was granted, and it re- tained this name until within the past ten years, when it was again changed to the Rochester high school. The East high school, now on Alexander street, is its immediate successor. In 1874 the building now called the municipal building was erected and dedicated with much ceremony, and for many years thereafter Rochester boasted of having one of the finest high schools in the state. As an indication of the undercurrent of opposi- tion to this school, we find that as late as 1877, twenty years after its organization, a proposition was made to the board to charge an annual tui- tion fee of twenty dollars. This was not adopted. The next year the question of abolishing the free academy altogether was discussed by the publie. A little later an attempt was made to make it a central school for the two highest grades of the grammar schools. Much excitement was aroused over this inatter, but when at the next election the promoters of this scheme were retired from office all further direct attempts to cripple the free academy were abandoned.
It would be interesting, if space would perinit. to trace the development of courses of study and the methods and management of the schools dur- ing all these years. It must suffice, however, that mention be briefly made of some of the more im- portant special features as we find them gradually incorporated in our school system. Evening schools early engaged the attention of the board of educa- tion. Rapidly growing industrial conditions and the employment of many youth of a tender age were depriving a multitude of even the rudiments of an education. In the winter of 1853-54 the first one in Rochester was organized. Two years later there were two, with a registration of 817 pupils and nine teachers. The superintendent re-
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ported that they "must hereafter be regarded as a portion of the school system." With some irreg- ularity evening schools have continued to the pres- ent time. As now organized, they have been un- interrupted since 1886. Since the time Superin- tendent Mack paid so high a tribute to woman's fitness, Rochester has taken a growing interest in the qualification of its teachers. As far back as the carliest movement toward a high school was made, one of the arguments in its favor was its need in the preparation of teachers. We may as- sume, however, that preparation then meant an advanced education ouly. The idea of normal in- struction is of a later origin. In 1863 a "normal class" was proposed and three years later one was organized, but it was soon abandoned. In 1859 the superintendent recommended the establish- ment of a city normal school. In -1883, under a state law passed the year before, providing for the instruction of teachers in academies and union schools, a normal training class was established and has since developed into the normal training school on Scio street. Rochester is the pioneer city of the state, if not of the nation, in her es- tablishment of free public kindergartens in con- nection with the schools. In 1884 the superin- tendent of schools strongly urged the experiment. In 1887 through private contributions one was or- ganized in a public school and served as a train- ing class for kindergarten teachers. The next year six were authorized at public expense, and long before most cities had moved at all in the matter each public school in this city was equipped with a kindergarten.
The most important charter amendments of re- cent times, so far as the schools are concerned, were those that went into effect in December, 1898, and Jannary, 1900. The two combined have com- pletely reorganized school administration. The passage of these aets was due to an aroused pub- lic sentiment against politics in the management of the schools, an evil growing in magnitude since the prophetic utterance of Mr. Mack in 1844. Un- der these acts, the schools are now administered by a board of education of five members, elected at large, two of whom may be women, A large min- imum appropriation is made by law, and their proceedings are not subject to either approval or veto by any other branch of the city government. Practically unhampered in its work, this newly
constituted board has crected entirely new five grammar school buildings, costing over 8300,000, and two high schools, at an expense of about $700,- 000, besides having other building operations in hand which will cost upward of $400,000 addi- tional to complete. The report of the board of ed- ucation for the year 1906 shows that there are now thirty-three elementary schools and two high schools. Besides these there are five elementary evening schools and one evening high school, which are open three evenings each week for a term of six months. There were registered in all the schools 29,693 pupils, 5,511 of them in the evening schools; six hundred teachers were employed in the day schools, and the total expenditure for the year was $857,824. .
Such, briefly told, is the story of the origin and growth of Rochester's school system. Estimating the work of the founders by its usefulness and in- fluence to-day, we have every reason to be proud of onr inheritance and of the memory of that splen- did, almost unbroken, line of men and women whose labor in the cause of universal education is now bearing fruit.
THE UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER."
Like nearly all institutions of higher learning in Europe and America, the University of Roch- ester was founded as a result of religious devotion to the cause of education. As early as 1817 the Baptists of the state of New York established at Hamilton, in Madison county, a school for the training of candidates for the Christian ministry. The demand for Christian education, by young men who had not the ministry in view, led in 1839 to the enlargement of the scope of the Hamilton Literary and Theological Institution, and in 1846 the two classes of students were definitely sep- arated by the organization of Madison university. With this accomplishment the Baptists of the state began to feel that their educational undertaking should be in a place more easy of access than Ham- ilton and one destined to a larger growth. Roch- ester was chosen by them as the most promising field for such larger endeavor and the proposi- tion was warmly welcomed by citizens of Rochester irrespective of creed.
*This sketch of the university was prepared by President Rush Rhees.
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The first plan was to remove the college and theological seminary from Hamilton to Rochester. Legal obstacles, however, interfered. But the in- terest of all classes in Rochester in the project for an institution of higher learning in their city had become so great that it was deemed best to proceed with the undertaking .*
A charter was accordingly sought from the re- gents of the university of the state of New York. This application was favorably considered by the regents, subject to certain conditions, on January 31st, 1850; a formal charter, valid for five years, was provisionally granted on February 14th, 1851, which was to be made perpetual when a certain amount of property in buildings and endowment had been secured. This provisional charter was further extended for a second period of five years on February 1st, 1856, and was made perpetual on January 10th, 1861.
The charter so granted was exceedingly broad. It provided for a self-perpetuating corporation consisting of twenty-four trustees .**
This corporation was entrusted "with all the privileges and powers conceded to any college in this state, pursuant to the provisions of the sixth section of the statute entitled 'an act relative to the university,' passed April 5th, 1813." While the University of Rochester was founded as a re- sult of the earnest devotion of Baptists to the cause of higher education, its charter recognized no denominational control, and other denomina- tions were represented from the first in its board of trustees and its faculty. It was most natural that Baptists should from the first predominate
*The desire of Rochester for a college was recognized by the legislature 10 an act passed May 8th, 1×46, which was entitled "An act to incorporate the University of Rochester." The act names twenty men to constitute this corporation, and provides that "unless said corporation shall organize and commence a school for instruction in literature or science, with at least two professors. besides the chancellor or president, withio three years from the date of this act, its corporate powers shall cease." Among the men designated to form this corporation are Addison Gardioer, Moses Chapin, E. Darwin Smith, Charles M. Lee. Selah Mathews, James S. Wadsworth.
** The original trustees were Frederick Whittlesey. WUliam Pitkin, Everard Peck, David R. Barton, Elijsh F. Smith, Elon Huntington, Edwin Pancost, William N. Sage, of Rochester; William L. Marcy, John N. Wilder, Friend Humphrey, Ira Harris, Smith Sheldon, of Albany; William R. Williams, Robert Kelly, of New York: Robert R. Raymond, of Syracuse: Heory Tower, of Waterville; Seneca B. Burchard, of Hamilton; John Munro, Alonso Wheelock, of Elbridge; James Edmunds, of Yaten; Roswell S. Burrows, of Albion: Rawson Harmon, of Wheatland, and V. R .Hotelikiss, of Buffalo. It is no depreca. tion of the meritorious efforts of others to say that Mr. Wilder. who up to that time had been a resident of Albany, but who afterward became an influential citizen of Rochester, is. more than any other one person, entitled to the credit of establishing the university in this city.
among its trustees, but that board has recently made formal declaration that denominational co'1- siderations do not control in the choice of trus- tees, or officers, or members of its faculty. The institution cherishes, however, a filial loyalty to the self-sacrificing Christian devotion and earnest largemindedness which gave it birth.
The legal obstacles which prevented the trans- fer of Madison university to Rochester did not check an extensive migration of students and teachers to the new college. Consequently, when the classes were organized on the first Monday in November, 1850, there was a faculty of five pro- fessors, three of whom had served at Madison uni- versity for many years, and these began their in- struction with fifty-nine students, of whom six were seniors, twelve juniors, ten sophomores and thirty-one freshmen. This enrollment was in- creased during the year, so that at the first Com- mencement on July 9th, 1851, the new college grad- uated a class of ten students.
The plans adopted by the trustees in Septem- ber, 1850, provided for a faculty of six professors. with such additional tutors as might be found necessary. The first faculty consisted of five pro- fessore, namely, A. C. Kendrick, D. D., professor of Greek; J. F. Richardson, A. M., professor of Latin ; John H. Raymond, A. M., professor of his- tory and belles lettres; Chester Dewey, M. D, D. D., LL. D., professor of the natural sciences, and E. Peshine Smith, acting professor of mathe- matics and natural philosophy. Mr. Smith's ap- pointment was a temporary one and the chair of mathematics and natural philosophy was formal- ly filled in the autumn of 1851 by the election to that professorship of Lieutenant Isaac F. Quin- by, U. S. A., who had already served as assistant professor at West Point. The sixth professorship in the plans adopted by the trustees was one of mental, moral and political science, and it was re- served for the president of the university when he should be appointed. Such an appointment was not made until 1853, when Martin Brewer Ander- son was elected to the presidency. In the interim instruction in mental and moral philosophy was given by Professor John S. Maginnis, of the Roch- ester Theological seminary. This seminary, while distinct from the beginning in organization and control, was the twin sister of the university, be- ing a result of the same movement which founded
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the latter. For several years the two institutions occupied the same building, their catalogues were often circulated under the same cover and the list of the faculty in the first four catalogues of the university contains the name of Thomas J. Co- nant, D. D., professor of Hebrew. The two insti- tutions have since that time developed more inde- pendently, yet they are conscious of kinship and work together with cordial good will.
The problem of housing a college which sprang at once into so vigorous a life was solved for the time being by the lease and later the purchase of the old United States Hotel, on West Main street. There for eleven years the university and the seminary worked together, and there not n few of the early students of the university passed their college days. After 1861 the seminary pur- chased this building and continued to occupy it until the removal to its present site on East ave- nue in 1869. The university trustees regarded the Main street home as temporary, and as early as 1852 a committee was appointed "to select and se- cure a site for the permanent location of the col- lege edifices," and a year later Azariah Boody, a recently elected member of the board, presented to the university a tract of eight acres, constituting the northern third of the present campus. In 1857 the state legislature appropriated $25,000 to be expended in books, philosophical apparatus and university buildings, on condition that a like suin be raised by subscription from other sontres. This condition was met by the gift of $25,000 by General John F. Rathbone of Albany for a library fund. Two years later construction was commenced on the first of the present build- ings. In 1861 this building was completed at a cost of about $40,000, and was named by the trus- tees Anderson hall. The site selected for the campus was objected to by some as too remote from the center of the city. Alternative sites were considered in other parts of the city-West avenue, Lake avenue, St. Paul street, Mt. Hope avenue. In view of objections at the time to its remote- ness, the fact is interesting that at the present time the campus is near the center of population of the city.
Doubtless the remoteness of that early time had much to do with the forming of a plan to estab- lish a residence section near the college. The uni- versity bought from Mr. Boody seventeen acres of
land, lying south of the tract which he had given; and, reserving his gift for a campus, they laid out the rest of the land in building lots, providing, however, a broad parkway approach to the campus from what is now University avenue. The plan for these building lots was filed with the county clerk and may now be seen in his office. In accord- ance with this plan five lots were sold on Prince street, three of which were built upon and thus passed out of the control of the trustees. Two of the lots originally sold early came again into the possession of the university.
For many years Anderson hall was the only building and served for all college purposes, ex- cepting that of a residence hall. The trustees from the first opposed the plan of gathering stu- dents in dormitories. Not a few friends of the university regard this as an error in policy, since it scattered the students about the town and hin- dered that full development of student friendship which constitutes no small part of the value of A college experience. It is understood that the pres- ent administration proposes to ereet dormitories on the campus whenever funds for the purpose become available. In 1868 the Van Zandt house on Prince street, with four acres of land, was purchased, largely by subscription from Rochester, for a presidential residence. In 1871 Hiram Sib- ley offered to give the university a fire-proof build- ing for a library on the condition that the citi- zens of Rochester should have therein the fullest privileges which are practicable in a library de- voted to the purposes of a college. These privileges are being constantly increased and the library grows annually more worthy of the building gen- erously provided for it. The building was begun in 1872 and completed in 1877 at a cost of $100,- 000. In 1904 Hiram W. Sibley supplemented his father's generosity by expending $15,000 in en- larging the capacity and modernizing the fur- niture of the library. He also presented to the university a fine portrait bust of his father. In 1905 he still further enlarged the usefulness of the library by providing a unique and very com- plete collection of musical scores and musical lit- erature, which is available for circulation for all residents of Rochester. In 1907 the university library was registered under the education depart- ment of the state as a public reference library. Sibley hall contains at present, in addition to the
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library, the famous Ward collection of geology and mineralogy and the geological lecture room and laboratory. The third building to be put upon the campus was the chemical laboratory, built ir 1886 at a cost of $25,000 by Mortimer F. Reyn- olds, as a memorial to his brother, William A. Reynolds. In 1900 a gymnasium was built at a cost of $28,000, which was subscribed for the most part by alumni of the university. In 1906 new laboratories for the already vigorous departments of physics and biology were provided by George Eastman at a cost of $78,000. This building is fully equipped with most modern facilities and apparatus and marks a new era in the development of the university; for following close upon Mr. Eastman's gift came the offer of Andrew Carnegie to provide $100,000 for a building for applied sci- ence, on condition that a like amount be added by others to the endowment of the university. In 1904 the trustees erected a central heating sta- tion on the campus, from which all the buildings, excepting the president's house, are heated.
The first president of the university, Martin B. Anderson, LL. D., L. H. D., was elected in 1853 and continued to serve the institution as president for thirty-five years and as professor of political economy for two years longer. He died in 1890 at the age of seventy-five years, greatly mourned by all Rochester and by all the alumni. The gen- eral regard in which he was held has enduring ex- pression in the fine bronze statue, the work of Guernsey Mitchell of Rochester, which was erected in 1905 upon the campus. He was succeeded in the presidency by David Jayne Hill, L.L. D., who guided the affairs of the institution until 1896, when he resigned and entered the service of the United States, first 'as assistant secretary of state under President Mckinley and later as minister plenipotentiary to Switzerland and then to Hol- land, being recently appointed ambassador to Ger- many. The third president, Rush Rhces, D. D., I.L. D., entered upon his office in 1900 and con- tinues the executive head of the university. Dur- ing the interval between the close of President Hill's administration and the coming of President Rhees the work of the university was efficiently conducted by the faculty under the acting presi- dency first of Professor Samuel A. Lattimore ( 1897-1898), and then of Professor Henry F. Burton (1898-1900).
The men who sought the charter for the new university in 1850 had no thought of simply add- ing one to the existing educational undertakings. The provisional charter of February 14th, 1851, re- cites that the applicants had "prayed for the grant of a charter for the establishment of an institu- tion of the highest order for scientific and elassieal education." The order of these words had high significance at the time in which they were ut- tered. For that time was one of great discussion concerning the merits and shortcomings of the traditional classical college curriculum. At the first informal meeting of the trustees, held May 13th, 1850, a committee was appointed to report upon a plan of instruction. This committee con- sisted of Robert Kelly, William R. Williams, Fred- crick Whittlesey, from the trustees, and Chester Dewey, Thomas J. Conant, A. C. Kendrick and J. H. Raymond, of the first faculty of the new college. The significance of the report, which wa+ adopted by the trustees September 16th, 1860, was that it was one of the earliest declarations of faith in the thorough study of modern languages and of modern science, even of applied science, as a means for "the regular, even. general culture of the mind," and in accordance therewith the first faculty was organized, providing from the outset for two courses, classical and scientific, of equiva- lent dignity and value.
This proved, however. to be a long look ahead. In 1853 President Anderson was charged with the task of guiding the development of the new institution, and in his inaugural address* he made it clear that he was a warm defender of the tradi- tional classical curriculum although he demanded a new spirit in the treatment of those studies. For gerund-grinding in any form he had no patience. He was quick to appreciate the eriticism of the actual results of the work of the American eollege and he was ready to recognize the value of % knowledge of the results and the generalization of modern science, but he was insistent that the end of a liberal education is to produce efficient manhood, and for that regarded humanistic studies -linguistic, historical, economical, political and philosophical-as the supreme means. In this it will be seen that President Anderson was essential- ly progressive. He regarded himself as a friend
"The End and Means of a Liberal Education, Rochester, 1654.
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of science, but what he called "the sciences of mind" far transcended for him what he called "the sciences of matter." So it happened that while under his administration the institution did maintain a scientific course to which students were admitted without preparation in Latin or Greek, the whole force of the university life was devoted to "the sciences of mind." That that force was effectively spent is proved by the fact that every student in the college received an indelible in- pression that it is a man's obligation, and supreme- ly an educated man's obligation, to "bring things to pass." Dr. Anderson's strength was in calling out for his students the forces of efficient man- hood. The college did not grow greatly in num- bers, nor rapidly in resources, but it established and maintained a reputation for turning out men of power and efficiency, and thus realized in large part President Anderson's ideal of the end of liberal culture.
During this carly period three members of the board of trustees, in particular, were potent friends of the study of science as a means of lib- cral culture; they were Robert Kelly, who was chairman of the committee which proposed the plan on which the course of study was organized ; Dr. H. W. Dean, who had chiefly to do with the development of a modern laboratory for chemistry, and Dr. Edward M. Moore, revered by all his fcl- low-citizens as one of the foremost men of learn- ing in his time. The names of Professors Chester Dewey, Henry A. Ward, Samuel A. Lattimore. Harrison E. Webster, and H. L. Fairchild indicate the competency of the instruction which was of- fered. It was not until the administration of President Hill, however, that instruction in the methods and processes, as well as the principles and results of modern science, had full recogni- tion as a means of liberal culture.
To "the sciences of mind" Dr. Anderson and his faculty gave chief emphasis. The president himself trained the students in mental and moral philosophy, and political science and economics. Beside him there grew up a man, still strong and of highest influence, Professor W. C. Morey, who began as teacher of Latin, then turned to history, and at length developed a course in political science and economics which is unique for strength and value in the development of intelligent citizens. The classics were taught with a rich human in-
terest by Professors Kendrick and Forbes, Rich- ardson and Burton; the modern languages and literatures found a noble advocate in the beloved Professor A. H. Mixer ; to train in the use of Eng- lish and to give acquaintance with its literary treasures was the congenial task of Professor Gil- more; while strong men disciplined the students by means of mathematics, General I. F. Quinby, Professor O. II. Robinson, and Professor George 1). Olds. These names, with those given above, do not complete the list of instructors who made the college what it was. They do give evidence, how- ever, of the quality of strength which made the training at Rochester significant during the long administration of its great first president.
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