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 35
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HISTORY OF ROCHESTER AND MONROE COUNTY.
Mich .; Cyrus F. Paine, of Rochester; Ezra R. of funds, of any significance, intrusted to its care, Andrews, of Rochester; Daniel A. Woodbury, of has ever occurred. Rochester; Andrew J. Townson, of Rochester; Henry A. Strong, of Rochester, and Gershom M. Peters, of Cincinnati, Ohio.
The seminary instruction was for some years given in the buildings occupied by the University of Rochester. In 1869, however, the erection of Trevor hall, at an expense of $42,000, to which John B. Trevor, of Yonkers, was the largest donor, put the institution for the first time in possession of suitable dormitory accommodations. In 1879 Rockefeller hall, costing $39,000, was built by John D. Rockefeller. It contains & spa- cious fire-proof room for library as well as lecture rooms, museum and chapel, and furnishes ample and admirable accommodation for the teaching work of the seminary. In addition to these build- ings, the German Students' Home, purchased in 1874 at a cost of $20,000, and rebuilt in 1890 at a cost of $37,000, furnishes for the German de- partment a dormitory and boarding hall, together with chapel, lecture rooms, reading-room and gymnasium.
The library of the seminary is one of great value for theological investigation. It embraces the whole collection of Neander, the great Ger- man church historian, which was presented to the seminary in 1853 by the late Roswell S. Burrows, of Albion. It also contains in great part the exegetical apparatus of the late Dr. Horatio B. Hackett. Valuable additions have been made to it from the "Bruce fund" of $25,000, sub- scribed in 1872 by John M. Bruce, of Yonkers, and further additions from this source are ex- pected. The subscription in 1879 of $25,000, by William Rockefeller, has furnished means for extensive enlargement, so that the library now numbers over 34,000 volumes, and it is well pro- vided in all the various departments of theology. In 1880, the "Sherwood fund," contributed by the late Rev. Adiel Sherwood, D. D., of St. Louis, Mo., furnished the means for beginning a museum of biblical geography and archæology, intended to provide, in object lessons, valuable aids for the study of the Holy Land, its customs and its physical features. The financial management of the board of trustees has been such that no loss
The results of the work of the seminary can never be measured by arithmetic. As its purpose has been to make its graduates men of thinking ability and of practical force, as well as students and preachers, it has leavened the Baptist denom- ination with its influence, and has done much to give an aggressive, independent, manly tone to the ministry in general. The names of its former students are enough to show that its training has combined in equal proportions the intellectual and the spiritual, the theoretical and the practical.
During the forty-five years of the seminary's existence, and up to the present time (December, 1906), 1,753 persons have been connected with the institution as students, of whom 1,352 have attended upon the English and 403 upon the German department. Of the 1,352 in the English department, 1,054 have been graduates of colleges; 123 colleges and more than fifty-two states and countries have furnished students to the seminary ; 897 persons have completed the full seminary course, including the study of the Hebrew and Greek scriptures. The average number of stu- dents sent out each year has been thirty. The number of students during the present seminary year is 144, of whom ninety-three are in the Eng- lish department. Of its former students sixty- nine have filled the position of president or pro- fessor in theological seminaries or colleges; eighty- five have gone abroad as foreign missionaries, and twenty-two have become editors of religious journals, or have engaged in literary work. With such a record in the past, and in the present more fully equipped than ever before for its work, there seems to open before the seminary a future of the utmost promise.
It remains only to state that the Rochester Theological seminary is maintained and controlled by the New York Baptist Union for Ministerial Education, a society composed of contributing members of Baptist churches, and that the actual government and care of the seminary in its details is committed to a board of trustees of thirty- three members, eleven of whom are elected by the Union annually. The present president of the board is Gershom M. Peters, of Cincinnati, and the corresponding secretary is Rev. J. R. Hen- derson, D. D., of Rochester.
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ST. BERNARD'S SEMINARY.
Rt. Rev. Bernard J. McQuaid came to Rochester as bishop in 1868. Upon his arrival he announced to the assembled clergy that his future policy aimed at two particular results-schools for the children, and priests for the spiritual work of his diocese. After his return from the Vatican coun- cil he started the preparatory seminary of St. An- drew's, which still flourishes beneath the shadow of the episcopal residence. But the bishop recognized that Rochester could never have a high position among the dioceses of the country if it had not its own seminary for higher theological studies, and about 1875 he began to husband the poor resources of his growing diocese. After he had saved a little he began the preparation of his future professors; and as early as 1879 sent young men abroad to prepare them in the best schools of Europe. En- couraged by the splendid loyalty of his priests he laid the first stone of St. Bernard's seminary on the 31st of March, 1891, and dedicated the build- ing on July 12th, 1893, the classes being opened in September of the same year. The seminary, built of red stoue from the river bank, is situated on the Charlotte boulevard, on the high banks that over- look the Genesce. Its site is unrivaled in Rochester and abundant water, dry soil, and perfect drainage make it ideal from the point of view of health. It is on a plot of ground twenty-four acres in extent, a mile and a quarter from the northern boundary line of the city and three miles from the lake, besides which the seminary owns sixteen acres of orchard, vineyard and garden land half a mile further north. The four buildings are of modern construction, lighted by electricity, heated by hot water and thoroughly ventilated, with tweri- ty bath rooms in the two main houses. The main building provides for professors and students and the ordinary uses of such an establishment; it has also two gymnasiums on the upper floor and » double bowling alley in the basement. Next south of this is the "hall of Philosophy and Science," which is absolutely fire-proof, and contains the general library, a hall of assembly, six lecture- halls, accommodation for thirty students and two professors, etc. The rear building has the chapel with seven altars and sacristy on the upper floor ;
the dining and serving-room are on the floor be- neath the chapel. The dining-room for the Sisters and domestica, the kitchen, the bakery, the scul- leries, the pantries and store-rooms are on the floor beneath the main dining-room.
The fourth building contains the apartments for the Sisters in charge of the domestic department, a private chapel, rooms for the women-help, three infirmaries, and in the basement a complete steam laundry.
The men employed on the farm and garden oc- cupy a farm-house, somewhat removed from the cther buildings.
In 1901 St. Bernard's had the unusual honor of receiving, through the Propaganda at Rome, a papal brief, which, after a very proper inhibition of the conferring of honorary degrees, which has long been a source of scandalous abuse in American institutions, goes on to prescribe the functions of this seminary. It permits the conferring of the baccalaureate degree in theology at the end of the second year, the licentiate degree at the close of the third and the doctorate at the termination of the fourth. Instead of taking advantage of those privileges the faculty has preferred to give the baccalaureate after four years of theology, and require one year more for the licentiate, following advanced courses of study, undergoing additionel written and oral examinations. A sixth year of theology, under the same conditions as in the fifth, including exercise in acting as tutors to the less capable students in theology and philosophy, leade up to the doctorate. The brief also requires the presence of at least three professors at the examina- tions for degrees, but we go further than that, for our examining boards consist of nine or ten mem- bers, among whom are six distinguished scholars. belonging to neighboring dioceses, who, by their assistance in holding these examinations, guarantee the absence of favoritism, and stand for honesty and a high standard of work and merit in the use of the privileges accorded by the Holy See. The course of studies is the one prescribed by the third plenary council of Baltimore. It requires two years of philosophy in this seminary, or one or more years in another seminary, and the passing of a satisfactory examination in St. Bernard's before admission to the theological course. The course of theology demands four full scholastic
*This sketch was, in the main, furnished by Rev. E. J. Hanna, D.D., one of the professors of St. Bernard's.
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years. When a bishop is unable to allow his sub- jects to remain for the full course, they will have to take in their third year additional lectures on the matter of the fourth year not yet studied by them.
The language of the classes in dogmatic and moral theology, in logic, metaphysics and ethics, in canon law and liturgy, is Latin, according to the prescriptions of the same council. Only students who have obtained a rating of at least eighty-five per cent. are entitled to appear for examination before the examining boards. One-half of the students, of whom there now are about 150, are present at the high mass in the cathedral on one Sunday, and the other half on the next. This gives them an opportunity of listening to the ser- mons, and learning the manner of working a large city parish. These students sing the responses and the ordinary of the mass in plain or harmon- ized Gregorian chant. The library above referred to contains now 20,000 volumes, with the capacity of extension for almost as many more.
The members of the faculty, with their respec- tive professorships, are as follows: Very Rev. James J. Hartley, D. D., pro rector, moral and pastoral theology; Rev. Edward J. Hanna, D. D., special dogmatic theology; Rev. J. Francis Gog- gin, Ph. D., D. D., fundamental dogmatic theo- logy ; Rev. Andrew E. Breen, Ph. D., Biblical ex- egesis and Hebrew; Rev. Andrew B. Meehan, D. D., canon law and liturgy; Rev. Frederick J. Zwierlein, S. T. L., ecclesiastical history and social science; Rev. Edmund J. Wirth, Ph. D., D. D., special metaphysics and ethics; Rev. Michael J. Ryan, Ph. D., history of philosophy, general meta- physics and logic; Rev. P. Prosper Libert, S. T. B., natural sciences and scientific catechetics; Rev. William E. Cowan, D. D., apologetics; Rev. Lud- low E. Lapham, A. B., English literature and modern languages; Rev. John M. Petter, S. T. B .; Gregorian chant ; Rev. J. Emil Gefell, Ph. D., lec- turer on breathing and voice culture; Rev. Ed- ward J. Byrne. S. T. B., assistant in Holy Scrip- tures.
THE WAGNER MEMORIAL LUTHERAN COLLEGE ..
Recognizing the need of more men, capable of
preaching both in the German and in the English language, for supplying the Lutheran churches in the east, and the needs of the German Board of Home Missions for men in the west, the pastor of Zion's Lutheran church, at that time Rev. A. Richter, and several of his colleagues conceived the plan of founding a preparatory school for the education of Lutheran ministers. In it they were to receive their classical education. It was called at first a proseminary, because the students were to be prepared for entering a theological seminary. The number of students was necessarily small at first, but increased as the scope of instruction was enlarged. Young men were not only prepared for the theological seminary but for practical life, for the medical and other professions. During the first year instruction was given by several of the Lutheran pastors in this city and by Dr. G. H. Gomph of Pittsford, N. Y. It was soon found necessary to have paid instructors, however. The building formerly occupied by the Satterlee Col- legiate Institute, on Oregon street, was donated by the late John George Wagner. The institution was thereupon incorporated under the name of the Wagner Memorial Lutheran College, and a staff of competent teachers were provided. The model followed in arranging the course of study was the six years' course of the German gymnasium. Two) years were given to preparatory work, whilst from Prima to Quarta the students received instruction in studies usually given in the four college classes.
At one time there were upward of fifty students, but recently, since the proseminary idea has been made more prominent again, their number has fal- len off. There is a small endowment consisting of the income from two dwellings on Central avenue. Considerable support comes also from the Lutheran churches. The Evangelical Lutheran Ministerium of the state of New York nominates the members of the board of trustees and appoints a visiting committee which reports to the synod. The direc- tors or presidents of the institution have been : Rev. J. Steinhauser, D. D., 1888-1892; Rev. J. Nicum, D. D., 1892-1902, and since 1903 Rev. H D. Kræling. The presidents of the board of trus- tees were: Rev. A. Richter, until 1890; Rev. J. Nicum, D. D., from 1890 to 1902, and the Rev. G. H. Gomph, D. D., since 1902.
*This sketch of the Wagner Memorial Lutheran college was prepared by Rev. John Nicum. D.D.
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DEAF MUTE INSTITUTE.
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HISTORY OF ROCHESTER AND MONROE COUNTY.
THE ROCHESTER SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF .*
Through the desire of Mr. and Mrs. Gilman H. Perkins that there should be a school in Rochester in which their little daughter, Carolyn, could re- ceive an education, the Rochester school was es- tahlished.
At the time when the child was old enough to be placed under the care of a teacher, Miss True, who had done similar work in Boston, came to Rochester and began the little girl's education. Later Mrs, Perkins secured Miss Nodine, who had gained reputation as a teacher of speech at the school for the deaf in Frederick, Maryland. She was in Rochester but a few months, however, be- fore she announced her engagement to Mr. Wester- velt, of the New York school for the deaf. Previous to this time, a proposition had been presented to him, looking to the establishment of a school for the deaf of Western New York in some convenient location, preferably in Rochester, and with the as- sistance of many of the deaf and of state officers he had been gathering the names and addresses of the deaf of school age not attending school, and had a list of over one hundred. There were a number of adult deaf in the city of Rochester, who were much interested in the project of establishing a school. One of these, Mr. Acker, for a number of years, as lay reader employed by the Episcopai church mission to the deaf, had conducted services in the parish house of St. Luke's church, under Dr. Anstice. Edward P. Hart, while a student at the Rochester university, had learned the sign lan- guage from Mr. Acker and had become a sign ex- pert, and had interpreted for the deaf in religious service and in court, counseled with them and been to the little community of the deaf in Rochester a friend.
A meeting was finally called at the office of George G. Clarkson, mayor of the city, on the 3d of February, 1876, to take steps for the in- corporation of a Rochester school for the deaf Rev. Thomas H. Gallaudet came from New York with Mr. Westervelt to take part in this meeting. Dr. Gallaudet was a son of the first principal of the American asylum at Hartford and founder of deaf mute education in America. He was a trus. tee of the New York institution for the education of the deaf, in which Mr. Westervelt was a teacher,
was rector of St. Anne's church for the deaf in New York city, and was in charge of the church mis- sion to the deaf which he organized. After having resolved "that it is expedient to found in this city an institution for the education of deaf mutes," the meeting appointed the following board of trustees : George G. Clarkson, Thomas Gallaudet, Lewis H. Morgan, S. A. Ellis, C. E. Rider, Oscar Craig, E Darwin Smith, Seth H. Terry, Wm. S. Ely, S. D. Porter, Aaron Erickson, S. A. Lattimore, G. H. Perkins, M. F. Reynolds, Edward P. Hart. The trustees having been empowered to take such steps as should be necessary to accomplish the object of the meeting, articles of incorporation were drawa up and filed on the following day, a constitution was adopted and the following were elected officers: President, E. Darwin Smith; vice-presidents, Ges. Q. Clarkson and S. A. Ellis; treasurer, Gilman H. Perkins; secretary, Edward P. Hart. Zenas F. Westervelt, of New York, was appointed principa! of the institution and has remained so to the pres- ent time.
Thus the school was formally established upon the 4th of February, 1876. The Riley block, at the corner of South avenue and Court street, was secured. On the 15th of May a bill, prepared by Neil Gilmore, superintendent of public instruction who was interested in the organization of the school, was passed by the legislature, authorizing it to receive pupils appointed by the department of publie instruction, and by authorized county of- ficers. On the 4th of October the school was opened with an attendance of twenty pupils. This number increased to eighty-seven during the first year.
The school was fortunate in the membership of its board of trustees. They gave to it strength in the city and the state, as they were known to be most admirably qualified to work together in the establishment and upbuilding of such a school. Judge Smith, Mr. Morgan and Mr. Terry were able to use their knowledge of law in the promotion of the work. Mr. Terry lent himself with enthusiasm to the enterprise because of his father's connection with the American asylum at Hartford as one of its incorporators and a life-long director. Dr. Rider was personally acquainted with many of the children, as they had been his patients, and frequently helped the school by the free use of hie professional skill as an aurist. Mayor Clarkson
"This sketch was prepared by Mr. Zenas F. Westervelt, the principal of the institution.
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gave the school enthusiastic and faithful help in many ways and rendered it material assistance. Prof. Lattimore and Mr. Ellis, as educators, were able to give special aid in the development of all school problems, and the latter in the third year became an instructor, remaining in the work for nine years. For many years Dr. Gallaudet at. tended every quarterly meeting of the board, and from his long experience as teacher and director of the old New York institution his advice was sought upon all important questions.
The school occupied the Riley block on St. Paul street and the small frame house on Court street, still standing, which was used as a kindergarten for the younger children. The location was most convenient. During the summer of 1877, Mr. Riley enlarged the building by the addition of a wing upon the south side of the block. With this increase of room, the school was comfortably housed during its second year. It became evident, however, that the Riley building could not long answer the needs of the school, so that available sites in every part of the city were inspected. Judge Gardiner offered to give several acres of land between West and Chili avenues, as a site for the building which the board of trustees were planning to erect, but it was concluded to lease the old Truant House, on St. Paul street, belonging to the city, which had been standing idle for over a year. The buildings were immediately occupied by the school and the enlarged accommodations made it possible to receive additional applicants. The city water main had then been brought out St. Paul street to Elon Huntington's residence, but the institution extended the pipe the half mile from there to the school. The old railroad and steamboat house, one of the oldest buildings in Carthage, was provided with a high basement that has since been used for a laundry. Members of the board had many pleasant reminiscences of good times they had enjoyed in this building when it was a well-kept hostelry. During the summer va- eation, by a very considerable addition to the main buildings upon the city property, they were enlarged so as to accommodate the entire school.
The third year of the school opened in the buildings upon North St. Paul street with an at- tendance of 115 pupils. The buildings were lighted with lamps for a year, when the gas mains were extended to the school. The street enrs originally
stopped at Hand street, but were, during the first year of the occupancy of this property, brought out to the bend in St. Paul street opposite Mr. Hunt- ington's residence. As the street car company re- fused to extend the line further, a company which had been organized and had secured a charter au- thorizing the laying of tracks in the streets of the city, and the running of street cars or other con- veyances for the benefit of the public, established an omnibus line from the old Carthage dock to the Four Corners. The street car company, however. soon extended their line to the institution, and the competing corporation withdrew.
This change of location occurred in the fall of 1878 and was an important event, but the begin- ning of the third year was made still more notable in the history of the school by the change in its method of instruction.
At the time the school was opened, there were forty-eight other schools for the deaf in this coun- try; forty-four of them followed the method in- troduced by Gallaudet, through Laurent Clerc in Hartford, and the four others the German or oral method.
The method of instruction to be followed by the Rochester school was the subject of much thought and discussion. The management was anxious to have every child taught to speak. All the teachers became engaged in oral work, but the sign language was also used. At the exhibitions given at the close of the first year in June and in the winter and spring of the second year, the ex- cellent work in speech attracted great interest, but the audience of hearing friends of the school was especially affected by the pathos and grace of the sign language. So long as this language of signs was used in our school, it was carefully taught, 83 that through use in its most perfect form the pupils communicated with the greatest possible force and clearness.
During the first year the faculty came to be- lieve that it would be wise for the school to adopt the oral method and, with this purpose in view they visited oral schools in June of that year. They found satisfactory speech and speech-reading, but the mental attainments made through the oril methods were disappointing, consequently it was decided to continue the use of the sign language. But at a convention of educators of the deaf, held at Columbus, Ohio, in the summer of 1878, previ-
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ous to the opening of the third school year, it was announced that, as an experiment the Rochester school would endeavor to substitute manual spell ing for signs, and, in so far as the change could be voluntarily brought about and as it proved ar advantage, it would be continued. The experiment was satisfactory from the start, and grew in favor with teachers and pupils, though it took five years for it to become the established custom of the school.
The result of this experiment has been the development of a method of instruction peculiar to Rochester, its principal feature being the con- stant use of manual spelling, accompanied simul- taneously by speech. Every child is expected to speak whenever he spells. He is expected also to fix his attention upon the lips. and to read the fingers, as it were, incidentally, catching the word at it is written in the air, in the margin of the field of vision as an aid to speech reading. From the first general use of manual spelling all officers of the school have spoken whenever they spell, and the inore ambitious and intelligent of the pupils have been encouraged to form the same habit. The request that the custom should be made general is a quite recent innovation.
As another feature of the Rochester method, all of the pupils are taught speech, two periods daily throughout their course. This training and the practice in speech given in class rooms and in connection with all use of the manual alphabet ultimately gives the habit of thinking speech to even those whom we could not teach, but would have to class as imbecile, if we followed what is called the pure oral method. As a further feature of the Rochester method, it does not abandon any as incapable of advancement because on account of some physical inability he cannot learn to speak or to read the lips. By the free use of the manual alphabet in all grades such capable and worthy children are carried as far through the course of instruction as they may be able to win their way. even graduating.
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