USA > New York > Schenectady County > History of the County of Schenectady, N. Y., from 1662 to 1886... > Part 28
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October 15, 1852, the school was formally opened. In the evening appropriate exercises were
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HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF SCHENECTADY.
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held at the Presbyterian Church, at which speeches were made by Dr. Nott, Dr. Hickok and Judge Paige. That the commissioners had been in error in concluding that the two lower stories would ac- commodate those desirous of attending was soon made apparent. From 450 the pupils immediately increased to over 1, 100, and it was necessary to close the school in order to prepare the third story.
The re-opening was December 10th, at which time there were accommodations for 1, 200 pupils; 800 in the main building, 200 in the old Lan- caster school building, and 200 in the White street building.
In the beginning the Union School was divided into ten departments over which George B. Cook was principal; he was assisted by the following teachers: Mary A. Morrill, junior and senior prim- ary departments ; Lizzie A. W. Hill, junior sec- ondary department; Huldah A. Allen, senior sec- ondary department ; Isabella E. Fisher, junior intermediate department; Angeline A. Monk, senior intermediate department; Caroline Van Voor- his, junior grammar department; Malvina Proctor, senior grammar department; Jane L. Olmstead, Catharine S. Olmstead, Mary Wilds, higher English department; John S. Parsons, Mary A. Bodge, Caroline L. Bridgman, academical department; Abby W. French and two assistant teachers, boys' library school ; and Rebecca M. Gurnsey and Jane I. Cunningham, White street school.
The attendance at this school, from its com- mencement, has steadily increased. The whole building was soon in use, and 1859, what is known as the "New Building " was erected. In 1872 another change was necessary, and the classical department was removed to the Delavan building at the corner of Union and Church streets, and the Fifth ward school was erected. Five years later, 1877, the Park Place school was put up, and the Nott Terrace school followed in 1883.
The yearly school-money now is about $30,000. Mr. Samuel B. Howe was appointed Superintend- ent of Schools August 31, 1868, and has held the position continuously ever since. To his personal efforts much of the success of the schools are due.
The number of scholars' names now on the registers is 2, 500, and the average daily attendance is about 1,800. To instruct these the following named teachers are required, the year of the com- mencement of their services in Schenectady being also given: Anna E. Gilbert, Main School, August, 1860; Sarah E. LaRue, August, 1860; Elizabeth M. Yates, June, 1867; Mary C. Paine, December, 1870; Marie Hastings, October, 1871; Mary L. Buell, August, 1872; Elizabeth Hallowell, Novem- ber, 1873; Ella McNee, March, 1876; Emma Lee, August, 1880; Augusta Oothout, November, 1880; Helena A. Hall, November, 1880; Jennie Vedder, June, 1881; Emma C. Chubb, February, 1882; Susie C. Vedder, June, 1882; Susie N. Sprague, October, 1882; Anna Ferguson, Novem- ber 1882; Lillie D. Daley, June, 1883; Carrie A. Brown, June, 1883; Ella Mckenry, June, 1883;
Ella Terworth, October, 1884; Mary Cleary, March, 1885. Total, 21.
C. S. Halsey, Classical School, July, 1875 ; Helen E. Carley, June, 1881 ; Emma L. Clare, June, 1881 ; Ida J. Fenn, September, 1882 ; M. H. Duurloo, July, 1883 ; Dow Beekman, June, 1884 ; Georgia Gates, Classical and Elocution, June, 1884. Total, 7.
Olive Morris, Nott Terrace School, August, 1866 ; Ernestine Stockwell, January, 1868 ; Lydia H. Brown, February, 1872 ; Minnie A. Piper, December, 1881 ; Alice D. Stevens, June, 1882 ; Mary F. Caw, February, 1883 ; Lottie Allen, June, 1883 ; Carrie R. Smith, October, 1884. Total, 8.
Anna E. Cunningham, Albany Hill School, May, 1867 ; Lucinda Sands, April, 1874 ; Joanna Chandler, October, 1874 ; Lillian G. King. April, 1885. Total, 4.
Rachel Baker, Park Place School, September, 1874 ; Etta W. Felthousen, March, 1877; Mar- garet L. Groot, March 1877 ; Irene Schermerhorn, March, 1882. Total, 4.
Helen Palmer, Instrumental Music, August, 1864.
RECAPITULATION OF TEACHERS.
Main School, 21 ; Classical, 7 ; Nott Terrace, 8 ; Albany Hill, 4 ; Park Place, 4. Total number, Teachers, 44.
S. B. HOWE was born in Tompkins Co., N. Y., and graduated from Union College in 1862. He served as adjunct professor in the college, and previous to his location here, in 1868, as school superintendent, in Ithaca (1862), Catskill (1865), and Albany (1867).
CADY STALEY, Professor of Civil Engineering in Union College, was born in Florida, Montgomery County, N. Y., December 12, 1840, and gradu- ated from Union College in 1865. He became a civil engineer in 1867, and in 1881 served on the Central Pacific Railroad as bridge engineer, and is at present Dean and Acting Treasurer of the Col- lege.
Many graduates from "Old Union " remember JAMES PICKETT, who was for many years prior to his death the superintendent of the college grounds. Mr. Pickett's unobtrusive kindness and Christian character made for him many friends.
CHARLES S. HALSEY was born in Cambria, Ni- agara County, N. Y., December 20, 1834, and graduated from Williams College in 1856. He served as principal in Macedon Academy, Wayne County, N. Y., from September, 1856, to March, 1858; Newton Collegiate Institute, Newton, N. J., from April, 1859, to April, 1861; Macedon Acad- emy, from August, 1862, to June, 1865; High School, Burlington, Vt., from 1872 to 1875; and in 1875 was elected principal of the Union Clas- sical Institute, Schenectady, N. Y. He is author of "A Genealogical and Chronological Chart of the Rulers of England, Scotland, France, Germany and Spain " (1873), and (1882) "An Etymology
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CITY OF SCHENECTADY .- EDUCATIONAL.
of Latin and Greek." His studies in philology have been extensive.
SCHENECTADY ACADEMY.
The first authentic information of any special attention being given to an organized school system in Schenectady dates back to the rev- olution.
The coming of Dominie Romeyn as pastor of the Dutch Church, was the inspiration of the Schenectady Academy. Through his influence the church was induced to erect a commodious building, the citizens agreeing to give it their patronage and furnish it with a library. The church contemplated constructing a house of two stories, with two rooms on each story, upon the lot of ground upon which the old guard-house now stands, at the junction of Church and State streets. Three rooms were to be assigned for the use of the school and academy.
On account of the great cost of the Academy- house to the church, it was "resolved, that said church shall receive four shillings from every scholar taught in said house, and if said academy or Illus- tre School shall become changed into a college, then the presidents of such college, as well as the rector of said school, shall be a member of the Dutch Church and minister of this church ; and the said four shillings for each scholar shall be be- stowed upon such poor scholars as the church shall name."
The consistory, about March 5, 1785, were still negotiating with the town magistrates for the im- provement of the common schools of the town and for the establishment of an academy. The con- sistory ordered the gathering of materials for the academy on the 16th of the same month, and on the 28th it was considered expedient to build the academy, not upon the old guard-house lot, but upon the north corner of Union and Ferry streets.
April 7, 1785, the academy building was well under way, and the consistory, together with twenty-seven respectable citizens of the town, met at Rueben Simond's public-house in Church street, to close the matter of the academy by signing articles of agreement for its management and sup- port. (This agreement is drawn with great formal- ity and particularity in eleven sections, and is written upon fifteen pages of foolscap-probably by Do. Romeyn, who was president of the meeting. )
William Schermerhorn was appointed superin- tendent, and a committee, both of citizens and consistory, to urge forward the Academy building. A stone of an oval shape was built into the front on which were cut the names of the building committee ; this stone is now in Union College Museum.
An effort was made in 1791 to endow this school by a grant of Indian lands; and November 16, Dr. Dirk Van Ingen announced to the consistory that he and others had rented 10, 240 acres of land of the Oneida Indians for twenty-one years, on con-
sideration that he paid after five years {100 yearly to said Indians. Inasmuch as the academy, un- incorporated, could not hold real estate, he of- fered the land to the consistory for the benefit of the Dutch Church. At first the consistory agreed to receive the land but subsequently gave it up, finding, doubtless, that it could not be legally held by the church.
On the 2d day of April, 1793, the Dutch Church made the building over to the trustees of the academy; and on September 24, 1796, it was made over to the trustees of Union College, to be sold and the money put into a more commodious building. The proceeds of this sale were finally merged in the building fund of the present Union School edifice.
Academy Building, 1795.
The academy building was of brick, two stories in height, about 50 x 30 feet on the ground, and cost about $3,000. It was used by Union College until 1804. This school was opened in 1793 under the care of Col. John Taylor, of New Jersey. This school appears to have been conducted with much ability, and being well sustained by the community in which it was planted, became the germ of the college.
An academic school, in connection with Union College, was established by President Nott imme- diately after his election in 1804. The teachers of this school were appointed by him, and the princi- pal was recognized by the laws of the college as a member of the faculty. This academic school be- came popular and extensively useful for many years.
On the 7th of April, 1818, an act was passed authorizing the revival and reorganization of the Schenectady Academy, which was done by the election of a Board of Trustees on the 1st day of April, 1819. The academic department of Union College was merged into this school.
The Rev. Dr. Nathan N. Whiting was appointed principal of the academy, and was succeeded by Mr. Wm. Beattie, who resigned in 1828, and was succeeded by Daniel Fuller.
The academy continued until the reorganization of the schools of the city in 1854.
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HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF SCHENECTADY.
UNION COLLEGE.
Union College was founded at Schenectady, Feb- ruary 25, 1795. The Legislature having vested in the regents of the university the right of granting college charters, a memorial was addressed to the board by the trustees of the Schenectady Academy, which led to the granting of a charter to twenty- four persons therein named, and their successors, under the title of "The Trustees of Union College
in the Town of Schenectady, in the State of New York." The first trustees were Robert Yates, Abraham Yates, Jr., Abraham Ten Broeck, Golds- brow Banyar, John V. Henry, George Merchant, Stephen Van Rensselaer, John Glen, Isaac Vrooman, Joseph C. Yates, James Shuter, Nicholas Veeder, James Gordon, Beriah Palmer, Samuel Smith, Henry Walton, Ammi Rodgers, Aaron Conduit, Jacobus V. C. Romeyn, James Cochran, John Frey, D. Christopher Pick, Jonas Platt, and Jonas Coe.
COLLEGE BUILDINGS AND CAMPUS, UNION COLLEGE,
Of these, seven resided in Albany, six in Sche- nectady, three in Ballston; and in Saratoga, Troy, Kinderhook, Palatine, Herkimer and Whitestown, N. Y., and Hackensack, N. J., one each.
Under an act passed March 30, 1805, the charter was amended by the regents, March 29, 1806, by reducing the number to twenty-one and adding the Chancellor, Justices of the Supreme Court, Secre- tary of State, Comptroller, Treasurer, Attorney- General and Surveyor-General, by virtue of their civil offices. The Constitution of 1821, by reducing the number of Judges made further vacancies, which by an act passed February 14, 1823, were to be filled by the Governor and Lieutenant-Governor.
The Constitution of 1846, by abolishing some of the above offices, required further changes, and the ex officio trustees are now the Governor, Lieutenant- Governor, Secretary of State, Comptroller and Treasurer. They were empowered to hold an estate with an income of $13,333}, were vested with the usual powers of a college, and were empowered to fill vacancies in their board.
The chronicles of the day record that the event of receiving a college charter was celebrated by great rejoicing, with the ringing of bells, display of flags, bonfires and general illumination.
The name " Union College" was given as express- ing the intention of uniting all religious sects in a common interest for the common good, by offering equal advantages to all, with preference to none.
It is believed that this is the first college in the United States not confessedly denominational in its character.
The college was organized on the 19th of Octo- ber, 1795, by the election of Rev. John Blair Smith, D. D., of Philadelphia, as president; John
Taylor, A. M., as professor or mathematics and natural philosophy; and the Rev. Andrew Yates, as professor of the Latin and Greek languages.
The first commencement was held May, 1797, and the first degree conferred upon three young men, who had completed the course of study re- quired.
This wasan occasion of signal and novel interest all over the country around, and drew together a large and enthusiastic audience. The public ex- ercises were held in the old Reformed Dutch Church.
Dr. Smith was succeeded by Rev. Jonathan Ed- wards, D. D. (son of Rev. Jonathan Edwards, after- wards President of the College of New Jersey), who died in 1801, and was followed by Rev. Jona- than Maxcy, D. D., a Baptist clergyman from Providence, R. I., who resigned in 1804, and went to Columbia, South Carolina, as President of the South Carolina College.
Under the presidency of Dr. Edwards a new ed- ifice was begun on a scale magnificent for that day, and still one of the finest and best built in the city.
Rev. Eliphalet Nott was chosen president in 1804.
Dr. Nott found the college wanting both means and students. The inhabitants of Schenectady had proposed an endowment of $30,000 in lands, obligations and money; but the largest subscrip- tion was only $250, the next $100, and the total sum altogether, from sources other than direct gift of the State, but $42,043.74 Grants were made by the State as follows:
April 9, 1795, for books and apparatus, $3,750; April 11, 1796, for buildings, $10,000; March 30, 1797, for salaries, $1,500; March 7, 1800, for
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completion of building, $10,000; March 7, 1800, ten lots, of 550 acres each, in the military tract, for support of president and professors, $43,483 .- 93; April 8, 1801, and April 3, 1802, sale of gar- rison lands near Lake George, $9,378.20. Total grants before 1804, $78, 112.13.
The building, begun under President Edwards, in 1792, was still unfinished, and the college was burdened with a heavy debt. It was completed during the first year of Dr. Nott's incumbency. The original cost, including the site, was $60,000. It contained a residence for the president, the
THE OLD WEST COLLEGE, NOW UNION SCHOOL.
chapel, library and recitation-rooms, and a consid- erable number of dormitories, In 1815 it was sold to the city and county for a court-house, jail and city offices, and, while thus owned, was com- monly known as the "City Hall." The college received in payment 3,000 acres of land, in de- tached parcels, in various parts of Schenectady County. In 1831 it was repurchased by the college for $10,000, and used for library, cabinets and residents of freshmen and sophomore classes until 1854. It was then resold to the city for the sum of $6,000, and is now known as "Union School." Between 1805 and 1810 a row of two-story brick buildings was erected on College street for use of dormitories. It was known as "Long College," and was sold in 1830. The means that had been provided were quite inadequate to the wants of a prosperous college, and to supply the needed en- dowment recourse was had to an expedient, now forbidden by a better public sentiment, but then deemed proper, for raising funds in aid of every religious, educational and benevolent enterprise of the day and for public improvements. It was therefore deemed advisable to urge the passage of a law, which was secured March 30, 1805, for rais- ing the sum of $80,000 by lottery. This sum was to be drawn by four successive lotteries of $20,000 each. The act directed $35,000 to be applied to the erection of additional buildings; an equal sum
to be invested, the interest to be applied to the support of professorships, and the remaining $10,000 to be invested, one-half of the proceeds for a classical library and the balance toward de- fraying the expenses of indigent scholars. It ap- pears, from a legislative report made in 1814, that but $55,000 were realized from this grant.
A few years' experience showed that the location in the city was not sufficiently ample, and the ob- serving eye of Dr. Nott, at an early period in his presidency, had noticed in the suburbs a better one, that combined in rare degree every advantage desirable.
A tract of some 250 acres was secured, and new buildings begun, on College Hill, in 1812, and were occupied in part in the summer of 1814. To provide the means for these improvements, and for a substantial endowment, application was made to the State for another grant of a kind similar to the last. An act was accordingly passed, largely through the efforts of Dr. Nott, for raising the sum of $200,000 for Union College and consid- erable sums for other institutions. Of the sum al- lowed to Union College there was specially given :
For the erection of buildings, $100,000; for payment of existing debts, $30,000; for library and apparatus, $20,000; for relief of indigent students, 50,000. Total, including all sums previously given by the State, $331, 612.13.
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HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF SCHENECTADY.
The proceedings consequent upon these trans- actions extended through many years, and the drawings of the lotteries were not entirely closed until the end of 1833.
From the time of completion of buildings on the new site the college entered upon a season of gen- eral prosperity, and the unusually large proportion in the senior classes shows a fact well known throughout the country, that many students, after passing through the lower classes elsewhere, came hither to enjoy the instruction of Dr. Nott, and receive from him their first degree.
The advancing age of Dr. Nott led to the calling, in 1852, of the Rev. Laurens P. Hickok, D. D., from the Auburn Theological Seminary to serve as vice-president, and upon him gradually devolved the cares of the presidency, although they were not actually conferred in name until after the death of Dr. Nott, in 1866.
SEMI-CENTENNIAL OF THE COLLEGE .- This event in the history of the college was celebrated in con- nection with the commencement exercises in 1845. The occasion called together an immense number of the alumni and literary strangers, to receive whom the common council extended the hospitality of the city, and all the principal citizens opened their houses to receive guests. The Rev. Josh. Sweet- man, of the first class graduated, and the Rt. Rev. Alonzo Potter, of the class of 1818, then recently elected Bishop of Pennsylvania, delivered addresses on the occasion.
SEMI-CENTENNIAL OF DR. NOTT'S PRESIDENCY,- This occasion was celebrated on the 25th of July, 1854. As on the previous gathering, the hospital- ities of the city were tendered to the returning sons of Union, and to the literary strangers called to- gether by so unusual an event. The address of Dr. Nott was a compact and interesting review of the labors, joys and trials of the last fifty years. The principal orators of the occasion were the Rev. Francis Wayland, President of Brown Uni- versity; and the Hon. Wm. W. Campbell, of Cherry Valley.
RECENT HISTORY .- On the retirement of Dr. Hickok, Charles A. Aiken, D.D., of Dartmouth College, was chosen president, and he filled the duties with acceptance until 1871, when, for do- mestic reasons, he resigned ; and in the selection of a successor, the choice fell upon the Rev. Eliph- alet Nott Potter, D. D., the grandson of Dr. Nott and son of Bishop Alonzo Potter.
With the declining years of Dr. Nott the number of students decreased, and during the late war the college was nearly stripped of its students by the withdrawal of the whole number from the South, while many from the North were attracted to new institutions that were competing for favor. It be- came a subject of serious thought on the part of those intrusted with the affairs of Union College as to how the emergency was to be met, and no plan appeared more feasible than that of yielding to the progressive spirit of the age by enlarging its facilities, extending its courses of study, and, in the best sense of the word, render-
ing it fully the peer of the first institutions of the country.
President Eliphalet Nott Potter.
PRESENT BUILDINGS .- The principal buildings of Union College are North College and South Col- lege, six hundred feet apart, and each with a colon- nade facing inward ; a memorial hall midway be- tween but standing back three hundred feet from
Blue Gate.
the front line ; a gymnasium in the rear of South College ; a president's house, and three other dwellings on the line with the main college build- ings, and a professor's residence at some distance east of the principal group of buildings ; also a
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semi-circular building facing westward on the campus, the centre of which is used for the library and the wings for recitation rooms,
PRESENT GROUNDS .- The original grounds ac- quired for college uses have been somewhat re- duced by railroad and street improvements, but are scarcely liable to further encroachment, and are amply sufficient for every probable want. They embrace about one hundred and thirty acres, in- cluding the campus, gardens and grounds properly belonging to the college and essential for its use, besides some one hundred acres of woodlands and fields adjoining.
College Brook.
OTHER REAL ESTATE .- The college owns con- siderable land in Long Island City, that was pur- chased by Dr. Nott for Union College from the Hunter family, after whom Hunter's Point was named. The property has been laid out in streets and building lots, and graded. It extends about half a mile along Newtown Creek, and has a front- age on the East River of about half a mile. The property consists of several hundred building lots. In 1873 this property was considered to be worth a million dollars. The estimates now put upon it vary.
In addition to the Long Island City land, the college owns three lots on One Hundred and Eighteenth street, and a house and lot on Fourth avenue, in New York City.
COURSES OF STUDY .- The " classical course" of study usual in first-class colleges is now pursued in Union. In 1802 the required studies for the first, second and third terms of the freshman class were "Latin, Greek and English languages, arith- metic, Sheridan's Lectures on Elocution, and the
writing of Latin exercises as the faculty shall ap- point." "For the Sophomore year, geography, algebra, vulgar and decimal fractions, the extrac- tion of roots, conic sections, Euclid's Elements, trigonometry, surveying, mensuration of heights and distances, navigation, logic, Blair's Lectures, and such parts of eminent authors in the learned languages as the officers of the college shall sub- scribe."
A Department of Engineering was established in 1845; its course of instruction aiming to impart skill and experience in mechanical drafting, instru- mental field-work, and numerical calculation, com- bined with the study of text-books and lectures on numerous subjects where these are wanting. This course was afterward extended to four years, and intermingled with the scientific course of the college proper. This department is unusually well sup- plied with models, the most important of which is the original Oliver collection, purchased in Paris, France, in 1855.
SCIENTIFIC COURSE OF STUDY,
now so popular in many colleges, originated with Dr. Nott, and was first introduced in Union Col- lege. The plan was looked upon with much dis- trust at first by other educators, but its benefits soon came to be appreciated and it was gradually adopted by other colleges. The system has proved its excellency and justifies the foresight of its origi- nator. The scientific course of Union College has always maintained a first position among the edu- cational institutions of the country.
CHEMICAL LABORATORY.
A laboratory was established for chemical analysis in 1855, at a cost of about $7,000 for fixtures and $10,000 for chemicals and other stock. It has been successively in charge of Professors C. E. Joy, C. F. Chandler, and of Maurice Perkins, M. D., the present incumbent.
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