USA > New York > Onondaga County > Past and present of Syracuse and Onondaga County, New York : from prehistoric times to the beginning of 1908 > Part 64
USA > New York > Onondaga County > Syracuse > Past and present of Syracuse and Onondaga County, New York : from prehistoric times to the beginning of 1908 > Part 64
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Upon July 1, 1904. the Syracuse Journal published its sixtieth anniver- sary edition, the birthday of The Journal as a daily publication being July 4, 1844,-the oldest newspaper in Syracuse by thirty-five years. It was the unique and happy thought of Managing Editor Harvey D. Burrill in 1904, to bring together upon one page of the anniversary issue, reprints of the various headings of The Journal from the time of its weekly appearance as the Western State Journal in 1840, down to the date of the anniversary,-an evo- lution not only in type styles, but from the period when the first page was only used for advertisements down through the patent medicine display and old English type fashions to the cartoons and scare headlines of today. It is an historie story which few newspapers can tell, and relate with that satisfaction which comes with having kept up with the times. The Journal has never lived in the past, and in that has been its success, keeping in line with every movement of the greatest modern newspapers in the larger eities. It was in appreciation of the truth that the greatest evening newspapers in other cities were the penny papers, which led to the reduction to a cent on March 4, 1906.
Started as the Western State Journal, a weekly, on March 20, 1839. by Vivus W. and Silas F. Smith, as an organ of the Whig party which the fol- lowing year elected William Henry Harrison to the presidency. The Journal had a weekly issue until January 3. 1894, when it became a semi-weekly. On July 4, 1844, when the daily was commenced, the "Western" part of the name was dropped. January 3, 1904, the semi-weekly became a tri-weekly, and in three years that had also been dropped to meet the demand brought about by the rural free delivery for daily newspapers on the countryside as well as in the city streets. For sixty-three years there was a weekly, semi- weekly or tri-weekly Journal and for sixty-two years The Journal was a party organ, but on January 1, 1906, during the management of Harvey D. Burrill. it became independent, again reflecting the trend of the greatest newspapers in the land.
The Journal really had its inception at Onondaga Hill before Syracuse was recognized as anything but a hamlet in a mud hole, for it was at the hill when it was the county seat that Vivus W. Smith, who had come here with his five brothers from Berkshire, Massachusetts, in 1827, beeame editor and pub- lisher of the Onondaga Journal. When the courthouse went to Syracuse in 1829 The Journal went too. Then Mr. Smith united his paper with the Syra- euse Advertiser, published by John F. Wyman, and the consolidated papers were first issued September 10. 1829, being named the Syracuse Standard, which, after a long and honored career, was merged with the Syracuse Post.
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The division in the Democratie party was the direet eause of the establishment of the Western State Journal in 1839.
The Syraeuse Daily Journal was the first venture in daily journalism in Syracuse, and Silas F. Smith its editor and publisher. In 1847 he retired, and V. W. Smith, who had spent several years in Columbus, Ohio, as editor of the Ohio State Journal, came back and resumed connection with The Jour- nal. The list of publishers is interesting: 1839, V. W. & S. F. Smith; 1844, S. E. Smith ; 1847. Barnes, Smith & Cooper; 1849, V. W. Smith; 1851. Ilaight & Terwilliger; 1853, S. Haight & D. Merrick; 1854, Thomas S. Truair ; 1855, Smith & Miles; 1872. Truair, Smith & Company; 1874, Truair, Smith & Bruce; 1884, Smith & Bruce; 1885, The Syracuse Journal Company; 1898, Syracuse Journal Printing & Publishing Company; 1907, Syracuse Journal Company.
For elose upon half a century Carroll E. Smith was editor as well as being interested in the ownership of The Journal, the stock company, of which he was principal, being dissolved in 1898. The first sale of the newspaper at that time was to Harvey D. Burrill on April 17, 1898, but an arrangement was later made by which a stock company was formed. The editors of The Journal have been Vivus W. Smith, Edward Cooper, Andrew Shuman. George Terwilliger. Anson G. Chester, Rodney L. Adams, Carroll E. Smith and Harvey D. Burrill. Associates upon the editorial staff have ineluded Daniel W. Fiske, later of the faculty of Cornell University; Harvey H. Boone, George G. Truair, Dr. Alex- ander Wilder, Thomas S. Truair, Dwight H. Bruce, John H. Horton, John Kimberly Mumford and Franklin H. Chase.
Three times has The Journal been burned out, but it has never missed an issue. In 1849, in the old Granger bloek, was the first fire, and the second in the same block in 1864. Located in its own building on East Washington street, afterwards the site of the Nottingham building, The Journal was again completely burned out in the great fire of March 14, 1891. The Journal issued an extra telling of the fire, while its building was still burning, from the Courier presses. Until the new plant could be fitted up in the Robert Good- win building at 130 and 132 James street, the Standard offices were used. Early in 1900 The Journal purchased its present building at 312 and 314 South Warren street, the first issue from that plant being made on June 7, 1900.
The Western State Journal was printed upon an old Washington hand press in a brick building next south of the old Syracuse House, which stood on the site of the Onondaga County Savings Bank building. The daily was first published in a frame building on South Salina street, on the site of the U. C. Adams hat store. Then an Adams power press came into use, but still the big wheel had to be turned by hand. The Journal's next move was to the Jerry Resene block, and then the newspaper went to the Granger bloek. In 1846 eame the first steam power press. Single, double and then the big quadruple turtle press which went down with the fire of 1891, were put in. An eight-page eylinder press with stereotyping plant followed, only to give way to the Goss straight-line perfeeting. which the demands of the business required to be rebuilt with extra decks in 1907, completes the history of presses
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to date, but not of the additions of typesetting and stereotyping machinery to keep pace with the increasing business.
The Journal was the first newspaper in the state outside of New York city to establish a local news department. It was a daily newspaper two years before the telegraph came into use. Today there is hardly a process, method or style in newspaper publication which has not been revolutionized, and The Journal has encompassed this complete cycle and is prepared to make another revolution if the times demand it, for the spirit of its progenitors not only to keep up with the period, but look to ahead of it, has never lagged.
"In 1908 the president of The Journal Company was Louis Will; vice- president, Charles E. Crouse ; secretary and general manager, Harvey D. Bur- rill; treasurer, Inez A. Stilwell, and the other directors, Charles M. Crouse, Alexander T. Brown, T. E. Ilancock, Charles B. Everson and Anthony Will.
CHAPTER LXI.
ENLARGING A CITY'S INSTITUTIONS.
It has become a habit of Syracusans interested in the beauties of the city to visit University hill every few months just to note the changes. No single stitution in the city, unless it is the Solvay Process Works, has acquired the expansion habit equal to the Syracuse University under the fostering and gainful care of Chancellor James Roscoe Day, S. T. D., D. C. L., LL. D. Those struggling years just after the inauguration on August 31, 1871, when it was thought so much was being accomplished, have become but puny efforts in comparison with the work done in the past ten years in college founding, building and increase of work. The College of Medicine followed a year after the founding of the College of Fine Arts, with which the institution began, and the College of Fine Arts dates from 1873. Although the latter college was but an experiment in American education, the success of later years has justified the wisdom of the departure. The College of Law was opened in 1895, the College of Applied Sciences was authorized by the trustees Janu- ary 22, 1901, and the Teachers' College June 12, 1906.
Upon more than one hundred acres, now laid out in a well defined and beautiful park on the most commanding and beautiful heights of the city, there were but the llall of Languages and the Charles Demarest Holden Obser- vatory in 1887. Since then the transformation has been complete with the John Crouse Memorial College edifice, the gymnasium and Christian Association building, the library building. the Esther Baker Steele Hall of Physics, the Lyman Cornelius Smith College of Applied Science, the Carnegie library, the Hall of Natural History, which bears the name of John Lyman, the mechanical
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laboratory. the Boone Hall of Chemistry, the stadium and the heating plant. Besides these buildings about the university campus, there is the College of Medicine in Orange street, the Teachers' College in the Yates Castle, the gift of Mrs. Russell Sage, and the University block down town, which belongs to the institution. Comprehended in the scheme are Winchell Hall, Haven Hall and Sims Hall, three great handsome dormitory buildings.
The Hall of Languages is of dressed limestone, four stories, one hundred and eighty by ninety-six feet, and is occupied by some of the departments of the College of Liberal Arts. The Holden Observatory, the second building to be erected, is of rock-faced gray limestone, and equipped with an eight-inch Alvin Clark telescope, a three-inel reversible transit, spectroscope and appa- ratus for meteorological observations. The library building stands out mod- estly but effectively of limestone and brick with terra cotta trimmings. Until 1908 the building contained the great historieal library of Leopold von Ranke, purchased and presented by Mrs. Dr. John M. Reid. Upon the completion of the Carnegie library building the old library building was used for other uni- versity purposes. The Carnegie building has a stack room for half a million volumes, besides ample reading and seminar rooms. The John Crouse Memo- rial building, the third to be erected, was built and furnished by John Crouse and his son, D. Edgar Crouse. The structure is of Long Meadow red sand- stone with granite foundation, one hundred and sixty-two by one hundred and ninety feet, and four stories high. The College of Fine Arts occupies the building. The gymnasium is constructed of brick with limestone trimmings, one hundred and one by seventy feet. The Esther Baker Steele Hall of Phy- sies, erected in 1898, is of Onondaga rock-faced limestone. with red tile roof, one hundred and thirty by seventy feet, and three stories in height. Shops, laboratories, lecture and apparatus rooms are contained in the building. The main building of the Smith College of Applied Science is of Ohio sandstone and Onondaga limestone construction, with shops for metal and wood work, laboratories and lecture rooms. An added gift of Lyman C. Smith is the Me- chanieal Laboratory, two hundred and fifteen feet in length, to accommodate hydraulies, forges and foundries on the first floor, metal working machines on the second floor and wood machinery on the third. The Hall of Natural His- tory is one of the most imposing buildings on the campus. Besides plans for laboratory work, it contains museums with illustration material of the dif- ferent departments of natural science accommodated in the building. It was constructed in 1907. The Bowne Hall of Chemistry was the gift of Samuel W. Bowne of New York. It is constructed of hydraulie pressed brick and terra cotta, with interior construction of reinforced concrete. It boasts of one hundred thousand square feet of working space. The stadium, the gift of John D. Archbold, is built upon the ancient amphitheater plan and seats twenty thousand people, besides providing unusual accommodations for college sports and competitive games. The building permit gave a cost of three hundred and fifty thousand dollars, but estimates have placed its cost close to five hundred thousand dollars. This followed other gifts of Mr. Archbold, one of the first being of four hundred thousand dollars on January 18, 1901.
UNIVERSALIST CHURCH, WEST GENESEE STREET IN EARLY '80s.
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH, SYRACUSE.
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The libraries of the university contain about seventy thousand bound volumes, with more than twenty-five thousand pamphlets. In the university . museums there is much material for illustrating geology, botany, chemistry, archaeology and the other subjects taught.
The College of Medicine has a building in Warren street, construeted purposely for college uses, sixty by one hundred feet in area size, and four stories in height. It is built of brick trimmed with Onondaga limestone. The college is the successor of two once famous medical schools. The first was that of Fairfield, which was incorporated in 1812 and flourished until 1839. When discontinued part of its faculty went to the young Geneva Medical school. In 1872 this celebrated school became the medical department of Syracuse University. The building, opened October 5, 1896, has two large lecture halls and a library of six thousand bound volumes. In the departments of anatomy and pathology there is the fine collection of skeletons, manikins and special models that belonged to the late Dr. John M. Wieting, presented to the college by Mrs. Elizabeth MI. Wieting! Henry D. Didama, M. D., long dean of the college, was upon his death succeeded by Gaylord P. Clark, A. M., M. D., as dean. The death of Dean Clark in 1907 left a vacancy, John L. IIeffron, M. D., becoming dean.
The College of Law is located in the former handsome home of the Crouses, at East Fayette and South State streets on Fayette Park, which was purchased by the university. The college was decided upon February 19, 1895, and was inaugurated in September, 1895, with a course of two years. In 1898 the course was lengthened to three years. The William C. Ruger Law Library is in the College of Law. James B. Brooks, A. M., D. C. L., has been dean since the inauguration.
The decision of the university trustees to build upon the old Remington block property, which it had secured by gift from Eliphalet Remington of Ilion, was reached August 3, 1895. The building fronting upon Vanderbilt Square is one hundred and seven by one hundred and thirty-two feet, of Re- naissance architecture, Green & Wieks of Buffalo, being the architects. It is built of light granite, warm grey terra cotta and brick. A. Friederich & . Sons, of Rochester, were the builders. The Assembly IIall was designed for the College of Law, but quickly became a popular hall for recitals and lectures. Over the entrance are statues emblematic of Education and Progress, the work of Max Bachmann, sculptor.
As a nuelens to a museum in the College of Fine Arts, there has been pro- cured, mostly from Europe, several thousand engravings, photographs and chromo-lithographs, illustrating many of the chief historie works in architec- ture and painting. The Leavenworth-Wolffe collection of engravings, con- taining twelve thousand sheets, is a valuable contribution to the art treasures of the university. The Hill collection of curios and articles of virtue from Japan and China is also very interesting and valuable. To these has been added the collection by loan of Rev. Whiting S. Worden, M. D., '81. George Albert Parker, Mus. D., is the present dean.
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The College of Applied Science was authorized by the trustees on January 22, 1901. It entered its main building in September, 1902, and its new build- ings for shops and laboratories in February, 1907. Four year courses are offered in civil, electrical and mechanical engineering. William Kent, A. M., M. E., Se. D., is the present dean.
The latest college is that of the teachers, for which the first step was taken at the midwinter meeting of the trustees on January 16, 1906, and in the uni- versity system it takes co-ordinate rank with the College of Medicine, of Law and of Applied Science. Jacob Richard Street, Ph. D., is its first dean.
Of the twenty-one trustees at large in 1907, eleven were from Syracuse. They were Hou. Francis Hendricks, Mrs. Eloise Nottingham, Ph. M., Horace S. Wilkinson, Charles M. Warner, Willis B. Burns, Alexander T. Brown, Lyman C. Smith, James M. Gilbert, A. M., Hou. Charles Andrews, LL. D., Donald Dey and Hendrick S. Holden. The alumni trustees from Syracuse were Dr. John L. Heffron, Willis A. Holden, B. S., Wilfred W. Porter, A. B., and Edwin Nottingham, Ph. B. Conference trustees from Syracuse were Rev. R. Dewitt Munger, D. D., George J. Sager, Dean James B. Brooks, D. C. L .. Rev. James D. Phelps, D. D., and Rev. Theron Cooper, D. D. John D. Archbold of New York was then president of the board. Frank Smalley, Ph. D., was dean of the first and principal college, that of the Liberal Arts. Chancellor C. N. Sims resigned July 5, 1893, and James R. Day, of New York, was ap- pointed chancellor November 15, 1893. Upon January 16, 1894, Dr. Day ac- cepted the chancellorship, and was inaugurated June 27, 1894.
The United States Government Weather Bureau was established in the Hall of Languages in 1902, the first observation being made on September 19. A weather map with a local forecast, based upon the reports received, is issued daily by the bureau.
The permanent endowment of Syracuse University was reported at two million, one hundred and sixty-one thousand, six hundred and fourteen dollars and fifty-eight cents in 1907. The faculty that year numbered two hundred and fifteen. In the library were seventy-one thousand four hundred and twenty- two volumes and twenty-eight thousand four hundred and three pamphlets. There were twenty buildings with the stadium and new gymnasium, the corner stone of which was laid March 24, 1908, in course of erection. The total registration in 1907 was three thousand one hundred and sixty-four, as against three thousand and four in 1906.
The stadium, to the people in general, was the most interesting structure upon the campus at the time of its building, being the third in this country. It was erected by the Consolidated Engineering and Construction Company. These figures give some idea of the size: Length on long axis, six hundred and seventy feet; length on short axis, four hundred and seventy-five feet ; area covered, six and one-third acres; normal seating capacity, twenty thou- sand; possible seating capacity, forty thousand; excavation, two hundred and fifty thousand cubic yards : reinforced concrete, twenty thousand cubic yards; reinforced steel, five hundred tons; Clinton wire eloth, two hundred end eighty . thousand square feet, and galvanized metal lath, two hundred and twenty
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thousand square feet. The stadium was built with the old Greek and Roman structures as models.
No more changing history in the city is found than that of the public schools, advaneed to meet the demands of a changing period, and brought under the extending and careful supervision of a board of commissioners, reflective of a city's pride in its schools rather than the political patronage. In less than twenty years ten new schools were built, ten schools were erected to replace old schools, substantial additions and alterations were made to twelve schools, and two high schools were added. In 1905 a merit system for the appointment of teachers, removing individual power in the board of edu- ation, was established-an indication in itself that the members of the board were broad and devoted enough to forego personal advantage for the sake of an enduring system.
When the high school was built in 1902 upon Billings Park, to accommo- date one thousand five hundred pupils, at a cost of three hundred and forty thousand dollars, it was believed that the needs of the city for higher educa- tion were amply supplied for several years to come, but the school soon after its occupation in February, 1903, proved the incentive to attendance, and in less than five years it was found necessary to hold afternoon as well as morn- ing sessions to accommodate the one thousand seven hundred pupils registered. while still another high school was being built in 1907 and 1908 at a eost of two hundred thousand dollars, upon the North Side, on the old penitentiary lot, which was selected Jannary 4, 1906. The Billings Park site for the South Side high school was chosen June 9, 1899, and the school opened January 29, 1903. Governor Higgins signed the bill for the North Side high school June 1, 1905.
In the following order have new schools been erected, with their location, capacity and cost: 1890, Delaware, corner Delaware and Geddes streets. five hundred and sixty, twenty-three thousand, two hundred and nine dollars and thirty-seven eents; 1891, Merrick, corner South and Bellevue avenues. four hundred and forty-eight, fifteen thousand dollars; 1895, Croton, eorner Croton street and Croton court, six hundred and seventy-two, thirty-one thousand four hundred dollars; 1895, Tompkins, Tompkins street, four hundred and forty-eight, nineteen thousand dollars; 1895, Garfield. Butternut, near Griffiths street, four hundred and forty-eight, nineteen thousand dollars; 1898, Lincoln, corner of Vine street and Stuart avenue, four hundred and forty-eight, twenty thousand dollars: 1898, Bellevue Heights, Grant avenne near Roberts avenue, four hundred and forty-eight, twenty thousand dollars; 1898, Summer. corner Bassett and Haw- thorne streets, four hundred and forty-eight, twenty thousand dollars; 1898, Grant, Second North street, between Kirkpatrick and Danforth streets, four hundred and forty-eight, twenty thousand dollars; 1904. Wil- liam MeKinley, West Newell street, Pleasant avenue and Cannon street, six hundred, fifty two thousand dollars.
The new schools replacing old were as follows: 1888, Putnam, corner of South State and Madison streets, eight hundred and ninety-six, forty-nine thousand seven hundred and eighty-three dollars and ninety-eight cents; 1890,
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Brighton, corner South Salina and Colvin streets, six hundred and seventy- two, thirty-one thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars; 1893, Grace, corner Grace and Massena streets, four hundred and sixty, eighteen thousand nine hundred and five dollars; 1893, Montgomery, Montgomery street, between Jackson and Adams streets, six hundred and seventy-two, twenty-nine thons- and nine hundred and sixty-five dollars; 1894, Townsend, eorner Townsend and Ash streets, five hundred and sixty, thirty-two thousand dollars; 1895, Clinton, Lodi street between Green and Gertrude streets, six hundred and seventy two, twenty-nine thousand dollars; 1897, Porter, St. Mark's Square, one thousand one hundred and twenty, fifty-seven thousand dollars; 1897, Andrew Jackson. Jackson street between Orange and Almond streets, four hundred and forty-eight, twenty-one thousand six hundred dollars; 1899, Washington Irving, Madison street, between Almond street and Irving avenue, four hundred and forty-eight, twenty-five thousand five hundred and sixty- one dollars; 1902, Gere, Willis avenue near Chemung street, six hundred and seventy-two, fifty thousand dollars; 1908, Salina, on Center street, ninety thousand dollars.
Substantial additions to schools were made as follows: 1893 and 1897, Preseott, Willow street, between Townsend and North State streets, two hun- dred and seventy-four, thirteen thousand seven hundred and eleven dollars; 1897, Brighton, two hundred and twenty-four, twelve thousand dollars; 1897, Delaware, one hundred and twelve, six thousand dollars; 1900, Franklin, cor- ner Butternut, South Alvord and Peters streets, three hundred and thirty- six, eighteen thousand dollars; 1900, Emma Williard, Adams street uear Grape, ninety. three thousand one hundred dollars; 1900, Preparatory, corner East Fayette street and Irving avenue, eighty-three, one thousand five hun- dred dollars; 1902, Elmwood. Cortland avenue near Purple street, two hun- dred, ten thousand dollars; 1902, Danforth, West Kennedy street, between South Salina street and Midland avenue, two hundred, ten thousand dollars; 1904, Lincoln, four hundred, twenty-eight thousand dollars; 1905. Andrew Jackson, two hundred and twenty-four, fifteen thousand dollars.
The old High School at the corner of West Genesee and Wallaee streets became the Business High School when the new High School was occupied. The other old schools still ocenpied are Frazer (1886), eorner of Liberty street and Park avenue; Genesee (1883), eorner West Genesee and Wallace streets; Jefferson (1849), eorner Park and Court streets; Madison (1872) eorner Madison street and Walnut avenue; May, (1868), Seneea street between Otiseo and Tully: Seymour (1883). Seymour street near West street; Vine, eorner Henderson and Winton streets; Truant, 824 Sonth Salina street ; Onon- daga County Orphan Asylum school, East Genesee, and St. Vincent's Orphan . Asylum school, Madison street.
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