USA > Ohio > Butler County > Centennial History of Butler County, Ohio > Part 53
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THE BAPTIST CHURCH.
The Baptists had a church here about eighty years ago. They worshiped in a frame building which stood on lot No. 126. Rev. Mr. Spencer was their pastor. In con- sequence of deaths and removals the society ceased to exist after 1826.
THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
The Episcopalians organized a branch here about six or eight years ago. They purchased the old Universalist church build- ing and remodeled it to suit their needs. The society now has a very comfortable church home and services are conducted monthly by Rev. Shaffer, of Hamilton.
THE UNIVERSALIST CHURCH.
The Universalist church was organized in November, 1839. Services were held in Oxford by the Universalists as early as 1825 or 1828 by the Rev. Abner Longley. Among the first members of the church were Peter Sutton and wife, Amaziah Dodge, Isaac Hall, Mr. Lee and Mr. Withrow. The first pastor was Rev. Harvey Gifford. In 1839 the society built a frame church on
lot No. 5, which would seat about two hun- dred and fifty persons. Services were held until in the early 'eighties, when the society disbanded. Among those who have been pastors are the following: Revs. Rogers, Kidwell. St. John, Gurley. Monford. Pin- gree and Polk.
COLORED CHURCH ORGANIZATIONS.
The colored population of Oxford have several church organizations. The African Methodist Episcopal church was organized in 1842. The congregation worships in a house built by Joel Collins, for the Chris- tian church, which had a partial existence at one time.
The Christian African church was or- ganized about 1865. The society possesses a comfortable church, built in 1881.
The Baptist African church was or- ganized about 1870 by Rev. Mr. Brown, of Cincinnati. The membership is small in numbers. The house in which it worships was built in 1875.
MIAMI UNIVERSITY.
That Miami University is a child of the Ordinance of 1787 has been claimed in view of the statement contained therein that "schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged." Its enactors were aiming to secure for the great Northwestern territory that highest civilization which blends religion, education and morality. An act of congress, bearing date May 5, 1792, authorizes the conveyance to John Cleves Symmes of certain lands, and one section of this act provides that "one complete town- ship" shall be set apart "for the purpose of establishing an academy, and other public schools and seminaries of learning." In
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accordance with this act, a patent for said University, for the instruction of youth in lands was executed September 30, 1794, the various branches of the liberal arts and sciences ; for the promotion of good edu- cation, virtue, religion and morality; and for conferring all the literary honors, granted in similar institutions, and the benefits and advantages of the said univer- sity shall be open to all the citizens within the state." A board of trustees was created, and its first meeting was held at Lebanon, June 7. 1809. signed by George Washington, and in this patent it is provided that one complete town- ship, six miles square, "shall be holden in trust, to and for the sole and exclusive in- tent and purpose of erecting and establish- ing therein an academy. and other public schools, and seminaries of learning, and endowing and supporting the same, and to and for no other use, intent, or purpose whatever." As is well known, the lands covered by the Symmes patent were situ- ated between the Little and the Great Miami rivers. But settlers soon purchased these lands, and it was found impossible to secure a free township. This led to a subsequent enactment bearing date March 3, 1803, which authorized the "legislature of Ohio to enter one complete township west of the Great Miami, in lieu of the original town- ship within Symmes' purchase." From this time the legislature of Ohio has managed the trust established by the general govern- ment. On April 15, 1803, the legislature appointed three commissioners to locate the township, selecting such tract, or tracts of vacant land in the land district of Cincin- nati "as are the most valuable, having due regard to the quality of the land, the situ- ation for health, the goodness of the water, and the advantages of inland navigation." On September 1, 1803, these commissioners selected these university lands, containing 23,321 acres, covering nearly the whole of Oxford township and a few fractional sec- tions in Hanover and Milford townships.
On the 17th of February, 1809, the legis- lature of Ohio passed an act to establish a university, "which university shall be desig- nated by the name and style of the Miami
A struggle now arose over the location of the university. Many held that it might be located in some place other than on the university lands. The legislature appointed three commissioners to select a site, and two of these met and chose Lebanon. As one of the commissioners was absent the legality of this choice was disputed, and the legis- lature again took up the matter, cancelled the action of the commission, and directed the trustees to lay out a town, and locate the university on its own lands. This act was passed February 6, 1810, and on March 26th the board held its second meeting, at Hamil- ton, and selected the present site for the town and university. The third and fourth meetings of the board were held at Cincin- nati, and the subsequent meetings up to Sep- tember 3, 1818, were held at Hamilton. The first meeting at Oxford was held Novem- ber 3, 1818. The chief business of the board through these ten years pertained to the leasing of the college lands. By Janu- ary 20, 1820, they were leased at six per cent. on a low purchase price, which can not be increased, and which in 1840 yielded a quit-rent of five thousand and two dollars, and now yields a little more than six thou- sand dollars, * or about six per cent. on a principal of one hundred thousand dollars.
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MIAMI UNIVERSITY, OXFORD.
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VIEWS ON THE BEAUTIFUL, TALLAWANDA. NEAR OXFORD.
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With the exception of tuition fees, this was all the annual income that the university re- ceived for seventy-five years, and out of this buildings were provided and salaries paid. There was a prodigious amount of first-rate work done for very little money.
BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS. - The first building erected on the university grounds was a "school house," erected in 1811 and costing three hundred and ten dollars. It stood near the site of Brice Science Hall. Afterward a second story was added. and it was converted into a home for the presi- dent. It was removed long ago. The next was "Franklin Hall," afterward called "The Wing." This was begun in 1817 and com- pleted in 1818. It was three stories high and contained twelve rooms. It stood until 1868, when it was torn down that the chapel might take its place. The main build- ing, that is, the central part of the present main building, was begun in 1820 and com- pleted in 1824. This is the oldest build- ing now standing on the university grounds. It is eighty-six feet in length by sixty feet in width, and contains a number of recitation rooms, the library and two halls for the literary societies. The north dormitory was commenced in 1828 and completed in 1829. The south dormitory was begun in 1834 and completed in 1835. A small laboratory was erected in 1838. This was burned in 1896. In 1868 the old "wing" was taken down, and the chapel was built as the west wing of the main building. This was done through the labors and gifts of some of the alumni and other friends of the university. In 1885 the legislature began making ap- propriations to the university. These were supplemented at different times by generous gifts from the Hon. Calvin S. Brice. In
this year all the university buildings were repaired and improved. Brice Science Hall was begun in 1890 and completed in 1891. Herron gymnasium was begun in 1896 and completed in 1897. In 1898 work was be- gun on the east wing and on the enlarge- ment of Bishop chapel. These were finished in 1899, and make the main building two hundred and seventy-eight feet in length. The enlargement of Brice Hall was begun in 1904 and will be completed in 1905. Hep- burn Hall, a dormitory for young women, was begun in 1904. and will be completed in 1905.
The campus contains sixty acres. The east half of this is native forest, the west half has been planted in woods of different varieties. The buildings are grouped in the center of the grounds. The whole view is delightful. In addition to this campus the university has an adjoining grove of forty acres, and on this are the athletic grounds.
ADMINISTRATIONS .- In 1818 the Rev. James Hughes was elected to conduct a "grammar school" in the university. He opened his school November 3, 1818. This was an unsuccessful undertaking, and Mr. Hughes resigned in 1821, and the school was discontinued.
On July 7. 1824, the board of trustees voted to open the university. The Rev. R. H. Bishop, vice-president of the Transyl- vania University, was elected president of the Miami University, and other members of the faculty were chosen. On November 15th the university opened with twenty students. There were four juniors, three sophomores, five freshmen and eight in the grammar school. The university had at last began its great work for the Northwest,
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and this thirty-four years after congress had passed the act providing for its endowment.
Dr. Bishop's administration ran through nearly seventeen years. He resigned in 1840, his resignation to take effect when a successor had been secured. Dr. Junkin, his successor, did not take up his work till April, 1841. This administration was character- ized by growth. Students came, not only from Ohio, but from Indiana and Illinois, and from different parts of the South. The character of the institution was fixed, and many young men were established in prin- ciples that have made them distinguished and useful. It was a bright day when Dr. Bishop came to the university. The follow- ing is a list of the presidents of the uni- versity, the date preceding each name indi- cating year of appointment and the date fol- lowing name indicating year of resignation : 1824, Rev. Robert H. Bishop, D. D., 1841 ; 1841, Rev. George Junkin, D. D., 1844; 1844, Rev. John McArthur (pro tem) ; 1845, Rev. E. D. McMaster, D. D., 1849; 1849, Rev. Wm. C. Anderson, D. D., 1854; 1854, Prof. O. N. Stoddard (pro tem) ; 1854, Rev. John W. Hall, D. D., 1866; 1866; Rev. R. L. Stanton, D. D., 1871; 1871, Rev. A. D. Hepburn, D. D., 1873; university was closed for twelve years; 1885, Prof. R. W. McFarland, LL. D., 1888: 1888, Ethelbert D. Warfield, LL. D., 1891 ; 1891, Rev. Wm. O. Thompson, D. D., 1899; 1899, Rev. Wm. J. McSurely, D. D., (pro tem) ; 1899, Rev. David S. Tappan, D. D., 1902; 1902, Rev. Guy Potter Ben- ton, D. D.
In the administration of Dr. Anderson the university attained its largest attendance until recent years. The enrollment for 1854 rose to two hundred and sixty-four. Dr.
Anderson's popular gifts, his easy, cordial way of mingling with the people, and his activity in the churches, tended to popular- ize the institution and to bring in students. The last half of Dr. Hall's administration was shadowed by the Civil war. Many young men left college, never to return. Some who returned from the war felt that they had lost their college time, and went at once into the activities of life. The pat- ronage of the South had gone. The uni- versity was crippled financially, for the les- sening of the number of its students meant the lessening of its income. The building of the chapel in 1868 left a debt upon the university in spite of the efforts of some of its devoted friends. It seemed to the board of trustees that they were obliged to close the institution for a time and use the rents in paying the debt. And so in 1873 Miami University was thrown into a state of sus- pended animation, and continued therein for twelve years.
After the reopening in 1885 the work of building up the university was very heavy and difficult. Many of Miami's old friends had turned to other institutions. There was also a lack in facilities for doing effective work. The administration of Dr. Thomp- son marked an advance in the work of the university. He secured an annual levy from the state, and also special appropriations from time to time. He widened the area of Miami's friends and patrons. During the administration of Dr. Tappan the legislature voted to establish a normal school in con- nection with the university, and made an appropriation to this end. In the spring of 1902 the board of trustees agreed to under- take this responsibility and elected a dean and other teachers for the normal college.
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The university opened in September, 1902, with Dr. Benton as president, and with the addition, not only of the normal college, but with an increase in the other departments. The summer school of 1903 reached an en- rollment of four hundred and eighty, and the growth of the university has gone stead- ily on.
The general good wrought by Miami University has been often spoken of. Her sons have filled the highest places in the na- tion. Some have been editors of renown and wide influence; some have stood in the first rank in their professions; some have established colleges and other schools. In the year 1854 the United Presbyterian church planted a mission in Egypt that has been a great factor in the enlightenment of the people dwelling there. A college has been established at Osint, and there many young natives have received the training that fits them for filling positions under the rule of England. One of the founders of this mission was Dr. James Barnett, a gradu- ate of Miami, and he was joined later by the Rev. E. Currie, another son of Miami. This light set up here in Butler county has shone very far, and very brightly. We could fill many pages in writing of the great and useful things done by Miami's sons.
The local and county advantages through the presence of the university have been very great. In Butler county are many college-bred men who have taken a full or a partial course at Miami. They are found in the professions, in business, in different occupations, on farms, in stores and in shops. As farmers or workmen, whatever their calling, they are intelligent and fitted for the higher citizenship. And from this time on they will be joined by Miami's
daughters. The teachers in our country schools are being trained in the university, as well as those in our city schools. Butler county has many things of which to be proud, and its university stands among the first. Its local advantages have brought strength and light into many lives, and the work of the past will be the beneficent work of the future.
The institution was never so well equipped for its responsibilities as it is now. Brice Hall, enlarged, will afford three times its former capacity. The dormitory for young women will afford a comfortable home for one hundred students. The presi- dent is an active man of much ability and experience in educational work and manage- ment. The professors and instructors, twenty-eight in number, have scholarship and practical training in their departments. The atmosphere is that of diligence in busi- ness. The moral and religious tone is well sustained. Right conduct is the rule. Most of the students are the choice youth of their communities. The college spirit is healthy and helpful.
And the prospects are highly encour- aging. Every term shows an increase in the number of students. Our summer schools are leading hundreds of teachers to have a personal interest in Miami, and they are talking of Miami to their pupils. The beauty of the place, its pleasant surround- ings, its advantages, and its history are in- creasingly becoming a bright dream in many lives. The founders of Miami University were thinking of the citizenship of the Miami valley, and planning for its welfare. We are now beginning to do in a large and strong and efficient way the work that good and patriotic men dreamed of long ago.
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OXFORD COLLEGE.
Oxford College was founded in 1849 by Rev. John Witherspoon Scott. He was a son of a Presbyterian clergyman of Brown county, Pennsylvania, and was born in 1800. He graduated at the age of twenty from Washington College, Pennsylvania, and took graduate work at Yale under Dr. Silli- man, choosing natural science as his special work. This chair he occupied for fifty-three years in seven colleges. Four of these he helped to found, and of two of them he was president. After serving for seventeen years as professor in Miami University, and for four years thereafter as one of the founders of Farmers College, inducements were held out to him to organize and conduct an in- stitution for young ladies in the town of Oxford. He accepted with pleasure and a confidence which the end proved to be abundantly warranted. He brought the nu- cleus of his school in an omnibus from Cin- cinnati, established it in the buildings which bore the name for some years of Oxford Institute, and the first year the enrollment was one hundred and thirty-nine. This was twelve years before the establishment of Vassar College. His prosperity induced his friends in Oxford and elsewhere to join in the ambitious project of building a large literary institution, with ample grounds, buildings and accommodations on the north- east side of the village. The great financial crises of 1857 and 1859 bore hard upon them, however, and in the latter year Dr. Scott resigned the presidency.
As soon as the new building was oc- cupied, the Rev. J. H. Buchanan, of the United Presbyterian church, took charge of the institute and carried it on success- fully until 1867.
Rev. Robert Desha Morris succeeded Dr. Scott in 1859 and held the position of presi- dent for twenty-three years. He was born in Washington, Kentucky, and received his early education at Augusta College and his theological training at Princeton. He was then called as pastor to the Presbyterian church of Newtown, Pennsylvania, remain- ing there for eighteen years. During this time he organized a school at Newtown, which is a suburb of Philadelphia, and was always interested in college work. In 1867 the college and institute were united. Dr. Mor- ris was an earnest worker, and bravely sur- mounted the difficulties which beset the on- ward way of the educator. The stress which the Civil war brought to all institutions near the border line was safely passed and the college during his administration took its place as an institution of higher learning, drawing students from many states and advancing its curriculum to keep pace with the broadening ideas of woman's life and work. In 1882 the building which had been occupied as the College for Women twenty- five years was transformed into a sanitarium, and the students were removed to the in- stitute building where Dr. Scott had first established the school. The death of Dr. Morris took place the same year, and he was succeeded by his son-in-law, Rev. Faye Walker, D. D., and the institute buildings were enlarged and adapted to their pur- poses.
Dr. Walker was born at Murdock, War- ren county, Ohio, in 1846 and received his education at Miami, Center College, and McCormick Theological Seminary. He was gifted as a speaker, having fine diction and easy address, and the work which he did for the college was the outcome of his sympathetic nature and his enthusiasm. He
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succeeded Dr. ition of presi- He was born d received his ollege and his ton. He was Presbyterian 'ania, remain- tring this time own, which is was always In 1867 the d. Dr. Mor- bravely sur- beset the on- stress which itutions near ;sed and the :ion took its her learning, · states and ep pace with in's life and ich had been men twenty- a sanitarium, d to the in- ott had first eath of Dr. rear, and he :, Rev. Faye ite buildings › their pur-
rdock, War- received his College, and ry. He was diction and hich he did ome of his usiasm. He
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New Hall of Residence, Western College, Built 1904.
MAIN HALL,, WESTERN COLLEGE FOR WOMEN, OXFORD.
Alumnae Hall, from east side, showing Library.
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was married, in 1870, to Miss Lillie Morris, who was his faithful helper in educational work. He was president for seventeen years, resigning in June, 1900. He was succeeded by the Rev. John Hampton Thomas, who remained in office but one year. Dr. Thomas, like his two predeces- sors, was a Presbyterian clergyman, and a son of the Rev. Thomas E. Thomas, long known at Dayton and Lane Seminary.
In June, 1891, Fannie Ruth Robinson, Ph. D., became president-the first woman to hold the position at Oxford College. Dr. Robinson took her degree at Rutger's Col- lege, has taught for more than twenty years and has filled many positions as an educator, . both East and West, having been for most of that time preceptress or principal. She is president at the time of writing-1905.
Oxford College building is a beautiful and commodious one. It is four stories in height and measures one hundred and twenty-six feet wide by eighty-five feet deep, exclusive of the verandas. It has a large and attractive library, containing about three thousand volumes, a fine chapel, an art hall, a gymnasium, and ample accom- modations for one hundred and fifty board- ers. The building is heated by steam and lighted by electricity, and for miles around stretches a noble landscape.
THE WESTERN COLLEGE FOR WOMEN.
. The Western College for Women, lo- cated in Oxford, Butler county, is one of the pioneer institutions for the higher edu- cation of women in this section of the country. When it was founded in 1855 as the Western Female Seminary, Ohio was considered, as the name of the college in- dicates, a part of the Northwestern Terri-
tory. Oxford was then reached only by stage-coach from Hamilton, fourteen miles distant, and was practically farther from "the East" than many points nearer the Pacific are today. There lived in Oxford at that time a group of people, conspicuous among whom were Rev. and Mrs. Tenney, who realized the need of the young women of the West for educational advantages equal to those of young men. These earn- est Christian men and women were inspired by the work of Mary Lyon, the founder of Mt. Holyoke, and their ideal was a re- production of that institution, which should "give a liberal education; give it at mod- erate cost; and give it under distinctively Christian influences."
The original site of thirty acres was the gift of James Fisher, of Oxford, and Ga- briel Tichenor, of Cincinnati, contributed the first large sum of money. Miss Helen Peabody, a teacher at Mt. Holyoke, was chosen as principal, a position she filled for thirty-three years. She was succeeded in 1888 by Miss Leila S. McKee, Ph. D., an alumna of the Western and a graduate of both Wellesley College and Center College, of Danville, Kentucky, who, during the six- teen years of her presidency, raised the cur- riculum from the seminary course to that of an extensive and well-rounded college course leading to the degree of Bachelor of Arts.
In 1895 a college charter was granted by the state and the Western College is now one of the leading educational institutions for women in the central west. Upon the resignation of Dr. McKee in 1904, Dr. Lilian W. Johnson was called to the presi- dency from the department of history in the University of Tennessee. President
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Johnson is well qualified for her position by the wide range and variety of her academic career ; a student of Wellesley and later of the University of Michigan, where she re- ceived the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1891, for four years a teacher of history at Vassar, for two years a student and traveler in Europe, a graduate student at Cornell, from which she received the degree of Doc- tor of Philosophy in mediaeval history in 1902. She thus knows thoroughly the leading educational institutions and the most prominent educators of the country.
The college campus has grown from thirty to two hundred and thirty-two acres. It is picturesquely situated, its rolling na- ture affording the pleasing variety of hills and ravines. It includes, besides the grounds around the buildings, an athletic field, golf links, a tract of beech woods, or- chards and a dairy farm. The approach to the buildings is a beautiful winding drive which marks the exact route taken by the first load of building material in 1853. The main building is the third on this site, the first and second having been destroyed by fire. Their prompt rebuilding proves the loyalty and earnestness of the friends of the college. The present building has a frontage of two hundred and sixty-four feet and contains, besides students' rooms, par- lors, chapel, offices, a dining room and a reading room, where leading magazines and reviews of a literary, educational, scientific, religious, artistic and musical character to the number of one hundred and fifty and a number of daily and weekly newspapers are provided for the use of the students.
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