USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Cincinnati > Cincinnati, the Queen City, 1788-1912, Volume II > Part 49
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Shortly after Mr. McMicken's death the estate became involved in law suits brought by certain of his relatives. These heirs had been given considerable legacies and annuities, but were not contented with the provision made for them by Mr. McMicken. They carried the matter into the courts of Louisiana, in order to break the part of the will that bore upon his lands in that state. The courts there held that a devise to a municipal corporation in trust was not valid. Thus there was lost to the university almost five hundred thousand dollars.
The same heirs, residing in Louisiana, tried also to obtain possession of Mr. McMicken's property in Cincinnati on the plea that the city could not accept and carry out the trust. This case was decided in favor of the university in 1861 by the supreme court of the United States.
The income of the university was seriously diminished also by the trend of business away from the property devised it in Cincinnati, much of which was on Main street. The buildings also were mostly old ones, and demanded re- pairs or reconstruction. Rents were falling. The trustees were limited by the terms of the will that the city property could not be sold, and the improved property could not be leased for longer than ten years. Legacies and annuities had to be paid out of the funds. So for several years the yield from the estate to the university was but $16,000 a year, and during one year nothing at all was provided from this source.
The requirement that there should be separate colleges for boys and girls threatened also to be embarrassing as adding to the expenses and as against the judgment of experienced men. Nevertheless the gift was accepted by the city.
In the year following Mr. McMicken's death, the city council passed an or- dinance establishing the McMicken University. It elected six directors,- George B. Hollister, Henry F. Handy, Rufus King, Miles Greenwood, Cornelius G. Comegys and James Wilson. On December 30, 1859, the directors met in the council chamber for organization of their board. The mayor, R. M. Bishop, was also present. Rufus King was chosen president of the board, and by-laws, rules and regulations were passed upon. A room in one of the buildings be- longing to the McMicken estate, on Main street below Fourth, was selected as headquarters of the board of directors. While the trustees now nominally as- sumed control of the estate, little could be done for some time, as certain of the heirs at law were bringing suit. Repairs and rebuilding were however begun. The Louisiana property was lost. The favorable decision as to the Cincinnati property was made February 25, 1861.
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During 1861 the property yielded less than was expended for legacies, an- nuities, taxes and expenses. The revenue itself had been cut in half by the business depression incident to the opening of the Civil war. Matters improved however in the next few years, and in 1864 the directors had in hand a cash balance of $4,409, and $10,000 in city bonds. The city also released the real and personal property of the estate from taxation.
In 1864 the ladies of the Cincinnati Academy of Fine Arts presented to the directors of the university their collection of paintings. These were placed for the time in a room in one of the McMicken buildings, on the corner of Main and Fourth streets, as the beginnings of an art gallery, and for the benefit of artists and the public.
Further investments of funds were made in 1865, to the extent of $12,151 in United States bonds, at seven and three tenths per cent interest. In 1866, three new stories were erected from the funds. It was announced that it would not be advisable to begin upon university buildings until an income of thirty thousand dollars per year, free from incumbrances, could be commanded. It was not until 1868 that this object was realized.
The actual instruction in the university began on the first Monday of January 1869, when the McMicken School of Art and Design was opened. This was in charge of Mr. Thomas S. Noble. During the first year there was an attendance of one hundred and twenty pupils. There were seven assistant teachers. For many years this school was held in rooms in an upper story of the old college building on Walnut street.
In order to clear the way for the further progress of this university, the legislature, on April 16, 1870, passed an act authorizing the city of Cincinnati to become a trustee for any person or corporate body holding an estate or funds in trust for purposes of education or advancement of the arts and sciences. Under this act there was appointed a university board in January 1871. To its charge the estate of Mr. McMicken was transferred.
The board of education was given authority to arrange for levy on the tax list of not more than one-tenth of a mill for the maintenance of the university.
On March 14, 1871, the council of Cincinnati passed an ordinance looking toward providing for the university. The name was changed from McMicken University to the University of Cincinnati.
In the year 1873, an academic department in the Woodward high school was opened. Principal George Harper, of that school, was to be in charge. Classes in languages, chemistry, mathematics and physics were to be conducted beyond the curriculum then in vogue in the high school. Into this department fifty eight pupils were admitted, forty of them being girls, certain of whom wished to study French and German only. There was at this time added to the School of Art and Design a class in wood-carving, under the charge of Mr. Benn Pitman.
In April, 1872, an issue of bonds to the amount of $150,000 was authorized to erect buildings and provide apparatus for the needs of the university. With a portion of this money the buildings were at last constructed upon the grounds of the McMicken residence. This building, for the use of both boys and girls, was completed in September, 1875. In October the fully organized academic
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department, with three courses of study, leading to the degrees of Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science and Civil Engineer, was housed in the new structure. H. J. Eddy was appointed professor of mathematics, astronomy and civil en- gineering; F. D. Allen of ancient languages and comparative philology ; E. A. Guetin, instructor in French; and F. Van Rossum, instructor in German.
In the same year an astronomical department was formed by comprehending within the university organization the Cincinnati Observatory. In 1876, Mr. Joseph Longworth gave the art department fifty-nine thousand, five hundred dollars, with the readily granted condition that the university add ten thousand dollars. A number of assistant professors were added in the academic depart- ment. Arrangements were also made for a professorship in natural history and geology, for a laboratory and for apparatus for the use of the civil engineering department.
A bequest came at this time from the Rev. Samuel J. Browne of more than eighteen thousand, seven hundred dollars.
In 1877 the first degrees were conferred. The recipients were Frank McFar- lan, bachelor of arts, and Herbert A. Howe and Winslow Upton, master of arts.
In 1876-77, the School of Design had four hundred and thirty-two pupils. In 1877-78 there were three hundred and sixty-five.
In December, 1877, the Rev. Thomas A. Vickers was appointed rector of the university.
On June 20, 1878, the first formal commencement exercises of the university were held in Pike's Opera House. There had been eighty-one students in the academic department during that year. The commencement oration was given by George H. Pendleton. There were seven graduates to receive the degree.
The next year, 1878-79 the pupils in all departments numbered five hundred and sixty-nine.
During this period, a number of generous gifts were received, from the heirs of Nicholas Longworth, from Julius Dexter, John Kilgour, and the Astronomical Society of Cincinnati. The endowment from these, together with the gift of Rev. S. J. Browne, making a total of $139,282.
On Friday evening, June 18, 1880, the third commencement was held at Pike's Opera House. The Hon. Samuel F. Hunt, chairman of the board of direc- tors, made an address. The baccalaureate oration was delivered by Judge J. B. Stallo.
During 1879, the total income of the university was $61,686.
For twenty years, the academic department of the university was in the building on McMicken avenue, September 20, 1889, an ordinance was passed by council arranging with the board of directors of the university to devote forty- three acres of land in Burnet Woods Park for university purposes. The condi- tion was that the main building for the university should be begun within three years, and that at least $10,000 should be expended within five years in build- ing and improvements upon that tract. The matter of interpreting Mr. Mc- Micken's will in view of the proposed change of center for the chief edifices of the university from the McMicken homestead to Burnet Woods was brought before the Hamilton County Circuit Court, December, 1891. The decision was favorable to the proposed change, and this opinion was confirmed by the supreme
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court, in March, 1893. An issue of $100,000 in four per cent bonds was then authorized by the legislature. By moneys gained by the sale of these bonds McMicken hall was built. Henry Hanna, June, 1893, gave $50,000 for the con- struction of Hanna hall, for the chemistry and engineering departments. For the equipment of this hall he gave $20,000 during the next year.
Briggs Cunningham, in memory of his wife, gave in 1898, for Cunningham hall, $60,000. In this hall the departments of physics and biology are housed. At the same period $50,000 in stock of the Cincinnati Street Railway Company, was given by Asa Van Wormer for the Van Wormer Library. In 1901, an un- known friend contributed $22,500 for a building suitable for shop work to be affiliated with the engineering department branches of the university are the law school on Ninth street near Race, the medical department, Medical College of Ohio, in the building at the McMicken homestead, a dispensary on the McMicken grounds, the Ohio College of Dental Surgery at Court street and Central avenue. The Clinical and Pathological School of the Cincinnati Hospital has rooms in the hospital building.
The observatory, on Mt. Lookout, stands upon ground presented to Cincin- nati by John Kilgour in 1872. He also gave $10,000 for the construction of the observatory. In 1873, Julius Dexter contributed $1,000 to this institution.
The School of Design, which in 1871 became a department of the university, received at various times from Joseph Longworth $100,000. This department came in 1884 under control of the Cincinnati Museum Association by an ar- rangement with Nicholas Longworth, senior, who endowed it with grounds rents valued at $250,000, on this condition.
Mathew Thoms, in 1890, left the university more than one hundred thou- sand dollars, from which the William Thoms' professorship of civil engineering was founded in memory of Mathew Thoms' father.
The professorship of economics and political science was endowed by David Sinton, in 1899, by a gift of $100,000. In 1898, William A. Procter purchased and gave to the university the famous library of Robert Clarke, including the best collection of "Americana" in existence, an invaluable possession for the university and Cincinnati. Mr. Procter also gave, in 1899, the very valuable and rare Enoch T. Carson Shakespearean collection of books, consisting of 1,420 volumes, one of the treasures of the city. Many other friends gave money, books, apparatus, collections of various kinds.
The University of Cincinnati now comprises the following departments : I. The Graduate School. 2. The McMicken College of Liberal Arts. 3. The College for Teachers. 4. The College of Engineering, (Mechanical, Electrical, Civil and Chemical Engineering). 5. The College of Law, (The Cincinnati Law School). 6. The Ohio-Miami Medical College (The Ohio and the Miami Medical Colleges united.) 7. The Department of Clinical Medicine (The Clinical and Pathological School of the Cincinnati Hospital, Affiliated.)
The officers of administration are, the president, Charles William Dabney, Ph. D., LL. D., Dean of the Graduate School, Joseph E. Harry, Ph. D .; Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, Merrick Whitcomb, Ph. D .; Dean of the College of Engineering, Herman Schneider, B. S .; Dean of the College for Teachers, William P. Burris, A. M .; Dean of the College of Law, William P. Rogers, LL.
MOUNT LOOKOUT OBSERVATORY
ENJOYING FRESH AIR IN LINCOLN PARK
!
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D .; Dean of Women, Emile Watts McVea, A. M .; Director of the Observatory, Jermain G. Porter, Ph. D .; Director of School Affiliation, Frank W. Ballou, A. M .; Director of Music, Edwin W. Glover; Director of Physical Education, Alfred Brodbeck; Secretary of the University, Daniel Laurence, B. S .; Librarian of the University Library, Charles Albert Read, A. B .; Registrar, Lelia Amanda Garvin, B. L .; Secretary of the Faculty, College of Medicine, E. Otis Smith, M. D.
The daughters of Nathaniel Ropes established by a gift of $100,000 a founda- tion for lectures on Comparative Literature, as a memorial of their father. These are open to the public, and have proved one of the vital and interesting educa- tional influences of Cincinnati in recent years. Eminent scholars and publicists of national repute have delivered this series from year to year. In 1910 Walter Page, editor of The World Today, was the lecturer. Previous lecturers have been, Professor Alcee Fortier, of the Tulane University of Louisiana; Prof. John William Cunliffe, of the University of Wisconsin; Prof. William Allen Neilson, of Harvard University; Mr. Paul Elmer More, of the New York Evening Post and the Nation; Prof. Joel Elias Spingar of Columbia University ; Prof. Eugen Kuehnemann, of the University of Breslau; Prof. Frank Wadleigh Chandler, of Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute ; Prof. Arthur Charles Louis Brown, of Northwestern University; Prof. Charles William Kent, of the University of Virginia ; Prof. John Livingstone Lowes, of Swarthmore College; and Prof. Charles Alphonso Smith, of the University of North Carolina. All these men have brought messages of interest and importance that have attracted the at- tention and inspired the thought of the city.
From 1889 to 1899 the university had been without a president. On the lat- ter date, Howard Ayres was chosen for that place. Under his able administra- tion much progress was made in the completeness of the courses in the profes- sional schools and in the number of courses in the academic department.
In 1902 a rearrangement of administration was made, and since that time the government of the university rests in a board of nine trustees appointed h.v the mayor. In 1904 Charles W. Dabney, who had been president of the Univer- sity of Tennessee, was made president of the Cincinnati University. He is one of the ablest university presidents in the country, a man of great ability, splendid attainments, and an able administrator. Under his leadership the university has rapidly advanced, and is generally recognized as in the front rank.
The corner stone of the new University building in Burnet Woods Park was laid September 22, 1894. The committee on laying this stone consisted of William McAlpin, William Strunk, James M. Robinson, J. William Luhn, Way- land R. Benedict and Henry W. Bettman. The programme as arranged was as follows: Invocation, Rev. David H. Moore, D. D., editor of the Western Chris- tian Advocate; address, Hon. John A. Caldwell, mayor of Cincinnati; address, Dr. Henry W. Bettmann, president of the Alumnal Association; laying of the corner stone and address, Dr. C. G. Comegys, chairman of the board of directors ; address, Dr. Wayland R. Benedict, dean of the university, (on account of the ill- ness of the dean this address was not delivered) ; oration, Hon. Samuel F. Hunt. . A. M. LL. D.
The mayor declared "In my judgment the medical colleges of our city should combine, and they, with our law schools, be made a part of this institution."
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Dr. Bettman said, "Institutions are like men, truly; and yet unlike. Men grow into maturity, and pass to their decay. But for an institution whose pur- pose is noble, like yours, beloved mother, whose roots are not only in the soil of the earth, but also in hearts and affections of men, there is no death, no passing away. We come to wish you eternal life, mother dear; and years hence, when we and our children are gone away, may you still sit proudly on this beautiful hill, here among these beautiful trees, and be forever a giver of light unto the children of men, and a source of glory and pride to the city of Cincinnati."
Dr. Comegys rehearsed to some extent what had been accomplished. "To show that we have done a large work thus far on educational lines, I will refer to the fact that we have placed the old dilapidated observatory on a new site and equipped it with instruments that have enabled our eminent astronomers to do a work in original research that has met the praise of the most distinguished astronomers in both hemispheres.
"Next we developed the McMicken School of Art, which created an intense culture in art and design in our own city and throughout the country at large. It was the foundation and much of the superstructure of the present Art Col- lege and Museum in Eden Park.
"Lastly, we have developed the College of McMicken within the last twenty years to such large dimensions as has required us to leave our original building and construct more capacious ones on the ample grounds given by the city, in this beautiful area. This academic year has just opened with a larger class than has ever before applied for admission; indeed a much larger class than Harvard, Yale or Princeton registered twenty-five years ago, although they had been in existence for one hundred to two hundred years. And now I venture the prediction that at the beginning of the twentieth century, we shall have collected a gross class, in all departments of the university, that will place us on a line with the greatest schools of our country."
Judge Hunt delivered in the style for which he was famous an oration which stands as the clearest condensed statement of the main outlines of the history of the university.
The university in all its departments has now more than two hundred pro- fessors, assistants and instructors.
The university, in its College of Law, has the proud honor and distinction of having on its faculty the president of the United States. William Howard Taft is catalogued as "professor of law," and is bracketted "absent on leave," the university having given him special privilege of serving for the time being, as chief executive of the nation.
In 1908 an invitation was extended to the Miami Medical College to become a department of the university. In accordance with this invitation the Miami Medical College and the Medical College of Ohio, (the College of Medicine of the University) have been united into a single medical department, known as The Ohio-Miami Medical College of the University of Cincinnati.
Out of a professorship of civil engineering in the College of Liberal Arts has developed the College of Engineering. It was organized under that name in 1900, and became a distinct department in 1904.
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The College for Teachers was organized in 1905, in cooperation with the board of education of the city of Cincinnati. In 1906 the Graduate School was separated from the McMicken College of Liberal Arts and a distinct organization with a dean at its head effected. In the same year the General Assembly of Ohio authorized the levying of an increased municipal tax for the university,- five-tenths of a mill, instead of three-tenths as before.
Besides those whose names already have been mentioned, the following per- sons have contributed to the endowment or to the equipment of the university : William A. Procter, Rev. Samuel J. Browne, William J. Odell, Julius Dexter, Frank J. Jones, Judge Moses F. Wilson, Eugene F. Bliss, Dr. James T. Whit- taker, Mrs. William E. Merrill, Theodore A. Bruehl, Andrew Hickenlooper, Christian Moerlein, Laura Seasongood, Lewis Seasongood, S. Lilienthal, Mrs. Nannie Fecheimer, A. G. Wetherby, Charles F. Windisch, C. T. Webber, Rev. P. Robertson, the Lane and Bodley Company, James E. Mooney, John Kilgour, Charles Kilgour, C. H. Krippendorf, Julius Fleischmann, Lucien Wulsin, Sam- uel Pogue, Professor Edward Miles Brown, Dr. Nathaniel Pendleton Dandridge, Mrs. Howard Breen, the alumni of the university and others.
The Endowment Fund Association of the University of Cincinnati was in- corporated on April 21, 1905, by a number of prominent citizens of the munici- pality. The purpose of the corporation, as stated in its code of regulations, is "to secure property, including money, or the income from the same, for the University of Cincinnati, and for that purpose to solicit, collect, accept, hold, manage, invest, or pay over such property, money, or income, whether such property, money or income arises by way of gift, devise or purchase for the benefit of the said university." Its affairs are managed by a board of trustees consisting of nine members. The officers of the Endowment Fund Association are: Rufus B. Smith, president; John G. Schmidlapp, vice president ; Charles F. Windisch, treasurer; Howard C. Hollister, secretary.
The sum of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars would erect a section of a Natural History Museum. The sum of one hundred thousand dollars is the amount necessary to found a full professorship in any one of the depart- ments. The donor has the privilege of naming the professorship. Fifty thou- sand dollars would be required for a dormitory, and the contributor of such a sum would be privileged to name the building; there is nothing which the uni- versity needs more than a dormitory system. Twenty thousand dollars endows an instructorship in a department ; the donor has the right to name it. Ten thou- sand dollars is the principal required to establish a fellowship in any one of the departments ; the income being paid to the fellow who devotes his time to original research combined with a little teaching. Three thousand dollars endows a free scholarship, the income from this sum remitting all fees and giving the donor the right during life to nominate to the scholarship, subject to the rules of the university.
The Van Wormer Library building is of stone, fireproof throughout, and is built in accordance with the most approved modern plans of library construc- tion. The rooms have been furnished by the university with heavy tables and desks of quartered oak. The university library, in this building, contains about
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55,000 volumes and 8,800 pamphlets. In the reference room about 2,000 volumes are arranged on open shelves, to which the students have free access. The periodical room contains the current numbers of 300 periodicals. The library is provided with a card catalogue of its own books, and also with card catalogues. of the books in the Public Library of Cincinnati and in the Library of the His- torical and Philosophical Society of Ohio.
The library contains some valuable special collections: The Robert Clarke Library, 6,761 volumes; the Enoch T. Carson Shakespeare Library, 1,420 vol- umes ; the Bruehl Library, about 2,000 volumes, containing many rare works on Mexico and Central America ; the Wilson Library, 810 volumes of literature and criticism in English, French and Italian, the gift of Judge Moses F. Wilson; the Merrill Library of Engineering works, 876 volumes, 478 pamphlets, and 185 maps, charts and photo-lithographs; the Whittaker Medical Library, 1,547 vol- umes ; the Thoms Library, miscellaneous works; the Laura Seasongood Alcove, books purchased annually from the proceeds of a gift of Laura Seasongood ; the Brown Philological Library, 318 bound volumes and numerous pamphlets ; the Charlotte Hillebrand Memorial Library, French and German books; the Library of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 5,600 volumes, a collection placed by agreement under charge of the university; the Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio has deposited its valuable collec- tion in the Van Wormer Library building.
The total number of books in the Van Wormer Library building is about 84,000 volumes and 77,000 pamphlets. To these collections must be added the libraries of departments of the university, situated in other parts of the city. In the libraries of the observatory, the College of Law, the College of Medicine and the Cincinnati Hospital there are 35,809 volumes.
The libraries of the university, taken together, but excluding those of the Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, contain 90,809 volumes and 8,800 pamphlets.
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