USA > Ohio > Delaware County > Delaware > Fifty years of history of the Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, Ohio : 1844-1894 > Part 3
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35
DAVID S. GRAY, ESQ., President Board of Trustees.
32
Ohio Wesleyan University :
for the support of the Faculty. Yet from the meagerness of its income, the University has never had as large a force of teachers as it needs, and has never paid its teachers as large salaries as they could get in other schools or in other professions.
The amount of the endowment at the successive periods in our history is shown by the statistical table at the end of this history. The growth of the fund has been slow, but secure, and it now reaches the sum of five hundred thousand dollars, of which, however, two hundred thousand dollars is still subject to annuity, and yields but little to the present maintenance of the school. The endowment fund has been guarded by the trustees with scrupulous care, and but little that has come into their control has ever been lost to the in- stitution. One very liberal provision in behalf of the Uni- versity, which had been secured to the institution by will, carefully executed many years before the death of the testator, and which would have been worth probably $10,000 a year, was finally lost to the cause for which he had long toiled, by his revocation of the will in extreme old age if not dotage, and at the point of death.
STUDENTS' AID FUND.
By the contributions from the Conferences and the Church Board of Education, the University has an annual sum of about four thousand dollars for the help of worthy students. The amount given to each is small, and usually in the form of a loan. The late John Taylor, of Zanesville, Ohio, left to the University for this cause a property worth $10,000, which will be realized, however, only at a future day. The late William Glenn, of Cincinnati, left a bequest to the University which yields $350 a year to the same object. The institution greatly wants some immediate provision of generous amount
33
Fifty Years of History.
for a students' aid fund, like that found in some of the Eastern colleges.
Occasional prizes for excellence in scholarship have been offered by friends, but no systematic provision of this nature has yet been made.
LIBRARY.
For the first ten years, the institution had nothing that was worthy of the name of library. A few hundred books of a very miscellaneous character, old and refuse, mostly second-hand school books, had been slowly gathered by the agents. But they were rarely referred to and never read. In 1853, Mr. William Sturges, of Putnam, Ohio, offered the University a liberal subscription for a library, on condition that within the year a further subscription of $15,000 should be secured for a suitable library building. Professor Merrick undertook the agency for this, as he had for the chapel, and raised the amount within a few weeks. The building was finished and dedicated in 1856. Meanwhile, President Thomson visited Europe and purchased a valuable library of about three thousand volumes with the money-$6,600- paid by Mr. Sturges. But this foundation by Mr. Sturges, valuable as it was at that early date, now constitutes but a small part of the present library of the University. Two large alcoves in the library are the contributions respectively of Dr. Joseph M. Trimble and William A. Ingham, Esq., members of the Board of Trustees. Since Dr. Trimble's death, his widow has placed in his alcove about five hundred volumes from his private library. The widow of the late Rev. Dr. Charles Elliott has given the bulk of his private library, rich in patristic and controversial literature, to the University. The widow of Dr. James F. Chalfant, of the Cincinnati Conference, has given his select library to furnishi an alcove bearing his name. The late Dr. Benjamin St.
34
Ohio Wesleyan University :
James Fry, editor of the Central Christian Advocate, St. Louis, Mo., left his unique library of Methodist Church his- tory to the University. The late Bishop Isaac W. Wiley be- queathed to the University his valuable library, which now fills an alcove bearing the inscription, "The William E. Wiley Memorial Library," in memory of his son who died in September, 1883, while a member of the senior class of the University. The friends of the late Rev. John N. Irvin, B. D., an honored and scholarly alumnus of the class of 1870, have purchased his valuable library for the University. It stands in an alcove bearing his name. The late John O. McDowell, M. D., an alumnus and trustee of the University, bequeathed his select medical library of over 300 volumes as a foundation for "The McDowell Medical Library." This has been supplemented by a donation from Mrs. Philip Roettinger, of Cincinnati, of about two hundred volumes from the medical library of her father, the late A. C. Mc- Chesney, M. D., of Cincinnati. These bequests of profes- sional, theological and medical literature are especially nota- ble as gifts which point to the coming post-graduate depart- ments of the University.
John W. King, Esq., an alumnus of the University and long a valuable trustee, has undertaken to secure for his Alma Mater complete sets of all the great quarterly reviews and monthly magazines of the English world; and he has already placed about four hundred volumes of this choice literature in "The King Periodical Alcove." The Rev. Dr. David H. Moore, editor of the Western Christian Advocate, has furnished for the University library a complete set in thirty-nine large volumes, of Hubert H. Bancroft's History of the Pacific States, and of Mexico.
Several of the University clubs, especially the Delaware Association of Alumnæ, have contributed liberally to the
1501594
Fifty Years of History. 35
riches of the library ; and other persons have made special additions of books in English Literature, Historical Research, Criticism and Art, for " seminary work " in the several de- partments. The library has received for many years copies of all the publications of the United States, and of the State of Ohio. Some of these, such as the "History of the War of the Rebellion," of which perhaps sixty volumes have been issued, and as the Ohio Geological Reports and the State " Roster of Ohio Soldiers" in ten volumes, are unequalled in the publications of any other government. The publi- cations of the Smithsonian Institution are among the most valuable additions made annually to the library.
Since the purchases made from the Sturges gift, the Uni- versity has not been in circumstances to expend much money for books. There is a small sum of $30 a year for books for the Biblical Department, from a bequest of Mrs. Dr. Mann, and a varying sum of possibly $70 a year, arising from special examination fees, which is appropriated to the library. Further, the Board, by trenching upon other equally urgent necessities, has been enabled to appropriate a few hundred dollars annually for periodicals and other require- inents of the reading-room. We are thus able to keep the tables well supplied with the current literature, and to make the use of all these free to the students. The library and the reading-room are open for about eight hours daily. Aside from these insignificant amounts, the library has been de- pendent on the miscellaneous contributions of its friends. Still, as we have seen, there has been a continued, thoughi slow, and uncertain, growth ; and the library now, including a good collection of books at Monnett Hall, perhaps two thousand in number, catalogues about seventeen thousand volumes. Other valuable additions are definitely promised. John Williams White, Ph. D., Professor of Greek in Harvard
36
Ohio Wesleyan University :
University, one of our honored alumni, of the class of 1868, has arranged to put on our shelves, from time to time, within the near future, a complete working library in the depart- inent of classic learning ; and the Rev. Dr. Michael J. Cramer, of East Orange, N. J., also an honored alumnus, of the class of 1860, has notified the Board of his purpose to leave the University his valuable professional library of five thousand volumes. Other friends have intimated their thought of similar testamentary arrangements. We hope it may be many years before these bequests become available ; but we also hope that other immediate provisions may be inade for our needs in this direction. Perhaps the greatest special need of the University now, is of a liberal endow- ment, with a good annual income for the regular enlarge- ment of the library, as the current wants of the various de- partinents suggest. To furnish the coming Slocum Library building with a library to start with, adequate to the im- mediate wants of the institution, or equal to the libraries of the great schools of the country, would swallow up our en- tire income for years to come. Any amount of money could easily and wisely be expended for books; but we ought to have, at once, a permanent fund of at least thirty thousand dollars whose annual income should be devoted to this one purpose. A library so endowed and wisely used would be as efficient for good as any professorship in the University. Has the University any friend who will put such a boon as this within the reach of the Faculty and of our thousand collegians ?
The Ohio Methodist Historical Society, with its head- quarters at the Ohio Wesleyan University, was organized in 1859. The movers in this organization were a number of the older preachers and layınen of Ohio who desired that the early denominational history of the State and of the Church
37
Fifty Years of History.
at large should be recorded and preserved in some central and safe place. The society had anniversaries during Com- mencement week for a number of years; and some of the appointed addresses were exceedingly interesting and valua- ble. The Faculty assigned an alcove in the library for the collections and archives of the society. Some contributions to this were made, especially by the late Samuel Williams, one of the incorporators of the University, and an early resident in Ohio, who left it his valuable library of Method- ist historical books and periodicals.
LECTURES.
In connection with Mr. Ingham's contributions to the library, should be named the liberal provision made by him, in 1870, for a course of ten lectures on the Evidences of Natural and Revealed Religion. In pursuance of his wish, the Faculty selected some of the ablest thinkers they could find to deliver such a course before the University. The lectures were heard with profound interest and satisfaction by very large audiences ; and, after the completion of the course, were gathered and published in 1872, in a volume, entitled, "The Ingham Lectures," which will long remain among the ablest discussions known to the Church.
There have been other courses of lectures delivered before the University, and heard with equal interest and profit. In 1884, ex-President Merrick transferred his entire estate to the trustees as an endowment of an annual lectureship on Experimental and Practical Religion. This foundation will amount to $18,000, but was subject to an annuity during his life. But as the donor desired that the lectures should be- gin before his death, he arranged with the Faculty to invite, fromn year to year, distinguished lecturers for this appoint-
38
Ohio Wesleyan University :
ment, at his own private expense. Five of these courses have been thus delivered, as follows :
In 1888, by Dr. Daniel Curry, five lectures on "Christian Education ; " in 1889, by ex-President James McCosh, of Princeton College, on "Tests of the Various Kinds of Truth ; "' in 1890, by Bishop Randolph S. Foster, on "The Philosophy of Christian Experience ; " in 1891, by Dr. James Stalker, of Glasgow, Scotland, on " The Preacher and his Models; " in 1894, by Dr. John W. Butler, of Mexico, eight lectures with the title, "Sketches of Mexico." These several courses have all been published in volumes, entitled, "The Merrick Lectures." The volumes thus far published, and the lectures yet to be delivered and published, will long perpetuate the name and influence of the founder.
Still other courses of lectures, or important single lect- ures, have been delivered, by appointment, before the Uni- versity, or before select classes. Among these may be mnen- tioned especially, a course of six lectures in 1890, by Dr. John Bascom, ex-President of Wisconsin State University, on "Socialism ; " a course of six lectures, in 1891, by Dr. John T. Gracey, of our missions in India, on " Comparative Religions," and a course of five lectures, in 1893, by Rev. Richard T. Stevenson, Ph. D., of the class of 1873, now our Professor of History and English Literature, on "The English Race in the Eighteenth Century."
CABINETS.
In January, 1859, the University purchased from Dr. Will- iam Prescott, of Concord, N. H., his cabinet of natural his- tory, valued at $10,000. This cabinet was large, and, in some of the departments, very complete. But there was 110 place on the premises large enough for displaying its riches, except the chapel. This room, which already seemed small
39
Fifty Years of History.
for the wants of the institution, the trustees, at a special session, at once appropriated to the uses of the cabinet. It was fitted up for this purpose, and so remained until 1874. Meanwhile the chapel services were held, at first in the lecture-room of the William Street Methodist Church, but afterward, by dividing the students into two sections, in one of the large lecture-rooms of the University.
In 1869, the Board began the erection of a large stone building on the high ground near the spring. This was in- tended for recitation rooms and for chapel. A failure of the building fund delayed this building till 1873. Its cost was about $40,000, a large portion of which was finally taken from the endowment fund. It bears the name of President Merrick -" Merrick Hall." Upon its completion, it was thought that the room on the third floor designed for the chapel afforded a more convenient place for cabinets and museum, and they were finally arranged there; and Thom- son Chapel was reconsecrated to the religious services of the University.
Large additions have been made to the cabinets. In 1867, R. P. Mann, M. D., of Milford Center, Ohio, at large ex- pense of his own time and money, made for the Univer- sity a collection of many thousand fossils and rocks, illustra- tive of the geological ages, especially the Silurian and De- vonian in Ohio. These are arranged in a separate cabinet, adjacent to the Prescott cabinet. About the same time, the Rev. Herman H. Herzer contributed a large number of rare and valuable specimens of fossils found by himself in the septaria of this locality and elsewhere. Some of these fos- sils are unique, and of great scientific interest to paleontolo- gists.
William Wood, Esq., of Cincinnati, contributed in 1870, at the expense of about $3,000, a full set of the Ward casts of
40
Ohio Wesleyan University :
fossils. These wonderful and monstrous forms are faithful reproductions of originals from the best scientific museums of the world.
In 1885, Drs. Merrick and Trimble, of the Board of Trus- tees, contributed a very complete series of crystalline miner- als, and several thousand specimens of the more common mineral forms.
The Rev. William Kepler, Ph. D., of the class of 1868, one of the most indefatigable paleontologists in the State, has contributed a number of typical fossil fish collected by himself.
The Rev. Charles H. Warren, of the Ohio Conference, an enthusiastic naturalist, contributed a very complete suite of the native grasses of Ohio, and specimens of all the native woods of our forests.
Mr. Charles E. Copeland, of the class of 1892, missionary at Singapore, in the Straits Settlements, sent to the museum in 1892, four large cases, containing several thousand speci- mens, representing the marine life of that wonderful district.
Rev. Dr. Thomas J. Scott, another of our graduates, of the class of 1860, of the India Mission, has sent to the University a complete pantheon of the idols of Hindustan. They are in marble, gilt, about sixty in number, and constitute, per- haps, the finest collection in the United States. The Uni- versity has many other symbols from heathen lands.
A very good beginning of an archaeological museum has been made. In 1888, the Rev. Joseph Weber, the evangel- ist, an undergraduate of the University, who spent some time in the Holy Land, contributed a large number of ob- jects of rare value, containing several hundred mounted birds and animals of Palestine, specimens of the rocks and minerals, and many curiosities representing the daily life of the people of that interesting land. It is Mr. Weber's in-
-
--
-
RICHARD
DYMOND
Hon. CHAS.W.FAIRBANKS
PHINEAS
P. MAST
E.D.WHITLOCK D.D.
Judge W.R.WARNOCK
Hon. CHARLES FOSTER
IsteEs
S. W. DURFLINGER
42
Ohio Wesleyan University :
tention to continue his contributions until the museum of his Alma Mater shall contain complete illustrations of the his- tory, customs, natural products, geology, and mineralogy, of the Bible Lands.
In 1891, Mr. William R. Walker, of Columbus, O., gave the University a collection of many hundred of the very choicest relics of the Mound Builders. It is the purpose of the donor to bring together a collection that will give a full and complete view of the life and customs of this strange people, and will prove of educational value in ethnological studies.
These collections in the cabinets and museums, cata- logue, probably, over a hundred thousand distinct and rep- resentative objects.
BUILDINGS.
We have seen that the old chapel was restored in 1874 to its former use. The Lecture Association of the students contributed $800 toward the furnishing of the chapel; and, by the efforts of the Faculty and the senior class, a fine organ was placed in the chapel at an expense of over $1,600. This audience room has capacity for about six hundred sittings ; but had even then grown too small for all occasions, except daily prayers. The Sabbath lectures were delivered here for a while; but soon had to be transferred to the City Opera House, which, also, soon could not accommodate the congre- gations that attended those services. For other public occasions, Thomson Chapel was too small from the begin- ning. The Commencement exercises were held here a few times in the first years after it was built, but it was always uncomfortably crowded; and thereafter, for many years, these exercises were held in one of the groves on the college campus. Excursion trains were sometimes run from the neighboring cities; and the attendance was often estimated
43
Fifty Years of History.
as high as five thousand. After a while, as early as 1885, the chapel became so straitened for daily exercises that it was necessary to excuse a number of the students from attendance. But at last even this undesirable measure was ineffectual, and for some years-1889-1891, relief was sought by transferring the daily chapel services to the auditorium of St. Paul's Church in South Delaware, in the immediate neighborhood of the University.
This arrangement was found inconvenient and expensive ; and in September, 1891, occupation of Thomson Chapel was resumed, but with the now definite prospect of final and adequate relief in the immediate future. Already the Board of Trustees, at the session in June, 1890, had ordered the immediate erection of a University Hall that should furnish first and foremost the much-needed college chapel ; and also inore and better accommodations for the academic work of the institution. Mr. McClintick's report to the Board says : "The time has arrived when a commanding structure, some- what in consonance with the reputation which the Uni- versity has established for itself, should be erected to meet the wants that are already very pressing, and that will be inore so in the immediate future."
Well-considered plans were adopted, and the contracts let for a building which ranks among the largest and most com- plete college edifices in the country. The corner-stone was laid June 18, 1891, and it took two years to complete the building. It is a massive stone structure, 160 feet long, 150 feet deep, and four stories high. The entire pile bears the name of University Hall. It includes the chapel, now called Gray Chapel, in commemoration of the noble life of the Rev. David Gray, a venerable pioneer preacher in Ohio, the father of David S. Gray, Esq., of Columbus, O., President of the Board of Trustees, who gave $27,000 toward the building
44
Ohio Wesleyan University:
fund, and through whose generosity and leadership the erec- tion of the building was so promptly assured. This beauti- ful auditorium seats 2,000 persons, and can be enlarged by the opening of the adjacent lecture-room for the accommo- dation of 400 persons more. The chapel is octagonal in formn, with the floor rising from the rostrum with a gentle slope. The seats are arranged in seven sectors, with aisles radiat- ing from the pulpit as a center. A spacious gallery, with seats placed in ascending tiers, extends two-thirds of the circumference of the room. The dome in the center of the chapel rises to the height of 56 feet from the floor. It is lit from above by day, with beautiful opalescent glass, giving a softened tint to the inflooding light, and, by night, from dome, gallery and walls, with hundreds of incandescent electric lamps. The splendid organ was built by the Roose- velts, and cost $15,000. The beautiful case of the organ is only surpassed by its marvelous perfection as a musical in- strument. The University Hall contains, besides the chapel, a commodious and well-furnished hall for the Young Men's Christian Association, capable of seating 500 persons; sev- eral lecture rooms, ten recitation rooms, six society halls, the administrative offices, professors' studies, ladies' par- lors, wide corridors, and other needed conveniences.
In anticipation of the new building, in 1889, a year before the action of the Board ordering its erection, the Rev. John M. Barker, Ph. D., of the class of 1874, was appointed Finan- cial Secretary of the University, with this interest as his spe- cial work. The subscriptions secured by him were generous and encouraging; but the crisis in the business affairs of the country came, unfortunately, just in the midst of his efforts. Nevertheless the building went on, and money was given for the larger part of the expenditure, and the rest was borrowed from bank. When the building stood finished,
+5
\Fifty Years of History
the cost aggregated about $180,000 ; but there was a debt of about $45,000 unprovided for by collections or subscrip- tions.
Such was the situation at Commencement week, June, 1893. The completion of the building was anticipated with rejoicing, but also, in view of the heavy debt, with grave anxiety. On Tuesday afternoon, June 20th, Governor William McKinley delivered, in Gray Chapel, before a mag- nificent audience, an eloquent and masterly memorial ad- dress, on President Rutherford B. Hayes, late one of the University Trustees ; and on Wednesday morning, June 21st, the Hon. John Sherman, the distinguished senior Senator from Ohio, delivered the formal University address before a great and gratified audience. Everybody was delighted ; everybody was full of enthusiasm. The chapel more than inet the most sanguine expectations ; and the anxiety about the debt began to abate. At two o'clock in the afternoon, the hour appointed for the dedication of the University Hall and of Gray Chapel, an immense audience was present. The dedicatory sermon was preached by Bishop Henry W. Warren, of Denver, Colorado; and then, under the skilful management of Ex-President Charles H. Payne, amid un- bounded enthusiasmn, the whole amount due on the building was raised, and University Hall and Gray Chapel stood free from debt. The formal and impressive service of dedication was conducted by Bishop John M. Walden, of Cincinnati, one of our honored trustees.
On Thursday, the Commencement exercises of the Uni- versity were held in the same place. A great and long- desired work was at last accomplished, and the expressions of satisfaction, and the congratulations of all present, trustees, faculty, students, alumni, friends, were most hearty and unbounded.
46
Ohio Wesleyan University :
The completion of the University Hall gives the institu- tion accommodations for two thousand students. We can gather into one central and convenient room all the students, for daily devotions, and our greatly larger audiences for the Sabbath lectures, for the annual revival services, and for Commencement exercises. And we have now lecture halls and recitation rooms, sufficient in number and in size, to answer all our present needs. These enlarged facilities for academic and religious work will, with the blessing of God, be enjoyed, and the results of them realized for centuries to come.
On the site of the University Hall, the foremost and finest location on the campus, originally stood the " Mansion House," later the "Elliott Hall," which was the first and for somne years the only building on the grounds. It served an excellent purpose where it first stood for nearly half a century ; but in 1891, it was removed to a new site, south and east on the campus, and refitted for a new service. The physical laboratory rooms occupy the first floor, and the commercial department rooms the third floor. Professor Williams retains the rooms on the second floor, which he has occupied since the opening of the school, now fifty years ago.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.