USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > College Hill > Historical sketch of Farmers' College > Part 2
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Rev. A. Benton was employed to solicit new subscrip- tions and to collect unpaid ones. The payment of sub- scriptions did not keep pace with the progress of the work, but to meet the emergency money was borrowed on the faith of the Board. The College building was completed by September Ist, 1847, and cost the sum of $11,898.45 ; the furniture, $600.79; total, $12,498.24. The four acres of land cost $700.00, which included $300.00 for removal of Mr. Grant's house across the street, made necessary by an exchange of property be- tween Grant and William Cary to secure the site desired. The building was a substantial brick structure, 120 feet in front by 48 feet in depth, and three stories high, con- taining twenty-seven rooms. It was an imposing edifice for that time, and commanded notice and admiration. In "Howe's Ohio Historical Collections," published in 1847, the following reference to it may be found on page 237,- only the word Academy is inadvertently used in place of College :
"About six miles north of Cincinnati, in a beautiful situation among the hills, has lately been built the Farmers' Academy, a chartered institution."
Its level grounds in front, although not spacious for a campus, were ornamented with maple and evergreen trees and presented an attractive appearance.
It was with eager delight and a sense of pride the "boys" looked forward to gathering within its walls, as their Alma Mater. They were soon gratified. There was in fact no interregnum. The students of the Acad-
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emy became imperceptibly and without any friction the students of the College, and many of them later its alumni. It was only like the shifting of a banner to indicate a change of authority. The necessary prelimi- nary steps were taken without delay to organize the College, and establish a course of studies as authorized by the Charter.
On August 21st, 1847, the Board adopted a by-law allowing six per cent interest on paid-up stock in tuition. The same to be forfeited if not demanded as required. The first meeting of the Board in the new building was in Philomathean Hall, on October 9th, 1847, and adopted a form of diploma.
III. OPENING OF THE COLLEGE.
The Faculty-Mr. Cary, President-His Plans and Views.
The committee appointed to dispose of the edifice re- ported in writing, "that it was expedient to place the edifice in the hands of Freeman G. Cary, as President of the Board of Instructors, to pay six per cent interest on stock in tuition under the rules of the Board, to pay public assessments and taxes, to insure the building and keep it insured in the name of the Board or Corporation in at least $8,000.00, and to keep up ordinary repairs, and to furnish the proper means of education of such students as may present themselves for our course of instruction, receive and collect tuition fees, assessments for room rent from students, for four and one-half years from November 1847."
A contract was entered into with Professor Cary to that effect, and a course of study adopted. This ar- rangement, while it enlarged the responsibilities of Mr. Cary, supplied him with greater facilities and extended
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the scope of his educational work, and was permissible under the Charter and By-laws.
But it may well be imagined the very great burden he assumed. He was elected President, and he selected, as it was within his province to do, his corps of pro- fessors, which included most of the very able teachers he had in the Academy.
The Board of Instruction organized by Mr. Cary was as follows :
FREEMAN G. CARY, A. M.,
President and Professor of Moral Philosophy and Rhetoric,
and Superintendent of Buildings, Grounds, and Finance.
ROBERT H. BISHOP, D. D.,
Professor of History and Political Economy.
JOHN W. SCOTT, D. D.,
Professor of Chemistry and its application to Agriculture and the Arts.
JOHN SILSBY, A. M.,
Professor o Mathematics, Natural Philosophy, and Astronomy.
JOSEPH WILSON, In place of Prof. James H. Bacon, retired.) Professor of Ancient and Modern Languages.
GEORGE S. ORMSBY, Teacher of the Primary Department.
Thus, it may be said, the Farmers' College sprang from Cary's Academy, like Minerva from the brain of Jupiter, full-armed and equipped.
President Cary was unsurpassed in his position, and was assisted by a Faculty of pre-eminent ability in their respective lines. And there were over two hundred stu- dents in attendance. The outlook of the new enterprise
DR. ROBERT H. BISHOP.
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was most promising, even brilliant. Every sign was hopeful.
The first Annual Commencement of the College was held in its chapel on the 23rd of September. 1847, when a class of five, that had come from the Academy, graduated. It was an occasion of unusual interest and was largely attended. And this was true of the subse- quent commencements, especially of the first decade. They were indeed gala occasions for the surrounding country people. The degree of "American Scholar" (S. A.) was conferred on the class. Under its Charter the College could grant certificates or diplomas, but could not confer the degree of A B. or A. M. It was not until 1855 that it conferred these degrees, after the Leg- islature had passed an act authorizing it. The same re- marks apply to the commencements and classes of 1848 and 1849. They were from the Academy, ten in that of 1848, and sixteen in that of 1849,-the largest in the history of the College. We do not deem it advisable to insert the names of the graduates as they appear from year to year, but include them by classes in an appendix.
And we may as well say here, that we do not under- take to include a complete catalogue of all the students,- only those that are living so far as could be ascertained. To do more would hardly be feasible.
There were two flourishing Literary Societies, the "Burritt" and the "Philomathean," inherited from the Academy, with libraries of some six hundred volumes each. They had spacious, elegant halls assigned to them in the College building.
At the meeting of the stockholders, held April Ioth, 1848, they resolved to relinquish all claim to the reimbursement of the stock as provided in the original subscriptions, and authorized the Board of Directors to
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increase the capital stock to $18,000.00 if necessary to carry out the plan then on hand.
In the first catalogue of the College published-that for 1847-1848-Mr. Cary announced his theory of gov- erning the students, which proved eminently successful in practice. We quote: "The government will be mild, but firm-essentially parental in its character. Private ad- vice, warning, and expostulation will ever precede public censure and reproof. It will be taken for granted that every youth and young man is honest-that he has en- tered the institution to improve, and the last thing ques- tioned will be his integrity."
At the triennial meeting of the stockholders, held April 9th, 1849, after electing a new Board of Directors, they passed unanimously resolutions thanking the late Board, (which was the first Board), for their unselfish energy and ability in the erection of the College edifice, approving their action and expressing gratification at the prosperity of the institution under their management, and the able and faithful discharge of duty by the Faculty.
On May 14th, 1849, the Institution met with a great loss in the resignation of Professor Scott.
The Directors and Stockholders joined in expressions of their sincere regret at his retirement, and in bearing testimony to his great ability as a teacher, and to his high character as a man and a Christian.
At a meeting of the Board, March 27th, 1850, a com- mittee was appointed to devise proper measures and pro- ceed to raise an endowment of $10,000.00 for a perma- nent professorship to be called the Bishop Professorship of Farmers' College. Unfortunately this commendable movement was not consummated.
The arrangement with Mr. Cary was felt to be only temporary, as the Board and all interested foresaw that
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the Institution could not be maintained for any great length of time, without more enlarged means.
President Cary, anxious to sustain and render per- manent what had required years of unrequited toil to begin, and thus far successfully prosecuted, entered upon the herculean labor of carrying out this arrangement with the Board of Directors by employing a full corps of pro- fessors, and sustaining them by tuition fees alone. With- out a ruinous pecuniary loss, he struggled through and met all his engagements, and the Institution gained con- tinually in public favor and patronage, as shown by the number of students attending, which increased from year to year, until it reached over three hundred.
So much of the future of the Institution seemed to depend upon the health and life of a single individual. that Mr. Cary was extremely anxious the College should be on a more public and permanent basis. Dr. Bishop, and the other eminent educators he had employed, were in full sympathy with him in all his aspirations and plans.
In this connection it seems appropriate, and due to the memory of President Cary, to quote from a report he made to the Board on the 27th of March, 1850, the following language :
"One hundred and sixty pupils have been in atten- dance the past term. Our professorships are filled with men fully competent to their several stations. There has been no withdrawal of confidence, no diminution of patronage: but the interests of the College have not been thus sustained without great self-denial and per- sonal sacrifice, more, I am satisfied. than this community will continue to require-more, at least, than they can reasonably expect." He further adds: "You are ready to inquire, how has the College been kept up through these adverse circumstances, paid its professors, paid its
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interest on the stock as demanded, insurance, paid for fuel, lights, repairs, furniture, apparatus, etc., and not incurred a ruinous debt ? I answer, the College meets the emergencies of the times, is blessed with a numerous paying patronage, without which it could not exist a single day. The professors live on small salaries, smaller than it is reasonable to ask men of such acknowledged ·ability to live upon, five hundred dollars per year being the maximum amount paid.
"As for myself, I may state that while I have $10,000.00 invested in the enterprise, I have been content with the pittance left, if any, after paying all other expenses, and if none, by industry, strict economy, and the fruits of a few acres of ground, to eke out a bare support."
Anxious to build up an institution of learning of a permanently practical character, a cherished object from the beginning, President Cary concludes :
"Did I this day know that our enterprise would be finally successful, that a spirit would be awakened all over our land, to put forth similar efforts, increasing the facilities and inspiring the desire for the more liberal mental training of the million, resulting in the proper modification of our College to suit the age, I would be willing not only that my money should be exhausted, but that my life's best energies be spent even to its close in the accomplishment of such desirable results."
These were the noble, unselfish sentiments of that sterling, liberal educator, whose hopes and ideas reached far beyond his generation. Well did the early students of Farmers' College understand and appreciate Mr. Cary's broad views of education, his abiding faith in that Insti- tution to meet the wants of the age, and his willingness to make every sacrifice for its permanent welfare. To that end he stood undaunted, and no opposing obstacle discouraged him.
The Board was seriously impressed with this report,
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and determined to devise a plan to place the College upon an enduring basis and render it a permanent blessing to present and future generations. This was regarded as the beginning of the third era in its history, the first being the substructure in the Academy, and the second the creation and organization of the College under corporate auspices. Committees were appointed charged with the" duty of preparing and submitting a plan, and at once entered earnestly upon their work.
IV. ELECTIVE METHOD OF STUDY .- LIBERAL EDUCATION.
About this time, and doubtless in furtherance of the general awakening among those in control of the Insti- tution in favor of a more liberal and practical education, Mr. Giles Richards, chairman of the Committee appointed to report on the peculiarities of the course of instruction of this Institution, its wants, etc., on July 17th, 1850, presented a very able and exhaustive report on the sub- ject, which the Board accepted and adopted and ordered 1,500 copies of it to be printed for general distribution. It was a strong plea for reformation in Collegiate in- struction generally, and in favor of the course of instruc- tion in Farmers' College especially, which was peculiar to the system adopted and practiced from the beginning, in not requiring the study of the dead languages, or the pure mathematics, as a necessary part of a liberal edu- cation, teaching both, however, to those who might choose, substituting therefor other branches having more direct relation to the practical duties of life. This marked the important and radical difference between this and all other institutions of learning at that time. A minimum course of study was prescribed, and this course, or its equivalent, must be thoroughly mastered before a pupil could receive the Diploma of the College. This system
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gave to young men the right of selection, and the use of equivalents, and thus adapt their studies to their pro- spective pursuits in life. It was a system that appealed to the masses of the people,-the rulers in this country,- and therefore suited to the genius of our government, and embodied in it the very elements of the growth and stability of our institutions. Unquestionably Freeman G. Cary was the pioneer in the practical application of this elective course of study, and he favored it in the days of the Academy. It was a fundamental propo- sition with him. His idea was that "every man had a special right to that kind of education which would be of greatest value to him in the prosecution of useful in- dustry." We find Mr. Richards quotes in his "Plea" from a report made by Francis Wayland, President of Brown University, to the trustees of that Institution, the following pertinent statement :
"We have in this country 120 colleges, 42 theological seminaries, and 47 law schools, and we have not a single institution designed to furnish the agriculturist, the man- ufacturer, the mechanic, or the merchant with the edu- cation that will prepare him for the profession to which his life is to be devoted."
Now, a half century later, all the leading colleges and universities in our land have, within a recent period, adopted, at least partially, the elective or equivalent plan, and recognize its wisdom and justice. We can not but see in this a tribute to the strong practical common sense and farsightedness of the founder of Farmers' College.
In this year ( 1850) no class graduated, which was attributed to the depressing effects of the fear of cholera and small-pox in the preceding year. But no doubt the elevation of the standard of graduation the previous year contributed to that result. The attendance during this
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year numbered 207. It was during this season of dis- cussion and consideration of a permanent plan for the College that the Board received from Dr. R. H. Bishop the following quaint and pathetic communication :
"Sept. 18th, 1850. "To the Directors of Farmers' College :
"Gentlemen,-Though in my 73d year I have been only a stranger and sojourner on earth. The time of my departure can not be at any great distance. The object of this note is merely to ascertain from you :- whether I may have 12 or 14 feet in some corner of the College lot allotted to me, to be used as a resting place to my body and the body of her who has been my companion and nurse for nearly 50 years, when our spirits shall be called to the Eternal World.
"With respect and affection, sincerely yours. "R. H. BÍSHOP."
The Board "unhesitatingly and unanimously granted" the request, and so informed the Doctor. The place was selected with his consent on the College lot on the slope below the building.
On the Board of Instruction. Prof. R. S. Bosworth took the place of Dr. Scott, resigned, and Prof. J. S. Henderson succeeded Prof. Silsby. resigned.
V. PLAN FOR PERMANENT ENDOWMENT .- LIMITED AND PERPETUAL SCHOLARSHIPS.
The Board finally, after much deliberation, on the Ioth of January, 1851, determined on and adopted a scheme which contemplated :
(1) The extinguishment of all private interests and claims ; including the Academy buildings and grounds, apparatus, cabinets, etc.
(2) The conversion of the original stock into the form of scholarships.
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FARMERS' COLLEGE.
(3) The raising of an endowment fund sufficient to support the requisite number of professors.
(4) The securing of such modifications of the Char- ter as would suit the enlarged plan.
The main purpose was to endow the College by means of professorships and scholarships.
It was proposed to raise at least $100,000 for the en- dowment by means of limited and perpetual scholar- ships, and convert the original stock into the same form at par ; each contributor of $30 to be entitled to a two years scholarship, of $50 a five years scholarship, and of $100 a perpetual scholarship : all free of charge for tui- tion. The College property was to vest in the owners of the perpetual scholarships, and the management of the Institution be under their control.
Efficient agents in the persons of Mr. Eli Taylor and Rev. A. Benton were at once put into the field to present this plan to the public and procure subscriptions for scholarships. the terms of which required payment on the Ist of March, 1852, provided the sum subscribed should in the aggregate amount to $100,000 by that time. The work of these agents was very successful, especially that of Mr. Taylor, who was a man of unusual intelli- gence, judgment, and force, and was exceptionally quali- fied for this work. They reported that the people uni- versally approved the system of education pursued in this College and the plan to raise an endowment fund, and some predicted "that Farmers' College must become the great university of the West." On September 25th, 1851, they reported subscriptions to the amount of $95.195. leaving only $4,805. to be obtained by March Ist, 1852. in order to make the amount binding.
This was Commencement day, and the degree of American Scholar was conferred upon the class of 1851.
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The College had during the year quite recovered from the partial depression of 1850, and had 228 students in at- tendance. John S. Whitwell had been added to the Faculty as Professor of Ancient Languages and Litera- ture, and D. Molony as Professor of Modern Languages and Literature.
Thus the work went on, no difficulty being appre- hended in securing the necessary enabling Act author- izing a change in the Charter. On March 24th, 1852. a little over a year, the agents reported $108,000 as sub- scribed in scholarships before the Ist of that month, and most of which was drawing six per cent interest, which seemed to insure the complete success of the plan. It was indeed an extraordinary exhibition of confidence by the people in the plan and in the management. On the 9th of April, 1852, a general Act of the Legislature was passed, under which all the requisite changes and modifi- cations, including an enlargement of the capital stock, could be made. To perfect the entire plan a reorgani- zation was necessary. On the 8th of May. 1852, a meeting of the original stockholders was duly held, pur- suant to law, in the College chapel, at which time, by a unanimous vote, the property was formally transferred to the Perpetual Scholarship holders, and the capital stock increased to $150,000, exclusive of improvements, grounds, donations, etc.
To this meeting the Board of Directors made a full report, from which we make the following extract :
"The Board at the termination of their official term are gratified in being able to state that the entire history of the Institution, thus far, has been one of uninterrupted prosperity. This prosperity is attributable chiefly to the faithfulness, zeal, and ability of the President and Pro-
fessors of the Institution. 3 The Board has had little
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to do but superintend the buildings and grounds of the Corporation and contract for their occupancy. It is not to be disguised that the popularity and prosperity of the College have not been secured without great sacrifices on the part of the President and his associates."
All the duties of the President of the Board, Secre- tary, Treasurer, and Trustees had been performed gratui- tously.
They further report that President Cary's lease ex- pired on the Ist of March, 1852, and that it would be impossible to continue the arrangement for a longer period, and they refer to the plan proposed, the legis- lation secured, and the efforts already made through subscriptions and otherwise to put the Institution on a broader and more permanent basis. The result was that the 137 stockholders present, by a unanimous vote, ac- cepted and adopted the necessary provisions of the new law, the conversion of the capital stock into scholarships, and increased it to the sum of $150,000, and according to the plan adopted by the Board, January 10th, 1851, heretofore given, authorized the Board to comply with the law in reference to the certificates for record, etc.
They also adopted the following resolution :
"Resolved, That all the stock in the Farmers' College not subscribed to the scholarship fund previous to the first day of January, 1853, shall from and after that date be considered as converted into Scholarships, limited or perpetual, on the proposed plan, as the amount in each case shall warrant."
This was the final meeting of the original Stock- holders, and in our division may be considered as having closed the third era of the College.
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VI. CONVERSION OF STOCK INTO SCHOLARSHIPS. Ownership in the Perpetual-Reorganisation.
Immediately after this meeting. on the same day, in pursuance of notice, the owners of scholarships, named in the record as a large number. met. as stated in the notice, "for the purpose of completing a new organiza- tion, electing a Board of Directors, and increasing the present facilities, by procuring additional grounds, build- ings, apparatus, etc."
After the meeting had organized, it was unanimously resolved that the College be reorganized upon a plan of limited and perpetual scholarships, according to the terms proposed by the Board of Directors on or about January 10th, 1851, as aforesaid and ratified by the original Stockholders at their meeting this day, and they also approved and ratified the action of said original stockholders.
By reason of some inconsistencies between certain provisions of the College Charter, and of the general law then recently enacted, this day accepted by the original stockholders, it was deemed advisable, in order to fully complete and perfect the plan of reorganization, to adopt the following Constitution or Articles of Associa- tion which they did unanimously, to wit :
"SECTION Ist. The Stock of said Company shall con- sist of limited and perpetual scholarships, and the mode of representation in the Board of Directors shall be as follows, to wit: Every owner of one perpetual scholar- ship or more shall be entitled to one vote, and in no case shall any person be entitled to more than one vote.
"SECTION 2d. The Capital Stock raised in the form of limited or perpetual scholarships shall not exceed $150,000; nevertheless this sum shall not include any money or other property given to said corporation by devise, bequest, or donation.
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"SECTION 3d. All sums of money which shall be sub- scribed in the form of limited or perpetual scholar- ships or given to the Institution by devise, bequest, or donation (unless otherwise directed by such Devisor, Testator, or Benefactor) when collected, shall be in- vested, in the manner directed by the Board of Direc- tors, in Stocks of the United States or of the State of Ohio, or in bonds, drawing interest, not exceeding ten per cent, secured by mortgage on unincumbered real estate, within the State of Ohio, of at least double the value, in each case, of the sum so secured, exclusive of all perishable improvements, and reinvest the same in the same manner, as from time to time it shall be re- · turned to the Treasury ;
"Provided, however, that the Directors may appro- priate so much of the principal of said fund as may be necessary to pay the expenses of soliciting and collect- ing the subscriptions, absorbing the original stock, and for the purchase of additional grounds and buildings, apparatus, and cabinets connected with or contiguous to the College, except as hereinafter limited in the fourth section.
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