USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > College Hill > Historical sketch of Farmers' College > Part 3
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"SECTION 4th. Of the whole sum of $150,000, when raised, in the form of limited and perpetual scholarships, $100,000 shall be preserved sacred and inviolate, as a permanent endowment fund for said College, and under no pretense whatever shall be diverted to any other purpose, the interest of the sum only shall be appro- priated to the current expenses of the Institution.
"SECTION 5th. All devises, bequests, and donations which may be made to the Institution, shall be re- ceived and appropriated according to the terms and conditions imposed by Devisors, Testators, or Benefac- tors, provided such terms and conditions are not in- consistent with the general design of the Institution.
"SECTION 6th. These sections may be amended and others added, at any regular triennial meeting of the owners of Scholarships, two-thirds of those present voting therefor."
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The meeting then elected a Board of Directors, most of whom were members of the late Board.
Thereupon the following resolution was unani- mously adopted, to wit :
"That it is expedient to provide at the earliest prac- ticable day the means of elucidating in practical Agri- culture and Horticulture such students as may desire such course of instruction, or whose parents or guard- ians may direct such course for them."
On the same day the new Board organized, and ap- pointed a committee to report a plan for the invest- ment of the permanent endowment fund.
It clearly appears from the record referred to, that at this point in the history of the College the original corporators joined with new subscribers for the purpose of establishing a permanently endowed Institution, and extending the capital stock to $150,000; and to effec- tually protect the funds, and have a well defined plan for using the money, the Stockholders on the day of the reorganization (May 8th, 1852), adopted the Constitu- tion above set forth, Article 4th of which set apart $100,000 as an endowment fund, to be preserved "sacred and inviolate" as such, and only the interest to be used in the current expenses, such as paying the Faculty.
Negotiations had begun with Mr. F. G. Cary for the purchase of his school property, which took the shape of a proposition by him to the Board, that there might be no embarrassments by reason of private own- ership. On May 15th, 1852, these culminated in a sale. The Board agreed to pay him $10,000.00 for his Academy grounds and buildings, the cabinets, appa- ratus, and all his interests, and these at the expiration of his lease were conveyed to the corporation, and the Board assumed the entire control.
EXCELSIOR REMNANT, 1852.
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At last a formal reorganization followed. The Board of Instruction was now strong, and consisted of Freeman .G. Cary, as President, salary $1,000; and professors, Rev. Robert H. Bishop, J. S. Henderson, D. Molony, R. S. Bosworth, J. S. Whitwell, and George S. Ormsby, salaries ranging from $500 to $700. The whole curriculum was efficiently covered, which, even in the classical department, was substantially the same as that pursued in other colleges. The Board also presented to Professors Bishop, Henderson, Whit- well, and Ormsby each a scholarship.
VII. "EXCELSIOR" AND "BRICK ROW."
Alias "Rat Row"-Suggestion of an Experimental Farm.
On June 30th, 1852, it was determined to erect an additional building for dormitory purposes on the lot purchased from S. F. Cary, next north of the College lot. This was soon accomplished. It was a brick building of three stories and twenty-one rooms, and took the well-remembered name of "Excelsior." A remnant that adjoined it in the rear, forming an L, is yet stand- ing in the shape of a little brick building and is still occupied. There was also constructed a brick building of eight rooms called "Brick Row" on the lot purchased from F. G. Cary next south of the College lot. This building the boys generally knew as "Rat Row."
The commencement was held this year in June, the time having been changed from September. The usual diplomas were granted to the class of 1852, and John M. Walden, who had just graduated, was appointed Assistant Teacher in the Preparatory Department.
Mr. Eli Taylor, in his report as agent, made the following significant suggestion, which was put on record :
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FARMERS' COLLEGE.
"My extensive intercourse with the friends of the College and of general education enables me to ascer- tain what the public desire and expect of the Direc- tors of the Institution. And permit me to say that an Experimental Farm, where the science and practice of Agriculture and Horticulture shall be thoroughly taught. is demanded by the exigencies of the age. Never was a fairer field open for such an enterprise, and none can command more free and liberal contributions to carry it forward."
Pertinent to this suggestion, it occurs to us as proper to insert here a few extracts from a stirring appeal made to the public by Mr. F. G. Cary, on behalf of the Corporation, in the Catalogue of 1851 :
"We aim, in the first place, to develop the mental powers of each pupil, and then give to that develop- ment such a direction as may suit his genius and taste, and the occupation for which he is destined. An ex- amination of our course of studies will show that, while we afford opportunities for mastering those de- partments of science which are most susceptible of application to agriculture and the mechanic arts far greater than. other institutions furnish, we have made ample arrangements to meet the wants of those who aspire to become scholars in the highest sense of the word."
"But none of our candidates for the honors of the In- stitution are obliged to undertake any studies but such as may be conducive to the ends they have in view, and all who have gone creditably through a course, equiva- lent to the regular course of classics and mathematics, even though different in kind, are entitled to an official statement of the fact in the form of a diploma."
"Our course is as extensive as that of any Western College, and in Mixed Mathematics we have advan- tages to offer such as none of them possess. Among others may be mentioned our large Telescope. a Re- fractor of 6 1-4 inches aperture. equatorially mounted, and which cost about $1.300.00. No college in the 4
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United States has so large a telescope if we except the one at Harvard University."
"Our means of teaching Agricultural Chemistry are considerable, and this subject receives, we are war- ranted in saying, more attention in Farmers' College than in any other institution in the country."
These expressions indicate clearly and forcibly the attitude the College had assumed and maintained as a thorough, liberal, and progressive institution of learn- ing under an enlightened and enthusiastic management. While Mr. Taylor reported encouragingly as to col- lections for the Permanent Endowment Fund, it was thought advisable to give impetus to the movement by appealing to the friends of popular education in the East for contributions. So the Board on November 26th, 1852, authorized and instructed him to make a tour in the East, and appointed Hon. Caleb B. Smith (who had recently come into the Board), Giles Richards, and Rev. John Covert a committee to draft a Circular Letter for his use in the work.
The letter furnished by the committee set forth the claims of Farmers' College, its superior location, its buildings, its 260 students, and its unparalleled suc- cess. Among the pertinent and forcible suggestions made, were:
"The distinctive feature of Farmers' College is the practical character of its course of instruction, the leading design of which is to call into vigorous exer- cise the mental energies of the masses, and cause our youth to form habits of thinking for themselves, and to qualify them for a high position in any of the indus- trial pursuits. With a commendable zeal and liberality the farmers, mechanics, and business men in Southern Ohio have come forward to sustain this enterprise. No Institution of learning in the West has a firmer
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FARMERS' COLLEGE.
hold upon the workingmen than Farmers' College. The classes appealed to have contributed liberally, and we may say to the extent of their ability. The Halls of the College are crowded, and increased facilities are demanded. It is the cherished object of your petitioners to make this truly the Peoples' College, a moral and intellectual lighthouse in the Great Valley."
We do not find that any practical benefit came from this movement, if it was carried out.
Mr. Taylor reported colections :
Principal and interest $23,132.70
Notes.
51,492.80
Stocks taken up. 9,610.00
Other sources. 6,890.00
$91.125.50
In his report he took occasion to sound an important note of warning in the following language :
"I wish leave to call the attention of the Board to the importance of raising a fund by donation equal in amount to the cost of all buildings, grounds, and per- sonal property, thus leaving the entire fund received upon scholarships as a permanent investment to yield an annual revenue for the support of the College. To this result you must ultimately come as the only safe basis of the Institution."
VIII. FARM DEPARTMENT ESTABLISHED. Mr. Cary, Superintendent.
On February 9th, 1853. the Board adopted the fol- lowing resolution :
"Resolved, That an effort be made at once to raise the sum of $100,000 by donation, to secure a farm and establish an Agricultural Professorship and Department of practical Agriculture and Horticulture, and consti-
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tute a building fund, and that a committee of three be appointed to prepare a subscription, and put the same into the hands of the Agent, to be by him circulated during his collections of the scholarship fund."
The committee consisted of Messrs. S. F. Cary, Caldwell, Reznor, and Gregory. This was the initial step in the fourth cra of the College history-the es- tablishment of an Agricultural Department.
March 7th, 1853, the Board adopted a suitable memo- rial on the death of Professor Daniel Molony, which occurred September 9th, 1852, in which they recognized in Professor Molony "the urbane and finished gentle- man, the profound and accurate scholar, and the ac- complished instructor." He had been succeeded by Professor Pright J. Klund.
They also, passed suitable resolutions on the death of Professor John S. Whitwell, which occurred January 28th, 1853, and whose place had been taken by Rev. Lorenzo Cary.
The Committee appointed to prepare a subscription for funds to establish a Department of practical Agri- culture and Horticulture reported, and their report was taken up, amended, and adopted as follows :
"Farmers' College.
"It was the original design to connect with this In- stitution a farm for scientific and practical experiments in Agriculture and Horticulture, including the analysis of soils and fertilizers and their adaptations to the various products of the earth. Agriculture must ever be the commanding interest of the West, and a Col- lege furnished with ample facilities for applying the principles of science to husbandry and the mechanic arts is indispensable in developing the resources of the country. Many fertile fields are becoming sterile for the want of a knowledge of the laws of production,
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FARMERS' COLLEGE.
and few, if any, yield one-half the crops which a less amount of labor, scientifically employed, would return.
"To carry out the design of Farmers' College, pro- cure a farm, erect additional buildings, and furnish suitable apparatus, will require the sum of $100,000 in addition to the endowment, and at a meeting on the 9th of February, 1853. the Directors resolved to pro- ceed immediately to raise that amount, upon the con- ditions set forth in the following
Subscription.
"The undersigned agree to pay to the agent of Far- mers' College the sums by us respectively subscribed, on the first day of May, 1854, provided $50,000 are sub- scribed by that day. Sums of $100 or over may be paid in three annual payments by giving notes and pay- ing six per cent interest annually in advance to the Treasurer of the College.
"College Hill, February 21st, 1853."
The Commencement was held in June, and the class of 1853 received the usual diplomas.
August 25th, 1853, Hon. John McLean was elected a Director, and the professors were re-elected, on same terms as before, except as to Professors Bishop, Hen- derson, Ormsby, and Klund $100 was added to their salaries, making them $700. Freeman G. Cary was appointed Agent of the Board to raise the fund for en- dowment of the Department of Agriculture.
September 1st, 1853. at the Board meeting Freeman G. Cary was present and informally proposed to resign the Presidency of the Faculty of the College, and as- sume the office of Superintendent of the Department of Agriculture and Horticulture.
This subject had become a matter of serious and earnest discussion before the Board, the importance of the Department, the plan, course of instruction, etc.
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They were loath to part with Mr. Cary as Presi- dent of the Faculty, his success had been so pronounced and their relations so harmonious, and it was only the feeling that greater good might accrue to the Institu- tion from the change, that they were disposed to con- sider the acceptance of his resignation, and they put themselves on record to that effect.
September 17th, 1853, Mr. Cary read to the Board his plan of the Farm Department of Farmers' College. It was presented in complete detail, and included a course of four years' instruction. He stated the object to be "the promotion of scientific Agriculture and Horti- culture, and by it to give to these pursuits as far as pos- sible the dignity at present ascribed to the professions." This department was to be optional with the students, and to be equivalent to the Lingual Department.
It contemplated practical instruction in the field. He recommended securing fifty to seventy-five acres for a "small model, experimental farm and gardens" near the College.
He considered a fund of $100,000 necessary to carry out the enterprise, purchase of ground, erection of buildings, endowment of professorships, etc.
He expressed his deep concern personally in these words :
"I must confess I was never in a position that I needed more counsel of friends and light in relation to duty, than in regard to the step you would now urge upon me in order to carry out these our cherished plans."
He saw many difficulties ahead in this untried field, but he resolved to meet them and resign his present position, a most enviable one, and undertake the Presi- dency of the Farm Department, at a salary of $1,500
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FARMERS' COLLEGE.
per year, and expenses. The Board unanimously ap- proved the plan, and thereupon Mr. Cary presented the following paper :
"College Hill, September 17th, 1853.
"In view of the great object which this Board has decided to enter upon, viz: the addition of a Depart- ment of Scientific Agriculture and Horticulture to the present Academical advantages of Farmers' College, I resign my position as President of this Institution, on the conditions upon which you have decided.
"F. G. CARY."
Mr. Cary's resignation was accepted by the Board, and he was unanimously elected President of the De- partment of practical Agriculture and Horticulture at a salary of $1,500 per annum and his traveling ex- penses.
On October 13th. 1853, he reported in writing an address to the public on the new enterprise, and the same was printed and widely circulated.
This address embraced "a brief history of Pleasant Hill Academy and Farmers' College, together with a plan and course of study of a Department for the pro- motion of Scientific Agriculture and Horticulture." It made a strong and convincing appeal to the public, and among its statements was the rather startling fact : "We have Colleges and Institutions for the study of Medicine, Law, Theology, and Commerce, but we have no schools of Agriculture, although their establishment have been recommended by all the Presidents of this Union, from Washington down, and Governors of States have repeatedly urged their importance."
This young College had already taken a strong hold upon the industrial community. The reason therefor found appropriate expression in the words used by Mr.
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Cist in his history of "Cincinnati in 1851," on page 274, under the head of "Farmers' College:"
"The prominent characteristic of this institution has ever been the practical character of its course of in- struction. To assert the dignity of labor has been its object."
IX. THE INSTITUTION ON THE HIGH TIDE OF PROS- PERITY-1852-1856.
Hon. Isaac J. Allen succeeded Mr. Cary as President- McMicken's Gift-Death of Dr. Bishop-Lab- oratory-Highest Number of Students in 1856- Dr. Allen Resigned.
The number of students in 1853 was 321, one of the best years in the history of the College for attendance. A four-year course was established in the Collegiate Department, and a two-year in the Preparatory.
Rev. Lorenzo Cary was elected Professor of An- cient Languages and Literature in place of Professor Whitwell, deceased.
Professor Samuel St. John, of Connecticut, who had been elected to the Presidency of the College at the urgent request of Profesor F. G. Cary, declined the honor, and on December 24th, 1853, the Hon. Isaac J. Allen, of Mansfield, Ohio, was tendered that position at a salary of $1,200 per annum, and he soon thereafter signified his acceptance and assumed its duties.
His Inaugural Address, delivered on June 7th, 1854, Commencement Day, was marked by its eloquence and scholarship, and it glowed with good will and promise for the Institution. He was in full accord with Mr. Cary in his experimental Farm project, and it was during his administration, which was very successful,
ISAAC J. ALLEN.
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that much of the work was accomplished in the in- auguration of the Farm Department.
There was no graduating class in 1854, but the students numbered 282.
In this year Charles McMicken came into the Di- rectory, and proved a substantial friend of the College. He gave $10,000 to establish a professorship of Agri- cultural Chemistry. He added strength to a Board already containing some able and distinguished men.
In September, 1854, a convention of the friends of Industrial University Education throughout the country was held in a tent on the grounds of the proposed Farm, and was largely attended. The session occupied three days, and was addressed by men of note from far and near interested in the cause. At this time the movement at Farmers' College for a Farm Department was attract- ing wide attention, and may be considered a distinct era, the fourth in its history.
On March 16th, 1855, the Board elected Rev. Samuel J. Browne a member, and adopted a by-law organizing the Farm Department "for the illustration of science in Agriculture and Horticulture," to consist of three Professorships-one of Scientific and Practical Agricul- ture and Horticulture, one of Geology and Agricul- tural Chemistry, and one of Botany and Vegetable Physiology.
Freeman G. Cary was unanimously chosen Principal of this Farm Department, with defined but liberal powers. Mr. Cary accepted the position, fully sensible of the re- sponsibilities it involved, but with him it was a labor of love. The hope now was being realized he had cher- ished from the creation of the College, and the idea was recognized in the very Charter itself. At this point it is pertinent to mention that a claim was made some two
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years later giving precedence to an Agricultural College established under legislative sanction in the then young State of Michigan, and dedicated May 13th, 1857, in the vicinity of Lansing. On that occasion it was proudly heralded as the first Agricultural College founded in the West. It may be well to insert here in part what Mr. Cary had to say on this question of priority. At this time there was published at Farmers' College a magazine called "The Cincinnatus," devoted to "scien- tific Agriculture and Horticulture," and edited by F. G. Cary. In Volume 2, August number, 1857, alluding to the Michigan College, Mr. Cary, in a kindly spirit, re- futed the claim of that College, as follows :
"For years we have plead the cause of such Insti- tutions ; we have endeavored to demonstrate their neces- sity, and to the extent of our ability have labored for their upbuilding. Farmers' College, though strangely ignored in certain directions, claims to be a pioneer in the great work. Her history dates back when not an Institution of the kind was to be found in our broad land; and the doctrines she then promulgated are the same as those now so eloquently held forth by the Pres- ident of this new Agricultural College. While we would not pluck a laurel from the brow of the President or the State that thus lays claim to the establishment of the 'pioneer Agricultural College of the West,' we would simply state the fact that Farmers' College of Ohio has already a history from its incipient movement of nearly a quarter of a century, and has a regularly endowed College of over twelve years, and has been instrumental in educating to a greater or less extent over two thousand young men, some of whom are men of in- fluence and position in several of the States of this Union, and not a few in foreign lands as Missionaries or pioneers."
In obtaining subscriptions to scholarships Mr. Cary had called to his aid Mr. A. H. Bailey, and his progress
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as agent for the past year was encouraging. in face of the financial distress all over the country. He reported results in figures as follows :-
Perpetual scholarships subscribed . . . . No. 532 · · $53,200 00 Limited scholarships 5 years, subscribed . 71 . 3,550 00
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30 . 900 00
Life memberships, .. 2
65 3,250 00
Donations to particular professorships, . 23,695 00
$84,595 00
Mr. Cary urged the completion of the purchase of the grounds for the Farm. At this time the Treasurer's accounts showed on January Ist, 1855, total stock col- lections, cash and notes, $93,000.00
Expenses for current year, . $6,401 00
Income, 4,910 00
Deficiency, . $1,491 00
On April 9th, 1855, the regular triennial meeting of stockholders was held.
The financial report to that body gave as
Amount of collections and stock, . · $93,000 00 Amount of expenditures, real estate, build- ings, agency, etc., $36,647 29 Expenses of College over and above in- come to January Ist, 1855, 4,399 38 41,046 67
Amount of Endowment Fund, . $51,953 33
This includes all the receipts and expenditures from the beginning to January Ist, 1855, about six years, and the pay of professors, tuition, and current ex- penses since the contract ended with F. G. Cary to January Ist, 1855, about two and one-half years.
The stockholders elected fifteen directors, who on April 16th duly organized by the election of the old officers. It was in this month (April 29th, 1855) that
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DR. BISHOP'S COTTAGE.
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Farmers' College sustained its greatest loss in the death of Dr. Robert H. Bishop, at the ripe age of 78. Apart from Mr. Cary he was pre-eminently its tower of strength. It would be proper here to give our estimate of the great man and of his work as a teacher at Farmers' College, but we reserve this notice for the brief bio- graphical sketch hereafter presented. His remains were deposited, according to the directions in his last will, in a mound above ground in the southwest corner of the Col- lege lot, no stone marking the spot. This was in accord- ance with the custom of his Scotch ancestors. His aged widow survived him but two weeks, and her coffin was placed beside that of her distinguished husband.
The Board seems to have taken no action on Dr. Bishop's death until at its meeting of July 25th, when President Allen, F. G. Cary, and William A. Bagley were appointed a committee to prepare, in the language of the resolution, "a proper article of condolence on the subject of the death of the late Rev. R. H. Bishop, late professor of History and Political Economy." We find on the record no action taken by this committee until August 23d, 1856, more than a year after their appoint- ment, when they asked leave to continue and report at the next meeting, which was December 24th. That meet- ing came without a report, but the resignation of Isaac J. Allen as President of the College was accepted. So far as appears the committee never did make a written report, and no memorial of Dr. Bishop was entered on the minutes of the Board, where it was customary and proper for suitable memorials to be entered. Neither was any notice printed in any catalogue of the College.
We can not understand this singular omission, ex- cept on the theory that the Doctor may have left a re-
DR. BISHOP'S BURIAL MOUND.
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quest that no such action be taken, and that would have been consistent with the modesty of the man.
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