History of Clinton County, Ohio Its People, Industries, and Institutions, with Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and Genealogical Records of Many of the Old Families, Part 18

Author: Albert J. Brown (A.M.)
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago : W.H. Beers & Co.
Number of Pages: 1108

USA > Ohio > Clinton County > History of Clinton County, Ohio Its People, Industries, and Institutions, with Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and Genealogical Records of Many of the Old Families > Part 18

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The history of the Clinton county schools would not be complete without making mention of the Wayne township and the New Vienna centralized schools, J. J. Richeson, now denn of the normal school of Ohio University, organized and perfected the present school system of Wayne township. This school has attracted wide attention and has been visited by educators from all parts of Ohio as well as many other states.

John F. Fulton organized the New Vienna school. Among the noted educators of the county who have been the head of the New Vienna schools are E. P. West, superintendent for fourteen years, and J. I .. Cadwallader, who was principal for six years and superin- tendent for a similar length of time. Mr. Cadwallader left the New Vienna schools to become county superintendent in the fall of 1914.

The success which attended the centralization of the Wayne township and New Vienna schools has Induced other townships in the county to follow their example. Chester, Adams and the east half of Liberty townships have voted to consolidate the schools of their respective townships and the first two already have the system in snc- cessful operation.

WILMINGTON COLLEGE.

The history of Wilmington College dates from 1870, when the Friends secured control of Franklin College, which had been started In Wilmington five years previously. In order to trace the history of Wilmington College from its Inception down to the present time it is necessary to tell something of His predecessor-Franklin College.

For some years prior to 1865 there had been an Institution of learning located at Athens, Ohio, which was known as Franklin College, but, owing to the fact that the State University was in the arme city. It was Impossible for the institution to grow in a manner satisfactory to those interested in it. Accordingly, in the fall of 1865, three brothers-Thomas D., James H. and H. Carson Garvin-enme to Wilmington with the

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idea of securing a location for the college in this city. They met with hearty encourage- ment from the citizens and bad no difficulty in making arrangements for the use of the old county building at the southeast corner of Main and South streets. They assured the citizens of Wilmington that they would permanently locate Franklin College in the town If twenty thousand dollars could be raised to purchase suitable grounds and erect a building. So sanguine were the promoters of the project that it would carry that they proceeded to transfer the college from Athens to Wilmington, and in the fall of 1865 the first term of Franklin College was opened in the building above mentioned.

A committee of local citizens was appointed to solleit subscriptions and a campaign for money was inaugurated, which resulted in eighteen thousand dollars being raised by January 6. ING6. On that date a meeting was held in the court house, which was pre- sided over by Thomas D. Garvin, the president of Franklin College. Upon his reporting that it was necessary to raise two thousand dollars more before the board of directors of the college could take any definite action. a committee was at once appointed to raise the needed amount. Twelve hundred dollars was subscribed at this meeting and six women of the Christian church agreed to guarantee an additional five hundred dollars If they could have the exclusive refreshment privileges at the coming fair. This was, of course, readily granted. This left only three hundred dollars to raise and twenty-five persons present at the meeting agreed to stand responsible for this sum. All subscrip- tlons were conditional upon the full amount being raised.

Franklin College was now an assured thing for Wilmington. The trustees of the college and a committee of local citizens at once began to look for a suitable location and within a short time decided upon the site of the old fair grounds in the eastern part of the village. This tract of seventeen and a quarter acres was later increased by sixteen acres purchased from T. C. Morris. A few years later part of the campus was sold, so that at the present time it contains only fifteen acres.

An architect from Cincinnati was engaged to provide the plans for a building and the contract called for the completion of the lower story by Christmas, 1966. However, as it always happens, the contractor was unable to get even that much of the building ready for occupancy by the specified time. The corner stone was laid on July 4. 1866. but it was not until September 22, 1868, that the building was formally opened for the recep- tion of students. On that occasion the dedicatory address was delivered by Rev. J. W. Hall, president of Miami University, While the building was under construction the classes were held in the county building for two years and in the Christian church for one year.

But Franklin College Ilved only a very short time. At the time the building was dedicated it was not much more than half completed. It was only inclosed, the floor laid and the ceilings and walls of the lower story rough-coated. There were no stairways to the second and third stories. It seems that many people had subscribed money when their enthusiasm exceeded their financial resources-at least, the trustees of the college were unable to collect the necessary funds for the completion of the building, with the result that on August 11. 1870, it was sold to satisfy a judgment in favor of the creditors. Thus Franklin College closed Its history as an educational institution and Wilmington College opens its career.

The building and grounds were purchased by the Society of Friends for twenty thousand dollars and they had no difficulty in securing the necessary funds to complete it. They at once changed its name to Wilmington College and by the first of April, 1871. it was ready for the reception of students. On April 11. Barnabus C. Hobbs, a distin- guished Friend and superintendent of publle instruction of Indiana, delivered the dedica- tory address. A careful canvass was made by the board of trustees for a suitable man to head the institution and the choice finally fell upon Louis A. Estes, of Westfield, Indiana.

President Estes graduated from Bowdoin College and then went west and became

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identified with Earlhnm College, Richmond, Indiana. While teaching in Eartham College he met and married Huldah C. Hoag. one of his fellow teachers in the same school. When President Estes and his wife came to Wilmington in 1871 they were both advanced in years. They brought with them their two sons, Ludovic and Rowland, both of whom taught in the college. Two nieces of Mrs. Estes. Emma Clark and Anna Hoag, the former a teacher, were with the Esteses during most of their short time in Wilmington. The Estes did good, substantial work and laid a solid foundation for the future. But within three years President Estes became convinced that the burden was more than a man of his years could successfully handle and be resigned and returned to his home iu West- feld, Indiana.

In the summer of 1875 the board of trustees selected Benjamin Trueblood, who had just graduated from Earlbam College, as president. While in Earlham he had met and woved a Clinton county girl, Sarah Terrell, and the attachment thus formed brought him to Wilmington during summer vacations Shortly after the young couple were married. In 1874. the trustees formally offered him the presidency of Wilmington College and he and his young wife entered Into their duties with the spirit of self-sacrifice which was needed at the time. For five years they gave their strength, labor and means to the upbuilding of the college and tided It over one of the greatest crises which It has ever had to face. So successful was President Trueblood in his administration that he was called to the head of the more rapidly-growing college of Penn in Oskaloosa, Iowa. For twenty- five years he served as president of the American Peace Society.

In 1879 Wilmington College was forced for the third time to seek a president. After a careful examination of various candidates, the trustees finally decided to call David W. Dennis, a graduate of and a teacher in Earlham College. The wife of President Dennis. Mattle C .. was a gifted teacher, and to their new work they brought a boundless amount of vim and energy, as well as fine teaching ability. But the college was able to retain them only two years. President Dennis and his wife felt that they were not through with their preparation for their life work and resigned to continue their studies. A few years Inter Mr. Dennis was permanently located at Earlham as a valued member of its faculty.

The fourth president of the college was James B. U'uthank, who had come to Wil- mington College as an instructor in 1874. when Benjamin Trueblood assumed the presi- dency. President U'nthank was a graduate of Eartham College and at the time of his elevation to the head of the college. in 1851, he had been a successful teacher in the institution for seven years. He understood its needs better than any of his predecessors and was therefore able to administer its affairs in an efficient manner. For twenty-two years President U'nthank remained at the head of the college and during this long period the institution enjoyed a steady growth. A high grade of Instruction was maintained and the hundreds of students who came under his supervision have cause to feel grateful for his kindly manner and wise instruction. In 1903 it became apparent that a younger man was essential to the future welfare of the college and no one realized this more than President Unthank. He fully realized that the college had reached another crisis and that another leader should take charge of affairs. He resigned with "a heart throbbing with love for the sacred associations" of the college he had learned to love so well and moved back to the home of his boyhood at Webster, Indiana.

It was indeed true that the college had reached a crisis in 1903 and the trustees deliberated long and carefully before they finally chose the next president, Albert J. Brown, who, at the time, was pastor of the First Friends church of Indianapolis. Indiana. Born in I'nion county. Indiana, a student for three years in Indiana University and a graduate of Lxlaud Stanford. Jr., University. President Brown came to Wilmington College in the summer of 1903 with a better training than any of his predecessors. As he took a prospective view of the situation, his broad outlook took In the possibilities

(10)

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which only bold strokes from a new band could hope to reach. He knew how to appeal anew to those who felt that they had already done their best, and, so in union of forces, be carried out in a large measure the vision which appeared to him when be first came to the college.

The ten years (1903-13) of President Brown's administration were productive of great things for Wilmington College. It was apparent from the beginning that the larger task of this administration was to be a financial one. College Hall, the main building, was soon reroofed and redecorated. The gymnasium was enlarged and equipped with modern toilets and baths and a new heating system ; seven thousand square feet of cement walks were laid. the athletic field was graded and put in shape for foot- ball, baseball and tennis, a substantial grandstand was added; Twin Ash ball was pur- chased, and, finally, a fine science building was erected, at a cost of twenty-five thousand dollars.

In 1904 the board of trustees was urged to enter the field for a twenty-five thousand dollar endowment fund, but the raising of this modest sum was considered too great an undertaking. Instead, the board authorized a campaign for the raising of ten thousand. dollars, but before the subscriptions were closed twenty-five thousand dollars had netually been raised. Six years later, in 1910, the greatest effort in the history of the college was undertaken. In just one hundred days the sum of forty-eight thousand five hundred dol- lars was subscribed. It should be mentioned that of the total of five hundred and ten donors to this fund many were not members of the Friends church.

At this point it seems pertinent to tabulate the endowment funds of Wilmington College. The following report is taken from the last minutes of the Wilmington yearly meeting :

Endowment fund of 1884-

Mortgage notes

$22.431.73

Promissory notes

2.608.27

$25.130.00

Endowment fund of 1904-

Mortgage notes

$20.893.27

Promissory notes

3,291.45

24,184.72

Special fund-

Mortgage notes

$ 552.00

Promissory notes

100.00

852.00

Endowment fund of 1910

Mortgage notes

$16.597.00

16.597.00

Todhunter bequest fund --- Mortgage notes

8,570.00

Annie E. Terrell bequest fund -- Mortgage notes

1.000.00

1.000,00

Irene Hunnlent bequest fund ---

Mortgage notes

2.5010.00

2.500.00

Alumni fund-

Mortgage notes

228.00

Promissory notes

75.00

303.00

Oliver L. Welch hequest fund-

Mortgage notes

1,000

1.000.00

Total

$79,938.72

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In January, 1913, President Brown notified the board of trustees that they should look for a new president. Already an Investor and an executive officer in the Farqubar Furnace Company, he retired after the commencement, In June, to become actively Identified with this company.

Late in the summer of 1913. Samuel H. Hodgin was chosen president for a period of three years. He was born near Greensboro, Guilford county, North Carolina, and educated at Guilford College and Harvard University. President Hodgin gave Wilmington College an excellent scholastic and business administration. During his short adminis tration of three years (1912-15), two very important objectives, long in view, were accom- plished. One was the admission of the graduates of the college to the graduate school of Ohio State University without condition : the other was the transfer of the manage- ment of the institution from Fairfield, Center and Miami quarterly meetings to Wilming- ton yearly meeting. The old charter granted by Clinton county under a statute of 1854 was replaced in 1914 by a state charter giving the college all collegiate privileges. This old charter provided for a board of eighteen managers and a board of nine trustees. The trustees held the title to the property and provided for the upkeep of the buildings. The managers transacted all other business of the college. Under the new charter of 1914 there is one board of nine trustees.

Still another distinct feature of the administration of President Hodgin was the establishment of the departments of education and domestic science. I'nder a recent law, the state helps to maintain these two departments.

At the close of the school year of 1915 President Hodgin resigned and returned to his native state to enter the business field. In June, 1915, J. Edwin Jay, of Virginia, was employed as acting president until president-elect Edgar Lewellen could take charge. Mr. Lewellen has been superintendent of the North Vernon. Indiana, schools for a number of years and could not secure his release from his contract then to enter upon the duties of president in 1915. He will take charge of the college in 1916. Acting-president Jny is a graduate of Earlham College and Yale University and is in every way well equipped for the duties of the office which he has been selected to fill for the year 1915-16.

BUILDINGS.

The main college building on the campus is the one erected in 1866-71 and which, with various improvements, is still in use. Besides class rooms, it contains the library, museum, book store and a large auditorium on the third floor. The next building erected on the campus was the observatory, which was made possible through the personal efforts of Alfred Brown, who raised the funds for its erection. It was completed in 1885 and equipped with a thirteen-inch telescope which was built by Prof. Levi T. Edwards and Reynold Janny and Milton Farquhar, two of his students. The third building was South Hall, a dormitory for boys, which was built during President Trueblood's administration with money raised by donations. The gymnasium, erected in 1895, was the next building on the campus. It was built in 1895 with funds raised largely by the students of the college. Bailey Hall. the last building added, was erected in 1906 at a cost of twenty-five thousand dollars. It contains the administrative offices and the class rooms and labora- tories for chemistry, physics and biology. It was named in honor of A. I. Bailey, the donor and one of the most loyal supporters of the college. Twin Ash Hall, the dormitory for girls, was not the property of the college until the fall of 1904, when it was purchased with funds raised by subscription. However, this same building had been used as a dormitory since 1875, being rented from private owners up to the time of its purchase in 1904. There is one other building on the campus, but it is not strictly one of the college buildings. It is a large auditorium erected by the Wilmington yearly meeting and which was completed in 1896 at a cost of thirty-five hundred dollars. This excellent summer auditorium will seat two thousand and is used not only for the yearly meeting, but also

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for the commencements, and the chautauqua which has been held in the city for the past six years.

THE LIBRARY.

The library of the college, comfortably housed on the second floor of the main build- ing, contains more than five thousand volumes. Among them are many valuable works of reference, such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, Greek, Latin, French and German lexi- cons, together with many of the current standard periodicals of the day in social, political and economie science. Students desiring to do work in Quaker history find especial advantages by reason of the many excellent volumes on that subject. Through the kind- ness of friends of the institution many additional volumes are added each year. Miss Ellen Wright is the librarian.

MUSEUM.

The museum is on the second floor and occupies a large, well-lighted room. It con- talns several thousand classified fossils of the silurian, devonian, carboniferous and tertiary eras; a complete stratigraph rok a large number of typical mineral specimens : specimens of volcanic origin ; a number of species of shells, principally marine; many species of coral; more than a thousand archeological specimens; a human skeleton : a mounted skeleton of a horse and skeletons of several small animals: a number of birds, and a great variety of miscellaneous specimens. In the spring of 1902 the size and educational value of the cabinet was greatly Increased by the addition of the exteu- sive and valuable collection of fossils, minerals and archeological specimens made by Dr. Charles Welch. Many of the specimens thus acquired are of great interest and value. being rare and typical. For this addition to its educational facilities, the college is indebted to the generosity of Mrs. Olive L. Welch.

In 1903 J. Lindley Spicer, of Cincinnati, donated a large collection of specimens of great educational value. These include relles from Palestine, minerals, bone implements. bones from prehistorie mounds and a large number of arrow heads, spear heads, axes and hammers taken from Indian graves. Much use is made of the museum in the teaching of geology, mineralogy and zoology, and the student finds therein ample materials for practical study and illustration.

THE SCHOOLS OF WILMINGTON.

By Supt. Edwin P. West.

The schools of Wilmington throughout its early history were such as characterized other pioneer settlements of Ohio. They came through the Initiative of Individuals with some education and a bent for teaching.

Isaac Garretson who is credited with being the first teacher in the community. taught a subscription school about 1810 or 1812, in a log school house built by Joseph Doan at the corner of Sugartree and Spring streets. Between this date and 1840 similar Schools were taught by Arnold Truesdall. William Milliken. A. T. Sewell. William Crumley, Beche Trensdall, J. X. Reynolds and others. Early in this period a small building was erected for school purposes in the northeast part of town, and abont 1830 ' or 1840 a more pretentious structure. referred to in future minutes as the Seminary. was built on the southeast corner of Locust and Mulberry streets. the present site of the Friends church. The building constructed for school purposes prior to 1840 stood at the southwest corner of Main and Spring streets .. and is used at present as a residence.

Ou April 1. 1853. the schools were organized as district No. 1, Union township. with Beche Trensdall, R. B. Harlan and D. C. Hinman as directors and George E. Hibben as clerk. From this time on the progress of education in the village was more rapid. Many leading citizens served as directors. Roger B. Mors, George E. Hibben. Amos Hockett and A. C. Diboll served as clerks down to 1570. Among the names of teachers we find Joseph O. Felton, Jesse Everett, Louisa and Rachel MeGregor, Elizabeth Quinn.

Digitized by Google

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CLINTON COUNTY, OHIO.

J. B. Dunn. Elizabeth Wickersham, Virginia Hogan, Clarissa Pidgeon, Lizzle Frazer, Helen Van Doren, M. J. Vangegrift, James Cleaver, J. Carter Moon, Sarah J. Porter, Abby and Joshua Nickerson, the Whitcombs. B. F. Raleigh, N. W. and Rachel Vandervort and Calvin W. Pritchard. In the autumn of 1853 Oliver W. and William Penn Nixon, the Intter afterward editor and owner of the Chicago Inter-Ocean, taught a subscription school in the two upper rooms of the seminary, which they rented for three dollars a month. During this period teachers' wages run from twenty-five to forty dollars a month and the usual term of employment was three months. Text books were few and crude, and the school report of 1:54 shows one book in the library in good condition, but the number was increased to one hundred and thirty-seven In 1857.

The growth of educational sentiment is clearly shown by the movement in 1868 and 1869 that resulted in the construction of the I'nion school building on a beautiful five- arre plot in the northwestern part of the town. The board of education at the time consisted of Jacob Beard, Charles N. Osborn and A. C. Diboll, and the building planned by William Cleveland as architect, was one of which any community at that time would justly have felt proud. It contained ten large school rooms and an assembly hall above a four-room basement and cost thirty-five thousand dollars. It was dedicated on January 18. 1870. John Hancock, a name illustrious in Olio education and at that time super- Intendent of the Cincinnati schools, gave the address of the occasion and Calvin W. Pritchard was superintendent during the first term in the new building.

Immediately following, the schools were organized under the "Akron law," with C. M. Bosworth, William Greer. W. B. Telfair, L. D. Reed, Madison Bells and W. P. Wolf constituting the board of directors, This board was fortunate in securing as super- Intendent. Prof. W. H. Cole, a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University, and a man of character. culture and great executive ability, who was elected for three months and began his work on April 5, 1870. He organized and administered the schools most successfully and his four years of service brought a new epoch in education, not only in Wilmington, but throughout the county as well. His work was continued and amplified by Superintendent John H. Grove, who served for four years with. decided success. Professor Grove was succeeded for two years by H. C. Garvin, a man of dis- finguished scholarship. Superintendent Edward Merrick, whose long term of seven- teen years speaks unmistakably of bis merit and success, followed Mr. Garvin. Prof. W. C. Sayrs, principal of the high school, was promoted to the superintendeney in 1907. He was a gentleman of excellent scholarship and high hleals and served accept- ably for seven years He was succeeded in 1904 by Superintendent E. P. West, who has served for eleven years and has been reappointed for another term of three years.

The following persons have Aled the position of principal of the high school since its formal organization In 1870: John H. Grove, J. W. Sloppy. S. H. Fisk. Edward Merrick, O. W. Martin, Reynold Janney, J. W. Simon, E. B. Stiles. N. E. Chatterton, W. C. Sayra. J. H. Painter, J. H. Haworth, J. B. Wright, F. D. Blair and Charles C. Martin.

Among those who have served as members of the board of education, the following deserve mention for their long service: William Greer, twelve years; W. B. Telfair, thirteen years; W. P. Wolf, fourteen years; S. M. Babb. fourteen years; A. J. Martin, fifteen years; F. M. Moore, nine years; S. G. Smith, nine years; C. C. Nichols, twelve years: George W. Brown, twelve years; D. A. Lamb, sixteen years; R. C. Lawhead. fourteen yeurs; A. A. Linton, ten years: H. G. Cartwright, fifteen years. The board at present consists of R. C. Lawhead, preskient ; Mrs. R. C. Ballard, vice-president ; H. G. Cartwright, clerk, and F. L. Gallup.

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History of Clinton County, Ohio Its People, Industries, and Institutions, with Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and Genealogical Records of Many of the Old Families, Part 18

Author: Albert J. Brown (A.M.) Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Chicago : W.H. Beers & Co. Number of Pages: 1108

Author: Albert J. Brown (A.M.)
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago : W.H. Beers & Co.
Number of Pages: 1108