USA > Ohio > Greene County > History of Greene County, Ohio: its people, industries and institutions, Volume I > Part 50
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The normal department began its work in 1872. On March 19, 1887, through the efforts of President S. T. Mitchell, the Ohio Legislature, recog- nizing the importance of preparing competent teachers for the colored people in this state and elsewhere, was influenced to make an appropriation for the
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maintenance of normal and industrial work at Wilberforce. The trustees met on July 17, 1888, and organized what was destined to become a most im- portant branch of Wilberforce University. At this time the operations of Wilberforce University were still confined to one main building and several cottages mostly occupied by the instructors. There were fewer than two hundred students of all grades taught by six professors with the assistance of some student instructors.
In 1890 O'Neill Hall was erected as the first of the state buildings. This was followed by several frame buildings of a more or less temporary char- acter, constructed to house the infant industries. At this time the president of Wilberforce University acted as superintendent of the combined normal and industrial department.
In 1896 Governor Bushnell became interested in the progress of the department and as a result of recommended legislation the Legislature then in session completely reorganized the Combined Normal and Industrial De- partment, giving it an independent board of nine trustees, the majority of whom must be appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Senate. The department was also placed upon a permanent financial basis similar to the other state educational institutions. The board was given exclusive control and empowered to prescribe courses, elect officers and teachers, and expend the funds appropriated for its use free from interference of any and all other influences.
Prof. J. P. Shorter served as superintendent from 1896 to 1910. During that period five buildings were added to the department, viz .: Arnett hall, girls' dormitory; Howells hall; a light, heat and power plant; Poindexter hall, housing the printing and drawing departments; and Galloway hall, the largest and handsomest building on the grounds, equipped as administration building and auditorium. The vacancy left by the death of J. P. Shorter in 1910 was filled by the appointment of William A. Joiner, the present super- intendent. When Professor Joiner took up the work in 1910 he found the department facing a deficit, but he soon had the department in good shape and has since been making it one of the most valued features of the univer- sity. During the seven years that he has had charge of the department it has received more than six hundred thousand dollars from the state, and this amount has enabled him to build up the department to a point where it is the peer of any similar department in the colored schools of the United States.
In 1912 S. T. Mitchell hall was erected as a model home for the senior girls ; 1914, Mechanic Arts building, to house the carpentry department ; black- smithing and machine shops; 1915-16, five modern cottages, constructed by the students; 1916, Tawawa hospital, pronounced one of the most complete little hospitals in the state; 1917-18, a recitation building, Bundy hall, and
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Beacom gymnasium. These with a complete water system and softening plant constitute the structural improvements made since 1910 under the combined normal and industrial department. These improvements with current ex- penses have called for an expenditure of about six hundred and fifty thousand dollars, which the state has willingly appropriated. The valuation of the com- bined normal and industrial department is now nearly three-quarters of a million dollars. There are twenty-three instructors and three hundred and thirty-seven students. Under this department the first summer normal was organized and much valuable extension work is being done.
The trustees of the Combined Normal and Industrial Department are as follows: Dr. W. A. Galloway, president, Xenia; J. H. Jones, vice-president, Wilberforce; J. S. Jackson, secretary, Cleveland; M. W. Beacom, Cleveland; E. C. Berry, Athens ; Charles Bundy, Toledo; Clarence Gardner, Springfield ; George W. Hays, Cincinnati; William S. Scarborough, Wilberforce. Presi- dent Galloway has been a member of the board of trustees practically all the time since the department has been in existence, and has always been very active in his support of the school. One of the buildings is named in his honor.
The school has shown its largest growth since 1910. During this period its instructors have increased from 20 to 41, the students from 290 to 600, and the buildings from II to 24. Students are now enrolled from every corner of the United States, from Canada, South America, Africa, the Ber- muda Islands and the West Indies. The growth has been due in the main to the efforts of President W. S. Scarborough, Hallie Q. Brown and others in securing gifts from philanthropists like Andrew Carnegie and Kezia Emery, to the growing interest and increased aid of the state of Ohio, and to the administration of W. A. Joiner, superintendent of the Combined Normal and Industrial Department, whose work since 1910 has more than doubled the value of the buildings and equipment of that department. The total value of the institution is now about $850,000. Its land holdings amount to 200 acres of excellent land. The buildings on the grounds number 24, of which 14 are used for school purposes, either for instruction or as dormitories, while IO others are occupied as private residences.
Other Features .- Wilberforce has had a military department since 1894. On January 9 of that year President Cleveland detailed Lieut. John H. Alex- ander to organize a military department at the university and become identi- fied with the institution as instructor in military science and tactics. Wilber force was the first colored school in the United States to receive such recognition at the hands of the government, and is still the only one receiving such government recognition. The war department has supplied arms, can- non and equipment to the university to the value of four thousand dollars. Since the military department was established in 1894 the following officers
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of the regular army have been detailed to the school: Lieut. John H. Alex- ander, 1894; Lieut. Charles Young and Lieut. B. O. Davis, Tenth Cavalry, 1905-1909; Lieut. John E. Green, Twenty-fifth Infantry, 1909-1913; Capt. B. O. Davis, since 1913. The university has entered into an agreement with the war department whereby the school is to be recognized as a military train- ing station. It is worthy of note that nineteen men from the school attended officers' training camps in 1917 and received commissions, while a number of other students who had had military training in the school joined the service in some capacity. Twelve received commissions at the camp at Des Moines in the spring of 1918.
From the beginning of the school it has been necessary to give elementary schooling to some of the students, and the work of the academic department was closely allied with the college department up to the summer of 1916. Nearly all the college teachers also taught in the academic department, and at times some of the elementary classes were in charge of advanced students of the college department. The need for a regularly organized academic department, however, became recognized, and on June 14, 1916, the board of trustees voted to establish a separate department to be known as the Academy. A principal was placed in charge of the newly organized department, the work being outlined to cover the course as provided by the first-grade high schools of Ohio. A diploma is granted to students completing the full course.
Faculty .- The members of the faculty of the college of liberal arts is as follow: William Sanders Scarborough, president; Theophilus Gould Stewart, vice-president and professor of history; Gilbert H. Jones, dean and professor of philosophy; Bruce Henry Green, professor of chemistry and physics; George W. Henderson, professor of Latin and instructor in Ger- man; Amos J. White, professor of Greek; Dudley W. Woodard, professor of mathematics; Ida Francis Horton, instructor in instrumental music.
The faculty of the Payne Theological Seminary includes the following members: William S. Scarborough, professor of philosophy and Greek literature; Rev. George F. Woodson, dean and professor of systematic the- ology and New Testament Greek; Rev. A. W. Thomas, professor of Hebrew and archaeology ; Rev. P. S. Hill, professor of historical theology and moral philosophy ; Rev. Thomas H. Jackson, professor of Biblical introduction and practical theology.
The faculty of the Combined Normal and Industrial Department, which includes more members than all the other departments combined, is consti- tuted as follows: William A. Joiner, superintendent; Hugh M. Browne, direc- tor of vocational training; Sarah C. Bierce Scarborough, English and methods; George Thompson Simpson, instructor in theory of music and voice culture ; Charles Henry Johnson, instructor in drawing; William Madi- son Hunnicut, instructor in shoemaking; Charles Shelton Smith, instructor
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in shorthand and typewriting; Julia Carmen Gee, instructor in plain sewing and dressmaking; Frederick Alphonso McGinnis, instructor in printing; Jesse Edward Ormes, instructor in bookkeeping and business practice; George R. Thompkins, Samuel J. Richards, instructor in carpentry and cabinet work; Sadie E. Overton, director of secondary training; Mary S. Booth, instructor in nurse training; A. C. Ginn, instructor in blacksmithing; William M. Berry, instructor in agriculture; Ethel M. Jones, instructor in millinery; Leanora Carrington, instructor in primary methods; George Ewing, instruc- tor in plumbing and sanitary engineer; Lucinda Cook, director of elementary training; Anna O. H. Williamson, critic teacher; Charles P. Blackburn, instructor in physical training; Jane M. Hunley, instructor in cooking; L. F. Palmer, instructor in library economy ; J. D. Newsom, instructor in stationary engineering.
The faculty of the academic department is as follows : Lutrelle F. Palmer, instructor in Latin; Hallie Q. Brown, instructor in English; Bernice Sanders, instructor in mathematics; and four others connected with the faculty of the Combined Industrial and Normal Department, namely: Sadie Overton, history and civics; Amos J. White, German ; William M. Berry, agriculture; George T. Simpson, vocal music; Charles H. Johnson, drawing.
Cross-Sectional View of Wilberforce University .- The following sum- mary of Wilberforce University sets forth in a brief and comprehensive man- ner a bird's-eye view of the institution as it stands today. The dates following the various buildings are the years of their erection :
Arts and Sciences, Classical Department.
Theological Seminary.
Combined Normal and Industrial Department.
Kezia Emery Hall, 1913.
Arnett Hall, 1901 E. T. Mitchell Hall, 1912
Shorter Hall, 1867
J. G. Mitchell Hall, 1891.
O'Neill Hall, 1890
Shorter Hall, 1867 .. Carnegie Library, 1907.
J. G. Mitchell Hall.
Model School, 1889
Arnett Hall, 1901
O'Neill Hall, 1890 Howell's Hall, 1900
Light, Heat and Power Plant, 1904 Poindexter Hall, 1904
Galloway Hall, 1905 Mechanic Arts, 1914
Tawawa Hospital, 1916 Bundy Hall, 1917 Beacom Gymnasium, 1918
Faculty : II members
4 members
23 members
Departments: Three
Two
Twelve
Students: 202
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337
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Dormitories for girls are maintained in Kezia Emery, Arnett and E. T. Mitchell halls; for boys in Shorter, J. G. Mitchell and O'Neill halls. Two of these halls-Kezia Emery and E. T. Mitchell -- are used exclusively for dormitory purposes, the other four also containing class rooms.
CHAPTER XXX.
CHURCHES OF GREENE COUNTY.
The church made its appearance in Greene county with the first influx of settlers. Even before the county was organized in 1803 some of the set- tlers were holding religious services in their homes. The Presbyterians and Methodists came in with the organization of the county, and while there were other denominations represented, yet these were the prevailing denominations for several years after the county was organized. The Friends were early to be found in Silvercreek township, but they have never been numerous in the county. Other Protestant denominations appeared and organized con- gregations before the time of the Civil War, and practically all now found in the county were well established prior to the '6os. The Catholic church dates from 1844 in Xenia and the other Catholic congregations are of later date.
A study of the religious life of the county reveals some very interesting facts. It is well known that the rural church is fast disappearing, and this is as true of Greene county as of all other counties in the United States, at least twenty-five churches that once had flourishing congregations here having been abandoned. An intimate study of the churches of the county shows that there have been at least one hundred and two organized within the limits of the county. They have been divided among the townships of the county as follows: Bath, 7; Beavercreek, 7; Caesarscreek, 9; Cedarville, 9; Jefferson, 5; Miami, 10; New Jasper, 2; Ross, 44; Silvercreek, 10; Spring Valley, 8; Sugarcreek, 8; Xenia, 25.
A number of churches have irregular services throughout the year ; others have services only in the summer months; a few have but one or two meetings in the year. Some have Sunday school every Sabbath, and others have Sunday school only in the summer. An effort has been made to pre- sent a complete history of all the active churches of the county, but it has not been possible to get sufficient data from some churches in order to make a complete sketch. All the churches were asked to furnish the necessary data for a brief historical sketch and most of them promptly supplied the information, while a few unfortunately neglected to do so. Some churches have kept no records, and many keep them in such a shape that they are of little value for historical purposes, but most of the larger churches have well-kept records.
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UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES.
Historically, the United Presbyterian church, as such, dates from 1858, in which year a union was effected between the Associate and the Associate Reformed churches, the ecclesiastical connection thus formed being there- after known as the United Presbyterian church, a religious denomination which is strongly represented in Xenia and throughout Greene county. Any attempt therefore to present a history of the United Presbyterian church in Greene county must be based upon a review of the conditions which led to the settlement here in the days, even before Greene county had a sepa- rate civic identity, of that doughty band of Kentucky colonists of Scotch birth or descent which came up here into the beautiful valley of the Little Miami in order to find in the new "free" state of Ohio a way of life denied to them in the slave state to the south. Some of these had come up here as early as the spring of 1798, in the days before Ohio was admitted to statehood, and others came in from time to time until there presently came to be a sufficient number of these Scotch settlers along the banks of the Little Miami and along Massies creek to warrant the organization of a formal church of the connection to which they devoutly held, and it was thus that there was extended a call to the Rev. Robert Armstrong, a Scottish divine, who had been serving as pastor of the united congregations of the followers of the Associate faith at Dales Fork, Millars Run and Cane Run, in the vicinity of Lexington, Kentucky, a number of the families above referred to as hav- ing come here from Kentucky having previously enjoyed his ministrations during the time of their residence in the Blue Grass state. In the published recollections of Andrew Galloway, who had a first-hand knowledge of the organization of the old Associate (Seceder) congregation on Massies creek, that writer makes reference to a trip his father, James Galloway, who had settled here with his family in the spring of 1798, had made to Kentucky in the year 1802 with his brother James, the two having "called for several days on my uncle, Samuel Galloway, who lived on McConnells run, near where Mr. Armstrong preached and was about to dispense the Lord's Sup- per. They became acquainted and united with him in the communion of the Lord's Supper, after which they went on to Louisville."
THE COMING OF THE REV. ROBERT ARMSTRONG.
"On their return," continues the Galloway reminiscences, "they stayed a day or two with my uncle, Samuel Galloway, and waited on the ministry of Mr. Armstrong and invited and insisted on him to come to Ohio and preach in our neighborhood; George Galloway was urgent in this request and he agreed if they and the people wished it he would come. After their return they consulted with all the people around, for they were few in number, but
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were anxious for preaching and delegated my brother James for him to go to Kentucky. He went, and shortly afterward wrote for George Galloway to meet him in Dayton to pilot him to our settlement, there being no roads but the one General Wayne had made from Cincinnati to Hamilton, and a 'trace' to where Dayton now is. His request was fulfilled. Mr. Armstrong came and preached at my father's home to the following families: Matthew Quinn, Alexander Forbes, William Junkin, Elias Bromagen, Widow Cris- well, who united with his congregation in Kentucky and came to Ohio in 1801, Alexander McCoy and sons, James and John Stevenson, Thomas and John Townsley, brothers, George Galloway and James Galloway (black- smith) and afterward, soon, Joseph Kyle, Sr., and his two sons, Joseph and Samuel, Col. James Morrow, David Laughead, Sr., and his family, William and Robert Kendall and perhaps a few others. He also preached at Sugar Creek, in the house of James Clancy, who resided where Bellbrook is now situated, to a number of families, of whom the following are recollected : John and Joseph McKnight, Joseph C. Vance, father of Governor Vance, and his brother John, Capt. Nathan Lamme and family, William Tanner, James and Jacob Snowden, three Snodgrass families, James, William and Robert, Abraham Van Eaton and perhaps a few others; none named were members of the Associate church, but were members of the Associate Reformed and Presbyterian churches, and were glad to hear Mr. Armstrong preach.
"During his stay among us a number solicited him to come and take the oversight of them as their pastor. This he did not refuse or promise to do, but stated that he was dissatisfied with Kentucky on account of slavery. He said that slaveholders were buying large tracts of land in branches of his congregation and that there was no chance nor probability of increasing. He said if he could get his congregation or part of them, to come to Ohio, he would agree to come, if called. The people took his statement as encouraging and forthwith agreed to petition to the presby- tery for the moderation of a call. My brother James presented the petition to the presbytery as a delegate from the congregation. They granted the petition and appointed Rev. Andrew Fulton to moderate the call. A short time after this appointment he preached in my father's barn and baptized my sister Ann and brother Anthony, it being the first baptism ever admin- istered in Greene county by the Associate church, and took place about the Ist of September, 1804. The call was made out in due form and John McKnight, of Sugar Creek, and my father were appointed commissioners by the people to meet with the presbytery of Kentucky and urge the accept- ance of the call. This they did and Mr. Armstrong accepted it.
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PIONEER MINISTER ESTABLISHES HOME.
"In the same month Mr. Armstrong went to Tennessee and was married to Miss Nancy Andrew and in October left Tennessee with his wife and her brother, Hugh Andrew, who all arrived safely at my father's house and lived in his family all winter and spring, until he got a cabin built and a stone chimney in it, for he was afraid of a wooden one. My father entered and paid in the land office at Cincinnati, fractional section No. 29, township 4, range 7, between the Great and Little Miami rivers, containing four hun- dred and sixty-one acres, and sold to Mr. Armstrong three hundred and one acres for the sum of six hundred and twenty dollars, and deeded the same to him in 1812. Mr. Armstrong lived on said section to the year 1813, when he sold and deeded to Samuel Goe for the sum of two hundred and ninety dollars, and bought again on Clarks run forty-eight and three-fourths acres of land from John Hunter, of Ross county, for which he paid one hundred and seventy dollars, and two hundred acres from James Galloway, Jr., for which he paid three hundred dollars. This sale and purchase. left Mr. Armstrong sixteen hundred and thirty dollars, no trifling sum in those days, and taking in his personal property and proceeds of his farm he might be considered a rich man. On this farm he lived until his death, which occurred on October 14, 1821.
"It is true that his congregation in Kentucky sent a delegation to Ohio of sixteen or eighteen to view the lands in the neighborhood where Mr. Armstrong was to settle, and were all pleased with it and reported accord- ingly. In the spring and fall of 1804 and 1805 all, or nearly all, of his congregation followed him to Ohio and settled under his ministry.
FIRST CHURCH OF THE ASSOCIATE CONGREGATION.
"The first church edifice of the Associate congregation of Massies. creek was built on three acres of land donated by James Stevenson for church and cemetery. It was built of round hickory logs with the bark peeled off, thirty feet square, covered with clapboards, the spaces between the logs being filled with clay. It was without a gallery' or loft of any kind and the floor was of earth. In it were neither stoves nor chimney, and there was but one door in the center of the end of the house. There was an aisle running through the center. The pulpit was composed of clap- boards on a wooden structure, with a window on each side. It was seated with two rows of puncheon split from poplar, and upper side smoothed off, and in each end was an upright from which two to three slabs were pinned and formed quite a comfortable back. This edifice was on the north side of Massies creek, about three miles from where it emptied
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into the Little Miami river. Men and women would ride or walk twelve or fifteen miles to this church and sit and listen to two sermons without seeing fire in the coldest weather.
"About the year 1812 or 1813 the second church at Massies Creek was built of hewed logs, one hundred and fifty feet distant from the first one. At this date the county had improved and several mills had been built. It was about fifty feet wide, was floored and ceiled overhead with one-half-inch poplar boards. In it were placed four pews, the balance of the seats being those that had been in the first church. This church became too small for the congregation, and one side was taken out and its width increased about twelve feet. This building was used until the stone one was built (1824) and occupied by Rev. James P. Smart, about two miles north from the first site. The old site is now used as a cemetery; in it are the remains of Mr. Armstrong and a large part of the congregation. Out of Massies Creek, Sugar Creek and Xenia congregations of the Asso- ciate church, and Xenia Associate Reformed congregations has sprung the nucleus of all the congregations of the United Presbyterian church in the West."
FIRST UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF XENIA.
The claim has been made, and probably with correct historical basis, that though the Associate (Seceder) church had organized congregations in Greene county, these being the churches on Massies creek and on Sugar creek, under the ministration of the Rev. Robert Armstrong, before the formal organization of a connection of the Associate Reformed church, still the latter had its organized congregation in Xenia, the county seat, before the former. Hence, since the union of these churches in 1858, the Associated Reformed has been known as the First United Presbyterian church of Xenia, and the Associate, as the Second.
Though those of the early settlers in and about Xenia holding to the tenets of the Associate Reformed faith had received occasional ministration by "supply" and even earlier through the visit of missioners, there was no formal organization of a congregation of those holding that faith at Xenia until the year 1810, when the Rev. John Steele was delegated by the Kentucky presbytery of the Associate Reformed church to moderate a congregational meeting at Xenia and to preside at the ordination of the elders of the new congregation. At a meeting of Kentucky presbytery held at Cynthiana on September 28, 1808, a petition was received from friends at Xenia asking for supplies of preaching and the Rev. Abraham Craig was appointed to preach for them on two Sabbaths in the following Septem- ber and October. In 1809 Mr. Craig preached at Xenia on four Sab- baths and early in 1810 Mr. Steele preached there on four Sabbaths and
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