USA > Ohio > Wayne County > History of Wayne county, Ohio, from the days of the pioneers and the first settlers to the present time > Part 45
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512
HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY, OHIO.
Presbyterian Theological Seminary of the North-west for publica- tion, felt constrained to offer his resignation, which was accepted at the end of the third year of the University and of his Presi- dency. His administration had proved most successful, especially in the matter of organization and in his management of the students, and the institution owes him a lasting debt of gratitude for his effi- cient labors and wise counsel in its behalf. As a mark of their ap- preciation the Trustees conferred upon him the honorary degree of LL. D .* The Trustees immediately elected as his successor, Rev. A. A. E. Taylor, D. D., of Cincinnati, who had been a Trus- tee from the opening of the institution. The new President en- tered at once upon his work, and was duly inaugurated at the opening of the fall term in September, 1873. During the four suc- ceeding years the University has steadily increased in popular fa- vor and added to the number of its students about thirty annually, until the present year, when there are enrolled in the Collegiate and in the Preparatory about 300 students.
The following changes have since been made in the Faculty :
In 1873 Professor L. Firestone, M. D., LL. D., was elected full Professor of Anatomy, Physiology and Hygiene.
In 1874 J. Adolph Schmitz, A. M., was elected Professor of Modern Languages and Literature, and J. O. Notestine, A. M., Adjunct Professor of Latin Language and Literature.
In January, 1875, Professor Jeffers received a call to the Euclid Street church, of Cleveland, and proffered his resignation as Pro- fessor of Greek. He, however, continued his labors during the year.
Professor James Black, D. D., President of Pennsylvania Fe- male College, was elected his successor, and entered upon the du- ties of his chair at the beginning of the sixth University year, Sep- tember, 1875.
In 1875 W. W. Wallace, A. M., was elected Adjunct Profes- sor of Mathematics, and Mr. James Wallace, A. M., Adjunct Pro- fessor of Greek.
Rev. J. M. Layman, A. M., was in 1877 appointed Instructor in Hebrew.
Subscriptions were continually made to the funds of the Uni-
*The proceedings of the inauguration of President Taylor were published in pamphlet form, and consisted of Farewell address by President Lord ; address of In- duction by Rev. John Robinson, D. D., President of the Board of Trustees, and Inaugural address by President Taylor.
513
WOOSTER-THE UNIVERSITY.
versity through the agency of Rev. T. K. Davis, Financial Secre- tary, who served with great efficiency during these years ; and in 1875, W. D. Johnson, of Clifton, Ohio, in his will, donated $25,- ooo for the endowment of an additional chair. Four chairs have been thus endowed in the sum of $25,000 each by the following persons : Mr. J. H. Kauke, of Wooster ; E. Quinby, Jr., Esq., of Wooster ; B. J. Mercer, of Mansfield, in his will; and W. D. Johnson, as above. Funds were added for the increase of the Library, until it has reached about 4,000 well-selected volumes. Large additions have been made to the Museum, and the collec- tion of Indian remains is already one of the finest in the State, comprising nearly eight hundred specimens.
In the summer of 1874 Professor Stoddard, with about twenty students, organized an expedition to the Rocky Mountains, to be absent about two months. As the result a cabinet of minerals and fossils of great value was added to a rich collection previously ob- tained from Professor Hayden, of the United States Exploring Expedition, through the agency of Rush Taggart, Esq. By courses of lectures delivered during several winters by the Professors, a fund of about one thousand dollars was raised with which a very handsome telescope was obtained from the celebrated manufactur- ers, Cooke & Sons, Liverpool, England, and was imported free of duty. Largely through the influence of Professor Kirkwood, and by aid of the Faculty and classes of the institution, members of the Synod and citizens of the town, a handsome Observatory has been erected on the University grounds in which the telescope is elegantly mounted for the use of the students. In view of the in- crease of the Library a Reading Hall was established, open during eight hours each day, in the Library Room, and furnished with the leading reviews, magazines and newspapers of the day. Rev. T. K. Davis was, in 1877, appointed Librarian and, with his assistants, keeps the Library constantly open for the issuing of books to the students and for consultation concerning subjects upon which the Library gives information. A large number of dictionaries and other books of reference have been secured for this purpose.
Founded in the midst of one of the richest agricultural regions in the State, and among a generous and hospitable people, it has been found, by experiment, that expenses may be as economically managed by those who desire to obtain an education upon small outlay, as in any other college of the land, and at a far less rate than in other schools where the advantages are not nearly so great,
33
514
HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY, OHIO.
and especially far cheaper than in Eastern colleges. About $15,000 are paid out annually by the Trustees to secure Professors and Teachers of the highest grade, and of wide-spread reputation for ability and efficiency. The student is charged less than half the actual expense of his tuition, not counting the investments in grounds and buildings, and students find, upon experience, that the worst way to economize in seeking an education is in cheap teachers. The high standing of the institution, equal to that of the best American colleges, has been faithfully maintained by secur- ing, at high cost, the best instructors to be found, and the charac- ter of the graduates passing out from their hands is such as to satisfy the friends of the University of its great excellence and efficiency. It has proved a wonderful advantage to the commu- nity, to have drawn to it educated families from abroad who desire to give their children a first-class education, and the University pours annually into the currency of the community no less than $70,000, drawn from over fifty counties of the State, and from twelve other States, whence students now come. This is so much fresh blood poured into the money veins of the community, year after year a steady stream reaching the humblest tradesman, and making itself felt in the whole region around the institution. Already it is estimated that the money paid out by the citizens to secure the University in their midst has been repaid to them in threefold measure, and as the years roll on, this will prove to be an investment of the best character, producing a large and constant interest. Added to this is the fortunate opportunity afforded to the county to secure the superior education of its sons and daughters near at home.
During the eight years of its establishment, considerably over 800 students have been in attendance, and the graduates for this period number about 160, an average of 20 per annum - a result unequaled by any institution ever established in the West, and scarcely ever, if at all, in the whole country. The objection to this institution because of its newness has been removed by the employment of life-long teachers in the Faculty, whose combined experience is fully equal to that of any Faculty in a college of equal size in the land, thus securing the effect of long experience and age for the University itself. The Ancient and Modern Languages, Natural and Mental Philosophy, Mathematics, English Literature, Rhetoric, and all the branches needful to secure a complete colle-
515
WOOSTER-THE UNIVERSITY.
giate education, are made the subject of especial attention and thor- ough study throughout the whole course.
At its annual Commencements, held usually on the third Wednesday of June, eloquent and distinguished speakers from abroad address crowded audiences; while the other exercises, in which the students themselves take part, especially those of the graduating class on Commencement Day, in the grove, attract au- diences that number several thousand, drawn from over the whole county. This is a constant excitement to the educational spirit, and awakens the minds of the community to the superiority and power of an educated brain.
One peculiar feature of the institution, the admission of young women to all the classes, has fully established the mental power of the sex in competition with young men. Young women of the more thoughtful and studious class are drawn to an institution where they can secure instruction in studies that develop the fac- ulty of thought from superior teachers, such as the schools they usually attend have not the means to employ. They are prepared for teachers, or for an adequate appreciation of literature, science and life in general, and are enabled to reason for themselves and act with superior judgment, moving without embarrassment in the most cultivated society and fitted to adorn the highest walks in so- cial life. Among the small number who have already graduated, are those of whom any institution might well be proud. Under careful management the evils that have been so often imagined and exaggerated are wholly avoided. Good conduct and good health have been constantly secured for a time sufficiently long to make the experiment a decided success, and the number of young women in attendance has increased steadily until it mounts above sixty.
The general character of the students is of the highest order; and by a well devised system of entrusting them largely with duty under careful supervision, and with sufficient study to give them full employment, they are thrown upon a sense of their manhood at an early age, and feel the pressure of their personal responsibil- ity in conducting themselves as gentlemen, thus avoiding the dan- gers that imperil thoughtless youth. The usual police system of schools for older students simply incites them to attempt their worst, while a generous and helpful confidence excites them to do their best.
The central part, only, of the projected building has been com-
-
516
HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY, OHIO.
pleted, but, as it stands, it is sufficient for all the wants of five hun- dred students. The finest building in the county, it is built of brick, trimmed with sandstone; eighty feet front by one hundred in depth ; rising five stories in hight above the basement, that stands eight feet above ground.
In the basement of the building room is temporarily found for an ample laboratory for the analytical practice of chemistry, where separate tables are provided for the students. The other floors contain eight recitation rooms, each about thirty-two feet square, with ceilings fourteen feet in hight, and lighted by five large win- dows, that render the rooms cheerful and healthful. The Library and Museum now occupy two of these rooms. Four additional recitation rooms, twenty-three by twenty-five feet in size, are situ- ated upon the first floor, one of which is devoted as a reception room exclusively to the use of the young ladies, who have, also, constant access to the reading room. The whole rear of the building, from the second to the fourth stories, is occupied by Kauke Chapel, named for Captain J. H. Kauke. This chapel is a room fifty-two by fifty-six feet in size, with a light and graceful gallery running around three sides of it, on a level with the third story of the building.
It is seated in circular form as an amphitheatre, furnished with wainscoting and seats of native wood, handsomely frescoed and furnished comfortably, accommodating eight hundred persons. Over the chapel two rooms, each fifty-two by twenty-eight feet large, are fitted up for the use of the Literary Societies. The fifth floor remains unoccupied. A broad, central hall, through which as- cends an ample staircase, with wide transverse halls, renders all departments readily accessible. This building, finished through- out in native oak and walnut, furnished with heating apparatus and lighted by gas, the whole surmounted with a handsome Man- sard roof and tower, is surpassed in convenience, spaciousness and practical utility by few educational edifices in the West.
To the Preparatory department particular attention has been paid during the last five years. The object of the Faculty in this matter has been twofold. On the one hand, they desire to secure to those persons who may not intend to pursue a full college course a thorough, practical and advantageous training in elemen- tary English branches, beginning with the lower studies and carry- ing the student up to an excellent knowledge of English, together with an elementary training in such branches as may enable them
517
WVOOSTER-THE UNIVERSITY.
to fill a teacher's place with acceptance and honor in the district school and other schools of like grades. All the purposes of a superior normal school are thus obtained under the care of ex- perienced teachers, and many pass out thence yearly to fields of usefulness.
On the other hand, a necessity was felt for an efficient prepara- tory training for the college courses, including elementary work in. Greek, Latin, German, Algebra, History and Drawing. Only by securing faithful and sufficient work in the beginning of these stud- ies, could the student become ready for the full benefit of the higher classes in the University proper. To this end, selection has been made from among the best teachers, and particularly from the graduates of the College. Two of these alumni, espe- cially Professors J. O. Notestine, A. M., and James Wallace, A. M., natives of the county, and standing at the head of their classes at graduation, with Professor William W. Wallace, A. M., long a successful teacher in another institution, have devoted themselves, with great zeal and untiring labor, to set this department on a level with the noted academies of New England. For thoroughness and accuracy, the acquisition of exact knowledge of the first prin- ciples of the studies that lie at the foundation of the college course" their work is nowhere excelled, since it is performed with the ut- most care and in a conscientious sense of duty to the pupils. The young women who have entered these classes have also found great benefit therein, and have proved themselves able to rival their brothers for high standing and the possession of the prizes.
The theory of this institution is, that the secret of success in college lies in a preparation that shall make the student fully and familiarly acquainted with those elementary principles that, start- ing at the root, still pervade every subsequent stage of progress in any study. And to accomplish this end and produce scholars of a high grade, the Preparatory department is made the subject of constant attention and diligent care. This department has met with great favor, has grown constantly from the start, both in size and in excellence, and is annually sending up to the college classes students capable of maintaining the highest standing, and of grad- uating with honor to themselves and to the University.
The citizens of Wayne county need no longer send their sons beyond its limits to secure for them a classical, scientific, normal or academical education equal to any that can be obtained in any part of the land.
518
HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY, OHIO.
The Medical Department was established at the beginning. At the time of the organization of the University, Charity Hospital Medical College, in Cleveland, was received into connection with the University under the charter of the latter, and was formally reorganized as its Medical Department. Having been previously conducted for five years under the direction of such able and dis- tinguished Professors as Drs. G. C. E. Weber and Leander Fire- stone, with their coadjutors, it had already gained a high position. This alliance thus obtained gave increasing character and influence to the University, and the Medical Department has continued to in- crease, until now its Faculty numbers thirteen and its students ag- gregate about one hundred, with above thirty graduates annually. Being situated in Cleveland, because of the superior advantages of proximity to hospitals and a larger range of disease, its friends, and especially its devoted Faculty, have secured for it a handsome and well furnished building, in which its classes meet and are trained for their future profession. This department is rapidly making its mark among Medical Colleges, and its fame is extending to the East as well as in the West. Its graduates already number three hundred and sixty, and have gained for themselves a fine reputa- tion wherever they have located.
Thus this University of our county, turning out, from its two main departments, sixty alumni annually, is rapidly winning a reputation beyond the limits of its own State, and within these bounds has already taken a recognized stand in the first rank. In 1877, the seventh year of its existence, it graduated from its Col- legiate department the largest number of classical alumni of any college in Ohio, thus taking the lead of its older companions. With the confidence and support of the citizens of this county, in whose midst it is set as a shining light, and who should take a patriotic pride in its success, and aid it by every means in their power to tower above every other institution of the kind in the State, it will in return give to the county and to the city of Woos- ter, the county-seat, whose name it bears, a reputation and a fame for literary culture that shall be national and enduring-a fame which, in the future, may rival the names of Princeton, Cambridge and New Haven, the great educational centers of America.
As a matter of historical interest for the future, we append the names of its present Faculty and officers of collegiate and prepara- tory instructors :
519
WOOSTER-SKETCHES.
Rev. A. A. E. Taylor, D. D., President, and Mercer Professor of Biblical In- struction and Apologetics.
O. N. Stoddard, LL.D., Kauke Professor of the Natural Sciences.
S. J. Kirkwood, Ph. D., LL.D., Johnson Professor of Mathematics and As- tronomy.
Rev. D. S. Gregory, D. D., Professor of Mental Sciences and English Litera- ture.
L. Firestone, M. D., LL.D., Professor of Anatomy, Physiology and Hygiene. Rev. James Black, D. D., Quinby Professor of Greek Language and Litera- ture.
J. Adolph Schmitz, A. M., Professor of Modern Languages and Literature.
J. O. Notestine, A. M., Adjunct Professor of Latin Language and Literature. W. W. Wallace, A. M., Adjunct Professor of Mathematics.
James Wallace, A. M., Adjunct Professor of Greek Language and Literature. Rev. J. M. Layman, A. M., Instructor in Hebrew.
Rev. W. H. Jeffers, D. D., Lecturer on Ancient Philosophy.
Hon. Martin Welker, LL.D., Lecturer on International and Constitutional Law.
Rev. Thomas K. Davis, A. M., Librarian.
William R. Crabbs, A. B., Instructor in Latin and English Branches.
Louise W. Stoddard, Instructor in Natural Sciences and Drawing.
Amanda M. Flattery, Instructor in German.
David R. Boyd, Assistant Librarian.
Andrew Reed, Janitor.
TABLE OF STUDENTS IN ATTENDANCE ANNUALLY.
YEARS.
SENIORS.
JUNIORS.
SOPHOMORES.
FRESHMEN.
PREPARATORY.
TOTAL.
1870-71
7
14
20
20
O
61
1871-72
IO
19
20
28
O
77
1872-73
16
31
35
57
35
174
1873-74
31
37
55
47
53
223
1874-75
26
36
42
50
79
233
1875-76
26
41
45
54
IOI
267
1876-77
35
38
43
49
I2I
286
1877-78*
34
42
34
75
130
315
REV. A. A. E. TAYLOR, D. D.t
President Taylor was born in Springfield, Clarke county, Ohio, in 1834. His father, Dr. Edward Taylor, of Cleveland, Ohio, was also born in this State. His grandfather and great-grandfather came together from New Jersey to Ohio in the year of Wayne's Treaty with the Indians, and settled in Ross county, naming the town in which they located Bainbridge, in honor of Commodore
#Estimated in part.
+Selected.
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HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY, OHIO.
Bainbridge, a brother-in-law of the latter. His remoter ancestors came from England in 1692, and settled in Garret's Hill, Mon- mouth county, New Jersey, where many of their descendants still reside.
His great-grandfather upon the mother's side was Colonel James Gordon, of Virginia, a part of whose diary is published in Dr. Foote's Sketches of Virginia. Colonel Gordon was a Scotch- man, and an elder in the Presbyterian church of which Rev. Sam- uel Davies was pastor ; and Rev. James Waddell, D. D., the "blind preacher," whose eloquence was celebrated by William Wirt, married Colonel Gordon's daughter, the sister of Dr. Taylor's grandfather. The eldest daughter of Dr. Waddell, who was first cousin to Dr. Taylor's mother, was married to Rev. Archibald Alexander, D. D., the distinguished Princeton Professor for whom Dr. Taylor was named. Drs. J. W. and J. A. Alexander were therefore second cousins to Dr. Taylor.
Dr. Taylor was a student from early life, and graduated at Princeton College at the age of nineteen, 1854. He studied theol- ogy at Princeton Theological Seminary, and was licensed to preach the Gospel by the Presbytery of Cincinnati in 1857. He was shortly afterward ordained, and settled as pastor over the Presby- terian church of Portland, Kentucky, where he remained two years. Thence he was called to the charge of the First Presbyterian church of Dubuque, Iowa, in which he labored successfully for six years. During this period he became a regular correspondent of the Presbyterian, of Philadelphia, over the signature of "Hawkeye," the familiar sobriquet of the people of Iowa. At the close of the war, in 1865, he was called to the Bridge Street Presbyterian church of Georgetown, D. C.
From this field he was called in 1869 to the pastorate of the Mt. Auburn Presbyterian church of Cincinnati, Ohio, a new and promising organization. After a four years' pastorate, during which the membership of the church increased to over 200, Dr. Taylor was unanimously elected, in June, 1873, by the Board of Trustees, as successor to Rev. Willis Lord, D. D., as President of the Synodical University of Wooster. Having been a member of that Board for several years, and greatly interested in the success of this young University, after having contributed freely for the pur- pose of putting the endowment in a good condition, he accepted this position and entered upon its onerous duties in September, 1873.
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WOOSTER -- SKETCHES.
Dr. Taylor has been a member of the Boards of Education and of Church Extension of the General Assembly. He has also been a member of the Boards of Directors of the North western Theo- logical Seminary, at Chicago, Ill., and of the Western Theological Seminary, of Allegheny, Pa. He was a member of the General Assembly at which the reunion of the two branches of the Presby- terian church was consummated in 1869. The degree of D. D. was conferred upon him by the Wooster University in 1872.
Dr. Taylor is a man of medium size and kindly aspect, of fine talent and impressive address, of unusually genial temperament, and well adapted to win the affections of students, and interest all with whom he meets in the University, to the building up of which he has devoted himself with all his energies. The first year of his incumbency, though the position was new and very difficult to fill, was crowned with great success in securing the entire confidence of all connected with the institution, in the increasing number of students, and in the enjoyment of a powerful work of grace by which a large proportion of the inmates of the College were hope- fully converted. Some of these have already turned their faces toward the Gospel ministry.
LEANDER FIRESTONE, M. D.
The uttered part of a man's life, let us always repeat, bears to the unuttered, unconscious part a small, unknown proportion ; he himself never knows it, much less do others.
There are certain proprieties which, in obedience to a code of necessity, are uniform, will prevail and have prevailed for all time. It is proper that we should have astronomers to keep track of the planets and discover new ones; philosophers to dogmatize upon truth and discuss "the science of realities;" geologists to rake the ashes of the past, creep into the fissures of rocks, exhume mummies, ransack catacombs and announce the infancy of time ; masters in the realm of ethics ; discoverers in the empire of me- chanics and mind, to aid muscular energy, economize time, produce wealth, reconcile fact with principle, earth with sky, creation with Creator, and elevate and ameliorate the moral and physical condi- tion of the world.
And since all men can not be discoverers, philosophers, invent- ors, etc., it is refreshing to know that the world has produced a
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HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY, OHIO.
few. The trees of the forest attain not to the same hight, yet the smaller ones and the undergrowth have each their specific use and sphere. Nature was conscious of her eternal policies when she pronounced or decreed her discriminations with mankind. To each was assigned his weight of talent; to each his sphere of exer- cise and employment. To this primal arrangement of things she has set her fixed and endless adaptations. Every life, when prop- erly lived out, is supposed to have filled the measure of its possible and prescribed activities, and every trade and profession has its several departments requiring separate and peculiar talents. One man may excel in a given branch of a profession and be wholly inefficient in another.
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