USA > Ohio > Franklin County > Columbus > History of the city of Columbus, Ohio, from the founding of Franklinton in 1797, through the World War period to the year 1920 > Part 27
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It would be almost impossible, in the brief space at our command to enlarge upon the faculty changes that occurred thereafter, covering a whole book, perhaps; the faculty con- sisted of sixty-six in 1892, and now numbers close to five hundred, many hundreds of changes having taken place in over forty years timc. Having written of the fathers of the Uni- versity, in the faculty sense, until the period when a good working force was secured, we may be excused from further detail.
The General Assembly, March 31, 1882, made an appropriation of $20,000 for a chemical laboratory, which was soon built, as also three residences for professors the same year. An Agricultural Experiment Station and a Meteorological Bureau were established on the campus in 1882. The next year $15,000 was appropriated to erect the Agricultural and Horticultural Hall.
Rev. Wm. H. Scott, President of Ohio University, at Athens, Ohio, was elected, June, 1883, President, and professor of philosophy and political economy, vice Walter Quincy Scott, who failed of re-election and resigned. Professor T. C. Mendenhall, who had re- turned from Japan, withdrew from the faculty, December, 1881, to accept the appointment of professor of electrical science in the office of the Chief Signal Officer of the United States. Professor R. W. McFarland retired in 1885, to accept the presidency of Miami Uni- versity. At the close of 1888, Professor Albert H. Tuttle retired from the chair of zoology to accept the chair of biology in the University of Virginia.
The Chemical Laboratory building was destroyed by fire February 2, 1889, and $5,000 was tendered for a temporary equipment with $40,000 at the next session of the General Assembly for the construction and equipment of a new building. In 1889 died Profesosr Alfred H. Welsh, associate of Professor Geo. W. Knight as professor of English language and literature. This was a distinct loss to the University, as he had attained a wide reputation as a writer, including a history of American literature and many mathematical works,- having written and published fourteen books in thirteen years, and he virtually died from over-work.
Congress passed an act, August 30, 1890, of much financial importance to the University and similar institutions, still in their swaddling clothes, increasing the annual fund for their support from $15,000 to $20,000,-this being supplemental to the original grant of land "serip" to agricultural and mechanical colleges.
Perhaps the most notable event of the next few years was the creation of the Law School. The trustees, by resolution, June, 1890, established the law department, with Hon. Marshall Williams, Chief Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court as dean, and a large faculty, mainly from the Columbus bar,-which doubled the faculty, although the number of law students in 1891 was only 50. The law school was conducted for a time in the Franklin County Court House. In 1892 the entire faculty of the University, counting the lawyers, consisted of sixty-six members.
Thomas F. Hunt, of Pennsylvania, was elected professor of agriculture in lieu of N. S. Townshend in 1891, who, on account of age, asked to be relieved. Thus, one by one, the original faculty were passing away. The University was now possessed of five buildings, and in 1892 three others were in course of erection, (Orton, Hayes, and Veterinary IIalls). There were also six houses and the north dormitory, housing 64, and the south dormitory, 21 more. The library held only 12,000 volumes, including the Sullivant and Deshler col- lections, in 1892.
After twelve years of steadfast and unselfish devotion to the interests of the University Dr. William Henry Scott retired as President in June, 1895, and was elected to and accepted the chair of philosophy. Dr. James Hulme Canfield, then Chancellor of the Uni-
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versity of Nebraska, was elected President and assumed his duties July 1. Professors Orton, Norton, Townshend, Robinson, Lord, Derby, Smith and Knight were then the leading mem- bers of the faculty, and some of them held the pioneer chairs. The long contest over the Page will was still in the courts, and had been carried to the United States Supreme Court for adjudication before any portion of the proposed endowment could be used for the erection of Page Hall. The Law School was still sustained by an annual fund of $1,500 from the State levy. An unexpected donation of $3,000 had been made by Emerson MeMillin, then of Columbus, for the purchase of books for the Law Library. A little later, Mr. MeMillin made an additional donation of $10,000 for an astronomical observatory: and upon the completion of the building, a 12-inch telescope was installed. In 1896 he added another $5,000 for the beautification of the grounds. The observatory was put in charge of Professor Henry C. Lord who is still serving.
The next few years saw a considerable growth in the physical equipment of the Uni- versity. The Chapel in University Hall was enlarged and rearranged and suitable execu- tive offices were provided in the same building. Horticultural Hall, the Biological building, and the Armory and Gymnasium were erected, the former at a cost of nearly $50,000 and the latter at a cost of $98,936.76 for the building and $5,663.91 for equipment. Page Hall owes its existence to the munificence of Henry F. Page, of Circleville, who devised certain
First Building, nowe University Hall.
lands in Ohio and Illinois to the University, subject to a life interest of his widow and daughter. The litigation that followed was long and tedious.
In 1899 the Presidency passed from Dr. Canfield to the present incumbent, Dr. William Oxley Thompson, under whom the physical growth has continued, and the intellectual and spiritual forees have been enlarged and organized and directed to ever higher achievements. The home economics department, the beginnings of which were made in 1898, has now a building of its own. Ohio Union, Oxley Hall, the botany and zoology building, Brown Hall, the industrial arts building, the physies building, several buildings for the College of Agriculture and others have come. A beautiful Library building has been provided, and the campus structures number more than forty.
Besides the Graduate School, the colleges now number eleven: Agriculture, Arts, Phil- osophy and Science, Commerce and Journalism, Dentistry, Education, Engineering, Homco- pathic Medicine, Law, Medicine, Pharmacy and Veterinary Medicine-each with a dean and faculty.
The University has been co-educational from the very beginning and has graduated many women of fine attainments. While the nation was at war in 1917-18 many of the student activities were carried on by young women with no lowering of standards. Admission to the University is by certificate from accredited high schools and academies or after examina-
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tion in five groups of studies- English, history, mathematics and foreign languages, and the entire work is arranged on the group and elective system. A summer session has been added, and now education is available there throughout the year. The University, with its colleges and graduate school, is the crown of the public school system of Ohio and is of ever-increasing worth.
Capital University.
Early in the history of the State, many Lutherans settled in Ohio, coming from Germany and the Eastern states. In 1818 the Evangelical Lutheran Synod was organized and the question of founding a theological school began to be agitated. It was not, however, until 1830 that the Synod decided to take this forward step. Then it chose Rev. William Schmidt, who had recently come from the University at Halle to a pastorate in Canton, to be the professor of theology around whom the institution was to develop. He was permitted to retain his pastorate for a time and began his educational work in his own house in Canton with six students, thus establishing the second Lutheran Seminary in America.
By resolution of the Synod in 1831, Columbus was chosen as the seat of the seminary. Fourteen acres of ground at what was then the southern extremity of High street was bought and with the aid of contributions of $2,500 by citizens of Columbus, two buildings were erected where later the Hayden residence was built. To the theologieal course an academical course was added and Columbus' first school of higher education was thus pro- vided.
In 1839, Professor Schmidt died and was succeeded by Rev. C. F. Schaefer of Hagers- town, Md., who resigned after three years. In 1846, Rev. W. F. Lehmann came to the school
Chapel University (Lutheran.)
as professor and continued with it until his death in 1880. During his period of service a college department was added, and since then the seminary and the college have worked along together as Capital University, chartered in 1850 by the General Assembly. Rev. Wm. M. Reynolds was the first President of the University, his associates being Rev. Mr. Lehmann, Rev. A. Essick and J. A. Tressler.
The South High street property had been sold in 1849 to Peter Hayden, and the institution was moved temporarily to Town and Fifth streets. It was here that Dr. Theo- dore G. Wormley served for a time as professor of chemistry and Daniel Worley as tutor.
Dr. Lincoln Goodale, in order that the institution might again be suitably located, about this time gave as a site a four-aere lot at the northwest corner of High and Goodale streets. A handsome building costing $40,000 was erected and dedicated September 14, 1853, the English address being delivered by Hon. William II. Seward, the New York statesman.
President Reynolds was succeeded in 1854 by Rev. C. Spielmann, who resigned in 1857 owing to failing health and was succeeded by Rev. W. F. Lehmann, who had up to that time held a subordinate place in the administration. When he died in 1880, Dr. M. Loy became the fourth President.
In 1876, the High and Goodale street site had become undesirable and the institution was moved to its present location east of Alum creek on the route of the old National Road, a seventeen-aere tract of land presented for the purpose. There an even better main build- ing was ereeted. Other buildings ineluding Leonard Seience Hall, Rudolph Library, Recita- tion Hall, Gymnasium and Auditorium, residences for professors, a church and a power house
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followed until now there are ten buildings on the tract, with the country on the east and the city on the west.
Rev. Otto Mees was called to the Presidency in 1912, succeeding Dr. L. H. Schuh, who became Housefather and Pastor in 1894, resigning in 1912. The faculty now numbers twenty-two, and the students number nearly 300. By the action of the Synod in 1918, ad- mission was offered to young women, and for the first time the institution became co-edu- cational. Dr. M. Loy, who became President in 1880, was made professor emeritus in 1902. Dr. F. W. Stellhorn served in the faculty from 1881 to 1918. Rev. E. Schmid served from 1860 to 1896. Other teachers whose names shine like stars in the history of the institution are: Dr. Theodore Mees, Dr. G. H. Schodde, Rev. C. H. L. Schuette, Professor George K. Leonard, and Rev. A. Pfleuger. F. W. Heer has been Treasurer for thirty years.
Catholic Educational Institutions.
By Helen Moriarty.
Columbus Catholics have always been noted for their devotion to religious education. From the time the first parish school was opened the generosity of the people in this regard has never flagged. The earliest religious teachers in Columbus were the Sisters of Notre Dame, who came to Columbus in 1855 at the request of Father Borgess, pastor of Holy Cross, and Father Fitzgerald, pastor of St. Patrick's, to take charge of their respective parish schools. Their first home in Columbus was located on what is now Marion strect, a small frame house, still standing. Their next home was on Oak street. In the course of time at the request of the Bishop the Sisters decided to open an academy for the higher education of girls and to this end bought property on East Rich street. Here in September, 1875, St. Joseph's Academy was opened, and soon became one of the solid educational insti- tutions of the city, a standard which it still maintains. Its department of music under the direction of Sister Maria Joseph, a musician of remarkable ability, was a strong factor in the development of the musical life of the city in the early days, and many of the town's best musicians were trained within the walls of St. Joseph's. This veteran religieuse became incapacitated for work only within the past few months after more than fifty years of ardu- ous and unstinted labor.
Additions have been built to the Academy and convent from time to time and in 1880 a chapel was added. A school for small boys was started a few years ago at the corner of Rich and Sixth streets. The present Superior is Sister Josephine Ignatius, who has been connected with the institution for many years. There are 58 Sisters in the community, who teach in the Academy and in four parish schools besides. The Sisters also give reli- gious instruction to the Catholic children in the Institution for the Blind.
With the Academy are connected two active literary societies- the Watterson Reading Circle and the Notre Dame Literary Circle, the latter made up chiefly of graduates of the Academy. The Watterson Reading Circle has been in existence for twenty-four years and has a high standing among literary circles throughout the country. It maintains a lecture course which has brought many distinguished men and women to Columbus and has done much to foster the intellectual life of the Catholic people. Its members also, with the Bishop's approval, do social and catechetical work.
St. Mary's of the Springs, situated about three miles east of Columbus, is one of its popular educational institutions. Its history dates back to 1830, when a small band of Dominican Sisters came into Ohio from Kentucky on the invitation of Bishop Fenwick of Cincinnati. They settled in the historic town of Somerset, Perry county, where they con- ducted a school and novitiate for thirty-six years. In 1866 their home there was totally destroyed by fire. While they were considering a new building, Mr. Theodore Leonard of Columbus, offered them a tract of land east of Columbus, also pledging his assistance in the erection of a suitable building. The offer was accepted, and the building was put up on the picturesque site, which because of the many springs in the grounds was called St. Mary's of the Springs. The school was opened in September, 1868, and from that date has had a steady and substantial growth and a high standard as an educational institution. Many additions have been built to meet the needs of the times and the property is now a beautiful one and one of the show places of the city. The first community numbered 26 Sisters, where now there are 262 with about 30 novices in training. St. Mary's is also the mother-
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house of this community. Mother Miriam Maasterson is the Mother General of the congrega- tion, succeeding in 1916 Mother Vineentia Erskine, who had held the office for 24 years. In addition to the Academy with its 125 pupils, the Sisters teach parish schools in various cities of Ohio, as well as in Pennsylvania and in New York City and New Haven, Conn. In the two latter eities they also have prosperous academies.
The Pontifical College Josephinum is one of the most extensive Catholic educational institutions in the city. It is located on East Main street at the corner of Seventeenthi street. It was founded by Rev. Joseph Jessing, first in Pomeroy, Ohio, for the care of orphan boys, and later in Columbus where he transferred the work in 1877, together with the printing plant of the Ohio Waisenfreund, a paper started by him to finance his charity enterprise. The boys were educated and trained in technical and mechanical branches. In 1888 Father Jessing further extended his work by opening a school for worthy young men anxious to enter the priesthood who were without means to prosecute their studies, and from that small beginning evolved the present college. The seminary. was opened in the fall of 1891. In 1892 Father Jessing placed the institution under the immediate jurisdiction of the Sacred College of the Propaganda, whenee came its present title, the Pontifical College Josephinum. Father Jessing, who had been made a Domestic Prelate with the title of Monsignor by Pope Leo XIII, died in 1899, his iron constitution worn down by a life of incessant labor and extreme self-denial. He was succeeded by Rev. Joseph Soentgerath, D. D., one of his most valuable assistants, who has conducted the institution with great sue- cess. There is a faculty of 17 priests, teaching 105 clerical students and 56 young men in the seminary. One of the professors, Rev. A. W. Centner, Ph. D., was in 1917 commissioned as Chaplain in the army.
Still connected with the Josephinum is the St. Joseph's Orphan's Home where forty boys are cared for. The Sisters Mission Workers of the Sacred Heart have charge of the domestie department of the home and the Josephinum.
Until the year 1895 Columbus had no facilities for the higher education of Catholie boys. In that year Bishop Hartley requested the Dominican Fathers to take charge of a high school and college for boys and young men which he wished to establish. The site chosen was the plot of ground at the corner of Mount Vernon and Washington avenues which be- longed to the diocese, and was onee the site of the Catholic cemetery. The first building was completed by the first of the year 1906 and school was opened on February 6. The school prospered from the first. In 1912 an addition was built to supply the growing needs of the school and at that date, the name of the college, which had heretofore been known as St. Patrick's, was changed to Aquinas College. There are now in the college about 250 students, some of whom are boarding students from various parts of the country. The faculty numbers twelve Dominican Fathers. with Rev. M. S. Welch, O. P., as President.
CHAPTER XXI. PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SCHOOLS.
Early Schools and Teachers-Academies, Seminaries and Institutes-First Public Schools- Growth of Public Schools in Favor-School Superintendents and Their Administrations -German in the Schools-Men and Women on the Board of Education-Private Schools and Business Colleges.
While in the earliest legislation with reference to the Northwest Territory, there was thought of the necessity for education and provision for the maintenance of schools, the first schools in this community, as well as in others, were privately supported, parents paying the teacher in proportion to the number of their children in school. The lands that were set aside for school purposes did not yield the necessary revenue. They were virgin, unoc- cupied for the most part and of little value. The support they were able to give was never great, and they were finally sold, the proceeds being turned into the State Treasury as an irreducible debt, the income since 1825 having been supplemented annually by a general tax.
The first school was where the first settlement was made, in Franklinton, and the first school house, built probably in 1806, was a log structure about 15 feet square and stood a little north of Broad street west of what is now Sandusky street. It was built by Lucas Sullivant, the builder of most of the first things in Franklinton. His son, Joseph, in later life wrote that his acquaintance with school life began in this "cabin, with its slabs for seats polished by use, and big chimney with downward drafts, with fleas inside and hogs under the floor, no grammar, no geography, but a teacher who ruled with a rod." Perhaps the teacher referred to was Dr. Peleg Sisson, for when that worthy taught in that school house, Mr. Sullivant is known to have been a pupil. But there were women school teachers in those days as now, and the first Franklinton teachers of whom there is record were Miss Sarah Reed, also a Christian worker with Dr. James Hoge, and Miss Mary Wait. William Lusk at an early day taught a common subscription school and not later than 1818 opencd an academy.
The first school east of the Scioto was opened in the Presbyterian log church on Spring street, in 1814. Wm. T. Martin tanght a school on Town street half a block east of High, in 1816-17, his wife aiding him with the younger pupils. Dr. Sisson moved his school from Franklinton to a room in the Pike tavern and about 1819 took charge of a classical school for boys that had been opened in a frame building at the northwest corner of High and Town streets. About the same time, Mrs. David Smith, wife of the editor of the Monitor, opened a school for girls on Front street. Rudolphus Dickinson, Samuel Bigger and Daniel Bigelow were also among the early Columbus teachers. John Kilbourne's Ohio Gazetcer for 1826 says: 'Columbus contains four or five private schools and a classical seminary," at a time when there were 200 dwellings and 1,400 inhabitants. Near the close of that year, the first public school was established, but many pay schools-academies, seminaries and institutes-continued to exist and were attended by children of all ages.
One of these was the Columbus Academy which in 1820 was housed in a one-story frame building on Third street at the present Central Presbyterian church site. The structure was erected by a school company of about twenty citizens, out "among the pawpaw bushes with but three other houses in the vicinity." The first teacher was Aaron G. Brown, a graduate of Ohio University, and among his pupils were Joseph Sullivant, W. A. Platt, John and Daniel Overdier, Margaret Livingston, J. R. Osborn, Robert and John Armstrong, Henry Mills, Keys Barr, Margaret, Elizabeth and Moses Hoge. Cyrus Parker and William Lusk also taught in this academy at one of its several locations, for it was removed to Front street and later to Fourth, near the present Central Market house; and so, too, H. N. Hubbell, Andrew Williams and Moses Spurgeon.
Special schools for girls were not lacking. In 1826, Miss Anna Treat and Miss Sarah Benfield opened a "female academy" in the Pike building, West Broad street, and conducted it for several years. In the McCoy building at the northwest corner of High and State streets, the Columbus Female Seminary was opened in 1828, with Rev. Joseph Labaree as principal and a superintending committee composed of N. McLean, R. W. McCoy, J. M.
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HISTORY OF COLUMBUS, OHIO
Espy, Henry Brown and James Hoge. Mr. Labaree was assisted by Miss Emily Richardson, Miss Margaret Richardson and Miss Amy Adams.
The basement of Trinity Episcopal church, from 1835 on, was the home of a number of private schools taught by J. W. Mattison, J. O. Masterson, W. S. Wheaton, George Cole, Ezra Munson and others. In 1830, Elder George Jeffries taught school in a log house on the north side of West Mound street, where also he organized the First Baptist church. In 1838-39 a high school for young ladies was conducted in the lecture room of the First Pres- byterian church by Miss Mary A. Shaw. These and other instances testify to the close rela- tionship in those days of the church and the school. A tragic incident in the private school life of the city was the drowning of J. O. Masterson in the Scioto. Dismissing sehool, one day, in a building on Gay street, he asked each of the pupils to submit an essay next morn- ing on "Never speak ill of the dead." When the pupils went to school the following day, they learned that their teacher had been drowned.
In 1836, a number of women doing charity work discovered many children, some of them orphans, who did not go to school. They organized a society representing all the churches and established a school in a brick building on a lot near Fourth street that Alfred Kelley gave for the purpose. A report, December, 1837, showed that school had been conducted for
Columbus Academy, built in 1820.
five quarters at an expense of $287.50, that 92 different children had attended, with an average of 35, and that $750 had been raised by membership fees. The work was continued for some years.
Prior to 1836, the colored people maintained a school in the southern part of the eity, In the year named a school society was formed, with David Jenkins, B. Roberts and C. Lewis as trustees. In the fall of 1839, the society had $60 in the treasury and a subscribed building fund of $225, the goal being $700 for lot and building. In 1840 there was a colored school with 63 pupils. In 1841, Alfred Kelley, John 1 .. Gill and Peter Hayden erceted a building at the northeast corner of Oak and Fifth, and established a school there which was taught for several years by Robert Barrett.
In the multitude of private schools that have come and gone, these others must be men- tioned: The Columbus Institute, in 1840, by Abiel Foster, at Rich and Front streets; the Female Seminary, 1813-48. by Mr. and Mrs. E. Sehenck, at Broad and High; the Literary and Scientifie Institute, 1810-16, by Rev. John Covert, on Town street; the Esther Institute, 1852-62, by Charles Jucksch, T. G. Wormley and others, first on Rich street, later in a pre- tentious building on East Broad street near Fourth, where the Athletic Club now stands; the English and Classical school for girls, 1884-94, by Miss L. M. Phelps and a strong corps of teachers, at Broad and Fourth streets and the Columbus Latin School, established at Fourth
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