USA > Ohio > Franklin County > Columbus > History of the city of Columbus, capital of Ohio, Volume II > Part 82
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114 | Part 115 | Part 116 | Part 117 | Part 118 | Part 119 | Part 120
The trustees showed their knowledge of the wants of the institution by expending $256.60 for books and apparatus procured from Boston and Philadel- phia. Among the items of books and apparatus purchased were a box contain- ing an alphabet, figures and punctuation marks made of pin points, $30; fortytwo pounds of type, $21 ; an alphabet cut in wood, $2.60; eight arithmetic plates and type, $40 ; two dozen writing boards, $2.50 ; maps of the world and of the United States, $36. Among the books were the New Testament in four volumes, geogra- phies, spellingbooks, grammars, Baxter's Call, and the Dairyman's Daughter, all in raised print. The sum expended for salaries and current expenses for the first year was $1,707.15. The studies of the first year were reading, writing, arithmetic, geogra- phy, grammar and music, both vocal and instrumental. Music was recognized as of the first importance, and 8229.50 more expended for a piano during the first year. In these early days of the institution the girls were taught housework, knitting and sewing. The boys were endeavoring to learn the trade of shoe- making.
The first building was occupied October 15, 1839. It was intended to accom- modate from sixty to eighty pupils with the necessary officers and teachers. In it were provided school rooms and workshops. There was expended upon the construction of this house, with the necessary outbuildings, the sum of 834,409.34. For the first three years the school was under the direction of the principal teacher, Mr. A. W. Penniman. In May, 1840, Mr. William Chapin entered upon his duties as the first Superintendent.
In those days it was especially necessary to make the existence of the institu- tion known, and to demonstrate the practicability of educating the blind. For this purpose both Mr. Penniman and Mr. Chapin made many visits to the cities and towns of the State, taking with them several of the pupils of the school and giv- ing exhibitions of their proficiency in literary studies and in music. These exhibi- tions excited great interest and called forth many expresions of approbation from the citizens of the State. Also visits were made by Mr. Chapin to the capitals of Kentucky and Indiana. Before the legislatures of these States exhibitions were given by several of the pupils of the Ohio Institution, which resulted in the establishment of the Kentucky Institution at Louisville and of the Indiana Institution at Indianapolis. On March 10, 1838, an act was passed fixing the tuition at $120 per year, which was afterwards changed to $100. This included board and tuition. This act permitted the admission of twelve indigent pupils who should be boarded and instructed at the expense of the State for five years.
By act passed in March, 1843, the trustees were authorized to admit free of charge as many pupils as they thought proper ; to continue for two years longer those whom they thought too young to be dismissed ; and to admit free indigent persons over twentyone years of age for the purpose of learning a trade, and to retain them for two years. This last provision was the beginning of the adult department which has continued, with modifications, to the present time. On
613
INSTITUTION FOR THE BLIND.
March 11, 1851, the distinction between indigent and pay pupils was abolished, and all of proper age, character and mental ability were admitted free to receive board and tuition at the expense of the State. Thus the institution became, and has been ever sinee, a free school for the blind of Ohio. In 1845 Mr. Chapin vis- ited Europe and made an examination of various institutions for the unfortunate. Upon his return he made a full report of his observations, which added very much to the information concerning the education and eare of the unfortunate. At the end of the fiscal year, October, 1846, Mr. Chapin resigned his position as Superintendent. The school during his last year had enrolled seventythree pupils ; 124 had to that time enjoyed the privileges of the institution.
Mr. Chapin's administration was eminently successful. He was a man of earnestness and intelligence. His heart was in the work of the education of the blind, and he gave mueh thought to improving methods of instruction. Especially was his attention given to improving the industrial department. He also contem- plated and advised the establishment of a working home for the adult blind, to be situated in Cincinnati or in one of the large eities of the State where a market could be found for the manufactured products of the home. Mr. Chapin was in 1849 appointed Superintendent of the Philadelphia Institution for the Blind, where he showed the same zeal and ability which were of so much value to the Ohio Institution. In Philadelphia Mr. Chapin was permitted to fill out a career of usefulness and philanthropy granted to very few. He remained at the head of that institution to a good old age, keeping up his interest and attending the con- ventions of educators of the blind even when age might have exeused him from the service. When too old to bear longer the burden of labor for the institution, he was retired upon a living salary to rest for his remaining days amid the scenes of his life work - a fit recognition of a useful, faithful life and a fit prelude to the heavenly rest to which he passed, September 20, 1888.
Upon Mr. Chapin's resignation Mr. Penniman was made acting superinten- dent, in which position he continued until the spring of 1848. In April, 1848, Mr. George McMillen, of Columbus, took charge of the institution. Mr. MeMillen was an experienced teacher and entered upon his duties with zeal and intelligence. The work of the school was kept up to the high standard of his predecessor. To Mr. McMillen is due the suggestion that the distinction between indigent and pay pupils be abolished and that all blind persons of proper age be admitted and instrueted free of charge ; and during his administration this important change was made in the policy of the institution. Mr. McMillen continued in office until his death, July 25, 1852. The committee ad interim of the board of trustees, in its report of that year, speaks of Mr. McMillen as follows
The close of the last session was saddened by the decease of George McMillen, Esquire, the late Superintendent of this Institution. For more than four years he had faithfully and honorably discharged the duties of that honorable post. Under his control the institution commanded public confidence and continued to fulfill the ardent anticipations and benevo- lent designs of its founders and friends. He exhibited by his energy and assidnity a laudable devotion to the interests of the State and to the duties of his calling; contributed much hy his talent and intelligence to sustain the reputation and develop the advantages of the school ; and successfully guided, by his salutary teachings and exemplary life of morality and reli- gion, the pupils committed to his eare in the pursuit of life's highest and holiest aims.
Until 1852 the institution was under the direction of a separate board of trus- tees. By act of April 28, 1852, all the State institutions were placed under one board of nine trustees. The policy continued until April 8, 1856, when the insti- tutions of the State were again put under the management of separate boards. Sixtynine pupils were enrolled the last year of Mr. MeMillen's administration ; up to the date of his last report 199 had, from the beginning, been connected with the
614
HISTORY OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS.
institution. By the census of 1850, 912 blind persons were reported in the State of Ohio.
In May, 1852, Mr. Penniman, so long a faithful teacher and at times perform- ing the duties of Superintendent, resigned his position and terminated his connec- tion with the institution at the close of that term. His resignation was much regretted by the board of trustees and by all connected with the institution, and he was ever held in grateful remembrance by those who came under his instruc- tion. In the summer of 1852, R E. Harte, of Marietta, was appointed Superintend- ent. During his administration the work of the institution went on with no spe- cial events to distinguish bis term of office. Mr. Harte advocated the higher education of the blind. He proposed a plan of two departments in the school, the academic and the collegiate. In the academic department he would have the pupils pursue the common English branches; to the collegiate department he would admit, at the commencement of each school year, such pupils as had mari- fested an ability to learn and should pass a satisfactory examination in the required preparatory studies. The studies in the collegiate department should be, in his opinion, the English, Latin and Greek languages and literature and such other studies as are usually pursued in colleges. He claimed that such an education would afford a higher degree of culture, and also fit the students to fill higher posi- tions in the profession of teaching - positions better adapted to the blind than the lower grades in that profession. Such was his line of thought as expressed in one of his reports, and perhaps these opinions shaped somewhat his direction of the studies of the institution.
Mr. Harte's administration of four years ended in July, 1856, and on July 4, 1856, Doctor A. D. Lord assumed the duties of Superintendent of the institution. In the appointment of Doctor Lord the trustees showed an intelligent apprecia- tion of the purpose of the institution as a school for the education of the blind. Doctor Lord was eminently an educational man. He was by nature, by educa- tion and by experience a teacher ; a teacher not only of students but a teacher of teachers. In the twentysecond year of his age he became principal of the Western Reserve Teachers' Seminary at Kirtland, Ohio. There he remained for eight years, having under his charge each year nearly three hundred students, many of whom went out as teachers to all parts of the State. In 1843, at Kirt- land, he inaugurated the first teachers' institute ever held in Ohio. When such institutes became common he was often called upon to conduct them. In the institutes of the State he made his influence felt in the cause of education, and hundreds of teachers imbibed his enthusiasm and went forth to their work with a loftier appreciation of the responsibilities of their high calling He was one of the pioneers in improving the public school system of Ohio and in introducing better methods of teaching and organizing the common schools of the State. By his influence the system of graded schools was established in Columbus, and in 1847 he was appointed Superintendent of the schools of this city, in which posi- tion he remained for nine years. He edited, during different periods, the Ohio School Journal, the Public School Advocate, and the Ohio Journal of Education. With such preparation and experience, combined with a love for his calling and a heart responsive to the needs of humanity, Doctor Lord came to the superintend- eney of this institution. With no reflection upon his predecessors his adminis- tration may be said to mark a new era in the history of the institution. Circum- stances were favorable. He was assisted by Mrs. Lord, who was the mother of the institution, as he was the father. He had associated with him a corps of officers and teachers who were in harmony with his spirit and methods. The mutual confidence of himself and the board of trustees secured unity in the pur- pose and management of the institution. His reputation throughout the State attracted pupils and secured the confidence of parents. And freedom from politi-
615
INSTITUTION FOR THE BLIND.
cal interference enabled him to look forward with assurance to the fulfilment of his plans.
The moral influence of Doetor Lord's methods of discipline was peculiarly effect- ual ; effectnal first, because his methods were wise, and second, because behind his method was the presence of a man of tender heart and of pure life. The annual attendance of pupils during this administration of twelve years increased from sixty to one hundred and fifty. In August, 1868, Doctor Lord resigned to accept a similar position in the New York State Institution for the Blind, at Batavia, New York. This institution was just tben about to be organized. He established it upon a firm basis of usefulness and continned to be its Superintendent for seven years, until March 7, 1875, when his useful life was cut short by death and he passed to the better life leaving in two institutions, and in two States, many sor- rowful and loving hearts who have ever cherished the memory of his noble char- acter as an inspiration to better lives and higher usefulness.
Upon Doctor Lord's resignation, G. L Smead, who had been the senior teacher in the institution for nine years, was appointed to sneceed him. For many years it had been realized by those in charge of the institution that the building first erected was too small for the growing wants of the school. It was intended to accommodate sixty pupils. Some small additions had been made to its capacity. One hundred and thirty pupils had been crowded into it, but such overerowding involved much risk of health to the inmates. Several applications to the legislature were made for relief, but the finances of the State in those days did not justify the expenditure. Then the war from 1860 to 1865 was an effectual bar to any increase of the accommodations of the institution. In 1866 permis- sion was obtained to erect quite an extensive addition to the house, but when plans came to be arranged it was deemed unadvisable to make additions to such a build- ing with the probability that in a few years the growing institution and the devel- oping taste of the publie would demand an entirely new building. Accordingly, the trustees determined to abandon the project of adding to the old building and go before the legislature and ask for an appropriation for a new house.
In 1867 the legislature passed an aet authorizing the board to erect a building to accommodate three hundred pupils, and provide the necessary officers and teachers, at a cost not to exceed 8175,000. Plans were secured, but it was found that the approved plan could not be carried out for less than $350,000. The trus- tees being unwilling to enter upon the construction of a building whose cost should be greater than the sum fixed by the legislature decided to wait and present the matter again to the General Assembly. By act of May 6, 1869, the trustees were directed to erect a building at a cost not to exceed 8275,000. William Tinsley, of Cincinnati, who had prepared the approved plans, was employed as architect. The plans were modified to bring the building within the required cost, and in the spring of 1870 the foundation was laid. Four long years of watebing and wait- ing were consumed in its construction. On May 21, 1874, the new building was occupied by the school. The pupils soon became accustomed to their new quar- ters and the work of the classes went on as though no change of place had been made.
The new house was commenced in the trusteeship of H. C. Noble, Stillman Witt and F. C. Sessions. It was completed and occupied under H. C. Noble, John G. Dun and Thomas Bergin. The cost of the new building, according to the report of the trustees in 1874, was about $358,477.92. Later, a new boiler and coalhouse were added, which, with the new workshop and barn made the cost of the present buildings aggregate $376,477.92.
During this administration various kinds of work were introduced, such as the use of the sewing machine, knitting machine, typewriter, eaneseating and mattress- making; also the use of the New York point print was introduced, and the kin
616
HISTORY OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS.
dergarten established. The tuning department, after some interruptions, became a fixed fact and has been a valuable profession and means of livelihood for many who have gone ont from the institution. A large amount of apparatus was pro- eured to illustrate the different subjects tanght in the sehools. A pipe organ was placed in the chapel, and the number of pianos was largely increased. Thus, from 1868 to 1885, the institution advanced from an old house, crowded and ill- adapted to the uses of the school, with very little apparatus, and restricted means of illustrating the different subjects taught, to a well-equipped school with ample resonrees for doing the work for which it was established.
Mr. Smead served the institution twentyfive years, nine years as teacher and sixteen years as Superintendent. He was succeeded in January, 1885, by Henry Snyder, who occupied the position for six months, until in July, 1885, Mr. Snyder was followed by Doctor H. P. Fricker, of Ashtabula, Ohio, who fulfilled the duties of the office during the remainder of Governor Hoadly's administration. At the close of the term of 1886, C. H. Miller became Superintendent and held the office during the two administrations of Governor Foraker. In May, 1890, Doctor H. P. Fricker came again to the position in the change of politics, and is in office at this present date - June 1, 1890.
During the history of the institution four reunions of former officers and pupils have been held, viz .: In 1860, 1874, 1880 and 1885.
Upon all these occasions there were present many who had completed their course in the school, and who testified by their bearing and character as men and women that their training at the institution had been a great blessing to them. A large proportion of them had been able to support themselves and to secure the respeet of the publie for their worthiness of character and life. At least thirty have been employed as teachers in institutions of learning, mostly for the blind. Twentythree have been employed in this institution as teachers and helpers. Ten or more have entered college, and several have graduated. Four are clergymen ; two are physicians ; three who have been connected with the institution as teachers or pupils have been superintendents of other institutions. The most gratifying part of the history of the institution is that written in the success in life of those who have been instructed and trained under its influence, and whose lives, but for their education, would have been a dreary blank. This portion of the history can not well be put upon paper, but it is none the less real.
In 1837, the first year of the institution, there were enrolled eleven pupils; in the year ending November 15, 1889, the number was 283. In all 1,502 have been connected with the school as pupils. The sum of $1,786,321.66 has been expended, $510,086.40 of which was applied to permanent improvements, and $1,276,235.26 to maintenance. Dividing the whole expense by the whole number of pupils, we have the sum of $1,189.22 expended for each person tanght and supported by the institution.
The employments tanght in the institution during its history are as follows : The making of shoes, baskets, brushes, carpets, doormats, brooms, mattresses, caneseating, hatbraiding, beadwork, hand and machine knitting, hand and machine sewing, crocheting, housework and pianotuning. The number of officers and teachers of the institution from the beginning to the present time is as follows: Trustees, 55; Superintendents, 9 ; Teachers, 94; Stewards, 11; Matrons, 12; Assis- tant Matrons, 12; Housekeepers, 3; Physicians, 11.
Of the fiftyfive trustees, twentyeight have been Columbus men, viz .. Rev. James Hoge, Noah H. Swayne, Doctor William M. Awl, John A. Bryan, M. J. Gilbert, John W. Andrews, William Armstrong, Samuel McClelland, Joseph McEl- vain, Joseph R. Seroggs, W. B. Thrall, F. C. Kelton, Doctor S. M. Smith, A. P. Stone, Thomas Sparrow, Henry Wilson, John Greenleaf, John Greiner, F. C. Ses- sions, H. C. Noble, Thomas Bergin, B. F. Martin, Joseph Falkenbach, John C. English, James Poindexter, Samuel Thompson, Daniel McAlister, Edward Pagels,
PHOTOGRAPHED BY BAKER. - Residence of Joseph H. Dunn, 936 East Town Street, built in 1887.
PHOTOGRAPHED BY BAKER.
Residence of S. B. Hartman, 513 East Town Street, built in 1883.
CHAPTER XL.
INSTITUTION FOR THE FEEBLEMINDED.
BY HON. NORTON S. TOWNSHEND.
The Ohio State Asylum for Imbecile Youth was established in 1857. Start- ing with difficulty, it has grown to be the largest institution of the kind in the country.
At a meeting of the American Association of Superintendents of Institutions for the Insane, held in Philadelphia in 1844, Doctor William M. Awl, then Super- intendent of the Ohio Lunatie Asylum, introduced the subject of special training for imbeciles. After some discussion the matter was referred to a committee which made an able report at the next meeting of the association held at Washington, D. C., in 1846. In 1850 Hon. Pinckney Lewis, of the Ohio Senate, introduced a resolution requesting Doctor S. Stanbury Smith, then Superintendent of the Ohio Lunatic Asylum, to report at the next session of the General Assembly the proba. ble number of imbecile youth in the State, and as to the expediency of making provision by legislation for their support ; also the result of experiments which had been made in the education of such persons and the advisability of supporting and educating them in public institutions rather than by the methods then pre- vailing. It is not known that any such report was made.
In his message to the General Assembly in 1852 Governor Wood directed attention to the necessity of making State provision for the care and training of imbeciles, but no action upon the matter was taken at that session of the legisla- ture. In 1854 Governor Medill in his message invited the attention of the General Assembly to this unfortunate class, for whom no State provision had yet been made. In the Senate that part of the Governor's message relating to imbecile youth was referred to a select committee, the members of which were N. S. Towns- hend, Heship Williams and J. L. Wright.1 Doctor Townshend, the chairman of that committee, had spent the year 1840 in visiting several of the medical colleges and hospitals of Europe, and while in Paris had become interested in the efforts of Itard, Pinel, Esquirol, Seguin and others for the training of idiots. The report of this committee was ordered to be printed, but the bill which accompanied it and provided for the establishment of an asylum was not reached in time for action at that session. In 1855 the legislature did not assemble.
[617]
Naukary
.
618
HISTORY OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS.
In the year 1856 Doctor H. B. Wilbur, Superintendent of the New York Asylum for Imbeciles, passed through Columbus with two pupils, and gave a lecture and exhibition before members of the General Assembly. This produced a very favorable impression. In the same year Hon. Ralph Plumb, of Trumbull County, introduced into the House of Representatives a bill for the establishment of an asylum for imbeciles, but this bill was not reached before the session closed. In 1857 Hon. Herman Canfield introduced a bill to establish an asylum for imbeciles and this measure was passed by large majorities in both branches of the legisla- ture. Pursuant to this act William Dennison, Asher Cook and Norton S. Towns- hend were appointed trustees. These trustees met and organized by selecting Mr. Dennison as President of the Board ; they also appointed Doctor R. J. Patter- son as Superintendent of the institution. The trustees and superintendent then visited the asylum for imbeciles in the States of New York and Massachusetts. From the New York asylum they were permitted to secure two experienced teachers, viz. : Miss Emily C. Whitman, to whom was assigned the duties of matron and Miss Julia B. Burbank for first teacher. A house on Friend Street, in Colum- bus, was leased, and on the third day of August, 1857, the first pupil was received. By the time the first report was made in the ensuing November, the number of pupils had increased to sixteen.
In 1858 Miss Harriet F. Purple was engaged as matron. Although the insti- tution had only made a beginning, Mr. Charles Chapman, of Avon, Lorain County, had by will made it the residuary legatee of his estate, from which it subsequently realized $4,000. In 1859 Doctor G. A. Doren was engaged as assistant superinten- dent; in 1860 he was chosen superintendent vice Doctor Patterson, who resigned to take charge of the Iowa Asylum for the Insane. In 1860 Hon. Herman Can- field was appointed trustee in lieu of William Dennison, who had been elected Governor of Ghio. In 1861 Hon. Asher Cook resigned from the board of trustees to serve in the army and Doctor William, Ide, of Columbus, was appointed to the vacancy. In 1862 Colonel Canfield was lost to the institution by the effects of a wound received at the battle of Pittsburgh Landing, from which he died. Hon. Peter Hitchcock, of Geauga, and John A. Lutz, of Circleville, then became trus- tees, the firstnamed to continue in service for thirteen and the lastnamed for fifteen years, each with great devotion and profit to the institution.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.