History of the city of Columbus, capital of Ohio, Volume II, Part 83

Author: Lee, Alfred Emory, 1838-; W. W. Munsell & Co
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: New York and Chicago : Munsell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1196

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In 1862 the number of pupils had increased to fiftyseven and the need of more ample accommodations had become apparent. Consequently, in 1864, the legisla- ture authorized the purchase of land and the crection of suitable buildings thereon. A tract of 130 acres on Broad Street, two and onehalf miles west of the Capitol, and an addition of 573 acres was subsequently made. In 1868, the new asylum buildings being then near completion, the institution was transferred to them with 105 pupils, which number gradually increased from year to year until, in 1876, it exceeded four hundred. At this time the need of a better water sup- ply and better sewerage being felt, the boards of trustees of the asylums for imbeciles and the insane were temporarily united and these improvements were obtained. Hon. Peter Hitchcock baving resigned from the board, Hon. J. A. Shank was appointed in his stead. In 1878 the Board of Trustees of the Asylum for Imbeciles was reorganized and J. A. Lutz and Norton S. Townshend were not reappointed, the latter after having served twentyone years."

The year 1881 brought to the institution a severe experience : on November 13 the central building took fire. The pupils were all promptly removed to places of safety, but the fire was not extinguished until the main building had been destroyed and other buildings considerably damaged. Many valuable records and tabulated results of more than twenty years of observation, were by this misfortune irretrievably lost. Fortunately no inmate of the institution was injured. The repairs and reconstruction made necessary by the fire were

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immediately commenced, and included some needed improvements, one of which was that of making the new building fireproof. Since 1881 the institution has steadily increased in the number of its pupils, which at the present time (1890) amounts to 852 besides many applications on file. Doctor Doren continues to discharge the duties of superintendent with marked suecess, and Miss Purple still performs in an acceptable manner the duties of matron. Four separate buildings now have each an assistant matron. Instead of one teacher, as at the beginning in 1857, Mrs. L. N. Doren, principal of instruction, has twentyone helpers, all of whom find plenty to do. Additional buildings have from time to time been erected, including hospitals, school rooms, workshops, engine and gas houses, barns, etc. The location of the institution is a most delightful one, sufficiently elevated, not too near the eity and easy of access.

Instruction for imbecile children must necessarily be greatly varied. While all the pupils received are more or less below the normal intellectual standard, it is not easy to classify them, scareely any two being alike. Hence the necessity for widely different methods and means of instruction. The eye, the ear, the hand and the powers of locomotion but especially the brain may need incitement to activity. Play, work, military drill, gymnastics, and vocal and instrumental music are all employed for this purpose. Little is learned from books; only object lessons are fully appreciated by the pupils. Some of the studies of the public schools are attempted; most of all, habits of cleanliness, neatness, selfhelp, gentleness, kindness, good manners, and ideas of right and duty need to be incul- cated. If from early disease or want of brain development it is difficult or impos- sible to make seholars of imbecile children, it is nevertheless no small gain if they can be taught some useful employment so that they will no longer be a tax upon friends or the public. Experience has proved that the hand may be trained to work skilfully even when the brain has less than normal activity. It may there- fore be said that for the imbecile an industrial education is " the one thing needful."

The Ohio Asylum for Imbeciles has now been in operation more than thirty years. Some of the pupils who were received many years since and have profited by its training, are now efficient workers, but because they have no friends and no other home, still remain in the institution to the exclusion of younger and equally needy applicants. The trustees and superintendent have for many years been asking the legislature to establish an industrial home to which some of the older pupils may from time to time be transferred and where, under suitable guidance, they may make a comfortable living without further expense to friends or the public. A good farm, with gardens, wonld afford them exercise and employment both healthy and profitable. If the legislature does not in the near future meet this demand, what kindhearted philanthropist will make hundreds of poor unfor- tunates happy by supplying their greatest need ?

NOTES.

1. Note by the Author : A short time before the meeting of the General Assembly in 1854, Doctor Townshend, of the Senate, visited Governor Medill and inquired whether he intended to recommend in his message the establishment of an institution for the training of imbecile youth? The Governor said he had not thought of it, and added, ' if by imbeciles you mean fools, what can we do for fools ?" The Doctor then stated what had been done in France and also in this country, for the class of persons referred to. The Governor appeared to be much interested, and taking the manuscript of his message from a drawer

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said : "Here is the message already written." Then finding where he had referred to the institutions for mutes and the blind he added : "Here you may interline a sentence or two." Doctor Townshend thanked him and inserted suggestions as to imbeciles which he said he would endeavor to have referred to a committee the report of which he hoped would justify the interest which the Governor had manifested Accordingly, after the message had been read in the General Assembly, Doctor Townshend moved in the Senate that so much of it as related to an asylum for imbeciles be referred to a select committee. This motion was approved and the committee named in this chapter was appointed.

2. These removals were illustrations of the partisan meddling which up to the present time has been a standing enrse to the public charities of Ohio.

CHAPTER XLI

OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY.

Special education for farmers was one of the first subjects to engage their organized attention in Ohio. At the organization of the State Agricultural Society in Columbus on January 8, 1839, a committee was appointed to consider the pro- priety of purchasing a tract of land for experiments, and establishing thereon an agricultural school. Better facilities for the education of young men upon the farm were demanded by the State agricultural convention of 1845. The introduc- tion of agriculture as a study in the common schools was suggested by the State Society in 1854. Meanwhile a school in agriculture - the first of its kind in Ohio - had been established by Hon. N. S. Townshend at Oberlin.1 In lieuof an endorse- ment of this school, proposed at the meeting of the State Agricultural Society in 1854, a resolution was adopted recommending that schools in agriculture be per- manently endowed by a congressional grant of public lands. Eight years later - on July 2, 1862 -Congress acceded to this recommendation and passed an act which granted to each State 30,000 acres of public land for each of its Senators and Representatives then in Congress, the proceeds of said grant to be applied to the endowment of at least one college the leading objects of which should be, " without excluding other scientific and classical studies, and including military tactics, to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts."

At a special meeting held in November, 1862, the State Board of Agriculture recommended that Ohio accept the grant offered her, and appointed N. S. Towns- hend and T. C. Jones to memorialize the General Assembly on the subject. The memorial thus provided for was presented, and on February 9, 1864. its requests were complied with by the passage of an act accepting the lands tendered, and pledging performance of the conditions accompanying the donation. Pursuant to this action certificates of serip for 630,000 acres of land were received and placed in the State Treasury, and on April 13, 1865, an act providing for the sale of this scrip, and the disposition of its proceeds was passed. Immediately extravagant hopes were raised as to the amount of money that would be realized from the sale, and applications were made by various institutions of learning in the State for a share of the fund. In consequence of this, the General Assembly was vigorously memorialized in behalf of two schemes, one of which proposed a division of the fund among various existing colleges, while the friends of the other insisted that the entire proceeds of the lands should be applied to the establishment of a single institution. Chiefly owing to this difference of opinion, definite proceedings for the establishment of the college were delayed for six years. From beginning to

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HISTORY OF THE . CITY OF COLUMBUS.

end the State Board of Agriculture favored the application of the fund in its entirety to the maintenance of one centrally located institution. Most conspicu- ous among the members of the board in advocating this policy and in securing its final acceptanee by the General Assembly, were Norton S. Townshend, Thomas C. Jones, W. B. McClung and John M. Milliken. It was also actively favored by Governor Hayes.

The sales of land scrip were slow, and in December, 1865, the commissioners" reported that unless they should be allowed to reduce its price below the minimum which had been fixed, they could not sell the whole of it in less than ten years. An act of April 5, 1866, therefore removed the minimum restriction to eighty cents per acre, and authorized the commissioners to sell the serip for the best price they could obtain. Thereupon the sales proceeded, for the most part, at the rate of fiftythree cents per acre, and ultimately produced a fund of about $500,000.

Pursuant to an act of April 13, 1865, Darwin Gardiner, David Taylor, Peter Thatcher, C. L. Poorman and Miles Greenwood were appointed commissioners to receive propositions for the location of the college, and submit recommendations as to its location, and also as to its organization. After visiting several places, these commissioners, except Mr. Greenwood, recommended acceptance of a prop- osition from Miami University ; Mr. Greenwood recommended one from the Farmers' College. Neither proposition was accepted. By resolution of March 30, 1868, the General Assembly declared in favor of " one college," and provided for the appointment of a joint committee to receive propositions for its location. This committee was also authorized to receive donations for the institution and proposals for the location of an experimental farm. After receiving numerous propositions, a majority of the committee favored one from Wooster, the minority one from Urbana.

After various additional measures of like purport and inefficiency the Gen- eral Assembly, on March 22, 1870, passed an act by which something definite and practical was accomplished. From this act the present Ohio State University dates the beginning of its existence. Its initial words, following its enacting clause, were : " That a college to be styled the Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College is hereby established in this State, in accordance with the provisions of an act of Congress passed July 2, 1862." This act vested the government of the college in a board of trustees, comprising one member from each congressional district, to be appointed by the Governor. Upon this board was conferred power to make rules for the government of the college, to appoint its president, to regu- late its course of instruction, to manage its finances, to receive donations for its benefit, and to fix its permanent location." The board held its first meeting at Columbus on April 18, 1870, and elected Valentine B. Horton president, R. C.

Anderson secretary and Joseph Sullivant treasurer. On May 11, 1870, the Gen- eral Assembly passed an act to authorize the several counties of the State to raise money by taxation to compete, by donations, for the location of the college, and on June 4 of the same year an address to the people was issued by the executive committee of the trustees setting forth the character and purposes of the institu- tion, and inviting the counties to tender donations for its location and equipment. In response to this appeal Champaign and Clark counties each offered $200,000, and Montgomery County offered 8400,000, all in eight per cent. bonds. In Frank - lin County, on August 13, 1870, a proposition to donate $300,000 was submitted to a vote of the electors, and was ratified by over five hundred majority. Additional donations were made by citizens of Columbus, and by railways centering in the city, amounting to $28,000. The gift of the county was tendered in money or in seven per cent. bonds, as the board of trustees might elect.

In October, 1870, the propositions of Franklin County were accepted, and the board proceeded to select from numerous farms offered a site for the institution,

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OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY.

On October 13, 1870, the board voted, fourteen to one, in favor of the tract known as the Neil Farm, lying on the Worthington Road, at that time about two miles north of Columbus. The lands chosen were thus deseribed in resolutions reported to the board :

A tract held by R. E. Neil and William Dennison, in trust for Henry M. Neil, of 190 acres ; a tract of Adam Zinn of fifty acres ; a tract of Matilda Ellen Witt of twenty acres ; a tract of William Dennison and wife of twentytwo acres and ninety poles ; a tract of J. J. Rickly of ten and fiveeighths acres ; a tract of Isabella R. Phisterer of five acres ; a tract of George Potts of six acres; and a tract of L. Humphreys of two acres; with all the buildings and appurtenances thereunto belonging, containing in all 337 acres, more or less, . . . and all except the Zinn tract being a part of the old William Neil farm, and all lying in a body adjoining each other ; the board on behalf of the State agreeing to pay for the same the sum of $115,950 ont of the subscription made to the State for the benefit of said college by Franklin County ; the parties owning said land agreeing to receive in part payment of said consideration a subscription of $28,000 made by other parties to seenre said location, or to guarantee the payment of said lastmentioned subscription to the board within four months.

On January 6, 1871, W. B. McClung was appointed superintendent of the col- lege farm, at a salary of $1,500. A site for the college building was selected, plans for the structure were invited, and Jacob Snyder, of Akron, whose plan was accepted, was appointed architect. R. N. Jones, of Delaware, Ohio, was appointed superintendent of construction. The presidency of the institution was offered to General J. D. Cox, of Cincinnati, but declined. General August V. Kautz, of the United States Army, applied for appointment as military instructor. The course of study to be pursued in the institution was the subject of much diversity of opinion, but finally a curriculum proposed by Mr. Joseph Sullivant, of Columbus, was adopted. The departments of study which this plan included were agricul- ture, mechanic arts, mathematics and physics, chemistry, geology, mining and metallurgy, zoology and veterinary science, botany and horticulture, English lan- guage and literature, modern and ancient languages, and political economy and civil polity. The equipment of the laboratories and cabinets, for which purpose the sum of $25,000 was appropriated, was assigned to Mr. Sullivant. On October 10, 1872, Hon. J. W. Patterson, then a member of the National Senate, was elected president of the college, but after considering the matter for some time Mr. Patter- son declined the position tendered him. In January, 1873, the following members of the faculty were chosen : Thomas C. Mendenhall, of Columbus, Professor of Physics and Mechanics; Sidney A. Norton, of Cincinnati, Professor of General and Applied Chemistry ; Edward Orton, of Yellow Springs, Professor of Geology, Mining and Metallurgy ; Joseph Milliken, of Hamilton, Professor of English and Modern Languages; William G. Williams, of Delaware, Ohio, Professor of the Latin and Greek Languages; Norton S. Townshend, of Avon, Ohio, Professor of Agriculture. All of these accepted except Professor Orton who declined the chair of geology, but accepted the presideney of the institution tendered him during the ensuing April. Professor Williams was released on request of the trustees of the Ohio Wesleyan University, with which he was connected. The chair of geology was assigned to Professor Orton and accepted by him in connection with the pres- idency. During the summer of 1873 Professor R. W. McFarland, of Oxford Uni- versity, was called to the departments of mathematics and civil engineering, and John H. Wright, who had recently graduated from Dartmouth College, was chosen Assistant Professor of Languages. In January, 1874, Professor Albert HI. Tuttle was appointed to the chair of zoology and Thomas Matthew, of Columbus, was appointed Instructor in Drawing. In June, 1875, William Colvin, of Cincinnati, was appointed Professor of Political Economy and Civil Polity, and Miss Alice Williams was made an assistant in the Department of English and Modern Lan- guages. An act passed by the General Assembly April 29, 1872, provided that

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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS.

specimens of all the minerals, soils and fossils of Ohio collected in the geological survey of the State should be classified, labeled and presented to the college. By an act of Congress passed February 18, 1871, certain unsurveyed and unsold lands in the Virginia Military District were ceded to the State of Ohio, and by act of the General Assembly, passed April 3, 1873, the title to these lands was vested "in the trustees of the Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College for the benefit of said college."

On September ' 17, 1873, while the college building and its surrounding grounds were still in a state of incompleteness, the institution was opened for the reception of students. Between thirty and forty presented themselves at the opening, and classes were organized in nearly every department. The inaugural address of President Orton was delivered at the Senate Chamber January 8, 1874. By an aet of April 16 of that year the Board of Trustees was " reorganized," and the number of its members fixed at five. A second " reorganization " was effected by an act passed April 20, 1877, which fixed the term of service at six years, and increased the number of members to twentyone for each congressional district. By an act of May 7, 1877, a school of mines and mining engineering in connection with the college was provided for. In June, 1876, John H. Wright, Assistant Professor of Languages, resigned, and Josiah R. Smith, A. B., then teaching in the Columbus High School, was appointed in his stead. During the same year, First Lieutenant Luigi Lomia, of the Fifth United States Artillery, was, on request of the trustees, detailed by the Secretary of War to take charge of the department of military instruction. Military drill was required of all the students except such as might be exeused on account of physical disability or religious seruples. On June 20, 1877, the trustees eliminated the department of Political Economy and Civil Polity from the curriculum, and substituted that of Minefs, Mine Engineering and Metallurgy. Henry Newton, A. M., M. E., was appointed to this chair but died before he could assume it. William E. Guy, E. M., of St. Louis, was appointed in lien of Mr. Newton, but business engage- ments prevented him from entering upon the duties assigned him. John A. Church, E. M., was next appointed to the new professorship, and in January, 1878, entered upon its duties.

An act of the General Assembly passed May 1, 1878, "reorganized " the Board of Trustees for the third time, and changed the name of the institution to that of Ohio State University. The number of the trustees was fixed by this statute at seven, to be appointed by the Governor, the full term of service to be seven years. On June 18, 1878, Professor T. C. Mendenhall resigned the chair of Physics and Mechanics to accept a similar position in the Imperial University of Tokio, Japan. His successor, appointed in July, 1878, was Professor S. W. Robinson, C. E., of the Illinois Industrial University. On June 19, 1878, the fifth commencement was held, and the first class was graduated. It comprised six young men, five of whom took the degree of B. S. and one that of A. B At the close of 1878, the productive fund of the institution, derived from the sale of land scrip, amounted to $500,000, which fund constituted a part of the irreduci- ble debt of the State, and bore interest at the rate of six per cent. The number of students in attendance at the institution during the first year was 90; second year, 118; third year, 143 ; fourth year, 254; fifth year, 309.

In 1879 a mechanical laboratory was erected and equipped. In June, same year, a department of History and Philosophy was created, and was placed under charge of John T. Short, of Columbus, as Assistant Professor. Professor Lomia, in charge of the military department, was appointed Adjunct Professor in Mathe- matics and Teacher of Elocution. N. W. Lord was appointed Assistant Professor of Mining and Metallurgy. The honorary degree of Doctor of Laws was conferred on Allen G. Thurman and Morrison R. Waite. Of the farming land belonging to

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OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY.

the institution, 228 acres were brought under cultivation. On November 29, 1878, 11,903 acres of Virginia Military Lands in Scioto County were sold on account of the University for $6,500. The earnings of students by their labor on the farm during the year 1879 amounted to $1,250.

A second course of popular lectures on agriculture was given in Jannary, 1880.4 W. A. Mason was appointed Instructor in Drawing vice Thomas Mathew, who retired. Professor Mendenhall, whose engagement in Japan was about to terminate, was invited to resume the chair of Physics. In his annual report for 1880, President Orton recommended the construction of a chemical laboratory. At the close of the collegiate year, in June, 1878, Professor Orton tendered his resignation as President, but it was not at that time accepted. In 1881, he insisted upon retiring,5 and Walter Q. Scott, of Easton, Pennsylvania, was chosen in his stead. In addition to the presidency, Professor Scott took the chair of Philosophy and Political Economy. Professor Orton retained the chair of Geology, to which he desired to devote his entire time. In the same year, Professor S. C. Derby, late President of Antioch College, was appointed to the chair of Latin and Greek Languages, vice Professor Josiah R. Smith, who resigned; and the new chair of Horticulture and Botany was created under W. R. Lazenby, B. S., of Cornell University. First Lieutenant George Ruhlen, of the Seventeenth Infantry, was detailed by the Secretary of War as military instructor, vice Lieutenant Lomia, whose term had expired. The net proceeds of the sales of Virginia Military Lands to November 15, 1880, amounted to $17,134.71. In May, 1881, Professor Joseph Milliken retired from the chair of English Language and Literature, owing to infirmity of health. His duties were apportioned to other professors.

On March 31, 1882, the General Assembly made an appropriation of $20,000 for a chemical laboratory, and in the course of the same year the building was erected. Three residences for professors, located on the grounds of the institution, were also contracted for and built. An act of the General Assembly, passed dur- ing the session of 1882, provided for the establishment of an Agricultural Experi- ment Station on the grounds of the University.6 It was placed under the super- vision of Professor Lazenby. A meteorological bureau was established at the University by an act passed April 17, 1882, under the management of Professor Mendenball." An Agricultural and Horticultural Hall, for which the General Assembly had appropriated $15,000, was erected in 1883. In June of that year Rev. William H. Scott, President of the Ohio University at Athens, was elected President and Professor of Philosophy and Political Economy,8 vice Walter Q. Scott, who failed of reeleetion and resigned June 20. Various additional changes in the faenlty were made. Owing to painful illness, which resulted fatally, Pro- fessor John T. Short retired from the chair of English Literature and History. In June, 1884, Professor Henry A. Weber, of the Industrial University at Cham- paign, Illinois, was elected Professior of Agricultural Chemistry. During the same year, Lieutenant A. P. Blocksom, of the Sixth United States Cavalry, was assigned to the University as military instructor. Professor F. H. Eldridge, Assistant Engineer in the United States Navy, was transferred from the depart- ment of physics to that of mechanical engineering. In December, 1884, Professor T. C. Mendenhall withdrew from the University to accept an appointment as Pro- fessor 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 University. In June, 1885, Benjamin F. Thomas, of the University of Missouri, was elected to the chair of Physies ; George C. Comstock, of the Wash- burn Observatory at Madison, Wisconsin, to that of Mathematics and Astronomy, and George W. Knight, of Michigan University, to that of English Language and Literature, with A. H. Welsh, of Columbus, as assistant. C. Newton Brown, who

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History of the city of Columbus, capital of Ohio, Volume II, Part 83

Author: Lee, Alfred Emory, 1838-; W. W. Munsell & Co Publication date: 1892 Publisher: New York and Chicago : Munsell & Co. Number of Pages: 1196

Author: Lee, Alfred Emory, 1838-; W. W. Munsell & Co
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: New York and Chicago : Munsell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1196