USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > Official report of the centennial celebration of the founding of the city of Cleveland and the settlement of the Western Reserve > Part 29
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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
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HISTORI'S. CONFERENCE.
curred in the performance of its duties. On July 7, 1837, the Common Council passed an ordinance in accordance with the charter, and this ordinance is the real beginning of public schools in Cleveland. The ordinance was drawn on the lines of the charter, only the school year was made four months instead of six. The schools were to pro- vide only elementary education.
The Board of Education built its first public school houses, two in number, in IS39-40. In IS40 there were sixteen teachers and 1,040 pupils. The principal schools were divided into two departments, each department having a boys' school and a girls' school. An academical department, as it was called, or a high school, as we should say, was opened in 1846, with Andrew Freese as principal. This school was opposed by some heavy taxpayers, and it was never beyond danger until it was grounded on a special act of the Legislature, which came in 1848-49. The West Side High School, of which A. G. Hopkinson was the father, was opened in 1864. The Training School went into operation in 1874.
The first superintendence that the schools received was given by a duly elected member of the Board of Managers, called the Acting Manager of the Schools. This form of superintendence lasted from 1841 to 1853. In the latter year Mr. Freese was elected super- intendent, and Dr. E. E. White succeeded him as the head of the high school. Mr. Freese was followed as superintendent by Mr. L. M. Oviatt, he by Rev. Anson Smythe, and he again by Mr. A. J. Rickoff. These gentlemen all devoted themselves with singleness of mind to the work of the schools, and all were re- warded by seeing the fruit of their labors. The pressing school questions of those years all over the country related to organization and system. The Cleveland history supports this view. Mr. Rickoff came to the superintend- ency in 1867 and held it until 1882. An edu- cator of ripe experience and force of character, and the possessor of the confidence of a strong board of education for many years, he im- pressed himself deeply on the school system of the city. The existing organization is very largely his work. Under his direction, the schools came to attract attention from far and near, calling out some glowing encomiums from foreign visitors.
Standing in the relation that it does to the Western Reserve, one would say that the city of Cleveland ought to lead in educational mat- ters; and I can hardly be mistaken in suppos- ing that the other towns and cities would gen- HOWARD H. BURGESS, CITY CLERK. erally, if not universally, recognize the fact of such a leadership almost from the beginning of the Union School movement.
At first the Board of Education was only a committee appointed by the City Council, but since 1859 it has been elected by the people at the popular election. Once more the board was wholly dependent upon the Common Council for funds until 1865; in that year it became fully autonomous, levying and expending its own revenues, subject only to the law.
For many years there has been a growing conviction in many American cities, if not indeed in a majority of them, that the business administration of the public school is getting, or rather has got, into a bad way. The trouble is thought to arise from the character of men who are often elected members of boards of education from a vicious method of doing business, and from the nature of the business organization of the schools. At least this was the view taken by a great number of citizens of this city; for, in re- sponse to a popular demand, the Legislature passed, in 1892, the "Reorganization Act," under which the schools are now carried on. I refer to this with no purpose of discussing the provision, or of commenting on its operation. My aim is very different. The evils that this act was intended to correct have become widespread; the act itself has attracted very general attention; in a sense, it is now on trial before the public, not of the city alone, but of the country; and if experience shall finally prove that it
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CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF THE CITY OF CLEVELAND.
accomplishes the end for which it was devised, Cleveland will become the teacher of the country in the important matter of city school administration.
One who attempts to write the educational history of a State or community is like- ly to commit the fault of confining himself too closely to professional educators. It is perfectly right that this class of persons should be emphatically recognized. But edu- cation has its business side as well as its pedagogical side. Teachers and superin- tendents alone, no matter how able and devoted, cannot make a school system. Edu- cational discussion too much tends to run on professional lines. Accordingly, I wish to recognize in the heartiest manner the educational services to the State of such men as Ephraim Cutler, Rufus King, Samuel Lewis, Harvey Rice, and others; also the service to particular communities of such men as Charles Bradburn and George Willey, of this city, who not only served as members of the School Board for years, but actu- ally did efficient duty as Acting Managers of the Schools.
THIRD SESSION.
Monsignor T. P. Thorpe opened the third session of the educational conference Tuesday morning, September 8th. An address was to have been delivered by Rt. Rev. Bishop Keane, rector of the Catholic Uni- versity at Washington, D. C. In the bishop's absence, Monsignor Thorpe spoke of the work of the parochial schools. "He stated that the first paro- chial school in Cleveland was established in a barn on Bond street, in 1851, with Mr. Wakefield as the first teacher. In 1896 there were 33 parochial schools in the city, five academies for young ladies, and one high school or college conducted by the Jesuit fathers for boys. In the United States there were 66 1 high schools or academies for young women, 187 for boys, nine colleges and one university at Washington, D. C. There were in the country 3,661 parochial schools, with an attendance of 797,648 pupils, according to the last year's church and school directory. Mgr. Thorpe complimented Superintendent Jones of the public schools on his address of Monday, and said he heartily agreed with many of the superintend- ent's views as to primary education. ' He said the parochial schools had no sinister purpose, nor were they menacing good government when they joined religion with education in the training of the pupils.
An eloquent impromptu address was delivered by Rev. Dr. Levi Gilbert, of the First Methodist Episcopal Church, who dwelt upon the ne- cessity of high moral character in the direction of education of the young. He commented on the fact that out of 600 questions asked at a recent school examination, only two of them had to do with morals. He advo- cated a clean press and school boards devoid of political influence.
FOURTH SESSION.
In the afternoon, President Thwing delivered the principal address, his subject being, "The Development of the Higher Education."
The speaker gave a condensed history of college development in the past 250 years, with graphic character delineations of the great col- lege presidents of the country. He said the American college had its greatest influence on the ministry. Fully one-half of the clergymen had been college graduates. Sixty-eight per cent. of Presbyterian and 70 per cent. of Congregational ministers were college bred. He also said that the one-fifth of the American lawyers who were college graduates had a larger influence in the country than the four-fifths who were not. He stated that every member of the Supreme Court, except Judge Mar- shall, who left William and Mary's College to fight in the war of the Revo-
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lution, was college bred. Fifteen of the twenty-four presidents of the United States were college graduates. Two-thirds of the senators and fully one-half of the representatives were college men. The five greatest American historians and four of the greatest poets were also in the list. Dr. Thwing closed with a splendid argument in behalf of the support and further endowment of American colleges.
FIFTH SESSION.
A select audience attended the evening session. The feature of the programme was an address by Professor Jeremiah Smith, LL. D., of the Harvard University Law School. The speaker early explained that his object was not to unfold the path that led to extraordinary careers, but plainly to outline the requisites of success for the great army of the common class.
" The special requisites for the legal profession," said the speaker, "are to start with good, substantial preliminary education. While not absolutely necessary, a college education is desirable. Natural ability with education produces better results than does either in itself. An overwhelming majority of our judges are college graduates. I would also insist upon the prospective law student acquiring his degree of bachelor of arts, as is done in Europe."
The importance of office study was emphasized. Professor Smith believed this a good way to spend the long vacation season. Three months of practical work he deemed quite as beneficial as three years of theoretical study, but they should not be combined at the same time. The ordeal of regular examinations and review of decisions were highly commended. . Comments were then made on the three periods of develop- ment in the profession in this country, the revolutionary period, the period from 1820 to 1870, and from 1870 to the present time. Better methods were being adopted and the requirements made more rigid, the speaker said.
SIXTH SESSION.
The Section of Religion began its work on Wednesday morning, when historical sketches of the various denominations in Cleveland were presented in Association Hall. The first paper was treated of " The Baptist Church." Owing to the absence of the author, Rev. Dr. H. C. Applegarth, of the Euclid Avenue Baptist Church, who was in Europe, the sketch was read by another member of the denomination. It was as follows:
The denomination of Christians known as Baptists began their work in Cleveland in 1800, when the Rev. Joseph Badger preached the first sermon ever delivered on the soil. He was the earliest missionary to the Western Reserve, was born in Wilbraham, Massachusetts, in 1757, and graduated at Yale College in 1786. He was a man of learn- ing and ability. He served in the war of the Revolution, and was ordained to the work of the ministry in the year 1787. Prior to the year 1800, the Western Reserve was a land where might gave right, and where every man was a law unto himself. The tone of public sentiment and morals was very low. Even in 1816, when the population was about 150, there were only two professing Christians in the place, namely, Judge Daniel Kelly and Mrs. Noble H. Merwin. And Moses White, who afterward became a useful citizen, and who died in Cleveland at an advanced age,
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in September, 1881, long hesitated about settling here because the place was so god- less. The religious destitution was so great that he called it a "heathen land."
But Judge Kelly prevailed upon him to bring his Christian wife and strive with them, by prayerful and godly living, to secure the town from the ascendency of sin. With the growth of the town, the influence of Christianity was more and more felt, and gradually church organizations were formed. The first was Trinity Episcopal, in 1816; the First Presbyterian, in 1824; the First Methodist, in 1827, and the First Bap- tist, in 1833. At this latter date the population was about 1,300, but there were only six or seven Baptists among them, and not many of any other name. Deplorable darkness pervaded the settlement. In all the place there was but one meeting house, and that an inferior wooden structure. They were few in number and financially poor. But they were loyal to their distinctive beliefs, and they sought to practice them. And while it might seem to a superficial observer that, in the circumstances, the number of Christians of all names being so few, and all of them being poor in material sub- stance, all so-called minor differences in belief should be obliterated for the sake of union, these Baptists would have accommodated themselves essentially and absolutely dishonest before God had they failed to keep intact the faith once delivered to the Saints as they understood it. Like their brethren in all times and climes, they claimed for themselves a separate denominational existence, and they justified their claim by avowing beliefs which distinguished them from all other peoples.
As the population of the village increased, a new Baptist family would now and then be found, and, of course, warmly welcomed. Finally, in the month of Novem- ber, 1832, a Baptist minister, named Richard Taggart, a lineal descendant of Rev. John Clark, D. D., who, with Roger Williams, founded the State of Rhode Island, stopped at Cleveland on a journey from Lockport, N. Y., to what was then the "West." He was an entire stranger to every one in the village. But, making himself known to the Baptists as a minister in good standing, he was invited to hold a preaching ser- vice on the following Sunday, and an upper room in the Cleveland Academy was se- cured for the purpose. On the 19th day of the same month (November, 1832), a meet- ing of all Baptists was called for the purpose of forming a society, to be known as the First Baptist Society, of Cleveland. The organization was formed, and on the 4th day of December following they elected officers, and made a lease of the Cleveland Acad- emy for one year, at a rental of $60, the building to be used twice on Sundays, and two evenings during the week. An invitation was given to Mr. Taggart, and accepted by him, to conduct . these services, and from that day the present Baptists have been un- interruptedly working for the moral and religious upbuilding of the community. The divine approval rested upon the work from the beginning. Soon four persons, namely, Thomas Goodman, Caleb Wroton, Mrs. Eliza Taylor and Mrs. S. M. Cutler, all of whom afterwards became prominent in the community, and desiring to make public confession of their faith in the act of baptism, were baptized on Sunday, January 13th, 1833. It was a memorable day. The ancient records preserve the following account of it: "The large room, in which we are accustomed to hold our services, was crowded to overflowing; and at the close of the service in the afternoon the congregation and many others from the village repaired to the bank of the lake, just where the old frame building stood in later years, known as the Pittsburgh and Wellsville depot. The old pier was adjacent on the left. An opening was cut in the ice. After singing an appropriate hymn, and a prayer by Elder Taggart, the candidates went down into the water and were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus." One week later, on Sun- day evening, January 20, 1833, preliminary steps toward the formation of a Baptist church were taken. A committee was appointed to draft a summary of scripture doc- trine to be adopted as a test of faith, and in the unity of which the new fellowship should consist. Their report was accepted on the 23d of the same month, and on the third Saturday in February, 1833, an ecclesiastical council convened and reorganized the little body as the First Baptist Church, of Cleveland, Ohio. Eighteen persons signed the articles of Faith, namely, Moses White, Benjamin Rouse, Thomas Whelpley. Jeduthan Adams, John Seaman, Horatio Ranney, Leonard Stockwell, Thomas Good- man, John Malvin, Mrs. Rebecca E. Rouse, Mary Belden, Harriet P. Hickox, Letha Griffith, Sophia Stockwell, Harriet Malvin, Elizabeth Taylor, S. M. Cutler.
At the same time a Sunday-school was organized, with Thomas Whelpley, a lawyer, as superintendent. The attendance at the first session was twenty-eight. The next April it had increased to forty; and the influence of the school must have been considerable, for soon after Mr. Benjamin Rouse writes: "We have now seven schools in and about the village, four connected with our churches and three mission schools. Our infidel friends are much alarmed, and are exerting themselves to bring our schools into disrepute. They are publishing tracts and giving the free distribu-
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2. DARWIN E. WRIGHT, DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS.
5. GEO. L. HECHLER, DIRECTOR OF FIRE.
BOARD OF CONTROL, IN INGe.
1. MINER G. NORTON, DIR. OF LAW.
4. ROBERT E. MCKISSON, MAYOR.
7. GEORGE R. WARDEN,
DIR. OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION.
3. E. A. ABBOTT, DIR. OF POLICE
6. HORACE L. ROSSITER, DIR. OF ACCOUNTS.
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HISTORICAL CONFERENCE.
tion in the village, but they cannot prevail. The truth of the matter is this: A spirit of religious inquiry has gotten hold on the hearts of the people, and infidelity may well tremble."
In April, 1834, the church felt the necessity of a meeting house adapted to their needs, and to the growing demands of the community. The population of the town had now increased to about 5,000. Congregations were crowding the audience room of the Court House, then on the Public Square, about opposite to the present Forest City House. The membership, financially poor, were consecrated and courageous. They prepared a subscription paper and set about soliciting pledges for a building. The people gave liberally and cheerfully. Many made great sacrifices in order to be able to help. Deacon Pelton, then living at Euclid, mortgaged his farm for $2,000 that he might contribute that amount to the project. His neighbors thought him to be de- mented, so completely astounded were they at his action. But in the end the Lord blessed him and restored the money many fold. Nor was he alone in his devotion to the work of the Lord. It was said of John Seaman that he gave more thought to the finances of the church than to his own business. One morning, coming into his store, he said to his partner, Mr. William T. Smith: "Smith, you go to the meeting to-night and put me down for a thousand, and you put down a thousand, and go to Sylvester Ranney and tell him to put down a thousand." The thousands were put down and paid. Soon a suitable location was found, on the corner of Seneca and Champlain streets, and there, finally, was finished the meeting house of the First Baptist Church.
The structure was 55 x So feet. It was built of brick, with spire and bell and town clock, and cost about $14,000. It was a remarkably fine building for the time, and was called by the people of the church and community "the splendid brick church." The old place of meeting was left after a series of meetings for humiliation and prayer. The spirit of the Lord was mightily manifest among them, the church was revived. and shortly after the occupancy of the new building nearly two hundred persons united with the church, amongst whom were some of the most prominent men of the place, and of noble women not a few.
Then the beginning prosperity attended the work of the Baptists. The handful of 1833 have become 6,000 in 1896. In 1833 the total value of their church property was $14,000; in 1896 it is about $750,000. The one Sunday-school of 28 scholars in 1833 has become 27 schools in 1896, with 5,700 scholars; and the number of churches has grown from one to 19, besides eight flourishing missions, and their contribution in 1895 for all purposes, so far as reported, was $118,000.
The following is a list of Baptist churches, within the limits of Cleveland, giving the date of organization and present membership:
Name. Date. MMembership.
First,
IS33
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Euclid Ave.,
1851
756
Third,
IS53
239
Superior St.,
1870 240
Willson Ave., .
302
Shiloh (Colored)
1862.
280
First German,.
1866
230
Welsh, .
1868 .
59
Trinity,
1873 .
423
East End,
167
Cedar Ave.,
160
Erin Ave., German,
117
First, Swedish,
150
Olivet,
340
Second, German,
154
Antioch, Colored,
1893
154
West . Cleveland, 1894
40
Calvary,
Immanuel,
1 896 .
49
These churches form the constituency of a denominational City Mission Society, which was organized 28 years ago, and of which many of the younger churches are children. The object of the society is similar to that of all city mission societies, namely, to have the Gospel preached in destitute localities, and to help needy congre- gations in their endeavors to erect houses of worship. The society is well organized and is doing efficient work at an annual average cost of, say, $10,000, which is contributed
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CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF THE CITY OF CLEVELAND,
by the churches in proportion to their ability. In nothing pertaining to the well-being of the city have Baptists failed to be interested. Their time, talents and treasure have helped to make possible every public philanthropy. Distant places in our own land, and in other lands, have been blessed by the large benefaction's of some of its mem- · bers. Pronouncedly a missionary people, every separate church has its auxiliary socie- ties through which it holds affiliation with the denomination at large in prosecuting missions at home and abroad.
The denomination in the city has given to the world many noble men and godly women. To record even their names would take more space than the limits of this sketch prescribe. Let it suffice to mention only a few: Alexander Sked, the good man ; Benjamin Rouse, who organized 200 Sunday-schools in this vicinity before the Lord took him home; Stillman Witt, the humanitarian; J. M. Hoyt, the publicist; Henry Chisholm, the beloved industrial king; John Seaman, the cheerful giver; Sylvester Ranney, the exemplary Christian; and John D. Rockefeller, the philanthropist.
Rev. Chancellor George F. Houck gave an extended history of the Catholic Church, which was printed in full in the Plain Dealer on the following Tuesday (September 13th). The main features of the sketch were as follows:
Full thirty years elapsed after Moses Cleaveland landed on the bank of the Cuya- hoga before any Catholics set foot on the territory now covered by Ohio's metropolis. Their advent dates back to 1826, when many Catholic Irish were induced to come hither to work on the construction of the Ohio canal, ground for which had been broken amid much enthusiasm, on July 4, 1825, in Cleveland, then numbering a popu- lation of about 500. The influx of Catholic laborers almost doubled this number within a year.
The Rt. Rev. Edward Fenwick, Bishop of Cincinnati, was informed that many of his flock were located at Cleveland and along the canal as far as Akron, and that they were without the ministrations of a priest. Accordingly he directed the Dominican Fathers, stationed in Perry County, O., to send a priest to Cleveland, whose duty it should be to visit them at stated times and attend to their spiritual wants. The Rev. Thomas Martin, a member of the Dominican order, was sent in compliance with the bishop's direction, his first visit being made during the autumn of 1826. Later on he was succeeded by the Very Rev. Stephen T. Badin (the first priest ordained in the United States), who came at irregular intervals. There is no record of any other priests having come to Cleveland until the advent of the Rev. John Dillon, who was sent here by Bishop Purcell in the early part of 1835, as the first resident pastor. He, as his predecessors, said mass in private houses, as there was no other place to be had then. However, shortly after his arrival, he succeeded in securing a large room, 30 x 40 feet, known as Shakespeare Hall. . It was in the upper story of the Merwin Build- ing, located at the foot of Superior street, near the present Atwater block. This hall he fitted up as a temporary place of worship, as best he could with the limited means at his disposal, and in it said mass for a short time.
The next place in which Father Dillon held public service in Cleveland was in a one-story frame cottage, on the west side of Erie street, near Prospect. The building is still standing on the old site. In it there were several rooms, the largest serving as a "church," the others as the pastoral residence. A few months later Father Dillon secured Farmer's Hall in Mechanics' Block, at the corner of Prospect and Ontario streets, and transformed it into a temporary church. He continued, however, to reside in the house above mentioned till his death. September, 1837.
The Rev. Patrick O'Dwyer, a recent arrival from Quebec, was sent as Father Dillon's successor. His pastoral residence was a small frame cottage, located at the corner of Superior and Muirson streets. During his pastorate he said mass in the third story of Farmer's Block, already mentioned.
On October 24, 1837, Messrs. James S. Clark, Richard Hillard and Edmund Clarke conveyed by land contract to the Rt. Rev. John B. Purcell, Bishop of Cincin- nati, "in trust for the Roman Catholic Society of Our Lady of the Lake, of said Cleve- land, the following piece or parcel of land to wit: Lots numbered 218 and 219 (corner Columbus and Girard streets), in the plat of Cleveland center."
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