USA > Ohio > Ohio's progressive sons; a history of the state; sketches of those who have helped to build up the commonwealth > Part 25
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The Ohio University
As above mentioned, the first university created under the provisions of the ordinance of 1787 was the Ohio University, at Athens. The lands to be devoted to the support of that school of learning were located in 1795. The townships were numbers eight and nine, in the fourteenth range, now Athens and Alexander, in Athens County. The first families removed to them in 1797, and settled near the present site of the town of Athens. Two years later the Territorial Legislature appointed three commissioners "to lay off, in the most suitable place within the township, a town plat, which should contain a square for the col- lege; also lots suitable for house lots and gardens for a president, professors, tutors, etc., bordering on, or encircled by spacious commons, and such a number of town lots adjoining the said commons and out-lots as they think will be for the advantage of the university."
In the same year Dr. Cutler sent his draft of an act of incorporation for the university. In this draft he said, among other things: "Forty or fifty thousands dollars can not be too high, as it must be applied to one of the most useful and important purposes to society and government." Passing over some intermediate legislation, we find that the General Assem- bly of the new State that had just been admitted into the Union, passed, in 1804, an act of which Section I gave to the institution its present name, the Ohio University, and defined
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its object to be "the instruction of youth in all the various branches of liberal arts and sciences, the promotion of good education, virtue, religion and morality, and the conferring of all the degrees and literary honors granted in similar institutions." Section 2 provided for the corporate existence of a Board of Trustees, and also "for the subdivision of college lands into tracts of not less than eighty acres nor more than one hundred and forty acres ; the valua- tion of them by three disinterested and judicious freeholders as in their original and unim- proved state, and the leasing of the same for the term of ninety years, renewable forever, on a yearly rent of six per centum of the amount of the valuation so made by the said freeholders ; and the land so leased shall be subject to a revaluation at the expiration of thirty-five years, and to another revaluation at the expiration of sixty years, from the commencement of the
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MAIN BUILDING OF MIAMI UNIVERSITY OXFORD, OHIO
term of each lease, which revaluation shall be conducted and made on the principles of the first. and the lessee shall pay a yearly rent of six per centum on the amount of the valuation so to be made; and forever thereafter at a yearly rent equal to and not exceeding six per centum of the amount of a valuation, to be made as aforesaid at the expiration of the term of ninety years aforesaid. * * Provided, always, That the corporation shall have power * to demand a further yearly rent on the said lands and tenements, not exceeding the amount of tax imposed on property of like description by the State."
The first building was erected on the northeast side of the present campus and known as the "Academy." It was of wood and has long since been torn down. The first building for collegiate purposes proper was put up in 1817. This is, therefore, the oldest structure of the
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kind in the entire Northwest, if not west of the Alleghenies. It is four stories high above the basement, and though somewhat remodeled twenty years ago, is substantially the original building and is still in use. Twenty years later two additional buildings, also of brick, were put up. In 1881 what was for a time known as the "chapel build- ing," was erected and subsequently removed to its present site in order to make room for Ewing Hall, the newest, as well as the largest of the college buildings. Though the uni- versity was chartered in 1804 no instruction was given until 1809. In June, 1808, the Board laid out a course of instruction which embraced "the English, Latin and Greek languages, mathematics, rhetoric, logic, geography, natural and moral philosophy." One year later when the school was formally opened but three students presented themselves. This is not sur- prising when we consider the sparseness and poverty of the new-comers on the soil of Ohio. It seemed a paradoxical scheme to establish a university before preparatory schools had been provided, yet this has been the history of education from the remotest times-the higher has always preceded the lower, though the latter did not always appear.
For some years the university had but one instructor, the Rev. Jacob Lindley, a graduate of Princeton. In 1812 Artemas Sawyer, a graduate of Harvard, was added as a second teacher, and six years later a third was added.
The first graduate was Thomas Ewing, who was probably the first person to receive a college diploma in all Western America. This document was dated 1815. The distinguished subsequent career of Mr. Ewing is well known. It is identified not only with the history of Ohio, but with that of the nation.
The revenues of the university were at first very small, but they would in time have increased to a respectable sum, as the two townships above named contain nearly fifty thou- sand acres. Unfortunately the Legislature interfered to prevent the revaluation of its lands, notwithstanding the decisions of the various courts, so that the income from the rent dupli- cate is and will remain at less than thirty-five hundred dollars per annum. This legislative act of 1843 dealt the university a blow from which it has never fully recovered. The loss of revenue it caused may be estimated by the following statement :
According to the decennial appraisement of 1900, the value of the land was, exclusive of improvements and inclusive of roadbeds of railroads $1,356,615. Six per cent of this amount would give an annual income of $81,376.90. Toward the close of the seventies the Legislature began to make annual appropriations for the support of the university, and in 1896 enacted the so-called "Sleeper Bill," which has since then given it a revenue of nearly thirty thou- sand dollars. The "Seese Bill," passed at the regular session of 1902, makes provision for a State Normal College in connection with the university, and gives for its support an annual revenue of about $38,000. The total yearly revenue of the university, from all sources, is, approximately, $85,000.
Though the college has been giving instruction from 1809 under the charge succes- sively of Rev. Jacob Lindley and Rev. James Irvine, its first President, as he is usually desig- nated, was not elected until 1824, when Robert G. Wilson, a native of North Carolina, and a graduate of Dickinson College, was chosen to fill the position. His successor was the well- known Dr. William H. McGuffey. For a few years, dating from 1845, owing to financial embarrassments, the institution was closed, but in 1848 it was reopened under the Presidency of Dr. Alfred Ryors. Dating from 1852, Dr. Solomon Howard was President for twenty years, and was succeeded by Dr. W. H. Scott. From 1883 to 1901, Dr. Charles W. Super was at the head of the institution with the exception of two years, 1896-1898, when the po- sition was held by Dr. Isaac Crook. The term of the present incumbent, Dr. Ellis, began on the 18th of July, 1901.
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The government is by a board of nineteen trustees appointed for life by the Governor of the State, and confirmed by the Senate. In addition the Governor of Ohio and the Presi- dent of the university are members ex-officio.
The Miami University
The Miami University is the second institution of higher learning established in Ohio and in the immense territory west of the Allegheny Mountains. Ten days after the adop- tion of the great ordinance of 1787. Congress adopted the report of a committee which provided that the Board of Treasury should be authorized and empowered to contract with
BRICE SCIENTIFIC HALL, MIAMI UNIVERSITY OXFORD, OHIO
any person or persons for a grant of certain lands lying to the north of the Ohio River. Pursuant to this John Cleves Symmes made a petition for a grant of land between the two Miami Rivers, and by an act of Congress passed on the 5th of May, 1792, the President of the United States was authorized and empowered to lease to John Cleves Symmes, a certain tract of land, a portion of which should be forever reserved for the support of an institution
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of higher learning. The grant, originally for one million acres, was modified to as much as Symmes and his associates could pay for. In the disposal of these lands it happened that the terms of the contract could not be literally fulfilled, and by an act of Congress, on the 3d of March, 1803, the Legislature of Ohio was authorized to enter one complete township, west of the Great Miami, in lieu of the original township within the Symmes' purchase, and the trust was vested in the Legislature of Ohio, to be held forever for the purpose of education as set forth in the several articles, and for no other purpose whatsoever. Six weeks later, on the 15th of April, 1803, in accepting the trust, the Legislature passed an article entitled, "An Act to Provide for the Locating of a College Township in the District of Cincinnati." Leb- anon, Warren County was first selected by a committee and the report signed by Alexander Campbell and James Kilbourne. The fact that the third member had not met with the com- mittee gave rise to a debate in the Legislature, and the location was finally fixed in Oxford Township, Butler County. On the 17th of February, 1809, the Legislature of Ohio passed an act entitled, "An Act to Establish Miami University." By means of legislative action build- ings were erected and the school opened in 1816, as a preparatory school, and in 1824 as a college. The first class was graduated in 1826. Under the stimulus of the land grant, the spirit of the ordinance of 1787, the co-operation of the State and the rapid settlement of the Miami Valley, the college soon became one of the most renowned west of the Alleghenics. Under an act passed by the Legislature of 1809, the leasing of the lands with a revaluation every fifteen years was provided, but the important provision regarding the revaluation was repealed in 1810, and the result was a similar condition of affairs, as narrated in the sketch of the Ohio University. In 1812 another act was passed which provided that the actual set- tlers should, from a given date and forever after, pay a yearly rent of six per cent, upon the purchase money. Thus by positive legislation, added to the act which repealed the law providing for a revaluation, the university was forever hindered from securing an increased revenue from the lands of Oxford Township.
The first President, Rev. Robert H. Bishop, D. D., was a man whose strong personality dominated the ideals of the new college. Associated with him were men equally attached to the classical education. The early curriculum shows the superiority of the men and it is doubt- ful whether any modern college represents a classical course superior to that offered at Miami seventy-five years ago. The college became noted for its public spirit and the record of its men brought it a national reputation. From time to time some enlargement was proposed, but did not succeed. A law school at one time and medical school at another were proposed, but failed. A normal course was sustained for some time but gradually fell into disuse. The school had been built upon the classical pattern and the alumni regarded lightly any other conception. For seventy-five years it was a consistent and high grade small college of the classical type.
The institution had suffered from lack of revenues and became so involved that the trustees closed the doors in 1873. In 1885 the university was reopened. During this time the buildings were leased for a private school and the funds were allowed to increase. In 1885 the State made the first appropriation to repair the buildings and continued small appropriations from year to year until 1896, when a provision was made for the permanent support of the university by lcvying an annual tax upon the property of the State. An act making an additional levy was passed by the Legislature in March, 1902, to enable the trustees to establish a Normal School in connection with Miami University. The university is thus afforded a permanent and regular income, and the State of Ohio has expressed its purpose to administer, with reasonable liberality, the trust vested by the Congress of the United States.
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Miami University is governed by a board of twenty-seven trustees appointed for the term of nine years, in three classes. These trustees are appointed by the Governor of Ohio, subject to confirmation by the Senate.
The Legislature of 1904 again added an increase to the income of Miami University, which is now the second largest of any institution of similar grade in the State of Ohio. The same Legislature appropriated $40,000 for a new dormitory for women, to be known as "Hepburn Hall." In April, 1905, Andrew Carnegie gave Miami University the amount of $40,000 for a new Library Building, which, when completed, will make perfect the equip- ment of that university. The enrollment for the year 1904 was seven hundred and twenty- four. The location of Miami University, covering sixty-five acres, is probably one of the
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GYMNASIUM BUILDING, MIAMI UNIVERSITY OXFORD, OHIO
most beautiful of any American college. Outside of dormitories for men and women, the institution occupies a Main University Building, Brice Scientific Hall, the gift of the late United States Senator Brice, and the Herron Gymnasium.
During the war of the Rebellion, Miami's graduates, almost to a man, were found enlisted or engaged in some form of public service. Many of these men are still hard at work, so that it has been said that Miami has more prominent men among her alumni than any other Western College. A strong American sentiment permeates every vein of the Miami student or graduate. Miami has been pre-eminently in her history, a college of public spirit. The student catches the spirit of patriotic devotion to the public welfare as a duty, and the graduate feels that he owes something to his country. College spirit has always been identical with a high idea of citizenship.
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Associated with this patriotic ideal is the conviction that leaders should be men of scholar- ship and sound character. The management has never faltered in that belief that a college faculty should be men of unquestionable character and highest ability. The college educa- tion shows itself in a patriotic citizenship, genuine manliness, sound scholarship and liberal culture. The institution has graduated one President of the United States, seven United States Senators, several Foreign Ambassadors and fifty-three Judges of State and Federal Courts, in addition to many distinguished clergymen and men in other walks of life.
The original act founding Miami University, enumerates among other objects of its establishment, "The Promotion of Virtue, Religion and Morality." It is the aim of the man-
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WOMEN'S DORMITORY, MIAMI UNIVERSITY OXFORD, OHIO
agement to cultivate and develop the religious nature of the student; to create and maintain a religious sentiment that shall be in harmony with the best thought of our Christian civi- lization. Religious services are held in the chapel on the third Sabbath afternoon of each month, at 2:30 o'clock. At these services a sermon is preached by the President, or by some other member of the faculty or by some minister from abroad. The daily chapel services are held at 9:30 o'clock each morning. Attendance upon all these services is obligatory upon all students. The Bible is a recognized text book in the university and the constant aim is to surround the students with an atmosphere which is genuinely Christian without being sec- tarian. A Young Men's Christian Association and a Young Woman's Christian Association maintain regular religious meetings entirely in charge of the students.
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The Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, situated within the corporate limits of the city of Colum- bus, three miles north from the Capitol Buildings, differs materially from all other institu- tions of higher learning in the Buckeye State. Unlike all others, it is not a corporation. The ownership of the property is vested in the State of Ohio. The governing body of the institution is a board of Trustees, appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate, for terms of seven years. The powers and duties of the trustees are prescribed by law. All appropriations are made by the Legislature, and the trustees are not allowed to incur any indebtedness, except by the consent of the Legislature and as provided for by law.
The university grounds consist of three hundred and forty-five acres, bounded cast and west by High street, and the Olentangy River, respectively. The western portion, about 235 acres, is devoted to agricultural and horticultural purposes, and is under the management of the College of Agriculture and Domestic Science. The eastern portion is occupied by the principal university buildings, campus, athletic and drill grounds, a park-like meadow and a few acres of primitive forest.
OBSERVATORY, OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY
COLUMBUS, OHIO
The grounds are laid out with care. ornamented with trees, shrubs and flower beds ; and are so managed as to illustrate the instruction in Botany, Horticulture, Forestry, Landscape Gardening and Floriculture.
The university has sixteen buildings devoted to instruction, one Boiler House, one Power House, two Dormitories, six residences and some farm buildings. These buildings repre- sent an investment for construction of about nine hundred thousand dollars. The equip- ment and apparatus amount to about two hundred thousand dollars. The land now occu- pied as a site with the farm is valued at one million five hundred thousand dollars.
What is now commonly known as the Morrill act was a land grant made by the United States under an act approved by President Lincoln, July 2, 1862, which provided that there should be granted to each State an amount of public land equal to thirty thousand acres for each Senator and Representative to which the State was entitled by the apportionment of the census of 1860. The proceeds under this act were to constitute a perpetual fund, the capi- tal of which was to remain forever undiminished, and the interest of the same was to be
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inviolably applied by each State which should take and claim the benefits of the act to the endowment, support and maintenance of at least one "college where the leading objects shall 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, in such a manner as the Legislature of the States may respectively prescribe, in order to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions of life."
Under this law Ohio received in 1864 certificates of scrip for 630,000 acres after the Leg- islature had formally accepted the conditions of the trust. The Auditor of State, the Treas- urer of State and the Secretary of State were made a commission to advertise for and receive proposals for the purchase of the scrip. The greater portion of the scrip sold at fifty-three cents an acre. The receipts amounted in all to $340,906.80. By law this became a part of the irreducible debt of the State, on which six per cent interest is paid. As the school was not opened until 1873, the interest was from time to time added to the principal. In 1871 Congress gave to the State of Ohio all unpatented surveys within the Virginia Military Dis- trict, and in 1872 the State gave these lands to the university. These lands have been sold
ORTON HALL, OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY COLUMBUS, OHIO
from time to time, and the proceeds turned into the State treasury as part of the irreducible debt of the State, constituting an endowment fund for the university. This fund now amounts to something more than $550,000.
Governor Tod, in November, 1862, brought the subject of accepting the Morrill grant before the State Board of Agriculture, and later to the attention of the Legislature. In Jan- uary, 1864, Columbus Delano introduced a bill accepting it. This became a law February 9th, 1864, and pledged the faith of the State to the performance of all the conditions and provisions contained therein. In 1866 an act, introduced by Hon. J. T. Brooks was passed, which provided for the establishment of the Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College, but the provisions were not carried into effect, and a second act, introduced by R. P. Cameron, was passed in 1870, entitled, "An Act to Establish and Maintain an Agricultural and Mechanical College in Ohio." Under the provisions of this act the institution was located in Columbus, and the board proceeded to the organization of the college and the election of a faculty of instruction, and the institution was opened for the reception of students on the 17th day of September, 1873.
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In 1878 the Legislature passed "An act to reorganize and change the name of the Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College and to repeal certain acts therein mentioned." The act provided that the institution should be thereafter designated as "The Ohio State University." Up to this time but one appropriation had been made by the State for the support of the insti- tution. With the reorganization came the larger and broader view of the State's relation to public education, and since that time the Ohio State University has shared with other pub- lic educational institutions a more generous support by the State.
The Ohio State University comprises six colleges, as follows :
The College of Agriculture and Domestic Science consists of those departments repre- sented in the course leading to the degrees of Bachelor of Science in Agriculture, Bachelor of Science in Horticulture and Forestry, and Bachelor of Science in Domestic Economy, and in the course in Dairying, the short course in Agriculture, and the short course in Domes- tic Science.
ON THE CAMPUS, OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY COLUMBUS, OHIO
The College of Arts, Philosophy and Science consists of those departments represented in the courses leading to the degree of Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Philosophy and Bache- lor of Science.
The College of Engineering consists of those departments represented in the courses leading to the degrees of Civil Engineer, Engineer of Mines, Engineer of Mines and Cera- mics, Mechanical Engineer, Mechanical Engineer in Electrical Engineering, and Bachelor of Science in Industrial Arts, Bachelor of Science in Chemistry or in Metallurgy; in the course in Architecture, in the short course in Clay-Working and Ceramics, and in the short course in Mining.
The College of Law consists of those departments represented in the course leading to the degree of Bachelor of Laws.
The College of Pharmacy consists of those departments represented in the courses lead- ing to the degree of Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy, and in the short course in Pharmacy.
The College of Veterinary Medicine consists of those departments represented in the course leading to the degree of Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, and to a certificate of Veter- inary Surgeon.
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The graduate school has been organized with a Board of Managers, and is making steady progress.
Each college is under the direction of its own Faculty, which has power to act in all matters pertaining to the work of students in that college.
When the university was opened, in 1873, seventeen students were admitted. Ten years later, in 1883, the roll was three hundred and fifty-five; in 1893, six hundred and forty- two and in 1903, seventeen hundred and seventeen. In 1895 the preparatory department was abolished. In 1873 the faculty of the new institution comprised a President and seven instruc- tors, while in the last year of the first century of Ohio's Statehood more than one hundred and thirty persons were engaged in the work of instruction. The sources of income are the interest on the endowment; annual grants from United States Congress under the provisions of the second Morrill act; receipts from the fees of students ; receipts from rentals and inci- dental accounts and proceeds from the State levy.
In 1895 the Lake Laboratory of the Ohio State University was organized by Prof. D. S. Kellicott, and work began during the summer of that year, though steps toward the estab- lishment of a laboratory had been taken in the preceding year. The original purpose of the laboratory involves the idea of furnishing opportunity for investigation of the life of the lake to be open particularly to the students and teachers of the Ohio State University as set forth by Prof. Kellicott. "The purpose of the plant that I would advocate is to afford an opportunity and a stimulus to instructors and students of biology in the university to spend their vacations investigating living problems in biology, especially such as are connected with important industries like the fisheries.
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