USA > Pennsylvania > Lancaster County > History of Lancaster and York Counties > Part 31
USA > Pennsylvania > York County > History of Lancaster and York Counties > Part 31
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As may well be supposed, the schools thus established were not at first very far advanced, beyond the ability to impart a. knowledge of what are now known as the first rudiments of a common education, but in a few years, they attained to some eminence, and from being originally intended only for the benefit of the children of their particular churches, they came to be multiplied and extended, for the benefit of all the inhabi- tants of the Borough and adjacent country. So rapidly indeed had the scholars increased, and with so much success were the schools conducted, under the united efforts and persevering industry of the Pastors of the Lutheran and German Reformed congregations, that from about the year 1745 to 1784, they were almost the only schools of character in the county-except those at Ephrata and Litiz, of which we shall speak hereafter. During the earlier part of this time, great interest was taken in the es-
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tablishment of Schools in America, by the Highest Ecclesias- tical bodies of these two Churches in Europe. By the Reform- ed Synod of Amsterdam, Schoolmasters were sent out for the instruction-and German Bibles and other religious books for- warded to meet the wants of the community not only at Lan- caster but throughout Pennsylvania, Maryland and New York.
In the Cœtuale proceedings of the Reformed church in Hol- land, for the year 1760, we find a Report dated May 20, A. D. 1760, in which, among other things, it is stated as follows: "We begin with Lancaster. After Mr. Stoy came here, A. D. 1758, in the month of October, he found about one hundred families that belonged to the church. He has baptized since that time to the month of May, 1760, one hundred, instructed forty young persons in the confession of faith, and received them as communicants. At present sixty children attend the school."*
For years anterior to the time we are writing of, the minis- ters of the German Reformed church in America as well as in Europe, were among the most learned of all Divines. Essen- tially Calvinistic in their doctrines, they were necessarily able and astute polemics. Called upon as they were daily to combat the errors of the Romish, and to explain the difference and defend their doctrines from those of the Lutheran church- which also ranked among its ministers men of great learning and erudition-f they were constrained to search the Scrip-
#It is worthy of remark here, that all the proceedings, reports, &e., of the Synods of this Church were, until toward the close of the 18th Century, con- dueted in the Latin or Dutch languages : The report spoken of in the text, is in the Dutch and as follows, viz:
" Wy maken den et begin met Lancaster. Nadien Domine Stoy. A. D. 1758 in de Maand Oetob : daar hen quam, zoo vond hy omtrent een hundred Huishoudingen, die tot die Kerke behooren. Hy heelft zint die tyd tot de Maand Mey 1760 daar gedoopt 116 Kinderen ; 40 jongs personen in die Geloofe Belydenisse onderweeren, en tot Ledematen aangenomen, In die School gan tegenwoordig 60 Kindere :
+The Rev. Henry M. Muhlenberg, for a long time the pastor of the Lu- theran Congregation at Philadelphia, spoke the Latin with great fluency. He also preached in the Sweedish, Dutch, German, French and English languages. He was a profound linguist, and was familiar with the Greek and Hebrew.
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tures and to read the Fathers in the original .* To do so effectu- ally, they devoted themselves to the study not only of the dead but also of the living languages ; so necessary was this know- ledge considered, that with but few exceptions, none but rare and ripe scholars were found in her pulpits. Hence, the deep and in tense interest manifested for the education of the youth, in such of the Lord's vineyards as were planted by their hands.
We have already shewnt that about the year 1752, the Gov- ernor of Pennsylvania, Chief Justice Allen, Mr. Peters, Secre- tary of the Land Office, Messrs. Turner, Benjamin Franklin and Conrad Weiser, were appointed trustees and managers of the public schools, which it was intended to establish in the province. Previous to this time however, a large number of schools were in successful operation in several counties, and in the town of Lancaster particularly, through the active exer- tions of the Rev. Michael Schlatter. He was a German Re- formed minister, and came out at the expense of the Reformed Synod of Amsterdam, A. D. 1746, for this single purpose. It is more than probable, that the schools which it is alleged these trustees established at Lancaster and elsewhere, were only branches of those already in operation under his auspices, and the enterprise of the Lutheran and German Reformed con- gregations, for it is a well known fact, that the plan of the trus- tees named, did not succeed, and the schools soon fell back under their original charge.
" The Germans are a patient, modest and unassuming peo- ple. Their character is either imperfectly understood or wil- fully misrepresented. For their attachment to learning and their untiring efforts in the cause of education, they receive but little credit, even from those whose acquaintance with the facts-independent of their German origin-should prompt them upon all occasions, to become their readiest defenders .- How many valuable hints have we-whose mother tongue is the English -- not received "from this too-lightly estimated peo- ple ? How many schemes for the dissemination of knowledge among men," have they not successfully devised, and other nations as well as ourselves, as successfully put into operation,
*They not unfrequently conversed in Latin and all their correspondence was conducted chiefly in that tongue. Vide also page 225 antea.
+Page 259 antea.
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1
without so much as crediting the source from whence derived? Nay more, how often is it that they and we have seized upon a plan devised by them for the education of youth-crude, and it may be ill-digested, because of its novelty-and im- proving upon it, have as unceremoniously and unblushingly claimed for ourselves, the credit of the discovery? With no other people would it have been attempted; and they have submitted to the moral wrong, only because they re- joiced more in the good that followed to others, than in the en- joyment of the honor that was due to the discovery, for them- selves."*
We are led to introduce these remarks, in consequence of our now approaching a period in the history of education in Lancaster county, where we are, as a faithful historian, to claim for-comparatively speaking-an obscure German, the honor not only of suggesting, but also of successfully carrying into practical operation, the never-to-be-too-much-encouraged Sab- bath Schools of the present day. About the year 1740, at German by the name of Ludwig Hacker, a man of much learning and great piety, the teacher of the school which had been previously established by the society of Seventh-day Baptists at Ephrata, proposed the plan of holding a school in the afternoon of their Sabbath, which was and is, the seventh instead of the first day of the week. It was at once carried out by the brethren into practical operation, and continued to dis- pense its blessings among the children of the neighborhood, until September 1777, when-after the battle of Brandywine- the room used for the school, was with the whole building, con- verted into a military hospital for the accommodation of the American soldiers wounded upon that sanguinary field. After this event, the school was never again opened; but the plan years afterwards, was revived in England ; and the poor Ger- man scholar, Ludwig Hacker who sleeps in the bosum of his mother earth, without a stone to mark his resting place, is for- gotten in the praises and blessings which are lavished upon the memory of himt who but resuscitated and improved upon his plan.
*MSS. by GEORGE FORD, Esq.
Robert Raikes. #Page 224 antea.
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In a former part of this work* the efforts of this society in the extension of knowledge, have been already shewn. Co- existent with their change of life from a conventicle to a mon- astic one, A. D. 1733 a school for the education of themselves .and their youth in German and Classic Literature, was estab- lished. It was of course local in its operations, and its advanta- ges never became to any extent known to the public ; but its reputation and the ability of its. teachers, are attested by the many evidences of their skill and proficiency, remaining .among the archives of the society. The school thus estab- lished, continued its beneficial operations until with the grad- ual decay of the society, it was finally suspended. Thus it remained until after the passage of an Act by the Legislature of the State, February 21, 1814, incorporating the few members which yet remained of the society. With a pious reverence for the memories and virtues of their fathers, and desirous of emulating, as far as practicable, the efforts made by them in their day and generation, these survivors, chiefly through the active exertions of Mr. William Konigmacher, by virtue of the . provisions of the act referred to, and also of others subse- quently passed for the purpose, started an acadamy where the English and German languages, mathematics and other branches are successfully taught.
Like their German brethren at Ephrata, the Moravians at Litiz, were and still are the devoted friends of Education .- Their first settlement at Warwick, A. D. 1742, was marked by the establishment of a school under the charge of their min- ister, the Rev. Leonard Schnell,t a German of considerable literary attainments ; and when at length in 1754, a monastic life was determined on, and the village of Litiz in consequence thereof founded, their school had attained to some local emin- ence. In the year 1762, it was removed to the latter place, and there continued until A. D. 1794,} when it was divided into two departments, one for each sex. Out of the Female department, the now justly celebrated Young Ladies Semi- nary, sprung into existence as a Boarding school, with what
*Page 216 antea. +Page 310 antea. #Page 316 antea.
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success and how much benefit to the community, its present · widely extended reputation will best attest.
-
The school for the education of the male youth of the soci- ety and adjacent country, continued its operations until in the year 1815,* when it was assigned to Mr. John Beck, the pre- sent able and indefatigable principal-a gentleman of ac- knowledged ability, of great goodness of heart, enthusiastical- ly devoted to his profession, and remarkable for the fatherly care and affection which he has always evinced for his pupils, the school grew rapidly into public favor under his superin- tendence ; and at this day, its reputation is deservedly high as an academy where the English and German languages, Mathe- matics, Chemistry, Astronomy and all the sciences are taught with unsurpassed skill, to young men from almost every State in the Union.
We now return once more to the movements of the friends of education, in the borough of Lancaster. Being the metrop- olis of the county, we must judge of the progress of know- ledge in the rural districts by the encouragement given to learning in this local Capital. About the year 1780, Jasper Yeates, Esq., Casper Shaffner, Esq., Col. George Ross, Charles Hall, Esq., and other gentlemen of the place, finding that the existing Schools under the charge of the Lutheran and German Reformed Congregations, as also the one established a number of years previous by the Moravians, and conducted upon the same plan, were inadequate to the growing wants of the people, and incapable of teaching the higher branches, engaged the services of a teacher of recommended abilities, to conduct a select academy for the education of their male children. This Academy continued in existence for several years, as the High School of the place, until, owing to the violent temper of the teacher and the many indignities which he offered to the pupils under his charge, it was finally suspended. This school sugges- ted the idea of establishing another; but upon a surer basis, under the control of Trustees by an act of incorporation, and ultimately begat the application to the Legislature for the incor- poration of "Franklin College."
On the 10th of March, A. D. 1787,* the General Assembly of
*Page 318 antea.
į2 Sm. laws, page 398.
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the State, granted the prayer of the petitioners, and passed an act with the following title : " An act to incorporate and endow; the German College and Charity School in the borough of Lancaster, in this State." The Preamble of the act explains the object which it was intended to effect, and is in the follow- ing words, viz : " Whereas, the citizens of this State of German birth or extraction, have eminently contributed, by their indus- try, economy and public virtues, to raise the State to its present happiness and prosperity : And, whereas, a number of citizens of the above description, in conjunction with others, from a desire to increase and perpetuate the blessings desired to them from the possession of property and a free government, have applied to this House for a charter of Incorporation, and a do- nation of lands, for the purpose of establishing and endowing a College and Charity School, in the borough of Lancaster. And, whereas, the preservation of the principles of the Chris- tian Religion, and of our Republican form of Government in their purity, depend, under God, in a great measure, on the establishment and support of suitable places of education, for the purpose of training up a succession of youth, who by being enabled fully to understand the grounds of both, may be led the more zealously, to practice the one, and the more strenu- ously to defend the other. Therefore, &c." Here then follow the different sections of the act, the prominent features of which are these: §2. That the youth shall be taught in the German, English, Latin, Greek and other learned languages, in Theology, in the useful arts, sciences and Literature. The corporate title shall be " Franklin College," in honor of His Excelleney Benjamin Franklin, Esquire, President of the Su- preme Executive Council, &c. The first Trustees are named and incorporated with the usual powers. Yearly income not to exceed £10,000. The annual meeting of the trustees to be at Lancaster, nine of them to be a quorum and to appoint their own officers. The Principal, vice Principal or Professors. while they remain such, are not to hold the office of trustee. The style and powers of the faculty are prescribed. Propor- tion of Trustees how to be chosen, and Principal to be chosen alternately from the Lutheran or Calvinist Churches. Seat of Trustee being a Clergyman, to be filled with another Clergy- man, but the proportion of Lutheran and Calvinist trustees to
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be invariably preserved. Trustees empowered to appoint other officers not named in the charter, to fix salaries, &c. Misnomer not to defeat any gift &c., nor non-user to create a forfeiture, &c. §3. The Constitution not to be altered but by the Legislature. 04. The College endowed with 10,000 acres of land, &c.
Under this charter and a donation subsequently granted by an act of Assembly, consisting of an old military store-house and two lots of ground in the borough of Lancaster, worth about $2000, the College went into operation, A. D. 1786, as a Grammar School, with a Professor of the Latin and Greek lan- guages, and also a Professor of Mathematics. The first pro- fessor was a German by the name of Melsheimer. Ardently attached to literary pursuits, he strove long and earnestly to" create a proper taste for them, among the Germans and their descendants. To some extent he succeeded, for under his management the Hohe Schule* prospered for a little while ; but continually owing to the want of a proper management of its finances, it afterwards gradually declined, until about the year 1821, when it ceased all further practical operations : But it was not doomed to sleep in inglorious inactivity, like the Phoenix from her ashes, it was destined to rise again with renewed usefulness, as we shall hereafter shew, when through the prudence of its Trustees, its funds should be carefully hus- banded, and their ability to support its existence from the income, would be undoubted.
In the meanwhile, private schools and academies were estab- lished and supported in the Borough and various sections of the county, but no organized or settled system being adopted for their government, none of them attained to any eminence. It is true, large numbers of poor children in the county, as well as the city, were educated free of expense, pursuant to the provisions of the act of Assembly of April 4, A. D. 1809,+ entitled " An act for the education of the poor gratis;" but such education, owing to the general incompetency of the teachers, was exceedingly limited. The system established by this act, having been found in its practical operation, to be both expensive and inadequate to the wants of the people in the
* Anglice-High School.
15 Sm. laws, pages 73 and 74.
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city of Lancaster, another act was passed by the Legislature on the 1st day of April, A. D. 1822, entitled "An act to provide for the education of children at the public expense, within the city and incorporated Boroughs of the County of Lancaster." By the provisions of this act, the city and incor- porated boroughs of the county, were erected into a school district, by the name, style and title of the "Second School District of the State of Pennsylvania." Twelve Directors were to be annually appointed by the Court of Quarter Sessions of the County-their duties and powers were prescribed-the ad- mission of children regulated-the Lancasterian system ordered to be adopted-the expenses provided for-the duty of the County Commissioners set forth, and the division of the district into sections whenever required-how to be done .- Under this act, the first and only section of the district was com posed of the city of Lancaster.
The Directors appointed by the Court of Quarter Sessions, proceeded at once, to purchase a lot of ground, erect a large and commodious school house, employ male and female teach- ers, admit scholars, and in pursuance of the law, adopting the Lancasterian system of education, opened their schools with the highest hopes of success. In this they were not disappointed. The plan worked so well, that the city of Lancaster until lately did not become an accepting school district under the provisions of the general school law of June 13, A. D. 1836 .; But the expense of erecting a school-house, and of continuing the schools, being borne out of the County treasury, it never ceased, because of its partiality, to be a source of complaint on the part of the inhabitants of the county. Nevertheless, the schools -- male and female departments-continued in ope- ration under this special law-with all their objectionable features as pauper schools-until in the month of May, A. D. 1838, when, in pursuance of the provisions of certain Resolu- tions, passed by the Legislature on the 14th day of April, A. D. 1838,¿ the inhabitants, by a popular vote, determined upon an acceptance of the Common School System, modified and adopt- ed to their circumstances by the Resolutions already referred to.
*7 Sm. laws, 538. +Pam. laws 1835-'36, page 525 .. #Pam. laws 1837-'8, page 686.
38 **
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Upon the result of this vote being made known, the Board of Directors was organized, and through their indefatigable exer- tions, schools have been established so numerous and so well graded, that every child in the city can be educated "without money and without price," to an extent which but fifty years ago was seldom attained even by the children of wealthy parents.
While upon this subject, it may as well be observed, that a deep and growing interest in the cause of education is mani -. festing itself daily, in the rural districts, for out of thirty-three school districts in the county, eighteen in 1842, had accepted the provisions of the Common School law .*
It must not be supposed while these efforts were making to instruct the great mass of the children of Lancaster county in the elementary branches of an English education, the inhab- itants were unmindful of the higher and more difficult ones .- We shall speak of these hereafter. Thus have the exertions of the friends of education been crowned with eminent success, in the establishment and support of Common Schools, as well in many parts of the county as in the city of Lancaster.
While these movements were making for the extension of learning to and among the children of the town and county, a number of Master Mechanics of the city, perceiving that their apprentices were destitute of the means of mental improve- ment, and taught by their own experience, that idleness is the prolific source of vice-a rock upon which has stranded the highest hopes and fondest expectations of parents and friends- with a commendable determination to project some plan, by which the leisure hours of their apprentices might be rationally employed, convened a public meeting for consultation and advice upon this subject, on the evening of July 8, A. D. 1829. At this 'meeting Hugh Maxwell, Esq. presided; and out of it soon grew "The Mechanics Society." A constitution was soon after formed, agreed upon and submitted to the Supreme Court, by which a charter was decreed, May 26, A. D. 1831 .- Having thus procured a legal existence, the society soon went into active operation. By voluntary contributions, a Library was commenced and has gone on increasing in size aud value,
*9th annual Report of the Superintendent of Common School ..
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until it now numbers near 2,000 volumes, besides a valuable collection of maps, globes, philosophical apparatus, &c. &c.
The Library soon became the centre of attraction to the. apprentices, and an improvement morally as well as mentally, became apparent in their habits and condition. Increasing in strength and character, the society found it necessary to procure a Hall for their accommodation, in which a system of "popular instruction, by familiar lectures," was soon after (A. D. 1836) carried into operation under the management of a committee appointed for that purpose. These lectures, at first confined to Chemistry, Natural Philosophy, Astronomy, &c. soon became popular, and in a short time after, were ex- tended and enlarged so as to embrace almost every science and every subject, except that of Religion. In 1838, a new and capacious Hall was ereeted in South Queen street, for the better accommodation of the crowds which gather from time to time listen to the words of instruction and of interest, as they fall from the lips of the Lecturers, engaged through the enter- prize and liberality of the Society. Of it, all that we have to say is, that it has done much and great good, and to it, we have. only to add our prayer-ESTO PERPETUA !
We now return to consider the efforts made for the endow- ment and support of schools of a higher order than those here- tofore treated of-classical and mathematical acadamies, where inquiring youth might attain a knowledge of the languages of Homer and Demosthenes, of Cicero and Virgil-where they might be taught to solve the problems of Euclid-to study the works of Gallileo-explore the vast fields of Natural Philoso- phy, Astronomy and Chemistry, with all the various sciences, necessary to the constitution of a finished scholar.
Immediately after the suspension of the Grammar or High School of the "Franklin College," as already shewn, but one private classical academy existed in Lancaster. This school was at best but feebly supported, and was at length discon- tinued. A taste for classic literature however, having been created to some extent, among the people, application was made to the Legislature during the session of 1826-"7, for the. incorporation of an academy at Lancaster, and on the 14th day of April, A. D. 1827,* an act was passed entitled " An act
#Pam. laws, page 357.
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incorporating the Lancaster County Academy." In this act certain gentlemen were named as Trustees-the corporation was established with the usual powers-the powers, privileges, meetings and duties of the trustees were prescribed-a dona- tion of $3,000 was granted by the state, and poor children, not exceeding at any one time, four in number, to be educated in consideration thereof: The Trustees thus appointed by the act, organized, received subscriptions, purchased a lot of ground in the city of Lancaster, and in the year 1828, erected a large and commodious house for their schools. They em- ployed a competent Teacher, and the academy was opened under very flattering auspices. With varied, and at best, but indifferent success, it continued in operation, until in the Summer of 1839, when, in pursuance of an act of Assembly, passed on the 15th of May, A. D. 1839, authorizing the arrange- ment, the buildings of the Academy were conveyed to the Trustees of Franklin College, and after being considerably enlarged by the latter corporation, the "Hohe Schule" again went into operation upon an entirely new plan, and under such an arrangement, as to secure its permanent existence and use- fulness. So far indced has it succeeded, that it now supports a professor of the Greek and Latin, and also one of the German, French, Spanish and Italian languages. The English and Mathematical department is also under the charge of a gentle- man of superior ability. Thus has the intention of those who originally projected the plan and procured the incorporation of the "Hohe Schule" or Franklin College, at Lancaster, been practically carried out. Long may it continue to flourish, and be what it now is-an honor to the county, and the dispenser of riches more " precious than rubies or fine gold !"
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