USA > Pennsylvania > Lehigh County > History of the counties of Lehigh and Carbon, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Pt. 1 > Part 46
USA > Pennsylvania > Carbon County > History of the counties of Lehigh and Carbon, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Pt. 1 > Part 46
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95
The Euterpean and Sophronian Literary Socie- ties were organized soon after the opening of the college, and displayed considerable energy in the col- lection of libraries, the furnishing of their halls, and the promotion of the objects of their organization.
During the next year the following changes oc- eurred. Rev. H. N. Riis resigned the professorship of German, March 23, 1869, preparatory to his return to Germany. Rev. J. B. Rath, A.M., was elected April 9, 1869, and consented to serve as his successor until a professor of German could be secured. This was accomplished June 24, 1869, when Rev. F. W. A. Notz, Ph. D., was elected German professor. Profes- sor Rath then succeeded to the department of His- tory, which was resigned August 31st by Rev. J. F.
The following gentlemen had been elected and were inaugurated the first faculty of Muhlenberg College: Rev. F. A. Muhlenberg, D. D., president and professor of Greek, Mental and Moral Science, and Evidences of Christianity ; Rev. E. J. Koons, A.M., vice-presi- dent and professor of Mathematies, Astronomy, and Physics; Rev. W. R. Hofford, A.M., professor of | Fahs. On the same day Rev. E. J. Koons, vice-pres-
:
184
HISTORY OF LEHIGHI COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
ident and professor of Mathematics, etc., also resigned, junior tutor, and served until the close of the college after which the vice-presidency was abolished. The | year, June, 1875. instruction in the department of Mathematics was divided among the other professors.
Luther A. Swope, A.B., gave his entire time as senior tutor, and R. F. Weidner, a member of the Senior Class, was junior tutor during the year ending June, 1869.
The Franklin Society was organized at the begin- ning of this college year, and an attempt was made by its members to establish a college journal, styled The Collegian, several numbers of which appeared, but as the effort was premature it failed of success. Since then the society has confined its work to the mainte- nance of the reading-room.
At a special meeting of the board of trustees, held Oct. 27, 1869, Professor Davis Garber, A.M., was elected to the chair of Mathematics, Astronomy, and Physies. He accepted the position and entered upon his duties Jan. 4, 1870.
Rev. J. B. Rath resigned the professorship of Ilis- tory, June 26, 1871, when the duties of this depart- ment were assigned to the other professors. E. A. Muhlenberg, A.B., served as junior tutor during this scholastic year in place of R. F. Weidner, who had resigned. By ation of the trustees, June 26, 1872, Professor M. H. Richards was transferred to the pro- fessorship of English, Rhetoric, etc., the duties of which he had previously performed. At the same time Professor T. L. Seip was elected Latin professor, and also continued to divide with the president the instruction in Greek. Rev. G. F. Miller was elected principal of the academic department, and W. A. Beates, A. B., tutor in place of the former tutors, who had resigned.
Professor Notz, having accepted a call to Water- town, Wis., resigned the professorship of German, Aug. 21, 1872, the duties of which were then assigned to Professor Miller. At the close of the next scholas- tic year, June 26, 1873, Professor T. C. Yeager, M.D., resigned the chair of Chemistry, etc. The duties of this department were then assumed by the president and the professor of Mathematics. At the same time Professor Miller was transferred from the academic de- partment to the professorship of German, and the former department was conducted by two tutors. W. A. Beates, A.B., was appointed senior, and G. F. Kribbs, A.B., junior tutor.
The next change occurred April 13, 1874, when Pro- fessor Richards resigned to accept a call to Indian- apolis, Ind. The duties of his department were di- vided among the other professors for the rest of the scholastic year. Rev. R. F. Weidner, A.M., suc- ceeded to the English professorship, and entered upon his duties at the beginning of the next term, Septem- ber, 1874. At the same time W. M. Herbst, M.D., was added to the corps of instructors as professor of Botany. M. C. Henninger, A.B., now State senator from this county, succeeded G. F. Kribbs, A.B., as !
The institution had now reached a crisis in its his- tory. Its financial burden, which from various causes had increased from time to time, had become so great that many of the best friends of the college despaired of its ability to survive. The financial panic of 1873, and the complete stagnation in the great iron indus- tries of this valley and region, together with the gen- eral depression in trade, seriously impaired the pros- pects of the institution by the reduction of the number of its students and the loss in its income. The early expectations of its founders in the matter of securing endowments had not been realized, though the larger part of the endowment fund, and several thousand dollars for the current expenses of the college, had been secured through the personal efforts of its presi- dent, whose multiplied duties and faithful labors in the college were more than sufficient to occupy his time. The institution therefore found itself ill pre- pared to withstand the financial stress of the times, and it became absolutely necessary to secure funds for its relief or go into liquidation. Repeated efforts had been made to secure a financial agent outside the faculty, but without snecess. Finally, Jan. 18, 1876, the board of trustees elected Professor T. L. Seip to act as financial agent, relieving him of the duties of his professorship until he should resign the agency. Ile entered upon his new work February, 1876, and continued his labors as agent until the close of the next college year, in June, 1877. During this time he visited such congregations of the Ministerium of Pennsylvania as were open to him, and presented the wants of the college from the pulpit, and from honse to house, to individual members of the church and the community in which he labored. By the blessing of God an interest in the college was soon awakened, which encouraged its friends, restored confidence in its permanency, and resulted in averting the ruin that had threatened. About thirty-three thousand dollars were seenred for endowment and current expenses, and many who since then became students in the in- stitution had their attention directed to it for the first time by this agency. Professor Seip resigned the ageney in June, 1877, and returned to the more con- genial duties of his professorship. During his ab- sence the instruction in his department was divided among the other professors, aided by Rev. R. Hill, who was added to the faculty as assistant professor of Greek. The college and the community suffered a serious loss in the resignation of President Muhlen- berg, Sept. 11, 1876, who accepted the Greek profes- sorship in the University of Pennsylvania, to which he had been elected. His resignation took effect at the close of the term in December, when he removed to Philadelphia to enter upon his duties there with the new year. This severance of Dr. Muhlenberg's official relations with the college, while in strict obe- dience to a conscientious regard for what he believed
-
:
1
185
THE CITY OF ALLENTOWN.
to be his duty, was nevertheless deeply regretted by all who knew his worth and his self-sacrificing labors in behalf of the institution. This regret was expressed at the time in terms highly complimentary to him, both in the publie press and in the official resolutions of the board of trustees and the faculty, whose honored head he had been for nearly ten years.
.
Rev. B. Sadtler, D.D., who had been very sueee-s- ful in the active ministry of the church and as prin- cipal of the Lutherville Female Seminary, and who was at the time a prominent member of the board of direetors of Pennsylvania College at Gettysburg, was elected Dr. Muhlenberg's successor Oct. 11, 1876, and entered upon his duties as president January, 1877. His inauguration was postponed until the meeting of the Synod, in St. John's Church, Allen- town, May 28, 1877, when the charge to the president was delivered by Rev. J. Fry, D.D., of Reading, and the inaugural address by the president-elect. He was then indueted into his office by the president of the Synod, Rev. C. W. Schaeffer, D. D., in the presence of the assembled Synod, the trustees, faculty, and stu- dents of the college, and a large concourse of citi- zens. At this meeting of the Synod the full control and responsibility for the maintenance of the college were assumed by the Ministerium by her clection of the entire board of trustees. This right had been vested in that body by a change in the charter, which had been secured for that purpose by the stockholders prior to the meeting of the Synod. By this change Rev. W. Rath became the president of the board, as the president of the taeulty was no longer ec officio a member of the board of trustees. At the beginning of this seholastie year Professor Weidner resigned the English chair, and Rev. M. H. Richards was elected professor of English Oet, 11, 1876, and entered upon his duties January, 1877. At the close of the college year, Jnne, 1877, Professor Miller retired, and Rev. B. W. Schmauk succeeded as "acting" professor of German. The higher Greek, formerly taught by Dr. Muhlenberg, was assigned to Professor Seip, in addi- tion to the latin professorship, on his return from the work of the financial agency, June, 1877.
At this time the academie department was reorgan- ized, with Rev. Professor A. R. Horne, A.M., as prin- cipal, and an adequate corps of instructors to aid him. This change was followed by a large increase in the attendance in that department, the mumber having risen from forty-three during the previous year to one hundred and twenty-five for the year ending June, 1878.
During the following year, 1878-79, there was no change either in the faculty or the organization of the different departments. Early in June, 1879, the gratifying intelligenee was received that the late Hon. Asa Packer, president of the Lehigh Valley Rail- road Company, the beneficent founder of the Lehigh University and St. Luke's Hospital, at Bethlehem, had left a bequest of thirty thousand dollars to Mnh-
lenberg College. By subsequent action of the board, this fund was set apart for the endowment of the " Asa Packer Professorship of the Natural and Applied Sciences." At the semi-annual meeting of the board, held Jan. 20, 1880, Rev. R. Hill resigned as assistant professor of Greek, but at the request of the board consented to serve until the end of the term
The Synod of Pennsylvania, at its meeting in Lan- caster, resolved to raise the sum of twenty-five thou- sand dollars for the endowment of the " Professorship of the German Language and Literature." At the meetings of the board of trustees, June 24 and July 20, 1883, measures were taken to carry this resolu- tion into effect. Rev. Sehmauk having resigned as "acting" professor of German, Rev. W. Wackerna- gel was elected to this professorship, and was charged with the work of seeuring funds for the endowment of his chair. By request of the board, Rev. Schmank divided the instruction in German with Professor Wackernagel until the opening of the next seholastie year, when he assmed the full duties of the profes- sorship.
Subsequently an arrangement was made to secure the salary of the German professor by aunual contri- butions from congregations until the endowment is obtained. At this time, through the liberality of Messrs. James K. Mosser and Thomas Kock, a firm well known for its generous and intelligent interest in every good work, Professor Seip was enabled to pre- pare a pleasant surprise for the friends of the college, having secured from them during the summer vaca- tion a cash endowment of twenty thousand dollars for the professorship of the Greek Language and Lit- erature. This endowment was accepted by the board at a special meeting held July 20, 1880. At the same meeting Professor Seip resigned the Latin pro- fessorship, and was elected " Mosser-Keck Professor of the Greek Language and Literature," retaining higher Latin in connection with the Greek.
At the close of the college year in June, ISS1, the board elected Professor E. F. Smith, Ph. D., late of the University of Pennsylvania, to the Asa Packer Professorship of the Natural and Applied Sciences. Ile accepted and entered upon his duties at the open- ing of the term in September. Professor Herbst resigned as professor of Botany, and this branch was assumed by Professor Smith.
During this year a bequest of two thousand dollars was received from the estate of the late E. Jonathan Deininger, of Reading, for the endowment fond of the German professorship.
At the meeting of the board in June, 1882, Rev. A. R. Horne, D.D., resigned as principal of the academic department. Rev. J. Kohler, A. M., succeeded him as principal, and G. T. Ettinger, A.B., who had been in- structor in the ancient languages under Dr. Horne, was elected assistant principal. In order to complete the record of the aendemic department we should add
-
186
HISTORY OF LEHIGII COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
here that in addition to those already mentioned the following persons have been instructors in that depart- ment at different times : C. F. Herrman, W. L. Black- man, W. P. Shanor, Henry Carver, F. R. Flood, J. F. Beates, M. L. Horne, O. G. J. Schaadt, Rev. J. M. Hantz, E. S. Dieter, and Rev. B. C. Snyder, all, exeept Mr. Shanor, under Dr. Horne.
During the college year, 1882-83, Professor E. F. Smith received and accepted a call to Wittenberg College, Springfield, Ohio. His resignation was pre- sented and accepted with regret June 27, 1883. N. Wiley Thomas, Ph.D., was elected his successor and entered upon his duties at the beginning of the pres- ent college year, September, 1883.
During this year the Franke Missionary Society was organized with the object of cultivating the mis- sionary spirit among the students and of promoting the eause of foreign missions.
The Muhlenberg Monthly, a college journal, was started in June, the first number being furnished by the graduating class. It will hereafter be published under the auspices of the literary societies.
The scholastic year, 1883-84, has thus far been attended with but one change, the resignation of J. Reichard as treasurer. He served from the begin- ning until September of this year, in all over sixteen years. Rev. R. Hill was appointed treasurer pro tem- pore. The past history of the college shows that the faculty has been enlarged as the means have aug- mented, so that the professors might devote them- selves more especially to their specific departments, and furnish increased and improved facilities.
The faculty, as at present constituted (December, 1883), are as follows : Rev. Benjamin Sadtler, D.D., president and professor of Mental and Moral Seience and Evidences of Christianity ; Davis Garber, A. M., professor of Mathematics, Astronomy, and Meteor- ology ; Rev. Theodore L. Seip, A.M., Mosser-Keck professor of the Greek Language and Literature and secretary of the faculty ; Rev. Matthias HI. Richards, A.M., professor of the English Language and Liter- ature; Rev. William Wackernagel, D.D., professor of the German Language and Literature; N. Wiley Thomas, Ph. D., Asa Packer professor of the Natural and Applied Sciences ; Rev. John Kohler, A.M., principal of the Academic Department; George T. Ettinger, A.M., assistant principal. The duties of the Latin professorship are discharged by the other professors.
The board of trustees of the college during the sixteen years of its existence has embraced many of the most prominent citizens of Allentown, as well as active laymen and eminent divines of the Synod of Pennsylvania. Its officers have been the following :
Presidents,-Hon. R. E. Wright, 1867 ; Rev. F. A. Muhlenberg, D.D., 1867-1876; Rev. W. Rath, 1877, to the present time.
Secretaries,-Rev. E. J. Koons, 1867-1869; C. Pretz, 1869-1874; Rev. J. D. Schindel, 1874, to the present.
Treasurers,-J. Reichard, 1867, to September, 1883; Rev. R. Hill, 1883.
The resources of the college have been gradually increased until at the present time its endowment amounts to over one hundred and fifteen thousand dollars, exelusive of the buildings and property, which are equal in value to the amount of the debt now resting on the institution. It has thus far received an annual appropriation from the Synod of Pennsylvania, in addition to the stated contributions of individual congregations, for the support of the German professor. The institution has three libraries, one belonging to the college and one to each of the literary societies, besides cabinets of minerals, philosophical apparatus, a chemical laboratory, and such other cquipments as are nceessary and useful in a college. The institution aims at furnishing a thorough Christian education, and embraces in its regular curriculum religious in- struction, philosophy, history, literature, the ancient classics, as well as modern languages, mathematics, the natural and applied sciences, and such other branches as are necessary to a complete and well- rounded course of liberal instruction.
The institution has always been jealous of its hon- orary degrees, and during its entire history has con- ferred the honorary degree of D.D. upon only three persons.
From the foregoing narrative of the changes which have taken place year after year, it is evident that Muhlenberg College has had its struggles as well as its triumphs, perhaps more of the former than the latter. But through the very struggles of its infancy it has developed strength, and by the work it has already accomplished it has demonstrated its right to. existence. Its graduates are scattered over the States and Territories of this broad land, and some are even in foreign countries, the majority of them laboring for the welfare of their fellow-men in the gospel ministry, and the rest for the most part pursuing honorable careers in the professions of teaching, law, and medi- cine, or in sucecssful business. Very many not grad- uates have been helped to a better education than they would otherwise have acquired, from the fact that the college brought the needed facilities within their reach. It has attracted to Allentown annually, as speakers before its literary societies, and in other capacities, men of national reputation in church and State, and some whose names are familiar even beyond our own shores, and has thus also aided in the educa- tion of the masses of the community for whose benefit it was established.
Muhlenberg College, through the liberality of its friends, the efforts of its trustees, and chiefly by the self-sacrificing labors of its faculty, has unquestion- ably accomplished great good for the church and the world.
The Allentown Female College .- This institution was founded in 1867, and is vested with full collegiate powers. It is under the general direction of a board
--
187
THE CITY OF ALLENTOWN.
of trustees and the auspices of East Pennsylvania and Lehigh Classes of the Reformed Church. Its founders, deeply impressed with the importance of providing for the higher education of woman, and recognizing the great advantages to be derived from such an insti- tution, determined to found a school whose special aim should be to make it distinguished for its re- ligious influence upon the heart, as well as for the thorough cultivation of the mind, thus to develop all the exeelleneies of a pure, noble, Christian woman- hood.
The desires and purposes of these advocates of higher female education found embodiment and recognition in a resolution offered and adopted at a special meeting of East Pennsylvania Classis, held in Zion's Reformed Church, Allentown, July 12, 1867, to establish a female college in Allentown, Pa., to be under the supervision of the East Pennsylvania Classis of the Reformed Church. A committee was appointed, consisting of Revs. N. S. Strassberger, W. R. Hofford, I. K. Loos, D. F. Brendle, and Samuel Philips, with instructions to effeet an organization, make all the necessary arrangements for the opening of the college, and superintend the educational in- terests until further measures should be adopted by Classis. At a session of this executive committee, July 12, 1867, it was decided upon that a joint stock company should be formed to secure funds for the purchase of property and the erection of suitable buildings, that the college should be under the man- agement of a board of trustees, two-thirds to be mem- bers of the Reformed Church, and the organization to be known by the name of Lehigh Female College. A course of study embracing all the principal branches of a thorough Christian education was adopted; the several deparments as at present existing, the primary, academie, and collegiate, were constituted, and the terms for tuition fixed. Rev. L. Cort was appointed general agent. To enlist the interest of friends of edneation, and to secure a hearty co-operation in this enterprise, a publie meeting was held on Thursday evening. July 12, 1867, in Zion's Reformed Church, and addresses were delivered setting forth the advan- tages of the college,-its claims upon business men, parents, and members of the church. The result was the appointment of a business committee, whose duty it should be to counsel and co-operate with the ex - ecutive committee in commending the college to the favorable consideration of the business portion of the community. The committee was constituted as fol- lows : Charles W. Cooper, Esq., John H. Oliver, Esq., Hon. R. E. Wright, Rev. A. J. G. Dubbs, Messrs. A. G. Renninger, G. P. Weil, Thomas Mohr, Milton J. Kramer, and W. H. Blummer. To facilitate concert of action and to seenre greater efficiency the two com- mittees were consolidated under the name of the ex- ecutive committee.
The first president was the Rev. Lucian Cort. The school organization was effected on the fifth day of
September, 1867, in the lecture-room of Zion's Re- formed Church. The number of pupils on the morn- ing of the first day was eight, which by the end of the week had increased to fifteen. The instructors, in con- nection with the president, were Reys. W. R. Hotford and N. S. Strassberger, Miss M. E. Garrett and Miss Ida E. Erdman.
Sept. 16, 1867, the executive committee appointed Rev. W. Hofford to attend to the school work of the president for the remainder of the year, with the view of enabling Rev. L. Cort to give his undivided atten- tion to the duties as general agent.
Feeling the want of a more suitable room, a removal was soon made from the basement of the church to rooms in Hecker's building, on Hamilton Street, above Eighth. This place, however, like the other, was only a temporary shelter. It was desired that the school should be perpetuated, its growing wants satis- factorily met, and hence the question arose, Where shall it be permanently located? This question was answered by Hon. R. E. Wright, Sr., a liberal-minded citizen and warm friend of this educational enterprise, who, for suitable consideration, offered his beautiful grounds on Fourth Street, known as " Clover Nook," which were taken in possession and oceupied for school purposes in April, 1868. The institution rap- idly increased in number, and before the end of the first year the accommodations were too limited, and it. was resolved to build an addition. To provide the necessary funds a committee was appointed to dis- pose of additional stock. This committee met with encouraging suceess, which was largely owing to the influenee and work of its chairman, Rev. A. J. G. Dubbs.
The summer session of 1868 was closed earlier than usual to afford the trustees time to enlarge and extend the building. In less than three months the building was completed so far as to admit of the opening of the school at the usual time. The college was not formally opened until November, 1868, when appro- priate addresses were delivered by Rev. T. G. Apple, D.D., of Lancaster, and Rev. J. Beck, D.D., of Easton.
Pursuant to a notice given by East Pennsylvania Classis, a meeting of the stockholders was held at the American Hotel on the evening of the 17th of Feb- ruary, 1868. Samuel Mellose, Esq., was appointed chairman, and Dr. E. G. Martin secretary. Hon. R. E. Wright, Sr., presented a charter, which he had prepared by request. It was read and unanimously adopted, and ordered to be presented to the court of Lehigh County for incorporation under the laws of Pennsylvania. The charter was granted by the court during the June term of 1868. By this instrument the name was changed to the present title, " Allen- town Female College." In accordance with the re- quirements of the charter, an election was held for six trustees to represent the stockholders in the board. The following gentlemen were elected, viz. : Charles W. Cooper, Esq., Hon, R. E. Wright, Sr., Hon. Joseph
188
HISTORY OF LEHIGH COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.