USA > Rhode Island > Providence County > History of Providence County, Rhode Island, Volume I > Part 62
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In the Tenth school district we find the following buildings: The Berlin Street school house was built in 1883. It is a two-story frame structure for primary and intermediate schools. Its cost, when fur- nished, was $10,700. The lot on which it stands occupies the corner of Berlin street and Chalkstone avenue, and was purchased in July, 1882, of Albert L. Andrews, for $2.002.33. Mount Pleasant grammar school house is built of brick, two stories, and affords seating capa- city for 538 pupils. The estate, fronting 199 feet on Atwell's avenue by 118 feet on Putnam street, was received from the town of North Providence in 1874. The value of lot and building is estimated at $22,000. A lot on AAcademy avenue was bought for school purposes in August, 1887, of William H. Bowen, and cost $6,650. It contains 32,765 square feet. Plans for a grammar school building to be erected 11pon it have been adopted, and its erection has been authorized by
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the proper authorities. Manton grammar and intermediate school house is a wooden building, two stories high, and seating 122 pupils. The lot measures 162 feet on Chalkstone avenue and 124 feet on the Fruit Hill road, and was received from the town of North Provi- dence in 1874. The Julian Street intermediate and primary school house is a wooden structure, two stories in height, and was built in 1875, at a cost, when finished and furnished. of $11,003.95. The lot was purchased of Robert E. Northam, trustee, in 1875, and faces Ju- lian and Capron streets, 94 feet on the former and 112 feet on the latter. Admiral Street primary school house was built of wood in 1876, at a cost, furnished, of $4.578.84. The lot was bought of George H. Corliss in 1875 and 1884. The Amherst Street intermediate and primary school house is a two-story wooden building, erected in 1880. With the appurtenances the cost amounted to $9,265.48. The plat on which it stands was bought of Patrick and Susan McKenna in 1880. The Smith Street intermediate and primary school house was built in 1884-5. It is of brick, two stories, and has six school rooms. Its cost, when furnished, was $32,000. The lot on which this building is located is situated on the corner of Smith and Duke streets, and was purchased of Patrick Donnelly in 1884. The Coville Street school house is a two-story wooden building for an intermediate school. It was built in 1886, at a cost of $14,908.73. The lot was bought of Ellen R. Bursley in 1885.
A number of evening schools have also for several years been maintained as a part of the public school system of the city. The appropriation for their support has been for several years $15,000 annually. In 1888 it was increased to $16,000. These schools are carried on in the localities of manufacturing industries, and are de- signed to reach a large class of operatives, who have no opportunity free from their daily labor to attend any other school. They have usually begun in October or November, and continued for a term of from 13 to 19 weeks. During the fall and winter term of 1888-9 about 1,300 pupils over 15 years of age attended the evening schools, and a large proportion of these were adults. There were 11 schools, located on the following streets: Harrison, Orms, Public, Wanskuck. Meeting, East, Richmond, Charles and America, and at Olneyville and Manton. The schools opened for that term with 131 teachers. 11 principals and a visiting principal.
Some statistical facts in relation to the schools of Providence will be of interest in conclusion. The total expenditures for schools, in- cluding teachers' salaries, buildings, repairs and incidentals, for the year past, was $381,466.81. The school census and attendance at the public schools for several years past have been as follows, the first figures following each date giving the census, and the second figures giving the attendance: 1835, 5,195, 1,456; 1855, 9,217, 5,730; 1879, 17,684, 11,240; 1880, 19,108, 11,429; 1881, 19,819, 12,102; 1882, 21,-
33
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300, 12,687; 1883, 22,092, 13,140; 1884, 21,676, 13,332; 1885, 22,515, 14.136; 1886, 22,813, 14,687; 1887, 23,391, 15,506; 1888, 23,054, 14.634; 1889, 22,947, 14,850. The attendance in Catholic schools in certain years has been: 1855, 606; 1879, 2,676; 1880, 2,759; 1881, 2,742; 1882, 2,832; 1883, 3,197; 1884, 3,147; 1885, 3,250; 1886, 3,267; 1887, 3,248; 1888, 3.299; 1889, 3,403. The attendance in private schools for certain years has been: 1835, 2,135; 1855, 680; 1879, 809; 1880, 979; 1881, 857; 1882, 861; 1883, 950; 1884, 899; 1885, 929; 1886, 734; 1887, 765; 1888, 688; 1889, 711. The cost of tuition in the public schools of the city has aver- aged for each scholar during several years past as follows: 1877, $14.94; 1878. $15.79; 1879, $13.44; 1880, $13.67; 1881, $14.37; 1882, $13.99; 1883, $13.06: 1884, $13.13; 1885, $13.48; 1886, $13.65; 1887, $13.52; 1888, $13.52.
But to no other institution does Providence point with so much commendable pride as to that grand conservator of first principles and exponent of the progress of the centuries in education, culture and sound doctrine, Brown University. This institution grew out of the desire of the Baptists in America to secure for their denomina- tion a liberal education without subjection to any of those sectarian tests which were so repugnant to them. The four cardinal principles advocated by the Baptists were: liberty of conscience, the entire separation of church and state, baptism by immersion, applied only to believers, and a converted church membership. On these points they were at variance with the leading religious ideas of the colonies. In the year 1762 the Philadelphia Baptist Association resolved to es- tablish a college in the colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plan- tations. It may be helpful to a better understanding of the condi- tions and surroundings under which this college was founded, to notice for a moment the religious tone of the period of its conception. At the middle of the last century then we find there were but two colleges in New England, one at Cambridge and the other at New Haven. Both were exclusively under the government of the Con- gregationalists, and strongly engaged in the maintenance and advo- cacy of their creed and church polity. Here let us hold up the pic- ture of the times as drawn by men living in near association with these institutions. From the words of Doctor Wisner, formerly pas- tor of the Old South church, Boston, we quote: " The door having been professedly as well as really opened for persons without piety to enter the church, as a natural consequence there soon ceased to be any let or hindrance to their entering the ministry. And there is painful evidence that previous to 1740, many of this description did enter the ministry." On the same subject Reverend Doctor Dutton, of New Haven, wrote: "In the beginning of the 18th century, from 1700 to 1735, we find that religion in New England was in a very low condition. It had degenerated into lifeless formalism, like a tree whose bark and external form are complete, but whose heart and'
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strength have decayed. The distinction between those who served God and those who served him not, was passing. and had in a great measure passed, away."
The preaching of Whitfield and his associates, which commenced in New England in 1740, created a schism in the Congregational churches. The smaller number of the clergy favored revivals of religion and the pointed, personal style of preaching adopted by the revivalists. But the great majority, with the two colleges at their head, opposed the whole system. The Baptists, in every place, sym- pathized warmly with the former, being strenucus advocates of ex- perimental religion. Indeed, of the many Baptist churches which sprang up in different places at this time, the greater part were the immediate fruit of those revivals, and offshoots from the " New Light" Congregational churches. With these reinforcements the advocates of these peculiar principles were strengthened, and it was indeed highly appropriate that when the establishment of an institu- tion of learning conformable to Baptist ideas was proposed, the choice of its location should settle upon the spot where from the foundation of civilized society those principles had been the distinc- tive features in its social and political, as well as in its religious life. When this resolution was determined upon, as we have said, by the Philadelphla Baptist Association, the Reverend James Manning, a graduate of the College of New Jersey, was commissioned by them to travel through the northern colonies for the purpose of furthering this project.
We should hardly be just to the memory of one who was largely instrumental in the founding of this college were we to pass over this period of its existence, or rather its inception, without mentioning the connection of Reverend Morgan Edwards with it. Mr. Edwards was a native of Wales, and withal an ardent admirer of his fellow countryman, Roger Williams. He was the pastor of the First Bap- tist church of Philadelphia, and the prime mover in the project of establishing the Rhode Island College, as Brown University was at first called. In 1767 he materially aided it again, by soliciting, in England, the first funds for its endowment.
In the summer of 1763, Mr. Manning, to whom the enterprise had been entrusted, visited Newport and held an interview with Colonel John Gardner, deputy governor of the colony and justice of the supreme court, and through the friendly aid thus secured, a char- ter was obtained from the general assembly in February, 1764. This charter provided for the exclusion of all religious tests for applicants for admission, and of all sectarian teachings in the college course; also for equality of privileges for all Protestant denominations, and the choice of professors without regard to denominational views. The name of the corporation was decreed by the charter to be "Trustees and Fellows of the College, or University in the English Colony of Rhode
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Island and Providence Plantations, in New England, in America." But the act empowered the trustees and fellows, at any time there- after, to give a more particular name to the college, " in honor of the greatest and most distinguished benefactor, or otherwise, as they shall think proper." The government of the college and the first board of official members are well set forth in the following para- graph which we copy from the charter:
"And furthermore, by the authority aforesaid. it is hereby enacted, ordained and declared, that it is now, and at all times hereafter shall continue to be, the unalterable constitution of this college, or uni- versity. that the corporation thereof shall consist of two branches. to wit: that of the trustees, and that of the fellowship, with distinet. separate and respective powers; and that the number of the trustees shall, and may be, thirty-six; of which, twenty-two shall forever be elected of the denomination called Baptists, or Antipædobaptists; five shall forever be elected of the denomination called Friends or Quakers; four shall forever be elected of the denomination called Congregationalists, and five shall forever be elected of the denomi- nation called Episcopalians; and that the succession in this branch shall be forever chosen and filled up from the respective denomina- tions in this proportion, and according to these numbers, which are. hereby fixed, and shall remain to perpetuity immutably the same; and that the said Stephen Hopkins, Joseph Wanton, Samuel Ward. William Ellery, John Tillinghast, Simon Pease, James Honyman, Nicholas Easton, Nicholas Tillinghast, Darius Sessions, Joseph Har- ris. Francis Willett, Daniel Jenekes, George Hazard, Nicholas Brown, Jeremiah Niles. John G. Wanton, Joshua Clarke, Gardner Thurston, John Greaves, John Maxson, John Gano, Samuel Winsor, Isaac Eaton, Samuel Stillman, Russel Mason, Elisha Reynolds, Josias Lyn- don, Job Bennet, Ephraim Bowen, John Taylor, Jonathan Slade. Robert Shettell Jones, Azariah Dunham, Edward Thurston, Jr., and Peleg Barker; or such, or so many of them as shall qualify them- selves, as aforesaid, shall be, and they are hereby declared and estab- lished the first and present trustees. And that the number of the fellows, inclusive of the president (who shall always be a fellow), shall,and may be, twelve; of which, eight shall be forever elected of the denomination called Baptists, or Antipædobaptists; and the rest indifferently of any or all denominations; and that the Reverend Edward Upham. the Reverend Jeremiah Condy. the Reverend Mar- maduke Brown, the Reverend Morgan Edwards, the Reverend Ezra Stiles, the Reverend Samuel Jones, the Reverend James Manning, William Logan, Esq., Joshua Babcock, Esq., Mr. Thomas Eyres, and Thomas Hazard, or such, or so many of them as shall qualify them- selves, as aforesaid, shall be, and they are hereby declared the first and present fellows and fellowship, to whom the president, when hereafter elected (who shall forever be of the denomination called
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Baptists or Antipædobaptists), shall be joined to complete the number."
This college was the seventh American college in order of the date of its establishment. In 1765, Mr. Manning, who had in the meantime become the pastor of a church in Warren, and had opened a Latin school there, was elected the first president of the college .. This election was held at Newport, September 3d, and as the college had as yet no permanent abiding place, Mr. Manning was empowered to act as president of the college and professor of all branches of learning to be taught, "at Warren or elsewhere." In accordance with this commission President Manning began the work of the col- lege at his own residence in Warren, and the first student was Wil- liam Rogers, then a lad of 14 years, son of Captain William Rogers, of Newport, and he was also the only student in the college for three- quarters of a year. But the small seed which had thus been planted soon began to grow, and more encouraging results soon began to crown the efforts of those who labored for its success. In 1766, Mr. David Howell, a graduate of the College of New Jersey, became Mr. Manning's assistant.
Funds being needed, both for the support of the instructors and for the ultimate erection of a suitable college building, Mr. Edwards, in 1767, visited England and Ireland, for the purpose of soliciting aid. His subscription paper, bearing the honored names of Benjamin Franklin and Benjamin West, may still be seen in the college archives. Collections for the same purpose were made in South Carolina and Georgia, and in the Philadelphia churches. The first commencement was celebrated at Warren, September 7th, 1769, at which time seven
young men were graduated. These were Joseph Belton, Joseph Eaton, William Rogers, Richard Stites, Charles Thompson, Jacob M. Varnum and William Williams. A contemporary account preserves the interesting facts, that both the president and the candidates were dressed in clothing of American manufacture, and that the audience, composed of many of the first ladies and gentlemen of the colony, behaved with great decorum.
The institution now began to attract attention. The prophetic conviction now began to fasten itself upon the people that the col- lege was to become a power, and at once four different towns became ambitious for the honor of becoming the site of the building which it was proposed to erect for it. Into this contest Newport, Provi- dence, Warren and East Greenwich entered with more or less vigor. The site was to be determined by the largest contributions to the building fund. The efforts of Providence and Newport soon out- stripped the others so far that they withdrew from the race, and the question of site lay between the two semi-capitals. Newport raised £4,000, but Providence advanced on that sum by £280, beside offer- ing "advantages superior to Newport in other respects." The ques-
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tion was finally decided at a meeting of the corporation held in War- ren, February 7th, 1770, when, after a discussion of the matter continued from 10 o'clock Wednesday morning till 10 o'clock Thurs- day night, a decision in favor of Providence was reached by a vote of 21 to 14. The president and Professor Howell soon after removed to Providence, and for a time occupied the upper part of the brick school house on Meeting street for prayers and recitations.
In 1770 the foundation of University Hall, the oldest of the col- lege buildings, was laid. The ceremony of laying the corner stone was observed on the 14th of May, the honor of placing it being con- ferred upon John Brown. The site selected for the building was the crest of a hill which then commanded a view of the bay, the river with the town on its banks, and a broad reach of country on all sides. The land comprised about eight acres, and included a part of the original home lot of Chad Brown, one of the prominent band of early settlers and associates of Roger Williams. Still the college and its work made but little progress so far as increase of students was con- cerned. The number of the graduating classes for several years was as follows: 1770, 4: 1771, 6; 1772, 6; 1773, 5: 1774, 6; 1775, 10; 1776, 9; 1777, 7; 1782, 7; 1783, 6; 1786, 15; 1787. 10; 1788, 20; 1789. 9; 1790. 22: 1791, 16; 1792, 17; 1793, 12; 1794, 20; 1795, 26; 1796, 17; 1797. 23; 1798, 18; 1799, 24; 1800, 23. From that time forward the number rarely fell below 20, but gradually increased.
During a part of the revolutionary period, from 1777 to 1782, the college was disbanded, and a gap occurred in its history. Some of the students entered the army, while others completed their studies elsewhere. The dormitories and recitation rooms were surrendered to the use of the state militia, and to the sick and wounded of our French allies. President Manning, after receiving the honor of be- ing elected to represent this district in the congress of the United States in 1786, closed his useful and honorable career in 1791, while in the 54th year of his age.
President Manning was succeeded by the Reverend Doctor Jona- than Maxey, who, during the previous year, had held the temporary appointment of professor of divinity. He was at the head of the col- lege for ten years, resigning in 1802, after which he became presi- dent of Union College, and in 1804 president of the College of South Carolina. The third president of the Rhode Island College was Reverend Asa Messer, a graduate under Manning in the class of 1790. He held the office through a period of 24 years, extending to 1826. It was during the early part of his administration that the college received its present name. In 1804 Mr. Nicholas Brown, a member of a family already celebrated in the annals of the state for their public spirit and mercantile enterprise and integrity, and a graduate of the college under Doctor Manning, presented to the cor- poration $5,000, as the foundation of a professorship of oratory and
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belles lettres. He had already given the college a valuable collec- tion of law books. It was now voted that in his honor the institution should be named Brown University. The benefactions of Mr. Brown, however, did not stop here. The entire sum of his benefactions and bequests amounted in value to $160,000. " Hope College" was erec- ted at his expense in 1821-2, as a memorial to his only sister, Mrs. Hope Ives. In his letter to the corporation on this occasion he said: " Believing that the dissemination of knowledge and letters is the great means of social happiness, I have caused this edifice to be erec- ted, and now present it to this corporation. to be held with their other corporate property, according to their charter."
The means for the accommodation of students were, by this act of munificence, more than doubled. Important deficiencies in vari- ous departments, however, remained yet to be supplied. The philo- sophical apparatus, which had been purchased at different times, had become, by ordinary wear and accident, almost unfit for use. By the liberality of Mr. Brown and his brother-in-law, Thomas P. Ives, this department was supplied with a complete set of apparatus, so that it was furnished with as ample means for philosophical illustration as almost any in the country, and superior to those possessed by many similar institutions in Europe at the time. These instruments were received in the year 1829. The library was still in its primitive con- dition. It was crowded into a room in University Hall. In order to give it a new impetus it was proposed to raise a subscription of $25,- 000, of which the interest was to be forever appropriated to the in- crease of the library and the purchase of philosophical instruments. To this fund Mr. Brown gave the sum of $10,000, and in order to the perfect accomplishment of the object, erected at his own expense a library room and chapel. To this edifice Mr. Brown, in testimony of veneration for his former instructor, gave the name of Manning Hall. It was opened by appropriate services in February, 1835. The amount given by Mr. Brown on this occasion fell but little short of $30,000.
Other needs of the institution soon became apparent, and Mr. Brown again came forward with his accustomed liberality. On the 18th of March, 1839, he tendered to the corporation three valuable lots as sites for a mansion for the president, and another building for the accommodation of the departments of natural philosophy. chemistry, mineralogy and natural history, together with $7,000 for the erection of the president's mansion and $3,000 toward the erec- tion of the other building, provided an equal amount should be sub- scribed by friends of the institution before the first of the ensuing May. The subscription was promptly filled, and more money was raised, and the president's house and the building now known as Rhode Island Hall were immediately erected, and the surrounding grounds were graded and adorned. Rhode Island Hall was formally
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opened September 4th, 1840, at which time Mr. William G. Goddard, professor of belles lettres, gave an appropriate address. This was the last act of munificence during the life-time of Mr. Brown. In the following winter his health began visibly to decline, and he died September 27th, 1841, in the 73d year of his age. He made in his will several bequests of land and other property, which swelled the aggregate of his benefactions to the institution to the round sum previously mentioned.
Doctor Messer was succeeded in the presidency by the Reverend Doctor Francis Wayland, who was elected to the office December 13th, 1826. His administration extended over a period of 283 years. The period of his incumbency was marked by greater changes and more numerous improvements in the condition of the college than had been effected by either of his predecessors.' The course of study was enlarged, the standard of scholarship was raised, the number of professors was increased, the discipline was made more rigid, and the professors and students labored with more decided earnestness, as they caught the spirit which was manifest in the life and actions of their leader, the worthy president of the college. His pupils par- took of his intense moral earnestness and high and severe sense of moral obligation, and went forth into life with the exalted aims and studious habits which he both encouraged and illustrated. During Doctor Wayland's time also, as we have seen, the president's mansion was built, the library was established on a more liberal basis, and Manning Hall and Rhode Island Hall were built. In 1855 Doctor Wayland, wearied with the long presidency and the labors involved in inaugurating the new system of college work, which had occupied his energies for several years, resigned the office of president, and was succeeded by Reverend Barnas Sears, D.D. The latter con- tinued in the office 12 years.
The University prospered during the term of Doctor Sears' presi- dency, notwithstanding that term extended through the financial crisis of 1857 and the exciting years of the civil war. The facilities for instruction were increased, a system of scholarships was estab- lished, and large additions were made to the college funds. Doctor Sears was succeeded in 1868 by Reverend Doctor Alexis Caswell, who held the presidency until 1872. He was followed in 1872 by Reverend Doctor Ezekiel G. Robinson, whose long and honorable term of leadership extended to 1889. In the latter part of the sum- mer of the latter year Reverend Doctor E. B. Andrews was elected to the presidency. Soon after the entrance of Doctor Andrews upon the duties of his office it was decided, in token of the good will and confidence which found expression in his unanimous election, to tender him a reception more formal and elaborate than had ever been given to any of his predecessors. A banquet, arranged under the direction of a committee of the Alumni Association, was given, to
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