USA > Rhode Island > Providence County > Providence > State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations at the end of the century : a history, Volume 2 > Part 34
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1For list of subscribers, see Guild's Documentary Hist. of Brown Univer- sity, 1867.
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STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.
place was supplied by Merrick Lyon, LL. D., a graduate of the uni- versity class of 1841. This arrangement continued until 1854, when Mr. Frieze accepted a Latin professorship in the University of Michi- gan, and was succeeded in the school by Dr. Emory Lyon. During the administration of Messrs. Lyon and Frieze the school enjoyed re- markable success, the number of scholars becoming so large that in 1852, they, at their own expense, erected an addition to the school building thirty-five feet in length, and added largely to the equip- ment. This building became Lyon Hall, which has recently' been demolished to make room for a new administration building of Brown University.
The catalogue of the school for 1852-3 gives the number of scholars in attendance as 119; past members of the school, 235. The number of students in 1871-2 was ninety, and the gross number from 1845 to 1870, 837. The school was ultimately consolidated with the English and Classical School, of Providence, as described further on.
Brown University received its charter as the "College or University in the English colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations in New England, in America ; the Trustees and Fellows, at any time here- after, giving such more particular name to the College, in honor of the greatest and most distinguished benefactor, or otherwise, as they shall think proper". The provisions of the charter which established the denomination of the college, read as follows:
the Corporation thereof shall consist of two branches, viz. : That of the Trustces, and that of the Fellowship, with distinct 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 Antipedobaptists ; 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 denomination called Episcopalians ; 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 Antipedobap- tists ; and the rest indifferently of any or all denominations, . . to whom the President, when hereafter elected (who shall forever be of the denomination called Baptist, or Antipedobaptist) shall be joined."
The plan of the college was further broadened by making the posi- tions of chancellor, secretary, and treasurer open to any religious denomination, and still further by the provisions in the following clause of the charter :
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GROWTH OF PUBLIC EDUCATION.
"Furthermore, it is hereby enacted and declared: That into this liberal and catholic institution shall never be admitted any religious tests ; but, on the contrary, all the members hereof shall forever enjoy full, free, absolute and uninterrupted liberty of conscience; and that the places of Professors, Tutors, and all other officers, the President alone excepted, shall be free and open for all denominations of Protest- ants ; and that youths of all religious denominations shall and may be freely admitted to the equal advantages, emoluments and honors of the College or University; and shall receive a like fair, generous and equal treatment, during their residence therein, they conducting themselves peaceably, and conforming to the laws and statutes thereof ; and that the public teaching shall, in general, respect the sciences ; and that the sectarian differences of opinions shall not make any part of the public and classical instruction ; although all religious controversies may be studied freely, examined and explained by the President, Pro- fessors and Tutors, in a personal, separate and distinct manner, to the youth of any or each denomination ; and above all, a constant regard be paid to, and effectual care taken of, the morals of the College."
The college so modestly founded, foretold at the beginning nothing of its future greatness. It opened with a solitary student, and its first commencement, held in 1769, saw only seven young men graduated; most of these had been preliminarily trained in Mr. Manning's school. Among them were Charles Thompson, who subsequently succeeded Mr. Manning in the pastorate of the Warren church ; William Rogers, who became an eminent preacher and a professor in the University of Penn- sylvania ; William Williams, many years pastor of a Baptist church in Wrentham, Mass .; James Mitchell Varnum, a distinguished lawyer, judge, and an officer in the Revolutionary army.
It had not been contemplated that Warren should become the perma- nent home of the college, and when the time arrived for erecting a building, there was sharp rivalry among various localities to obtain the institution. Providence, Warren, Newport, and East Greenwich pre- sented their claims. On the 7th of February, 1770, after an earnest discussion, the corporation decided by a vote of twenty-one to four- teen, "that the edifice be built in the town of Providence, and that there the college be continued forever". The memorial from Provi- dence stated that the inhabitants had subscribed £800 "upon principles of regard and esteem for so useful and necessary an institution."
After the location of the college was decided, prompt action was taken to provide for removal of the school, and the corner stone of University Hall was laid by John Brown on March 27, 1770. From the beginning the collecting of requisite funds for the institution was,
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STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.
of course, an ever-present difficulty. Among friends of the college about $1,000 were gathered soon after its establishment. Morgan Edwards went to England and Ireland and there obtained about $4,500. In the South Rev. Hezekiah Smith secured $2,500. The rec- ords of the second meeting of the corporation, held in 1765, show that $1,992 had been subscribed for the building and for endowing the college in Warren. Still, in 1769, Morgan Edwards wrote that "to the year 1770 this seminary was for the most part friendless and money- less". President Manning even looked with favor upon the organiza- tion of a lottery in aid of the college, and so wrote Rev. John Ryland, in England. The reply probably put an end to any project of that character; said he on this subject :
"As to raising money by lottery, I dislike it from the bottom of my heart. "Tis a scheme dishonorable to the supreme head of all worlds and of every true church. We have our fill of these cursed gambling lotteries in London every year. They are big with ten thousand evils. Let the devil's children have them all to themselves. Let us not touch or taste."
The lot selected for the buildings in Providence originally comprised about eight acres and included a part of the home lot of Chad Brown, an original proprietor. The first building and the president's house were erected simultaneously, and the sum of $9,480 was expended, the firm of Nicholas Brown & Co. supplying many of the sundries needed. The graduating class of 1775 numbered ten, and that was the last commencement held until 1782. During the early part of the Revolution, the college was closed by public announce- ment in the newspapers. An effort was made to revive the school in 1780, which would probably have succeeded; but in June the college building was seized for use as a hospital for the French troops ; previous to that time it had been occupied as a barracks. The college was reopened in May, 1782, and the next graduating commencement took place in 1786.
At the March session of the General Assembly, President Manning was unanimously chosen to represent Rhode Island in the Congress. He accepted for little other reason than the hope of recovering from the government the moneys due for the use of the college buildings in the war. In this he failed, and fourteen years passed before the insti- tution was compensated in the sum of $2,000. From the reopening of the college until his death, on April 24, 1791, Mr. Manning continued at the head of the institution which he had been so largely instru-
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GROWTH OF PUBLIC EDUCATION.
mental in founding, and which had received his constant and thor- oughly efficient care more than a quarter of a century.
The next president of the college was Jonathan Maxcy, who filled the position from 1792 to 1802. He was a very young man for the office, but seemed to have the necessary qualities to command success. It was written of his administration as follows :
"He was one whose name and fame are identified with its reputation and whose mildness, dignity, and goodness, equaled only by his genius, learning, and eloquence, subdued all envy, made all admirers friends, and gave him an irresistible sway over the minds of those placed under
BROWN UNIVERSITY, PROVIDENCE, IN 1822.
Drawn by James Kidder. From a copy in the possession of the Rhode Island Historical Society.
his care. Under his administration the college acquired a reputation for belles-lettres and eloquence inferior to no seminary of learning in the United States. His pupils saw in him an admirable model for their imitation, and the influence of his pure and cultivated taste was seen in their literary performances.''1
Jonathan Maxcy was born in Massachusetts, September 2, 1768; he was ordained for the ministry in 1791 and at the same time was elected professor of divinity by the college. After leaving the university he
1President Maxcy's Remains, Elton, p. 15.
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STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.
served until 1804 as president of Union College, Schenectady, N. Y., and left there to take the same office in the South Carolina College. He died in Columbia June 4, 1820. His successor in Providence was Rev. Asa Messer, who continued in the position until 1826.
During his administration, and in 1803, the corporation voted that a donation of $5,000, made within one year from the preceding com- mencement, should entitle the donor to name the institution. Nicholas Brown, son of John Brown (who had been an active friend of the college), made the donation, and the University was given the honored name it now bears. The fund thus established accumulated from year to year, and in 1826 a purchase of bank stock to the amount of $10,000 was made, and constituted a special fund for the professorship of ora- tory and belles-lettres designated by Mr. Brown to be founded by his donation. The name of the institution was formally changed by vote on September 6, 1804.
During President Messer's administration the institution was ex- panded in every direction. In 1810 the University Grammar School building, now known as Lyon Hall, was erected at a cost of $1,450. In 1822 Mr. Brown built Hope College at his own expense, at a cost of about $20,000. By 1826 the permanent funds of the university amounted to a little over $31,000. In 1825 a class of forty-eight stu- dents was graduated. A medical school was founded, which existed from 1811 to 1828, and graduated eighty-seven physicians. The spe- cial professorships for this school were in materia medica, created in 1811; anatomy and surgery, the same year; chemistry, also in 1811, and the theory and practice of medicine, 1815. A professor of moral philosophy and metaphysics was appointed in 1811 ; one of oratory and belles-lettres in 1815, and one of the Latin and Greek language and literature in 1825.
President Messer was born in Methuen, Mass., in 1769, and gradu- ated from Rhode Island College in 1790; from that year until 1796 he was a tutor in the college and was then elected professor of lan- guages. When President Maxcy resigned in 1802 he was made presi- dent pro tempore, and became president in 1804. He was succeeded by Francis Wayland, born in New York, March 11, 1796, a graduate of Union College in 1813 and a student at Andover several years and also a tutor in that institution. From 1821 to 1827 he was pastor of the First Baptist church in Boston. He remained president of Brown University until 1855, and during his administration introduced some important changes and greatly added to the prestige of the institution, particularly by introducing a new system of education, as it was called,
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GROWTH OF PUBLIC EDUCATION.
designed to popularize the course, attract more students and thus add to the insufficient revenue of the institution. "In accordance with this new system the bachelor's degree was given for a three years' course and the master's degree for a course of four years. Graduate study and special study were both encouraged; and the sciences, in accordance with the spirit of the Charter, were made prominent in the curriculum. This system was not put into operation until 1850, and was fully in force only five years. The amount and character of the increase in the scope of the curriculum during President Wayland's administration are clearly shown in the following list of subjects to which professors or instructors were assigned at the dates annexed : Chemistry, physiology and geology, 1834; moral and intellectual phil- osophy, 1834; belles-lettres, 1835; rhetoric, 1837; Hebrew lit- erature, 1838; modern languages and literature, 1843; Greek, 1843; Latin, 1844; French, 1844; history and political economy, 1850; nat- ural philosophy and civil engineering, 1850; chemistry applied to the arts, 1850; rhetoric and English literature, 1851; didactics (i. e., peda- gogy), 1851; analytical chemistry, 1854.''1
Substantial advancement was made also during this period in mate- rial respects. The permanent funds were increased to $200,000, and three important buildings were erected: Manning Hall, given by Nicholas Brown in 1834, built at a cost of $18,500; Rhode Island Hall, erected in 1840, costing $14,000, the money raised among Rhode Island people by subscription ; and the President's house, another gift from Mr. Brown, built in 1840 at a cost of $7,000; this latter building has been used as a refectory since 1869. It will be seen also that Mr. Brown's gifts amounted to not less than $160,000; he also gave the university the benefit of his services as treasurer from 1769 to 1825; was trustee from 1791 to 1825, and fellow from 1825 until his death in 1841. Dr. Wayland resigned the presidency in 1855, leaving it a distinguished heritage of high repute. He was succeeded by Rev. Barnas Sears, a native of Sandisfield, Mass., where he was born in 1802. He graduated from Brown and from the theological seminary at Newton, Mass., in the class of 1828. He also enjoyed a period of study in Europe and brought to the presidency ripe scholar- ship and a strong intellect. His term of service included the Civil War period, and during it the institution made marked progress, in both its funds and its number of students. A system of scholarships
1History of Brown University, by Harry Koopman, librarian, in University Catalogue for 1899-1900, pp. 24-5.
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STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.
was established and over $220,000 collected in subscriptions. The chemical laboratory was built in 1862 at a cost of $15,000. Three hun- dred graduates and students entered the armies of the Union, of whom twenty-one gave up their lives for their country.
The Rev. Alexis Caswell1 succeeded Mr. Sears as president in 1868 and remained until 1872. He was a graduate of the institution in the class of 1822. Under his administration the department of physics was organized, and the endowment increased to more than $550,000. The Jenks Museum was founded in 1871, and in 1875, $8,800 was expended in enlarging Rhode Island Hall. Rev. Mr. Caswell resigned in June, 1872, and was followed by Rev. Ezekiel Gilman Robinson, who was a graduate in the class of 1838. His long administration of the office, covering seventeen years, was marked by gratifying prog- ress in the institution in many directions. The class of 1889, at the close of his term of office, numbered fifty-six, and the plane of scholar- ship was high. During those seventeen years the curriculum was extended to include the following subjects, some of which were taught by separate instructors: Special branches of agriculture, 1872; zoology and agriculture, 1874 ; physiology, 1874; botany, 1877 ; zoology and geology, 1878; elocution, 1880; astronomy, 1884 ; logic, 1886; his- tory, 1888; political economy, 1888. The funds were increased to $980,000, and important additions were made to the buildings. The Library, a gift from the late John Carter Brown, was built in 1878 at a cost of $120,000. Slater Hall, given by Horatio Nelson Slater, was erected in 1879 and cost over $30,000. Sayles Hall, the gift of William Francis Sayles, a memorial to his son, William Clark Sayles (class of 1878), was built in 1881 and cost $100,000. University Hall, which had been renovated in 1850, was again improved in a similar manner in 1883 at an outlay of $50,000. New courses of study were created and a beginning made in systematic graduate study.
Rev. Elisha Benjamin Andrews, a graduate of the class of 1870, was chosen the eighth president of Brown University in 1889. The follow- ing summary of the vast improvements and the remarkable growth of the institution since that year is from the short history before quoted :
"With his accession in 1889 the modern life of the university properly began. In the year preceding his presidency three graduate
1Mr. Caswell acted as tutor in Columbian College, Washington, in 1823-5, and as professor there in 1825-27. He accepted the pastorate of the Baptist Church in Providence in 1828. He was a member of the faculty of Brown (mathematics and philosophy) until 1863. He died in 1877.
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GROWTH OF PUBLIC EDUCATION.
students were enrolled; in the last year of his term of service the graduate students numbered 101; the total number of students for the same years being respectively 268 and 860. The officers of instruction for the corresponding years increased in number from 22 to 73. All the old departments were expanded, and the number of departments was increased from 16 in 1889-90 to 25 in 1897-98. The department of philosophy was enlarged by the addition of psychology and peda- gogy. American and European history were assigned to separate professors, political economy was made a department, and the depart- ment of social and political science and law was added. The depart- ment of fine arts was created, including the history of art, and music. The new department of Indo-European philology was introduced. The departments of Greek and Roman literature and history, English literature and language, and Germanic and Romance languages and literatures were reorganized and extended. Rhetoric and oratory were made an independent department. The new department of Biblical literature and history was formed, including the Semitic lan- guages and New Testament Greek; while a course in the philosophy of religion was offered. The departments of mathematics, mechanical engineering, astronomy, physics (including electrical engineering), chemistry, zoology, geology and anthropology, and botany were ex- tended in scope and thoroughness. New departments were formed for the subjects of mechanical drawing, civil engineering, comparative anatomy, military science and tactics, and bibliography. The museum of fine arts was founded in 1899, and that of anthropology in 1891.
"The funds were increased to $1,125,685, and important additions were made to the buildings and grounds. Hope College was renovated in 1891 at a cost of $35,000. Wilson Hall, the bequest of George Francis Wilson, was built in 1891, costing $100,000. The Ladd Obser- vatory, the gift of Ex-Governor Herbert W. Ladd, was built in the same year at an approximate cost of $30,000. In the same year also the Lyman gymnasium, named in honor of its principal donor, was built at a cost of $70,000. In 1895 Maxcy Hall was built, its cost being $50,000. Pembroke Hall, costing $38,000, was built in 1897. Three buildings, known as the Howell, Messer and Brown Street Houses, were also secured for dormitory purposes. The old play- ground of the university, now known as Lincoln Field, was graded and fitted up for ball games and other athletic purposes in 1889. In 1898 a new athletic field was laid out on Camp street, a mile from the University."
During the last decade the funds of the university have been greatly augmented. In 1891 the Rhode Island department of the Grand Army of the Republic transferred its Fellowship fund of $10,000 to the institution. In 1894 the university returned to the State of Rhode Island the scholarship fund of $50,000, obtained from land
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scrip received in 1863 under an act of Congress. At the same time the State paid the university $40,000 in requittal of its claim upon the Morrill fund, due to the State under another act of Congress. Fur- ther financial statistics are herein referred to.
The Women's College was founded in October, 1891, conferring in the beginning only the privilege of university examinations and certifi- cates of proficiency ; in June, 1893, all of the college and university degrees and the graduate courses were opened to women. In Novem- ber, 1897, this institution was accepted by the corporation and officially given the title, the Women's College in Brown University. It was placed in the immediate charge of the dean of the Women's College, subject to direction by the president. Pembroke Hall, built by the Rhode Island Society for the Collegiate Education of Women, was transferred to the university in October, 1897, and accepted as the recitation hall of the Women's College. Louis Franklin Snow, a graduate in the class of 1887, served as dean of the Women's College from its opening in 1892, until 1900, when he was succeeded by Miss Annie Crosby Emery.
In 1898 Dr. Andrews resigned the presidency and accepted the posi- tion of superintendent of schools in Chicago. Dr. Benjamin Franklin Clarke, the senior member of the faculty, who had served as president pro tempore during the absence of Dr. Andrews in Europe in 1896-7, was appointed president ad interim and served during the college year 1898-99. Early in June, 1899, the Rev. William Herbert Perry Faunce, a graduate in the class of 1880, was chosen president.
The University Library had its inception in 1767, when the Rev. Morgan Edwards began a collection of books in England for it. The library was formerly kept in University Hall. Upon its removal to Manning Hall in 1843 it contained 10,000 volumes. It was transferred to its new and present home in 1878, at which time the number of volumes had increased to 48,000. The present number, inclusive of the books in the twelve department libraries, is over 100,000. When the college was removed to Providence, in 1770, the professors and students enjoyed the hospitality of the Providence Library Company, now the Athenaeum, in extension of the limited resources of the college library. The library fund, established under President Wayland, has been supplemented by five special funds, devoted to the depart- ments of European History, United States History, Mediaeval and Church History, Botany, and the Arts of Design. Gifts of $1,000 each have been made to the library in recent years by the classes of 1872, 1884, 1885, 1886, 1887, and 1888. The growth of the University from
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its foundation to the present time is shown by the following figures, giving the number of graduates at the beginning of each decade :
1764-1769-Number of graduates
60
1779-1789
67
1789-1799
195
1799-1809
253
1809-1819
66
267
1819-1829
297
1829-1839
251
1839-1849
309
1849-1859
326
1859-1869
382
1869-1879
494
1879-1889
66
524
1889-1899
60
1,151
Total number of graduates, 135 years, 4,576; living graduates in 1899, 2,747. In these figures the 69 medical graduates are not includ- ed, nor the honorary graduates. Of these graduates, 885 became clergymen ; 705 lawyers ; 430 physicians ; 212 professors ; 574 teachers ; and the remainder followed other pusuits. Of the graduates, eighteen became governors of States, and many others held high offices. Nine graduates have held the office of governor of Rhode Island, and thir- teen have filled the chair of chief justice of the State since the begin- ning of the present century. The treasurer's report for April, 1899, shows the university funds now amounting to $604,965.52 for general purposes ; professorship funds, $178,325.80; library funds, $56,699.10. These sums are swelled by miscellaneous funds to $922,056.61, exclu- sive of Aid, and Scholarship funds; with those funds included, the amount is $1,158,676.66. At the meeting of the Sons of Brown in Boston and vicinity on January 26, 1898, a vote was passed to under- take the raising of $2,000,000 as an endowment for the university. The plan was subsequently endorsed by other associations throughout the country and the matter was placed in charge of various commit- tees. The work progressed satisfactorily and will be carried to suc- cess. It is the purpose of the authorities of the university that the principal of this endowment shall be kept intact, only its income de- voted to college purposes.
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