History of Chittenden County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 23

Author: Rann, W. S. (William S.)
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason & Co.
Number of Pages: 1054

USA > Vermont > Chittenden County > History of Chittenden County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 23

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On October 31, 1845, a similar act was passed, constituting Benjamin Swift, John Smith, Lawrence Brainerd, William O. Gadcomb, Victor Atwood, Abel Houghton, Gardner G. Smith, Romeo H. Hoyt, Samuel W. Keyes, Ste- phen S. Keyes, Timothy Foster, George Green, Bradley Barlow, Peter Chase, Jacob Wead, William Green, Hiram Bellows, Homer E. Hubbell, Isaac Pat- rick Clark, Alvah Sabin, Joseph Clark, Albert G. Whittemore, Daniel H. Onion, Oscar A. Burton, Horace Eaton, William Clapp, and Asa Owen Aldis,

1 See Benedict vs. Heineberg ; 43 Vt. Rep., 232.

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and their associates and successors a body corporate by the name of the Ver- mont and Canada Railroad Company, with a capital stock, also, of one million dollars. Samuel W. Keyes, Stephen S. Keyes, Abel Houghton, Lawrence Brainerd, John Smith, Hiram Bellows, Joseph Clark, Lemuel B. Platt, and Daniel H. Onion, were appointed commissioners to receive subscriptions to stock in Grand Isle and Chittenden counties. On the 15th of November, 1847, this act was amended and the right given to the company to construct its road " from some point in Highgate, on the Canada line, thence through the village of St. Albans to some point or points in Chittenden county, most convenient for meeting at the village of Burlington, a railroad to be built on the route de- scribed in the acts to incorporate the Champlain and Connecticut River Rail- road Company, and the Vermont Central Railroad Company." The route de- termined upon extends from Rouse's Point to Burlington, through Colchester, Milton, Georgia, St. Albans, Swanton and Alburgh, a distance of fifty-three miles. The work of its construction was begun early in September, 1848, in the northern part of Georgia, and completed early in 1851. The first officers of this company were as follows :

John Smith, president; Samuel H. Walley, treasurer ; Lawrence Brainerd, clerk ; directors, John Smith, Charles Paine, S. S. Lewis, S. M. Felton, Law- rence Brainerd, William Farrar and Heman Carpenter. The present officers and directors are as follows: John L. Mason, president ; William G. Shaw, treasurer and clerk ; directors, John L. Mason, Jed. P. Clarke, Alfred S. Hall, Henry D. Hyde, Thomas H. Perkins, Augustus Russ, and Charles E. Billings.

The Champlain and Connecticut River Railroad Company, above men- tioned, was chartered on the 3Ist of October, 1843, for the purpose and with the right of " constructing a railroad from some point at Burlington, thence southwardly, through the counties of Addison, Rutland, Windsor and Wind- ham, to some point on the western bank of the Connecticut River." The route. fixed upon was from Bellows Falls to Burlington, a distance of 1192 miles, through portions of the valleys of Williams and Black Rivers, on the east side of the Green Mountains, and along the valleys of Otter Creek and Lake Cham- plain, on the west side. The first meeting of stockholders was held at Rutland on the 6th of May, 1845, Timothy Follett, of Burlington, being chairman, and A. L. Brown, of Rutland, clerk. It was there voted to open the books for subscriptions to stock on the 10th of June following. On the 6th of Novem- ber, 1847, the name of the company was changed by the Legislature to the Rutland and Burlington Railroad Company, and at a subsequent date to the Rutland Railroad Company. The construction of this road was begun in Feb- ruary, 1847, in the town of Rockingham, near Bellows Falls, and completed in December, 1849.

On the 24th of August, 1849, the Vermont and Canada road was leased to the Vermont Central Railroad Company, which after the period of fifty years

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HISTORY OF CHITTENDEN COUNTY.

was to have an absolute grant of the same. The Vermont Central Railroad Company was afterwards forced to place the road under two mortgages, and on the 12th of May, 1854, gave a deed of surrender to the trustees for the bondholders under the first mortgage, and on the 21st of June, 1854, to the trustees under the second mortgage. On the 23d of November, 1872, the bondholders under these mortgages were incorporated under the name of the Central Vermont Railroad Company, for the purpose of purchasing the stock of the Vermont Central and Vermont and Canada companies, its capital stock to be an amount sufficient to " purchase or retire the first and second mort- gage bonds of the Vermont Central Railroad," and such additional amount as should be authorized by a majority vote of the stockholders. George Nichols, John W. Stewart and Bradley Barlow were appointed commissioners to receive subscriptions to stock. Meantime, on the 30th of December, 1870, the Rut- land Railroad was leased to the Vermont Central Company, and thus all the roads then opened in the county passed under the control of the Central Ver- mont. The Burlington and Lamoille Railroad Company was organized under the general laws of the State on the 24th of February, 1875, and the work of constructing its road was begun in May following, and opened for traffic on the 2d of July, 1877. It extends a distance of thirty-five miles, viz : from Bur- lington to Cambridge. The first officers of this company were: William B. Hatch, of New York, president ; N. Parker, of Burlington, vice-president; E. W. Peck, of Burlington, treasurer; D. C. Linsley, of Burlington, manager. This road has also recently come under the control of the Central Vermont Railroad Company.

The first board of directors of the Central Vermont Railroad Company, elected at St. Albans, May 21, 1873, were: Wm. Butler Duncan, S. L. M. Barlow, New York city ; Trenor W. Park, Bennington ; J. Gregory Smith, St. Albans ; John B. Page, Rutland; Benjamin P. Cheney, Boston ; John Q. Hoyt, George H. Brown, John S. Schultze, New York city ; Worthington C. Smith, St. Albans; Joseph Clark, Milton; J. G. Mccullough, Bennington; James R. Langdon, Mont- pelier. The officers elected May 27, 1873, were : J. Gregory Smith, president; W. C. Smith, vice-president ; George Nichols, clerk ; J. Gregory Smith, S. L. M. Barlow, Trenor W. Park, John S. Schultze, executive committee ; Duncan, Sherman & Co., financial agents; J. W. Hobart, general superintendent; L. Millis, general freight agent. The present directors are : J. Gregory Smith, Joseph Hickson, Benjamin P. Cheney, Ezra H. Baker, James R. Langdon, WV. H. Bingham, E. C. Smith. The present officers are: J. Gregory Smith, presi- dent ; J. R Langdon, first vice-president ; E. C. Smith, second vice-president ; J. W. Hobart, general manager ; J. M. Foss, general superintendent ; D. D. Ranlett, treasurer, and George Nichols, clerk.

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CHAPTER X.

EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS.1

First Proceedings Towards the Establishment of a College in Vermont - Dartmouth's Proposition - Offer of Elijah Paine -The Liberal Offer of Ira Allen -Finally Effective and the the University Established at Burlington -- The Vicissitudes of its History - The Vermont Agricultural College - The University Buildings - Billings Library - Public Schools of Bur- lington - Female Seminary -- Young Ladies' School - Vermont Episcopal Institute - Acade- mies, etc., at Charlotte, Colchester, Essex, Hinesburg, Underhill, and Williston.

I UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT .- The first hint of a college for the State of Vermont is found in the constitution of 1777, which declares that " one university in this State ought to be established by direction of the Gen- eral Assembly." When, in 1779, the State began to grant charters for town- ships on its own authority, it reserved in each, one right of land, about 320 acres, " for the use of a seminary or college." These reservations amounted in all to some 29,000 acres, scattered through about 120 towns and gores, and lying mostly in the unsettled and mountainous sections of the State. Dart- mouth College obtained its charter in 1779, and was planted at Hanover, N. H., on the bank of the Connecticut, as a central position which might equally serve the convenience and obtain the patronage of both New Hampshire and the " New Hampshire Grants." Dartmouth, in fact, seems to have claimed Vermont as her preserve, and had such influence in the Legislature as to obtain, in 1785, the grant of an entire township of land, 23,040 acres, almost as much as all that had been reserved in scattered portions for a like institution in her own domain.

In October, 1786, the General Assembly received and considered a letter from the secretary of the board of trustees of Dartmouth College, conveying a "grateful expression and high sense " of the beneficence of the State ; also a "letter and address of Mr. President Wheelock." The address suggested that the State should sequester to the use of the college " a part of the public [land] rights in the State, those only which were left for a society for the propagation of knowledge in foreign parts." In return for these expected concessions the college promised to educate students from Vermont without charge for tuition, not only in the college, but in academies which it was proposed to set up and maintain in the several counties in the State. A hint was also given of a " branch college " in Vermont, " if the Legislature shall ever think it neces- sary." It was suggested, further, that if Vermont should establish a college, it should be "joined in one bond of union " with Dartmouth. These proposi- tions were printed by order of the Assembly in both the Vermont newspapers, and severely criticised as an attempt to divert the glebe rights improperly, and

1 Prepared by Professor J. E. Goodrich.

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HISTORY OF CHITTENDEN COUNTY.

to prevent the founding of colleges in Vermont. The Assembly finally re- solved, March 3, 1787, that " the proposals of President Wheelock, in behalf of the trustees of Dartmouth College, are such that they cannot be accepted."

There were those in the State, however, who thought that Vermont should have.a complete and independent educational equipment. In October of the year last named, the Hon. Elijah Paine, of Williamstown, offered to give two thousand pounds for the erection of buildings, etc., if the Legislature would locate the desired institution at Williamstown, and secure to it the use of the public lands. No action was had on this proposition until two years after, when an adverse report was presented, the committee deeming it inexpedient as yet to fix upon a definite location for a university, on account of the sparseness of the population.

In October, 1789, the project of a State university was again urged upon the Legislature in a memorial by the Hon. Ira Allen, of Colchester, who presented various reasons for such an independent establishment, and suggested Burling- ton as a suitable location. It was at some distance from the seat of Dartmouth College, easily reached by the inhabitants of Vermont, and readily accessible from Canada and the northern parts of New York. His arguments were sup- ported by an offer of four thousand pounds towards the founding of the pro- posed university if the Legislature would " locate it within two miles of Bur- lington Bay." Other subscriptions1 were added to those of Gen. Allen, mak- ing a total of five thousand six hundred and forty-three pounds and twelve shillings. Of the four thousand pounds, one thousand was to be paid partly " in a proper square of lands sufficient to erect all the public buildings on, to form a handsome green and convenient gardens for the officers of the college," and partly " in provisions, materials and labor in erecting the public buildings." The remaining three thousand pounds was to be paid " in new lands that will rent in produce, that is, Wheat, Beef, Pork, Butter or Cheese, for the annual in- terest at six per cent. of said £3,000." In consequence of this memo- rial, a committee was appointed "to draft a plan for a constitution and government of a college to be established in this State." Upon the question of location, however, the Legislature was not so well agreed. It was thought that other towns should have a chance to present their claims, so, after a long debate, a committee of seven was appointed, one from each county, " to receive absolute donations and particular subscriptions for a college." But no dona- tions or subscriptions were received, Gen. Allen's liberal offer having discour- aged all competitors.

In October of 1791 the Legislature again took up the project of establish- ing a State university. A bill was drawn, discussed, and passed in grand com- mittee, or as we would now say, in joint assembly ; but this bill had still to be

1 The general subscription was headed by Governor Thomas Chittenden with the sum of three hundred pounds.

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completed by designating the location and the names of the trustees. The mat- ter of location had been debated ever since the memorial of Elijah Paine, in 1785- Much discussion was had, a committee of inquiry appointed, and the claims of various other towns considered. Much interest had been awakened in various sections of the State, the southern portion claiming to be specially considered, as it had been longest settled. When the matter came to a vote, Burlington had eighty-nine ballots, Rutland twenty-four, Montpelier five, Williamstown five, and other towns one each. The bill was passed without opposition, and ap- proved 3d of November, 1791. The trustees were to be the governor of the State, the speaker of the House of Representatives for the time being, and the president of the university, with ten others. This board was empowered to fill all vacancies, ex-officio members excepted, to take charge of all the lands given by " the authority of this State for the use and benefit of a college," to hold not more than 70,000 acres of land in this State, and to have freedom of taxa- tion for all property below one hundred thousand pounds. Its catholic relig- ious character was indicated in the provision that no preference should be given to any sect or religious denomination. Accordingly, the original board of trus- tees shows the names of one Baptist and two Congregational clergymen, and of one Friend.1

The first meeting of the corporation was held at Windsor on the same day in which the charter was granted. A committee was appointed to solicit sub- criptions and to secure the donations which had previously been offered. The next meeting was held at Burlington in June of the following year. The pres- ent site was chosen for the location of the university buildings, and a plot of fifty acres, then covered with stately pines, was set off from lands belonging to Gen. Ira Allen. The president's house was begun in 1794, but not com- pleted until 1799.2 The Rev. Daniel C. Sanders, who the next year became president of the college, was invited from Vergennes to Burlington, took up

1 In a letter of St. John de Crevecoeur to Ethan Allen, written six years before the charter of the university was granted, there is found an offer to " get another [seal] engraved for the college the State of Vermont intends erecting and I will take upon myself the imagining the device thereof. I will do my best endeavours to procure from the king some marks of his bounty and some usefull presents for the above college. The name of the new college I would beg to send it along with the new seal which I shall send you from Paris." Ethan Allen replies under date of 2d March, 1786 : " With respect to the college, a committee is now appointed to mark out the place, and as to the seal of the college and its device and any other matters relating thereto, the people in Vermont confide in Mr. St. John and are his humble serv'ts." (This St. John is the man after whom St. Johnsbury was named. He also suggested the name of Vergennes. Himself and his three children were naturalized as citizens of Vermont by special act, roth March, 1787. )

2 In 1795 Ira Allen made a new proposition to the Legislature, viz .: Of a further donation of a thousand pounds in lands and one thousand more in books and apparatus, if they would consent to christen the rising institution " Allen's University." This offer seems not to have met with any favor. Allen's departure for Europe in the fall of this year, his subsequent detention there, and the serious financial loss sustained by him in consequence of an unfortunate' enterprise in which he embarked at this time, were prominent among the causes of the seemingly needless delay in getting the university into operation.

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his residence in the new building, and received pupils in study preparatory to a college course. The tuition charged for this service was $12 a year, his salary as minister of the town being but $400.

The college officers were not appointed, nor was a college edifice begun, until the year 1800. On the 17th of October Mr. Sanders was chosen presi- dent and authorized to employ a tutor to aid him in the work of instruction. The college proper began its operations in 1801 with a class of four, who were graduated three years after. With the exception of a single term in 1804, in which he had the assistance of a tutor, President Sanders constituted the entire working faculty until 1807, giving six and sometimes eight or more hours a day to the labor of personal instruction. In addition, he was charged with the ordinary duties of a college presidency, having oversight of the building, do- nations, lands and other out-door interests of the institution. When we re- member that he was at the same time minister of the parish of Burlington, we can easily believe him to have been a rather busy man.

In 1807 the corporation took careful note of what had been accomplished, and laid their plans for enlargement and progress. The Rev. Samuel Williams, LL.D., author of a well-known history of Vermont, was soon appointed lec- turer on astronomy and natural philosophy, the first instruction of the kind, as- is supposed, ever given in New England. In 1807 James Dean, a graduate of Dartmouth College, became tutor in mathematics and natural philosophy, and John Pomeroy, M.D., gave lectures in anatomy and surgery. Both these gen- tlemen were elected to professorships in 1809. The apparatus in astronomy and physics is said to have been more complete than in any other New Eng- land College, save the two old foundations of Harvard and Yale. The college library contained 100 volumes. There was also a society library of 100 vol- umes, and a "Burlington library" estimated at a value of $500.00. The course of study was modeled in the main after that of Harvard, Dr. Sanders being a graduate of that institution. Tuiton was fixed at $12.00 a year, and there seem to have been no charges for incidentals. The expenses of living were so low that the president estimated that a student by teaching four months each winter at $16.00 a month could pay his board and all college bills, and leave at last with $32.00 in his pocket! The president had a salary of $600.00; the professor of mathematics had exactly $348.71, and the tutor $300.00. The total income from lands was $1,048.71. The corporation appropriated $150.00 to purchase books for the library, and $100.00 to be added to the philosophical apparatus; and appointed David Russell, esq., as general agent to rent the public lands, sell lands not public, and look after the various out-door interests of the university. There were forty-seven students on the ground, and larger numbers were confidently expected. The work done and the growth attained in seven years justified large hopes for the future of the institution. Ira Allen's constructive ability, Dr. Williams's scholarship, the

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trained sagacity of Samuel Hitchcock, the first secretary of the corporation, also a graduate of Harvard, the zeal and the indefatigable industry of President Sanders, and the vigorous and hopeful spirit of David Russell, the new finan- cial agent-these were sufficient guaranties of growth and prosperity. But trouble soon came. The university was ere long involved in a political war by reason of the Non-Intercourse Act of 1807, the first fore-runner of the War of 1812. There was intense and systematic opposition in this section of the State to the action of the United States authorities. The prosperity of this region, and especially of this, the leading town, depended on free commercial intercourse with Canada. There was no outlet of any sort, east or south, for the surplus products of the country. So violent was the resistance to the measures of the Federal authorities that Vermont was at one time declared by proclama- tion of the president of the United States to be in a state of rebellion. Dr. Sanders had been so long identified with both town and college that he could not well refrain from uttering his convictions with boldness and energy. The ani- mosity engendered in this political war acted unfavorably upon the material in- terests of the university in many ways. Suffice is to say that whatever errors had been made in the obtaining the collection or the use of subscriptions were only too easily brought into the controversy by persons who had been irritated or disappointed. Then there was the competition between this and the Middle- bury College, which had been founded in 1800. The rival institution lay be- tween Burlington and a large number of the earlier settled towns of the State; it narrowed the field from which patronage was to be expected, and deprived the university in no slight degree of the sympathy and active support of the clergy, and other educated citizens of the commonwealth. It seems to have been the hope of those who secured the charter for Middlebury College that the establishment of a university here at Burlington might be forestalled by getting their own institution into active and succesful operation. This was located in the midst of the wealthiest and most populous section of the State ; in the midst, also, of the most active religious influence. It was only natural that appeals should be made in its behalf to the religious prejudices of the good people of the State, and not without effect. Students were drawn away from the university and the sympathies of the clergy, and of religious people generally, gathered about the sister college.

About this time, 1809-10, certain friends of the university thought that its interests might be furthered by effecting a closer union with the State. An act passed on the 10th of November, 1810, completely changed the constitu- tion of the board of control. The Legislature was thereafter to elect five trustees every three years; and ten members, a majority of the whole board, were at once chosen. In 1823 the number of trustees was increased to twenty- eight ; an arrangement which lasted only five years, all parties being ready in 1828 to return to the original charter. This scheme of close affiliation between

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HISTORY OF CHITTENDEN COUNTY.

the Legislature and the university failed to secure the advantages which had been expected from it.

The new corporation began, however, with vigor and system. The finances were examined, and a better agency organized to manage the funds and lands of the university. Four new professorships were established, and the outlook was full of hope. Such men as Samuel Hitchcock, Dudley Chase, Titus Hutch- inson, Royall Tyler and William C. Bradley-a group of names combining scholarship, knowledge of affairs, and a disposition to scrutinize and keep watch over the details of administration - such men, had they not been absorbed in politics, might have given to the nascent university an enlarged scope and an increase of stability and usefulness.

But at this time politics took precedence of all other subjects. The restric- tions laid upon trade had all but ruined Northern Vermont. Smuggling was rife on the frontier. The whole border was lined with customs officers. War was declared against Great Britain on the 18th of June, 1812, and troops were ordered to Burlington, which became the headquarters of military operations. The college edifice was seized for an arsenal, and soon after was demanded for barracks. So the corporation, making a virtue of necessity, on the 24th of March, 1814, leased the building to the United States government for $5,000 a year, and resolved " that the regular course of instruction be, and hereby is, suspended, and that those officers of the college to whose offices salaries are annexed, be dismissed from their offices, respectively." The members of the senior class received their degrees, and the younger students were recommend- ed to complete their studies elsewhere.

The university was reorganized in the summer of 1815 with a new faculty, of which the Rev. Samuel Austin, of Worcester, Massachusetts, was the head. The college building was repaired by the United States government, and in- struction began in September. But the financial affairs of the institution were not yet on a sound footing. The rent paid by the United States was applied to the canceling of old debts, supposed to have been outlawed. After six years (March, 1821) President Austin resigned, and was succeeded by the Rev. Daniel Haskell, then pastor of the First Church, Burlington, as president pro tempore. But so great were the difficulties and so few the encouragements of the situation that announcement was actually made that instruction would cease to be given in the college at the end of the fall term. A few of the graduates, however, were not so utterly disheartened. A literary society in the university held a meeting, along with the alumni in the town, to consider a proposition to divide the library of the society. The discussion developed various and con- flicting opinions, and continued for several evenings. A young professor, Arthur L. Porter, protested against the scattering of the library, as treason in the republic of letters. He insisted that the college might be revived, and out- lined the course to be adopted to that end. The result of his appeal was the

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History of Chittenden County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 23

Author: Rann, W. S. (William S.) Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason & Co. Number of Pages: 1054

Author: Rann, W. S. (William S.)
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason & Co.
Number of Pages: 1054