USA > Vermont > Chittenden County > History of Chittenden County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 24
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restoration of harmony and the appointment of a committee to do what might be possible to turn the tide and resuscitate the institution. By the end of the term Mr. Haskell had been regularly appointed president, and James Dean professor of mathematics. The efforts of the young men were rewarded with a high degree of success. In about two years the number of students was raised from twenty-two to seventy.
But now came sudden disaster and darkness. On the 27th of May, 1824, " the noble college edifice," as Thompson calls it, was reduced to ashes by an accidental fire, along with portions of the library and apparatus. And to add to the calamity, President Haskell, the high-priest of this temple of science, overburdened with trials and anxieties, was smitten with insanity ! The de- struction of the building seemed to have been received as a challenge by the generosity of the good people of Burlington. Before commencement in Au- gust they had rallied again to the help of the college and subscribed more than $8,300 for a new edifice. This resulted mainly from the efforts of the same young men who two years before had prevented the closing of the college doors and apparently started the university on a career of prosperity. Let us set down here the names of Charles Adams, Luman Foote, John N. Pomeroy and Gamaliel Sawyer, all four graduates of the college and worthy to be re- membered with those of Professor Porter and Nathan B. Haswell, as the names of young men whose energy and hopeful enthusiasm secured the erection of a building to take the place of the one destroyed. Within three months plans were adopted and the construction of the building contracted for. A presi- dent and new professors were obtained, and instruction was continued while the new buildings were in process of erection. Prayers and recitations were attended in a large and unoccupied dry goods store at the north end of the college park, or "square," as it was then called. The corner-stone of the north college was laid by Governor Van Ness April 26, 1825, Charles Adams, esq., of the class of 1804, delivering the address. The laying of the corner- stone of the south college, by Lafayette, on the 29th of June of the same year, is commemorated by a stone with an appropriate inscription, which has been moved from its original position, and now rests in the southwest corner of the central projection of the main college building.
The Rev. James Marsh was elected to the presidency in October, 1825, his immediate predecessor, Dr. Willard Preston, having held office but a single year. George W. Benedict was then in charge of the department of mathe- mathics and natural philosophy, and the Rev. Joseph Torrey was called in 1827 to the chair of Greek and Latin. Mr. Marsh was more variously and more profoundly learned than any one who had preceded him in the office. He had had experience in the work of college instruction, and had well-con- sidered views of his own as to the scope and method of college discipline ; and his colleagues were not unworthy coadjutors of their chief. The course of study was at once brought under review and some modifications made in 1827.
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1
In 1829 was published an " Exposition of the System of Instruction and Dis- cipline pursued in "the University of Vermont," followed in 1831 by an en- larged edition of the same. It is the tradition that this document was written in the main by Professor George W. Benedict. There is not space here to outline the contents of this pamphlet. It was received with marked favor, and is believed to have had important influence in shaping the higher education of the country. It is still referred to as a land-mark in the development of the present system of college studies.
In 1832 Dr. Marsh resigned the presidency to give himself to the duties of the chair of moral and intellectual philosophy, and the Rev. John Wheeler, of Windsor, Vt., succeeded him. Mr. Farrand N. Benedict at the same time became professor of mathematics. A subscription of $25,000, begun before Dr. Marsh's resignation, was not only completed in 1834, but so increased that about $30,000 was realized from it. This increase of funds enabled the college to increase its teaching force, to purchase philosophical apparatus and a valuable library of 7,000 volumes, to repair the buildings, and pay some pressing debts. And the efforts made in raising the subscription made the institution more widely known, and increased its influence and the number of its friends. In- deed, a new interest was awakened in the subject of collegiate education throughout the State.
A word should be said of the library then procured. The greatest care was used and the best advice taken in the selection of the books. The agent sent abroad to purchase them was Professor Joseph Torrey, than whom a more competent person could not have been found. The 7,000 volumes were bought at an average price of about $1.25 a volume, and the collection was one which, for the uses of a collegiate institution, was excelled by no library in the United States, except perhaps that of Harvard. How incomplete it was, none knew better than the men who spent so much time and thought in selecting it.
At this time the financial affairs of the institution were carefully examined, lands looked up, college property inventoried, and a proper system of book- keeping instituted. The carelessness and unwisdom with which the affairs of the university had sometimes been managed may be illustrated by the fact that General Ira Allen's original liberal grant of fifty acres for the college site had been alienated to pay agents and others, until only one acre and a half re- mained ! One cannot think of such reckless waste of the original resources of the institution without indignation ! The sagacious and far-reaching plans of Allen were balked, and for the time in large measure defeated by the incom- petence and greed of agents.1
I It will be of interest to add that the original domain of the university was part of lot No. 112 on the town plan. Its south boundary was Main street, while on the west it took in the houses now on the west side of College Park and a portion of the gardens adjoining. have been near where the museum now stands.
The north line seems to
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The prospects of the university were now bright and hopeful. To secure what had been gained, and to insure further progress and growth another sub- scription was started in 1836 with promise of success, but disaster came instead ! One general bankruptcy involved the whole country in 1837. Debts could not be collected. The banks suspended specie payments. Many of the States actually repudiated their obligations. Money vanished from men's sight. To raise money for a college in the face of general financial wreck was, of course, inipossible. The wonder is, that the professors did not desert their posts. Rents, tuitions and subscriptions alike went in large part unpaid. The library was attached by an importunate creditor, himself hard pressed by others, and advertised to be sold by the sheriff. The college emerged from the fearful crisis of 1837-39 with a debt of about $25,000, but without sacrifice of a dollar of its property, or dishonor to its commercial credit. But with what toil and privation and self-denial to the instructors themselves and to their families, will never be known.
In 1839 plans were laid and measures taken with a view to enlargement and future growth. Twenty-one acres of land were added, by purchase, to the acre and a half, and the trustees were recommended by the board of in- struction to acquire the whole plot of land lying within the public roads which surround the university. This same year the Hon. Azariah Williams, of Con- cord, Vt., made over to the college his large landed estate valued at $25,000. This year, too, the college received its first legacy, $500, from the Hon. Elijah Paine, of Williamstown, Vt., and others made promises to remember the uni- versity in their wills.
In 1842 occurred the death of Dr. James Marsh. Professor Torrey was transferred to the chair of philosophy and Calvin Pease succeeded him in that of Latin and Greek. In 1845 the Rev. W. G. S. Shedd was elected professor of English literature, and a new subscription was begun with the intention of raising $100,000. $50,000 was subscribed and secured. In 1847 Professor G. W. Benedict resigned, after twenty-two years of devoted and most effective service. In 1848 President Wheeler resigned, and the next year the Rev. Worthington Smith, D. D., of St. Albans, Vt., was chosen to fill the office. A new subscription was opened, with a view to raise $30,000, and the university entered upon a period of moderate prosperity. The six classes which entered during Dr. Smith's administration graduated a total of 135, the largest num- bering twenty-seven. President Smith's health failing in 1855, he was suc- ceeded in the presidency by Professor Pease, who retained the office until Feb- ruary, 1862, when he was called to the pastorate of a church in Rochester, N. Y. In the following September Professor Torrey was made president, and filled the office until 1866.
The operations of the university were once more sadly interrupted by the civil war. In 1861 a large proportion of the undergraduates, moved by their love
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of the fatherland, exchanged the " still air of delightful studies " for the commo- tion and dangers of the tented field. They rushed to the defense of the coun- try with an alacrity which threatened to leave the dormitories and lecture- rooms empty. The catalogue of 1862-63 shows that of a total enrollment of sixty-four ; twenty-eight, or forty-four per cent. of the whole number, were in actual service in the field. And it appears that college boys made good sol- diers, as even at that early period of the war one is set down as captain of cav- alry, six as lieutenants, and others as filling various subaltern offices. Some of them gained higher posts subsequently, and others of them -are not the names of these young patriots inscribed on the memorial tablet in the chapel of the University ?
And again it took a long time to recover from the effects direct and indirect of the war. Some, as was natural, never returned to complete their course at the university. Others, who were in the way to a college training, also joined the army, and came out of the war too old, as they thought, to enter college, or with complete change of plans and aims. The universal rule, " To him that hath shall be given," operated here as elsewhere. The classes were for a time so small as to cease to be attractive to young men, and not a few went outside the State to pursue their college course.
By act of the General Assembly, 9th November, 1865, the Vermont Agri- cultural College, which had been chartered the year before, was incorporated with the University of Vermont. One of the conditions of the original char- ter was that $100,000 should be raised by voluntary subscription for its endow- ment or other uses. This not having been complied with, the charter of the college would, by one of its provisions, have lost its validity by 15th November, 1865, had not the union been consummated. The expenses of this college or department are defrayed by the Agricultural College Fund, provided by the act of Congress of 2d July, 1862, the income of which is $8,130 annually. The act under which the college is organized prescribes that its "leading object shall be, without excluding classical and other scientific studies, and including military tactics, to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts." In accordance with this act, the university has estab- lished courses in civil engineering, mining engineering, chemistry and agricul- ture. A literary-scientific course has also been added for the benefit of such as desire the advantages of the regular academic course, but are unable to pur- sue Greek. The instruction in botany, philosophy, zoology and geology, comes naturally also is within the scope of the ordinance just cited.
Very soon after this union was effected, the corporation invited Prof. James B. Angell, LL. D., of Providence, R. I., to the presidency. He was inaugurated Ist August, 1866, and entered with sagacity and vigor upon the difficult duties of the position. Money was to be raised, friends, war and enemies to be con- ciliated, facilities and men provided for the new courses of instruction, repairs
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to be made, students to be gathered, and hope and courage to be infused into the whole constituency of the college. There were conflicting views and in- terests also to be harmonized. Not a few of the alumni looked with a feeling akin to jealousy and distrust upon the " agricultural " member of the new firm ; and the " practical " friends of the new college deemed the successful raising of a bed of beets to be of more profit to the State, and more in the line of the real intent of Congress than all the " dead " languages and fine-spun metaphys- ics in the old-fashioned curriculum. Mr. Angell soon gave proof of his rare qualities, in the quiet yet masterly skill which characterized his administration. He had a large business capacity, tact in the development of his plans, and a quick insight into the characters and motives of men. His cordial manners and power of persuasive speech drew students and others into terms of liking and friendship, and disarmed the almost hostility with which some of his plans were regarded by some of the older graduates of the institution. He introduced, also, into the college, and into the relations of the college with the city, a new and exceedingly pleasant social element - one which has not yet ceased to char- acterize the intercourse of citizens and students. Under Mr. Angell's leader- ship the university made a steady advance both as to facilities and as to the number of undergraduates. By 1867 the alumni had subscribed $25,000 to en- dow a professorship in honor of Dr. James Marsh, and about as much more had been promised for other objects. In 1869 Mr. Angell reported that there were already upon the books about $75,000 of the $80,000 which it was pro- posed to obtain immediately. This subscription was completed in October of that year. The money was used in part for the renovation and remodeling of the college building, the equipment of the new laboratory, and the erection of the president's house. The catalogue of 1866 shows a total of thirty-one stu- dents; that of 1870, of sixty-seven.
At the close of the year 1870-71 Mr. Angell resigned, to accept the presi- dency of the University of Michigan, and Professor Matthew H. Buckham, who was graduated from the university in 1851, and who had served the institution in the chairs of Greek and of English for fifteen years, was elected to the vacant office. At the same meeting of the trustees a vote was passed to admit young women to the academic and scientific departments of the university, under such regulations as the faculty should prescribe. Curiously enough, on the very same day on which this vote was passed, the associate alumni, after a spir- ited debate, also passed a resolution, requesting the corporation "to consider whether they should not now offer its privileges to all persons, male and female alike," and expressing the conviction that "right and justice, a wise philosophy and a sagacious policy, invite to this new course." One young woman en- tered the classical department in the spring and six more in the fall of 1872. The university sought in this way to meet one of the growing needs of the time, and contribute something to the raising of the standard, though without the-
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expectation that women would come in large numbers to avail themselves of the benefits offered. At that date few schools in the country offered to wo- men the opportunity for a sound and well-balanced training. Vassar College was then the only institution east of the Hudson which pretended to give the equivalent of a collegiate course.
Some of the recent gains and changes must be very hastily sketched. In June, 1881, John P. Howard, esq., of Burlington, gave $50,000 for the endow- ment of the chair of natural history. The surplus income after the professor's salary is paid is to be applied to the increase of the museum and library. John N. Pomeroy, LL. D., of Burlington, a graduate of the class of 1809, and for several years the oldest living alumnus, left $20,000 by will, toward the endow- ment of the chair of chemistry, a department in which Mr. Pomeroy had long years before given the first course of lectures ever offered in the university.
June 26, 1883, was dedicated the bronze statue of Lafayette, which now graces the center of the park, and is said to be the most successful work of America's foremost living sculptor, Mr. J. Q. A. Ward. This also was Mr. Howard's gift. And it is not without reason that Mr. Howard's name is in- scribed at one angle, and Lafayette's at another angle of the foundation walls of the principal university building. (See what is said, post, about the college buildings.)
In 1883 the Hon. Frederick Billings, of Woodstock, presented to the uni- versity, first, the famous library of the Hon. George P. Marsh, a collection of 12,000 volumes of rare value and interest ; and secondly, the munificent sum of $100,000 for the erection of a library building suitable to enshrine such treas- ures as the Marsh collection and the old college library. The Billings Library was completed in July, 1885, at a total cost of $150,000; such a repository for literary treasures as no other college in America possesses, and matched, for ele- gance and serviceableness combined, by few the other side of the sea.
I can only name the Park Gallery of Art, founded in 1873, by the Hon. Trenor W. Park, of Bennington, which contains a choice collection of casts, paintings, engravings, etc .; the enlarged laboratory, with its ample facilities for chemical manipulation and experiment ; the Commons Hall, built in 1885 ; the engineering course which has introduced so many young men into lucra- tive and honorable positions ; the improvements in park and grounds; the considerable increase in the number of scholarships, and other proofs of the public confidence, and a steady and substantial progress.
The latest catalogue (1885-86) presents an enrollment of 143 students in arts and science, besides 20 in special courses, and 191 in the medical college. The graduating class this year (1886) numbered 29, the largest in the history of the institution. The total number of graduates in course is 1,038, of whom 3 I are women. The whole number who have been graduated from the med- ical school is 1,201.
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What sort of discipline the university gives, what kind of men it sends out, may be seen by scanning the roll of its alumni. Dr. Shedd, now of Union Theological Seminary ; Dr. Clark, of the A. B. C. F. M .; Dr. Spalding, of Syracuse, N. Y .; Dr. Cutler, of Worcester, Mass .; Dr. Dwinell, of California ; Dr. J. H. Hopkins, of Wilkesbarre, Pa .; Bishops Bissel, of Vermont, and Howe, of South Carolina, are living specimens from the long list of preachers and theologians whom it has helped to equip. What is has done for law and states- manship may be suggested by the names of Collamar, Culver, Aldis, Kasson, Eaton, Gilbert, Hale, Benedict, Bennett, Jameson, Palmer, Powers, Smith - a list that might be greatly extended. Among the graduates who have been presidents or professors in other colleges may be mentioned Marsh, Herrick, and Ferrin, of Pacific University ; Williams, Wead, Kent, Wells, Dennison, and Dewey, of Michigan University ; Peabody, of Illinois Industrial Univer- sity ; Allen, of the University of Pennsylvania ; Tuttle, of Cornell ; Woodruff, of Andover- but we will not complete the roll. As to those who have done yeoman's service in other departments of educational work, they are too many for separate mention.
And the university has done something for journalism. In the person of Henry J. Raymond it founded the New York Times; in that of James R. Spalding, of the same class. (1840), it created the New York World. It was Alexander Mann, of the class of 1838, who made the Rochester American a power outside the State of New York, as well as within it. Dr. Gilbert, in his conduct of the Chicago Advance, has both done good battle for religion and morals, and won himself a good report. But the list would be too long, if we were to give half the names which deserve place here.
A list of the men of business who have received the diploma of the uni- versity would include railroad kings, manufacturers whose wares are sold on other continents, and publishers whose imprint is familiar wherever English books are read. We cannot find space for even a part of it. And we have given these few names mainly to show by living examples that the institution at least does no harm to such earnest and capable young men as seek from it a practical training for their life-work. And some, as the record shows, and as we are glad to add, go back again from the college to that oldest and honora- blest of all professions, agriculture, and so give practical demonstration that Greek and science and philosophy are no disqualification or damage even to the farmer!
The University Buildings .- In October, 1793, the corporation voted "that early in the next summer a house shall be built on the college square for the use of the university." This building was intended for the residence of the president. It was begun in 1794, and nearly completed in 1795, but was not finished so as to be occupied until 1799. It was situated on the east side of the college park, a little to the south and west of the present museum building.
14
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It was of wood, 48 by 32 feet, two stories high, with hipped roof. After serv- ing its original purpose for many years, in process of time this building be- came unfit for the residence of the president, and degenerated into a tene- ment house. It was commonly known, forty years ago, as "the Old Yel- low House," - and among the students, owing to the number and variety of its occupants, as the " House of the Seven Nations." One still, cold night in the winter of 1844 it was burned to the ground - by a stroke of lightning, as was said by the students. The faculty, however, had a different theory of the matter.
The original college edifice proper was erected in 1801. In October of 1799 the citizens of Burlington offered to the corporation a special subscription of $2,300 to aid in the erection of this building and in the procuring of books and apparatus, and contracts for the building were made the next year. The structure occupied the same site as the present edifice, and was of brick, 160 feet long, seventy-five feet wide in the center and forty-five in the wings, and four stories in height. It had a hall in each story running the entire length of the building, and contained a chapel, seven public rooms, and forty-five rooms for students. This building was destroyed on the 24th of May, 1824, by an accidental fire, said to have been caused by sparks falling upon the roof from one of the chimneys. The sparks were afterward ascertained to have come from some shavings which a student had set on fire in his stove on the ground floor.
The " different college buildings" were stated by the Vermont Sentinel in July, 1805, to have cost thus far $24,391 ; but this must be too low a figure, as Thompson gives the cost of the original main building alone at about $35,- 000, " the greater part of which was contributed in Burlington and vicinity." It appears also that the funds for building the original president's house came mainly from Burlington.
The new plan embraced three buildings, the north and south ones each three stories high and seventy-five feet long by thirty-six wide, while the mid- dle one was eighty-six feet long with a projection in front and rear, and was designed for administrative purposes. It contained the chapel, museum, library and lecture rooms, besides two rooms which were assigned to the two rival debating societies, the "Phi Sigma Nu" and "University Institute," each with its separate room for a library. The north and south college buildings were finished in the course of 1825-26, and cost about $10,000, "nearly all sub- scribed by inhabitants of Burlington and vicinity." The middle college was erected and nearly completed in 1829 and cost about $9,000. The dome by which it was surmounted, and which for more than fifty years served as a beacon for the wide region of country between the Green Mountains and the Adirondacks, was designed and the working plans therefor executed by the late Professor George W. Benedict.
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