USA > Vermont > Chittenden County > History of Chittenden County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 25
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The north and south college buildings were fitted for dormitories. Each was built in two "divisions," separated by partition walls. There were no halls lengthwise of any of the buildings, and it was impossible to pass from one division to another or to the center building, without going out of doors. All the buildings were of brick and covered originally with tin, which was subse- quently, about thirty-eight years ago, replaced with Welsh slate. At this time the buildings, which were originally separated by spaces of some seven feet, were connected so as to form a continuous wall, and the small rooms thus gained were used in various ways. The total length of the old building amounted, according to these figures, to 250 feet.
In the olden time there were recitation rooms on the lower floor of south college. Soon after Mr. Angell assumed the presidency [in 1866], the lower story of the north college was taken for the general laboratory, lecture, assay- ing rooms and other uses of the chemical department. The chapel was refitted and refurnished somewhere about 1860. In 1861, or the earlier part of 1862, the south college was thoroughly repaired and the interior changed so as to fur- nish convenient suites of rooms for the use of students. The students' rooms in the north college were remodeled after a similar plan two or three years later. In 1862, also, the present museum building, 40x60 feet, was erected. This was originally but two stories high, and owed its existence mainly to the efforts of President Pease and Professor Clark. The third story was added in 1864, at the expense of the Hon. Trenor W. Park, of Bennington, for the accommoda- tion of the art gallery. What has been known to later generations of students as " the old president's house "-that now occupied by Professor Petty-is be- lieved on good authority to have been standing in 1808. By whom or when it was built I have not been able to ascertain. It did not belong originally to the university. C. P. Van Ness is said to have lived in it in 1809 and for many years after that date to have owned and occupied it; but President Haskell is affirmed to have made it his residence after his resignation of the pastorate of the First Church [in 1822], and President Marsh lived and died in it [1826- 42]. It was familiarly known in distinction from the first president's man- sion-" the Old Yellow House" -- as the ",White House." Not long after the death of Dr. Marsh it became a college boarding-house, and for some years gathered more students about its long tables than any other three or four houses in the village.
President Marsh's office, a one-story wooden building, used to stand near the street line to the southwest of the house, and we believe is still preserved as a part of the cottage now occupied by the college janitor.
The president's mansion, now occupied by President Buckham, was built for President Angell in 1869. It was erected during the days of inflated cur- rency, when it took a great deal of money to buy a very little of any other commodity, and cost some $14,000, raised by subscription in Burlington.
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In 1882-83, by the liberality of Mr. John P. Howard, what is known to the present generation as the old college building was thoroughly remodeled and reconstructed at an expense of nearly $50,000. Greater height was given to each story, and the ends and center brought forward by projections, giving a depth at the center of sixty feet, and at the ends of forty-two feet
The center of the building rises a story higher than the rest and is sur- mounted by a belfry and spire, the gilded finial of which is 150 feet from the ground. The tip of the center gable is ninety-three feet from the ground. Between the large projections and gables are two smaller ones, in which are the two front entrances.
As to interior arrangement, the chapel occupies the same position as in the old college building. It is 65 feet long, 33 feet wide and 23 feet high. Under the chapel is the drill room, over it the lecture room of the professor of civil engineering, and a drawing room. Opening from the main halls on each side of the central projection are the president's office, waiting room, etc. To the south and north of these halls are six lecture rooms, each 33 by 25 feet, with large lobbies attached and two smaller recitation rooms, besides rooms for apparatus, chemical stores, etc. At the north end is the chemical laboratory, over that the rest of this end and the whole of the south end are devoted to dormitories. The fourth story affords a large additional number of dor- mitories.
The first lectures in the medical department were to be mixed classes of ladies and gentlemen of the old "Pearl-street House," not the structure at pres- ent occupied by the St. Joseph's College, but one which was burned on the same site.
The old medical college building, at the south end of the park, was erected in 1829, and was originally a plain, brick structure of two stories. During the suspension of the medical department from 1830 to 1853, the laboratory and lecture room in this building were used by the professor of chemistry and nat- ural philosophy for the lectures on chemistry and physiology in the academical course. In 1859, at an expense of some $4,000, the medical building was thoroughly overhauled, and greatly enlarged by an extension to the rear and by the addition of another story, to afford room for an enlarged amphitheatre, etc. In 1880 the lecture rooms were again enlarged, this time to the utmost extent the building would admit of, and a new chemical laboratory and dissect- ing rooms were provided, in a two-story addition in the rear of the main struc- ture. But these accommodations soon came to be too narrow, and in 1884 were abandoned for the new quarters at the north end of the park. This build- ing, formerly the residence of Governor Underwood, was purchased, refitted, and presented to the university for the use of the medical college by the same generous friend who had previously rebuilt the main college edifice.
The Billings Library was completed and dedicated in the summer of 1885,
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the building having been begun in the fall of 1883. It is of sandstone from Longmeadow, Mass., 167 feet in length, and 67 feet in depth at the center. The polygonal apse is 52 feet high and 47 feet in diameter. From the ground to the apex of the central gable is 62 feet, the width of the main front being 582 feet. The central tower is 90 feet high, constructed entirely of stone. The main library room is 62 feet long by 41 feet broad, with a room beneath of the same dimensions, intended for duplicates, Congressional documents and other volumes not likely to be often consulted, as well as for work-tables at which volumes are to be prepared for the bindery or for shelving. The library is heated by steam, the boiler for which is located about 170 feet east of the building. The central hall is used as a reading and reference room, the north hall for study, and there are four special rooms, besides the librarian's, in any one of which a student or writer who has need of absolute solitude may be entirely by himself. The interior is richly finished in Georgia pine, with the exception of the brick floors, and the furniture of the library, which is of oak. The massive mantle-piece too is of oak, and shows some very fine carving. Excellent carving is exhibited also in the hammer-beams of the apse for Marsh Library, and in the stone work about and above the entrance. At the angle of the gable, upon a huge round stone, is carved the seal of the university with its venerable motto, studiis rebus honestis. But there is not space here for a full and detailed description. Suffice it to say that the architecture is of the Romanesque order ; that the edifice is one among the most successful of those lately erected by Mr. H. H. Richardson, a man whose recent death has been so deeply deplored by all intelligent lovers of architectural art; and that a half hour's visit to the building will give one a better idea of it than a hundred pages of figures and adjectives. When you visit it you will find a thing of beauty not only, but of highest utility and convenience, and will see over the generous mantle the face of the princely donor, Frederick Billings, an alumnus of 1844, and a fellow-townsman of the Marshes.
THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN BURLINGTON. - The first school-house in the town of Burlington was built a little to the east of the building now occupied by St. Joseph's College, and was taught by Nathaniel Winslow. "I went there to school about ten days," says one of the early settlers, " and could learn nothing from him."
In 1790 the town was divided into two school districts, in 1795 into three, into four the next year, and in 1813 there were eight. It was then deemed best to consolidate the three village districts into one, but in 1829 this village district was again divided, this time into six.
Burlington Academy, as it was called, came into being in 1820. Its affairs were managed by a corporation, and its support derived from a charge for tui- tion. The " academy " building stood on the corner of College and Willard streets, just where the present high-school edifice stands, and was regarded as a
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commodious and convenient structure until the latter years of its existence. The Burlington High School was incorporated October 22, 1829, and seems to have succeeded to all the rights and duties of the " academy." Boys had here a chance to prepare for college, or to push their English studies further than was possible in the ordinary public schools. The first teacher in the academy was Master Caulkings, whose traditional reputation seems to indicate a man well fitted by gifts and acquirements for the post of preceptor. The school admit- ted both sexes.
In 1849 a union school district was organized from five of the eight districts then existing in the village. The several districts were to maintain primary and middle schools under separate control; but more advanced instruction was provided by a tax laid on the five districts in common. This scheme was con- tinued for nineteen years, and had for a time a salutary effect on the schools below. The school bore a deservedly high reputation, being presided over by teachers of sound scholarship and considerable experience. The first princi- pal, H. N. Hibbard, now Judge Hibbard of Chicago, was succeeded by S. H. Peabody, now regent of Illinois University. He was followed by H. B. Buck- ham, for many years and until the present year (1886) the head of the State Normal School at Buffalo, N. Y. Other names are those of C. W. Thompson and A. A. Smith, both clergymen at present, and Isaac N. Camp, now a mer- chant in Chicago. Miss Jane Noble was preceptress for five years, the one ele- ment of permanence in the board of instruction. Miss Katharine A. Hagar held the same position for several years from 1855. Previously to 1849 Joel I. Benedict, afterwards professor in the New York Free Academy, was precep- tor of the academy for a time, and gave the school an enviable fame by his skill in teaching mathematics. And after his time it was not unusual for classes to be pursuing trigonometry, surveying, and the calculus, with an enthusiasm which shamed the young men in the university. The Latin classes read Livy and Tacitus, as well as the ordinary texts of the preparatory course, and sometimes the girls essayed Greek.
The time-honored district system, supplemented by the union district which provided academic instruction for the village, continued until 1868. By spe- cial act of the Legislature, November 19, 1867, subsequently accepted by the city as a part of its charter, the ten school districts of the city (there had been sixteen in the town) were abolished, and the nineteen schools maintained by them, including the Union High School, came under the supervision of a board of six school commissioners, two from each ward, and a superintendent elected by their board. This was changed by the amended charter of the city, No- vember 26, 1872, to a board of five commissioners, one from each of the five wards, severally elected for a term of two years. The schools were at once graded so far as the existing buildings would allow, special pains taken in the selection of teachers, a uniform course of study established, a teachers' institute
2II
EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS.
held for the training of teachers in the two lower grades, teachers' meetings fre- quently called, a teachers' library founded, and an evening school established for such as could not attend the day school. The time of daily school attend- ance was reduced at once to five hours per day, in the primary schools to four and a half hours, and opportunity given to the teachers to visit other schools, and study the plans and methods of others. As rapidly as the funds would allow, increased and improved accommodations were gained by selling the old school-houses and building larger ones. At first there were three grammar schools, one for each ward. After the erection of the present high-school build- ing, in 1871, the grammar school grade occupied the lower story of this edifice, though this soon proved insufficient to accommodate the increasing numbers, and the overflow was accommodated in the "annex," on the corner of Main and South Union streets. The succession of superintendents has been the fol- lowing : J. E. Goodrich, A. J. Willard, John H. French, H. L. Dodge, C. J. Al- ger and H. C. Wheeler, the last of whom still holds the office, having been elected in 1880. Mr. Alger had charge of the schools during the previous five years, and by his faithful, intelligent and vigorous supervision did much to raise the standard of instruction, and increase the efficiency of the school.
The report of the superintendent of 1866 (Rev. E. Mix) is a general indict- ment of almost everything and everybody connected with the schools; and that for 1867 (M. H. Buckham) is hardly less severe. It maintains the "be- lief that our public schools, as they now are, are unworthy of patronage," and speaks of the condition of our schools for the last twenty years as "source of grief and mortification to a large majority of our citizens." This disgraceful state of our means and methods of public education in 1868 can hardly be con- ceived by those who are acquainted with the commodious and healthful school buildings, the systematic and competent instruction, the helps and appliances provided for the teachers' use, and the effective supervision, of the present day. In 1869 intelligent citizens of Burlington were confident that they had estab- lished the best school system in Vermont. To-day they are proud of the schools themselves, and may safely challenge comparison with any other portion of the State. The High School in particular enjoys an enviable reputation both as a place of general education and preparation for the ordinary duties of citizen- ship and as a fitting school for those who intend pursuing a university course, and is largely patronized by the towns adjoining. The successive principals since 1868 have been the following : Marcia P. Brown, Louis Pollens, Charles S. Halsey, Joseph D. Bartley, D. Temple Torrey and S. W. Landon. Mr. Landon was graduated from the University of Vermont in 1874, and came to his present post after an exceptionally successful career as principal of the High School in St. Albans. The school never stood higher than to-day in the public estimation, for both[the moral and the mental discipline which it affords. The last school report (for 1885) shows a roll of thirty-three teachers, besides five
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pupil teachers, the teachers in two day and one evening ungraded schools, and two special instructors, one in elocution and one in vocal music. The latter gentleman, N. H. Thompson, has shown remarkable aptness and ability in his department, having filled the place since 1881, as also during the years 1877-78. It appears that in 1883 three of the teachers were graduates of college, thirteen of normal schools, one of Mt. Holyoke, and nine of high schools (six of the city high schools). The salary account in 1885 was $16,927.87, and the total ex- pense $23,429.22. Tuition from non-resident pupils, $977.
The city owes a large debt to such men as James B. Angell, William G. Shaw, G. G. Benedict, M. H. Buckham, L. L. Lawrence, Henry Loomis, Rev. L. G. Ware, Rev. George B. Safford, S. Huntington, C. F. Ward, and others, who as school commissioners contributed so much by their counsel and their influence to the development and success of the present system of city schools. And this, although without pay or reward.
Burlington Female Seminary .- The project of a separate school for the education of girls seems to have been suggested and urged as early as 1832 by the Rev. John K. Converse, who came to Burlington in April of that year to become the pastor of the First Church. He tried to convince the citizens that the sums annually expended for the education of their girls were sufficient, if united, to maintain a school of high grade in their own town. The scheme was encouraged by President Marsh of the university, but it was generally looked upon as impracticable, the common sentiment being that the college needed all the aid which the town was able to bestow. Two educational enter- prises, it was thought, were less likely to succeed than one. In 1834, however, the plan came under discussion once more and a committee of citizens was appointed March 9, 1835, to consider and report upon the subject. The result of the report and of the increased attention consequently given to the scheme, was the actual opening of the school the following May, in a large house secured for the purpose. This building stood on the north side of Bank street near its intersection with Church. In 1840 the school was removed to the buildings at the foot of Church street, erected by Bishop Hopkins for the- Episcopal residence and a boys' school. The formal charter of the seminary was dated November 15, 1836. The first preceptress was Miss Mary C. Green, of Windsor, Vt. In 1841 she gave place to Miss Thirza Lee, who the next year was succeeded by Mrs. Martha O. Paine; and she, in 1844, by the Rev. J. K. Converse, who retired from his pastoral charge in October of that year. The Rev. Buel W. Smith was associate principal from 1848 to 1860, when he established a separate "ladies' seminary " in the south building. Mr. Converse retained his position as head of the school until 1874. Mr. Converse says that he paid about $15,000 for the two buildings. They afforded accommodations for fifty boarders. The school enjoyed a liberal patronage for several years. The catalogue of 1856-57 gives a list of six teachers and two pupil-teachers,
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besides the two principals. In addition to the common branches, instruction was offered in French, Latin, instrumental and vocal music, drawing, painting, etc. The course of study, which covered three years, is said to have been drawn up mainly by Professor Torrey, of the university. The whole number of pupils for 1849 is stated at 165 ; 1851, 174; 1853, 176; 1855, 137; 1862, 164. In 1862 it was claimed for the institution that it had educated more than 1,500 pupils from nineteen different States, the Canadas and Scotland, of whom some six hundred had substantially finished the prescribed course of studies. The board of trustees is made up of excellent names, those of Joseph Torrey, Bishop Hopkins, George P. Marsh and George W. Benedict being among them.
From September, 1860, for about four years, Mr. Smith maintained a sep- arate school in the building adjoining that of Mr. Converse. He admitted, besides young ladies, boys and young men who desired to fit themselves for business or for college. Professor T. E. Molt was the instructor in music. His father, Professor Theodore F. Molt, from Germany, had for many years given very thorough and competent instruction in the same branch in the seminary. The roll of instructors in the seminary contains the names of not a few who were well equipped in attainments, in character, and by long experience as well, for their responsible work. In his later years Mr. Converse used often to refer, and not without reason, to the great numbers of young women who had re- ceived the benefits of the school. They had been raised to a nobler life and filled far wider influence in consequence of the direction and impulse here imparted. Many of them had in their turn become teachers also, and helped to awaken in another generation the love of good learning and the thirst for the things that are " true and honest and pure and of good report."
Young Ladies' School .- In March, 1845, Miss Catharine Fleming, now Mrs. J. H. Worcester, began a school for girls on Locust street, now Elm- wood avenue. At first the school was limited to twelve pupils but it soon increased so as repeatedly to require additional accommodations, and before it was discontinued, in July, 1870, it had more than sixty on its roll. In 1855 the Rev. Mr. Worcester resigned his charge as pastor of the First Church and became a principal teacher in the school, having special charge of the mental and moral philosophy, chemistry, physics, astronomy, and related branches. In addition to Latin and the usual modern languages, Greek also and some of the higher mathematics had a place in the curriculum. The school was well sup- plied with apparatus for experimental illustrations in natural science, and main- tained a uniformly high reputation for the competence of its corps of teachers. and the thoroughness of the training afforded. Among the assistant instruct- ors were Kate Fessenden, now Mrs. John I. Gilbert, of Malone, N. Y .; Lydia K. Hodges, now Mrs. Everett Wheeler, of New York city; Julia Fleming, and (in music) Messrs. T. E. Molt and S. C. Moore. These, with Mr. and Mrs. Wor-
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cester, constituted the faculty in 1862. The school building furnished rooms for but twenty-four boarders, but the school always received a large patronage from the town. During the twenty-five years of its existence this school helped to mould the intellects and characters of almost 700 young women, of whom more than eighty of themselves subsequently became teachers. Among these the most widely known, perhaps, was Mary A. Burnham, whose long career as a teacher in the high schools of Montpelier and Rutland, later as a member of the first faculty of Wellesley College, and during the last years of her laborious and useful life (alas! too soon cut short) as head of a fitting school (for Smith College) in Northampton, Mass., gave proof not only of rare qualities of both head and heart, but reflected honor on the school which could send forth young women so admirably equipped for the highest and most difficult duties. Miss Fessenden, too, it should be said, subsequently became a member of the faculty as first organized at Vassar College. In the case of most of its pupils, this modest building on Locust street (now 25 Elmwood avenue) was the scene of their most advanced studies, the place from which they stepped at once into active life. As yet Vassar (begun in 1865) and Wellesley and Smith Colleges did not exist, and the older colleges were not open to young women.
The Vermont Episcopal Institute .- It would seem that the account of the institute should be prefaced by a concise sketch of the school for boys which Bishop Hopkins established immediately after taking up his residence in Bur- lington. Within three years after his consecration, 31st October, 1832, he purchased a two-story brick house near the southern end of Church street, with thirteen acres of land attached, and took immediate possession with his family. Three pupils had accompanied him from Boston. To accommodate these and others, two wings were added to the house, for school-room, dormi- tories and oratory ; and both were filled by October, 1833. Instruction was given by two candidates for orders. By the end of 1835 there were thirty- eight pupils in attendance, and this number had grown to fifty-two before additional buildings were erected. In the spring of 1836 the bishop proceeded to erect two large buildings, one on either hand of his house, each fronted with Ionic porticos ; the south wing, a structure of three stories and basement, in- tended for a school of about 100 boys; the north wing, of different internal construction, designed for the professors and their families and about twenty theological students (there were six already). Behind the central portion was erected a " hall of the fine arts," eighty feet long and twenty feet high. The center building and the two wings were joined by chambers in two stories, and in addition the three parts were connected by one straight corridor in the rear, 120 feet long. The entire front presented an extent of 240 feet. The thirteen acres had by this time been enlarged to forty, and about 400 acres more had been purchased some two miles north of the village; the whole was estimated
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