The schools of Cincinnati and its vicinity

Front matter

THE a

A.ND ITS VICINITY.

BY JOHN P. FOOTE.

Contents

Chapter. Page.

7. Wesley an Female College, 64

8. Farmers' College, 69

Chapter I Cincinnati College

The entire period of the history of Cincinnati is within the memory of persons now living ; and it therefore possesses the peculiar advantage, — if we would draw useful lessons from itis progress, — of being susceptible of such proofs of the accuracy of our foundations for such lessons as cannot be questioned.

" The early histories of most nations are so involved in obscurity and fable," that we cannot trace them to their source, for the purpose of obtaining the light necessary to aid our enquiries, concerning National Character, but in those instances where we have the means of knowledge, we find that those leaders, chiefs, and lawgivers who lay the foundations of society for any people, impress upon that society the leading traits of their own characters so deeply and permanently, that nothing but conquest and entire extinction as a nation can eradicate them : and those heroes and sages who lived before Agamemnon, although their memories soon perished for want of the sacred bard, left the impress of their characters on the people they governed, during the period of their national existence.

If the superiority of the founders of any nation be derived from mere bodily strength, the character of that nation will be found to be warlike, savage and ferocious, or if by conquest they acquire wealth, they become indolent and sensual. But if a love of literature, of poetry, of rhetoric, or of any of the arts, form a part of their character, the nation is always found to advance in 1

SCHOOLS OF CINCINNATI.

civilization and refinement in proportion as the superiority of its leaders consisted in mental, rather than bodily accomplishments.* The first proprietor of the site of Cincinnati was John Cleves Symmes, — at the time when he made the pm"chase of a million of acres between the Miamies, a member of Congress. At an earlier period of his life he had been a teacher, and was not only conversant with the learning of the schools, of the higher class, of that day, but was a cultivator of general literature — of belles lettres and poetry ; and although his poetical talents — judging from the few specimens that have been preserved — would not give him a high rank among the early poets of our country, yet his letters and prose articles evince a sound mind, well cultivated, with talents as a statesman which, at a period during which a large portion of our best statesmen imparted character and strength to our nation, gave him rank among them.

Judge Symmes sold the site of Cincinnati to Matthias Denman, of New Jersey, who associated with him John Filson and Colonel Robert Patterson, of Lexington, Kentucky. Filson was a teacher, and if we may judge from the name propossd by him for the city opposite the mouth of Licking, may have been something of a pedant, and fond of displaying his knowledge of languages. Pedantic, however, as the name LosantivilJe may appear when its formation is explained,! it is more euphonious than Cincinnati, and would have been equally free from the embarrassment caused by the use, so common, in this country, of second-hand names sO dilapidated by frequent use as to require to be supported by the names of Counties and States in order to give any idea of their geographical position. Such names, for instance, as Washington, Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, &c. — so common that they give no more identity to a town than that of John Smith to an individual. Their frequent use, however, might give us reason to imagine that their God-fathers thought there was some magic virtue in a name that might be used to conjure with, — that it

* Essay on National Character. Cin. Literary Gazette, March 6, 1824. t Its formation is said to be as follows : L. the initial of Licking, os (Latin) mouth ; anti, (Greek) opposite ; ville, (French) city.

possessed some recondite, magical power of raising up spirits from the vasty deep ; not, however, like those names used by the ancient magicians and conjurers for calling " airy sprites that syllable men's names," but such as would call up bold, determined, and patriotic spirits, clothed with flesh, and strong in might to make towns grow up rapidly.

Filson was killed by the Indians during the progress of the survey of the town, and before the change of the name he had bestowed upon it. He was succeeded in his proprietorship bj' Israel Ludlow, a well educated, intelligent gentleman, blessed with a wife not only so amiable and pious that the Indians gave her the name of Athapusca, signifying in their language, the good white woman, but also highly educated, intelligent and qualified to shine in the most refined and intellectual society. She possessed taste and talent for the fine arts, which, in a more advanced state of society, would have given her reputation as an artist.

This couple lived in Cincinnati and its vicinity for a considerable period from the commencement, and during the early progress, of its society, while the character of its population was in process of formation ; and must have had much influence in giving a direction and tone to the tastes, manners, and habits of the early settlers. Denman returned to New Jersey, where he resided until a few years since, when he returned merely to witness the fulfillment of his early prophecy concerning the prosperity of the town he had founded.*

In 1789 Fort Washington was founded near the junction of Third Street and Broadway, and the security it afforded from Indian depredations gave an impulse to the settlement of the town, the growth of which, however, was very slow for the next twenty years. General Harmar was the first commanding officer of Fort Washington. He and his successors, with their subordinate officers, were generally intelligent, well educated men, superior in these respects to most of the pioneers of the West : although

* On this visit he pointed out to a friend of the writer a piece of property which he had sold for a trifle, and for which he nerer received the pay, that was then covered with brick houses and stores of immense value.

SCHOOLS OF CINCINNATI.

unfortunately for them, the theories of temperance which then prevailed did not, as at present, include abstinence from whiskey, which was considered a prophylactic — a special preventive of the intermittent fevers, which were among the common evils our early settlers had to encounter — and which at that period were as much dreaded as the Indians.

In consequence of this false doctrine, many valuable lives were destroj'^ed by the use of this quack medicine ; just as they are now and have been ever since, by the use of the same, and other quack medicines, some of them used as prophylactics and others as curative agents, but as surely destructive to health as whiskey and its alcoholic congeners. Some exceptions, however, were found, among the officers, to the believers in the false doctrine respecting the medicinal properties of whiskey, which they considered the true aqua vitcB instead of what it is, the aqua mortis. Among them was Captain — afterwards General — Harrison, the tenth President of the United States. He was distinguished for his knowledge and love of classical literature, which in those days was the department of learning highest in esteem at the College of William and Mary, where he was educated : and the cultivation of his mind, especially in all matters connected with improvement in his profession, occupied that portion of his time which by too many of his associates was wasted in idleness and dissipation.*

Other gentlemen among the early settlers of Cincinnati, were not only well educated, but entertained correct ideas respecting the importance of an early attention to the education of youth, as among the duties of the founders of towns and cities. Among them were Arthur St. Clair, Jr., John S. Gano, Judge Turner, William McMillan, Judge Goforth, Judge Daniel Symmes, D. Wallace, David E. Wade, and others.

* Our excellent and venerable fellow citizen, Colonel John Johnson, informed us, that General Cass was distinguished among the officers of the period, as one obedient to the instructions of his catechism, "to keep his body in temperance, soberness and chastity ;" and this it is probable, has enabled him to withstand the wear and tear of political life, and be fit for President of the United States at an advanced age.

Judge Burnet, with his brother, G. W. Burnet, arrived here in 1796, and during more than half a century, was prominent among the liberal contributors to the establishment of literary and scientific institutions. His brother, Isaac G. Burnet, who was for many years editor of the " Liberty Hall," and Mayor of the City, arrived, as did also his brother, David G. Burnet, at a later period. All these gentlemen were fine belle-lettres scholars, liberally educated. George died a few years after his arrival here. David emigrated to Texas, of which Republic he was the first President.

A perfect conviction of the importance of making early provision for the education of youth, flowed as naturally from the influence of such men as laid the foundation of society in Cincinnati, as the love of freedom and independence from that of their ancestors. Primary schools for the rudiments of learning were established as soon as there were children that needed them, and when the improved systems of popular education, invented by Lancaster and Bell, were introduced into our country, this city was among the first to adopt them, on the most liberal scale. The old College building — at the time of its erection the finest public building west of the mountains — was the " Lancastrian Seminary." It was erected in 1814, and went immediately into operation. la 1815 it was chartered by the Legislature as a college, with university privileges, and by the donations of a few citizens, obtained an endowment which, if it could have been preserved from sacrifice during the disastrous period in the history of Cincinnati when the financial troubles of the city caused the sacrifice of nearly all the private property it contained, would before the present time have given it an income equal to the revenues of most of our old and well established colleges. Its founders and benefactors were General Lytle, who gave land valued at ten thousand dollars, and a considerable sum in cash, Judge Burnet who gave five thousand dollars in cash, and other property to a large amount, Ethan Stone, William Corry, Oliver M. Spencer, General James Findley, David E. Wade, John H. Piatt, Andrew Mack, and upwards of forty others.

The contributions for the erection of a building, and for its permanent endowment, were estimated, at that period, at fifty thousand dollars ; an immense sum to be contributed by a few men who had immigrated to the West a very few years previous without capital, (or with very little,) to undergo the toils and hardships of a life in the wilderness, for the hope of being able to provide thereby more favorable destinies for their children, than they themselves had enjoyed, or were enabled to look forward to for them in the land of their birth. For this object they were willing to encounter perils fearful enough to discourage any but men of undaunted courage and fixed, steady, resolution, who intended to accomplish the objects of their enterprises by severe, honest, industry: with no visions of gold mines, or sudden riches in their excited imaginations ; but, on the contrary, a certainty of hardships and privations to be endured for an indefinite period, while living in a continual scene of danger from savage enemies, whose deeds of cruelty were, as j'et, the only characteristics they had displayed ; and a career of life so fearful in contemplation was to be commenced by a distressing separation from the scenes and the friends of early life: — a separation which, under the circumstances of that day, in relation to the facilities of travel, was wider than at this time would be, in comparison, the most distant portions of Oregon, or even the Sandwich Islands or Australia. Circumstances, only a portion of which in our days are considered almost too intolerable to be offered to negro slaves in exchange for freedom. With the means of intercourse which existed in those days, the separation of the immigrants to this region from their early homes and friends, was far greater than the colonists of Liberia are asked to encounter, and the danger from climate probably greater.

An organization of a Faculty of arts for the Cincinnati College, consisting of a President, Vice-President, Professors of Languages and Natural Philosophy, and Tutors, was effected, and a course of instruction similar to that of other Colleges in our country, adopted. It was continued in operation a few years, during which period several young Ladies were included in the graduating classes, together with a number of young men, who have since obtained distinguished reputations.

The dark period, however, in the History of Cincinnati, was beginning to overshadow the City soon after the opening of the College, and notwithstanding every effort to sustain it, by the Trustees, until the advent of " the good time coming," and the most vigorous struggles to keep it alive until that time should come, it was obliged to share, with the citizens, the fate of a sacrifice of all its property, except the building, which was destroyed by fire a few years after, leaving to the institution only the ground on which it stood as a remnant of an endowment which would, at this time, if it could have been preserved, been sufficiently liberal for such an institution.

Previous, however, to the destruction of the building, and after it had been occupied for various purposes, (among others that of a Cholera Hospital,) the institutiou was again revived; chiefly through the influence of Dr. Drake, whose first object was the establishment of a Medical Department. The Law School was also organized at this time as a Department of the College.

To the Literary Department, so strong a faculty was now appointed, that if its success had depended upon the talents of its Professsors alone, it could not have fallen again. The faculty consisted of W. H. M'Guffy, President and Professor of Moral and Intellectual Philosophy; O. M. Mitchell, Professor of Mathematics and Astronomy ; Asa Drury, Professor of Ancient Languages ; E. D. Mansfield, Professor of Constitutional Law and History ; Lyman Harding, Principal of the Preparatory Department; and Joseph Herron, Principal of the Primary Department.

President M'Guffy remained in office about three years, when he received the appointment of a Professorship in the University of Virginia, which he accepted, and was succeeded in the Presidency by the Rev. T. J. Biggs.

The building being destroyed by fire in 1845, there was no attempt made to continue the operations, or the organization, of the Institution; but the Trustees made powerful, and finally successful, efforts to erect a larger and better building on its site, which had become central to the business portion of the city and consequently very valuable. Of the funds necessary to this object, ten thousand dollars were advanced by the Young Mens' Mercantile Library Association, and the remainder borrowed on bonds, for which the building was mortgaged. By these means the spacious and beautiful building was erected which now contains the library and reading-room of the above mentioned Association, the Merchants' Exchange, the Law School, the rooms of the Historical and Philosophical Society, of the Academy of Natural Sciences, and some other institutions ; the lower story being divided into convenient sized rooms, and rented as ^stores for the purpose of paying the interest and gradually reducing the principal of the debt. This, it is supposed, will be effected in a few years, when the Institution is intended to be revived, with a new organization of a Faculty of Arts ; and when the College will be again devoted to the purpose of its original foundation, or the building be made to furnish a revenue for the support of the Faculty in a different edifice, more favorably situated for educational purposes.

The present building has a front of one hundred and forty feet on Walnut street, and is^one hundred feet deep, built of the white Dayton lime stone, a very beautiful and durable material ; it is four stories in height, and is in the Doric style, with pilasters and wreaths of the order, but without other ornament.

Although the original Cincinnati College is no longer in existence, yet it is hoped that the name may be continued to the building that has been erected on its site, even if the faculties, and the pupils with their college exercises, should be removed to another building in a different location. It deserves to be regarded as a monument of the good sense, philanthropy, and a correct appreciation of the earliest of their duties, by the earliest settlers of Cincinnati. A permanent inscription to this effect, on some conspicuous place within its walls, would do honor alike to the founders of our Literary Institutions, and to the good taste and grateful remembrance of their descendants and successors, who are enjoying the benefits of their labors ; — the fruits of- the trees and vines which they planted.

The memories of warlike achievements, whether good or evil in their motives or results, are sure to be preserved in historic records, and in every other mode which human ingenuity can devise for their preservation. Mankind have taxed their powers of invention, and called forth those of poetry and eloquence, as well as the arts of the painters and the sculptors, to give eclat to deeds of death and destruction, and to excite emulation in works that ought to excite dread and horror, — deeds that instead of justifying such rejoicings as tax the human intellect to make dazzling, ought to bow us down with shame, and " make us hang our heads and blush to think ourselves men" of the same species with those who think that glory, honor, and immortality are to be gained by destroying the lives of their fellow men, and driving over their works of art, and fields of fertility, the car of desolation. And it is not of such conquerors as Tamerlane, Aurengzebe, Nadir Shah, and Alexander, of Mahomet and his successors, nor of Alaric and Attila, alone that we now speak, but of Napoleon, of Nelson, of Wellington, who have been deified in modern times, and whose worshippers are witnessing and suflering the fruits of their idolatry in the Crimea, where the human sacrifices to Moloch, show the tendencies of idolatrous belief, and hero-worship. The distinction between the defenders of their country in war and its ravagers, is forgotten in history and song, which give their meed of glory to success rather than to patriotism and self-sacrifice.

The memories of men who have made large endowments to literary and scientific institutions, can be preserved and honored by bestowing their names on structures and professorships, and the Woodward and Hughes' High Schools in our city, the Astor Library, the Van Rensellear Institute, the Girard College, the Lawrence Professorships, the Appleton, and numerous other endowments in other cities, confer immortality on the names they bear,, which were those of their benefactors. But in a case like that of the founders of the Cincinnati College, consisting of forty individuals, of whom, perhaps, (like the widow in the Gospel,) those whose donations were the smallest, were the most liberal, and imposed the greatest degree of self-denial on the donors, the names cannot be preserved in that of a building, or an endowment, like those above mentioned, but they may be inscribed on the permanent structures raised by their efforts, and thus receive some portion of the honor they deserve. 2

10 SCHOOLS OF CINCiNNAi^I.

During the period of the depressed condition of the College^ several plans were proposed for uniting it with other seminaries, and by their combined means and influences, building up a University, differing in some respects from any of those now in existence. But, although many reasons were adduced by the proposers of the different plans, in their favor, yet they did not harmonize so fully as to cause any one of them to be carried into effect. Most of the institutions, however, which it was proposed to unite, have flourished independently : as, for instance, the Medical College, the Observatory, and the two High Schools.

The College has been instructed to wait until its debts are paid, and until the revenue which is now devoted to their payment can be appropriated to its proper and legitimate object, when it also may be expected to flourish, either independently-, or in connection with some other institution.

The inconveniencies arising from the want of a regular income sufiicient for its purposes, which embarrassed and annoyed the Trustees and Faculty so frequently during the period of its operations, formerly, have determined them to regulate the future course of the institution so as to avoid this class of evils, — though they may perhaps discover others requiring equal vigilance to guard against or remedy.

Whatever may be the future course of the College, it is a matter of congratulation that we have such a building, situated where it is, in the heart of the City, to retain its name and keep alive the remembrance of the praiseworthy efforts of the pioneers and early fathers of our City. A building which will be a durable monument of their efforts for the welfare of their posterity and successors, in the form and manner most effective for that end.

One of the original founders of the Coflege, Ethan Stone, at his death, a few years since, bequeathed to the College a reversionary legacy, but of what amount is not known. It is not expected to be large, but it was a mark of an early attachment to a worthy object, continued through a long life, and not forfeit*- ed by its misfortunes and poverty, and it is an example recommended for limitation.

Chapter II, High Schools

Foreigners, in giving the characteristics of our countrymenj have generally given prominence to their idolatry of the " Almighty dollar," and this has so often been repeated that we) ourselves, have adopted the opinion, and are frequently found lamenting the stain which such a stigma has made on our National character.

This form of idolatry is common in all civilized, or partly civilized, countries ; but it is less so in the United States than any other.

We have, indeed, more need, and need of more, money than any other people, because we want all those improvements of the most advanced state of civilization, of which older countries exhibit specimens — and we have always been determined to have them — and to have them without waiting the slow progress by which they have been obtained in the old world — and we have exhibited an eagerness to obtain the necessary means for our projected and ever progressing improvements, that seems to arise from an inordinate love of money. But if a comparison could be made of the liberal donations — not post obits — for the establishment and support of schools, and of every other valuable public institution, by our people, with those of any other country, and include their relative wealth in the comparison, it would be found that no people on earth are less disposed to love money for it own sake, than the Americans.

We indeed display a degree of daring enterprise, as well as laborious dilligence in our efTortf to obtain the sinews, — r\n\ with US of war, but of great undertakings and magnificent projects ; but we part with it more readily than any of those who have reproached us for our avarice. We are indebted, moreover, to foreigners, not only for the reputation in question, but also to them for an over proportion of the individuals on whose characters it is founded ; and if statistics on the subject could be given, as great a proportion of the idolaters of money among us, would be found to consist of foreigners, as is their proportion in the statistics of pauperism and crime.

Among the riumerous examples of contrast between foreigners and natives of our country, which the history of our educational and other institutions, would furnish, two are suggested by the subject of the present chapter. They are, Stephen Girard and William Woodward.

The former, a foreigner, came to this country in early manhood, and devoted a long life to the zealous, eager pursuit of wealth, characterised by nothing except such traits as are usually connected with that pursuit, and distinguished by uniform success in all his undertakings. But even when his acquisitions had become so great that they must have been burdensome ; and when a childless old age had deprived him of all capacity for the ordinary enjoyments for which the pursuit of wealth is adopted, by men who are not philanthropists nor especially patriotic, his efforts for its increase did not cease, and he evinced no willingness to part with any portion of it, for any purpose, good or evil : on the contrary, his love, " strong as death," impelled him to endeavor to retain the control of it after death had exerted its control over him. The manner in which he attempted to do this, by testamentary provisions, is well known, and equally well known are the circumstances of disregard to his wishes, which bear testimony of the small amount of respect that survives to the memory of the rich man whose only trust is in his riches, and whose only distinction arises from their amount.

William Woodward came in early life, from Connecticut, to establish for himself a new home in the fertile regions of the Wpf't, where an exuberant soil and benignant climate offered attractions, which to most men, were overbalanced by the dangers that attended the early settlers, and the privations, (of which we at this day have little idea,) to which they were obliged to submit.

The value of land at that time was very small, and his very small means enabled him to purchase a farm large enough for his wants, at the foot of one of those beautiful hills, by which Cincinnati is surrounded.* He brought with him the frugal, laborious, temperate and prudent habits of a ISiew England farmer, and he brought little else. During a long life, he cultivated his farm dilligently, discharged faithfully the duties of a good citizen, a friendly neighbor, and a consistent Christian; and was contented and happy in that state of life unto which it had pleased God to call him.

In the decline of life, without ever having sought for riches beyond the supply of his moderate wants, he found himself a rich man by the growth of the city ; and its approach towards his farm. He had no tastes that could be gratified by this accession of wealth, but he had duties to his neighbor (as well as to God) which he was ever read}^ to acknowledge, and solicitous to discharge. And in thinking how, for this purpose, he could most advantageously appropriate the wealth bestowed upon him, and consulting his friend and neighbor, Samuel Lewis, on the subject, they very judiciously decided that in view of the state of society, and of our educational institutions at that time, he could do nothing so well calculated to benefit his neighbor — his country — and his kind, as to provide means for the education of children, and especially of the poor.

For this purpose, he transferred that portion of his farm nearest the city to trustees, to form an endowment for the establishing and maintaining free schools ; providing that, if more applications were made for places in them than could be

♦ At that period, these hills formed a border of such surpassing beauty, around the plain on which Cincinnati stood, as to cause us, who remember them in their beauty, almost to regret the progress of improvement which has taken from us what it can never restore.

granted, that orphans, and the children of widows, should have the preference ; and in the early period of the history of the Woodward School, this provision was required to be enforced.*

His friend, Samuel Lewis, and his nephew, Ormond Cogswell, he constituted trustees for life, of his donation, with power to appoint their successors, and he gave the City Council power to appoint three others. Mr. Lewis was the chief manager of this trust, and it soon became the principal business of his life. He managed it so judiciously that the revenues immediately became considerable, and will eventually be very large. A school was soon established, and was for some time in successful operation. But after the adoption of the common school system, by the State, the Woodward School became superfluous, and it was thereby rendered desirable that the conditions on which the donation was founded, should be changed.

This case then furnished an exemplification of the superior value of donations made during the life-time of the donor, to the post obits, which men seem generally to prefer. For Wood-, ward, being alive, was able to alter the terms of his donation and adapt it to the altered state of the communit}^, in respect to educational establishments. The Cincinnati College had been suspended — the free schools had been established, and it was then desirable that a High School or College should be founded, instead of one of a lower grade, as first proposed by Woodward. He had divested himself of all control of the revenues of the property he had assigned, but he could and did, modify the terms on which that assignment was made, so as to allow the Trustees to establish the Woodward College and High School.