The story of Valparaiso University : including an account of the recent period of turbulence

Introduction

IN presenting this historical sketch of Valparaiso University, George W. Stimpson, the author, who has been a student in the institution for several years, tells of the life and traditions of the college. The work deals with episodes and events in its history. To the newcomer it presents the life of earlier times ; to the alumni and old students it revives memories of other days and other scenes familiar to them. It performs a distinct service to University history and to the literature of the institution by crystallizing in lasting form the impressions and manifestations of a turbulent period.

A perusal of the sketches discloses that they cover many aspects of life in the institution. The author has told them with decided effect, using a material that is rich in interest.

In preparing this history, the general truth is rigidly adhered to. The object of the work is to acquaint the reader with a true version of Valparaiso University. It will be observed that the work begins with the early history of the school and gradually brings out the conditions and traditions leading to the deposal of President Hodgdon.

The attention of the reader is called to the copies of written letters which appear in the work. These are true and correct type reproductions of the originals and are a large factor in publishing a complete history of University affairs.

In preparing this Story of Valparaiso University, Mr. ' Stimpson has been guided by his experience at Valparaiso, extending over a period of five years, first as a student in the High School department, and later as a student in the department of arts and sciences, and more recently in the School of Law. During this time he has taken an active part in the affairs of the college and it may not be considered presumptuous, therefore, for him to offer the public a history of the institution.

While others have seized every opportunity unblushingly to avow and zealously to propagate opinions destructive to

6 IXTRODUCTION

"the good name of the University, it would ill become any individual of contrary convictions to remain silent in its defense, when called upon, as Mr. Stimpson has been, by an occasion like that which has offered itself.

Mr. Stimpson writes not to please or displease anj-one, but writes according to the dictates of his mind and the welfare of Valparaiso University, and trusts this history will meet the approbation of those whose good opinion he is most solicitous to obtain. The rhetorical aspect of a correct and artistically worded story ma}- be absent, as he does not lay claim to the distinction of being an author. The sketches were written during odd moments, while surrounded bj' the unceasing activities for which Valparaiso is famed.

It is to be hoped that through this little volume he may find the realization of his most ardent desire — setting aright a misinformed and mistaken idea of Valparaiso Universit}', America's "Poor Man's Harvard," and if in the years to come this history will in some way tend to recall memories of days spent here, then it will have served a purpose and the author's reward will be complete.

JACOB B. FARRIS.

CHAPTER I The Valparaiso Male and Female College

THE beginning of Valparaiso University lies beyond the time when Henry Baker Brown established the Northern Indiana Normal School and Business Institute. Before Mr, Brown came the names "Valparaiso College," "College Hill," and "College Avenue" had become household words to the people of Porter County, and the Old College Building stood as a monument of a former attempt to maintain a college in Valparaiso. Without these previous efiforts on the part of the community Mr. Brown could not have made possible the important educational achievement — Valparaiso University.

The non-existence of high schools and the lack of higher educational institutions under the supervision of Protestants in Northwestern Indiana favored building a college at Valparaiso. Besides, a college would bring academic opportunities close to home, enlarge the town by attracting students and others seeking the privileges of a scholastic center, enhance the value of property, and increase the general prosperity by bringing thousands of dollars into the community — all circumstances which, combined with an excellent location and a good climate, confirmed the already favorable disposition toward the proposed institution.

The Northwestern Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church offered to build and govern the college, the plan being to establish a co-educational school accommodating from three to five hundred students, the purpose of which was to promote education and religion generally and in no way to interfere with religious and sectarian preferences. The Board of Trustees decided to call it the Valparaiso Male and Female College. They wished "to open the first term in the fall of 1859, and fifteen acres of the old Freeman estate was purchased, composing the part of the Hill now bordered by Locust Street on the west, by Union on the north, by Garfield

VALPARAISO COLLEGE 9

on the east, and by the Pennsylvania Railway on the south, thus determining the position of the future Valparaiso University. At a meeting in the courthouse the people of the town and county donated nearly six thousand dollars, and the trustees proceeded to put up a wooden building to be used for the college until a more substantial one of brick could be erected, this temporary structure being built without delay where Music Hall now stands.

Over sixty years have made a great change in Valparaiso since the little college was built in the woods southeast of the public square. The population was then only fifteen hundred, the churches and schools were small and poorly built, the streets were rough and unpaved, the Hill was covered with timber and underbrush, and the only way to reach the college grounds was by a path through the woods and fields, the streets on the Hill having been laid out contemporaneously with the building of the college.

The Valparaiso Male and Female College opened the 21st of September, 1859, with three departments, a faculty of six, and an enrollment of seventy-five. The Rev. C. N. Sims was elected President of the faculty, but not being able to take charge in person the first term, Francis D. Carley, professor of mathematics and natural sciences, acted as principal in his stead. The school year consisted of three terms, the fall term opening about the middle of September, the winter term about the last of December or the first of January, and the spring or summer term in the early part of April, an arrangement which was retained until the suspending of the college.

As soon as possible the Trustees put up the permanent college building. The contract was given to John N. Skinner, who should be remembered in connection with the early colleges and schools of Valparaiso. Foremost in advocating a project for the benefit of the community, he ably appealed to his fellow citizens at the first college meeting to support the new school, himself subscribing one thousand dollars. Loved and respected for his unceasing labors for the general welfare he later was many times elected Mayor of Valparaiso, and when the college began to languish he again came forward with substantial aid. The editor of the Republic spoke of him as "Regal John, the prince of ^ood fellows, the man whose heart is in the right place." Although the college building as planned would cost twent^'^-five thousand dollars, and the Trustees did not think that building should begin until ten thousand of this should be raised, Mr. Skinner began construction at once. A Valparaiso man, writing in the autumn of 1859, saj's : "The brick building will be commenced this fall, and finished next summer, and will be three stories high and as large on the ground as the liberality of the people will make it."

April 25, 1860, the corner-stone of the Old College Building was laid. A large crowd assembled on the public square, and, led by the village band, advanced in a long procession to the college grounds. After the benediction and an address by the Rev. A. A. Gee, articles of historic interest were deposited, and then "The corner-stone was laid due east and west, according to ancient rules, by a number of members of the craft." The central part of the building w^as completed late the same fall. It was placed on the side of the college grounds most remote from the town, because the location is ideal for the chief building of a college, and this arrangement added to the value of the lands lying between the college buildings and the town. If the trustees considered the matter at all, it is likely that they regarded the proximity of the railway to the college as an advantage.

Under the leadership of 'Mr. Sims the college grew from an enrollment the first year of 157 to 327 the second. To \ train teachers for the public schools a normal department was jadded, and philosophy, sciences, ancient languages, and music '^were taught, together with. all academic subjects. The Primary Department was popular with the people in the community. "When we remember the long period of time that was consumed before any of the colleges of the Union were able to present a thorough course of study and a full corps of teachers, we turn with feelings of pride to the progress and prospects of the Valparaiso ]\Iale and Female College — the 5'oungest university, we believe, in the United States." Such were the sentiments of a Valparaiso editor after visiting the college.

VALPARAISO COLLEGE 11

Literary societies, debating clubs, and other organizations added life and interest to the institution. At one time the Calliopean Society, composed of gijrls, organized the first year and continuing until the suspending of the college, consisted of more than fifty, and many were the socials, suppers, festivals, picnics, contests, and other amusements which this society provided for pleasure and profit, raising money for the first library in Valparaiso, and also publishing a society paper, the Calliopean Echo, which added much toward arousing a co-operative spirit among the students. The Philo-^ mathean and Berean, literary societies, organized the first year, , and the Philological, a scientific society, formed later, were composed of men, and under the auspices of these societies, jointly or severally, most of the speakers who spoke in chapel hall came to Valparaiso. Since dancing and playing cards were forbidden, and there were no shows, the students of Valparaiso College amused themselves in winter by skating and other winter sports, and in summer by organizing ball clubs, besides participating in all seasons in the entertainments and meetings of the college societies.

Several teachers of the Valparaiso Male and Female College should be remembered. Francis Carley, first principal and long literary editor of the only Valparaiso paper, was a man of genial personality and well liked; his sister Delia was also popular in the college; Prof. H. W. Allen, who came the third year, stood high in scholarship and esteem ; and Professors Utter and Banta were both highly regarded for their talents in the latter years.

Elaborate programs were prepared for commencement and several days were spent in examinations, after which followed exhibitions by the college societies, reunions of the alumni, farewell gatherings, meetings of the faculty and directors, and finally the Baccalaureate Address, during which time the streets of Valparaiso were crowded with people from Porter and the adjacent counties. Everyone was invited to attend the examinations, which were held in Chapel, now Elocution Hall. The instructor having finished asking the class questions, he distributed text-books among the guests, requesting them to ask the students any questions which could be answered from the book. The visitors would try to catch the students on hard points, but so thorough was the instruction thej* were seldom successful.

The scarcity of rooming and boarding halls m.ade it necessary for m.any students to live at a distance from the school; but the ever-increasing demand resulted in the erection of several new buildings, a number of which are still standing. Some students boarded themselves, while others boarded and roomed in private families, where the price ran from $3.2o to $3.75 a week. Tuition ranged from $12.00 to $15.00 a term, w-ith extra charges for music, French and German. In 1867 an omnibus line was established between the town and college. Upon the outbreak of the Civil \A'ar the prosperity of the Valparaiso Male and Female College suffered a shock which ultimately caused its extinction. The second year was the largest in numbers ; a few prosperous terms followed, but the atmosphere of thrift which characterized the first two years gradually disappeared. A depleted treasury and a change of public opinion, immediate results of the national crisis, made the downfall of the school imminent.

The following, written in ^Maj^, 1861, suggests the spirit of the occasion : "Tuesday morning the students of the Valparaiso Male and Female College hoisted from the topmost summit of the college dome the noble flag of our Union. Repeated cheers arose from the little patriotic band of students and friends below when the first breeze unfurled the Stars and Stripes on high. The last long, lingering applause had scarce!}' died aw^ay when the college choir heightened the emotion of the pleasure b}' singing several of our celebrated national airs, all endeared to us b}- associations with our country's history. A few of our friends favored us WMth speeches. President Sims was the first to, reply. Very beautifully did he contrast our Banner of Liberty with the Serpent Palmetto Flag of Slavery." The South had fired on Fort Sumter, and these patriotic students knew that they would be called to participate in the fearful struggle at hand. President Sims resigned in March, 1862, Of the old school of educators, diverting little from the routine of duty, Mr. Sims was not popular with the students, but he was held in high esteem for his eloquence and scholarship.

VALPARAISO COLLEGE 13

The Rev. E. H. Staley, successor of Mr. Sims, who was well liked by both students and townspeople, made an effort to place the institution on a permanent basis, but it was difficult to get the public interested in anything except the war, though many improvements were made, courses re-organized, higher degrees granted in classical and scientific work, and the college was placed under the direction of eighteen trustees living in different parts of Northwestern Indiana. But the war continued to draw away the students and prevent new ones from coming in, and Mr. Staley resigned, taking up hospital work in General Sherman's army, whence he later returned to Valparaiso, sick and worn out by his labors. He was succeeded by the energetic B. Wilson Smith, who immediately had the building repaired, made arrangements to admit "war orphans" and wounded soldiers without tuition, devoted part of the college for public school work, admitted the children of patrons free, and introduced courses in physical training, elocution, and other subjects hitherto barred, but without favorable results. The number of students continued to decrease, the finances became exhausted, and Mr. Smith, after three years of work in the institution, like his predecessors, resigned.

When Thomas B'. Wood became president a meeting was held on the Hill at which the citizens of Porter County gave twenty-five thousand dollars for the preservation of the college. A College Aid Society was organized, entertainments were given for the benefit of the college, an addition to the Old College Building was built for a girls' dormitory, several houses were put up, and everything apparently began to flourish. The Collegiate Department offered classical, scientific and English courses, and both A. B, and A. M. degrees were given, to which was later added the B. S. The Preparatory Department was enlarged and improvements were made in the Departments of Music and of Modern Languages, and even a Telegraphy Department was annexed; but there was no increase in the number of students and ]\Ir. Wood also withdrew.

In November, 1869, Mr. Aaron Gurney accepted the presidency of the college. Lawyer, minister, editor, and educator.

the Trustees thought he was the only man who could save the school. The literary societies and the college papers, the Monitor and the Echo, began to languish, and most of the characteristics of a literary institution disappeared. Mr. Gurney had been appointed too late, for hardly a hundred students were in attendance, and with an empty treasury the close of the college was only a matter of time. Elaborate appeals were published in the local papers, but the only two departments which received many students were the Music and the Commercial, Professors J. W. Ruggles and G. W. Hewitt, of these two departments, having considerable temporary success. Scholarships were sold and an effort was made to endow the college, but all these efforts were in vain, and with the hope of getting an endowment in the future, the trustees decided to suspend the college for one year. Three men were intrusted with the affairs of the institution and an investigation made to determine the requirements of continuing. These men decided that, regardless of what might happen, the college property was never to be disposed of for any purposes other than education.

The Old College Building now stood vacant, a stone over the grave of the Valparaiso Male and Female College. Swifts stuffed its chimneys, spiders spun their webs on its walls, doves perched in its steeple, owls nested in its belfry, and bats haunted the halls which has so long reverberated the words of learning. Who then could have foreseen that this venerable old pile would some day become the center of a university with its alumni living in nearly every nation of the world? Such never would have come to pass had there not lived a man who saw far into the future, who dreamed dreams of service to humanity, and who possessed the courage, wisdom and genius to realize his dreams.

Chapter II

Beginning of the Northern IndiAxVa Normal School and Business Institute

THE Trustees of the Valparaiso Male and Female College, confronted with the problem of disposing of the college property, thought, inasmuch as the public had given the money to establish the school, that another attempt should be made to maintain an institution of learning for the benefit of the community. Three years later, in 1873, Henry Baker Brown learned of the college. Mr. Brown was born on a farm near Mt. Vernon, Ohio, October 6, 1847. At the age of fifteen he began to teach a country school, and from his humble earnings saved enough money to take a short training course at the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware, after which / he entered the National Normal University at Lebanon, Ohio, wh^re he was graduated in 1871, and where he studied under Professor Harrison Carver anff'became acquainted with Mr. and Mrs. Kinsey and Miss Mantie Baldwin. Upon his gradua- ^^.^ tion he become Professor of Mathematics in the Northwestern Normal School at Republic in the same state.

Mr. Brown was informed of the opportunity at Valparaiso by a student named Ira Hoops, who had formerly attended the Valparaiso Male and Female College, and ambitious of opening a school of his own and urged by his friend Miss Baldwin, he made further inquiries in regard to the college. Thinking President Ricnards of the Northwestern Normal School w(5uld endeavor to dissuade him from his purpose, he went to Valparaiso without communicating his intentions to any but his most intimate friends, and upon reaching Valparaiso, after eating lunch at the old Gould House, he immediately called upon Mr. Freeman, one of the Trustees. Prominent in establishing the college and among the most enthusiastic to have it continue, Azariah Freeman obviously wished to interest Mr. Brown in the project. The Trustees offered to repair the building and let him have the use of it without rent, assuring him of the support gtnd co-operation of the communitj^ Mr. Freeman being of the opinion that at least thirty students would enter the first term..

To begin a college in this ramshackle building, without money, and in a strange town several hundred miles from an acquaintance, did not at first appeal to Mr. Brown, theij^ only twenty-six years of age. The grounds were grown up with weeds and underbrush, the windows broken, the bell removed, the apparatus in the laboratories destroyed, and most, of the furniture marred or demolished, every boy in the neighborhood having made a special target of the college building. Wishing to consult his friends in Ohio, Mr. Brown did not accept the offer until a few days later. v^ Mr. Brown, with Miss Mantie E. Baldwin, Martin E. Bogarte, B. F. Perrine, and Miss Ida Hutchinson, who had decided to accompany him as members of the faculty, now made arrangements to come to Valparaiso. To place the proposition properly before the public, fifteen hundred circulars were printed in a neighboring town, Mr. Brown and his colleagues wishing to keep knowledge of the undertaking secret, and a series of articles dealing with the principles and purposes of the institution to be established was published in the Valparaiso papers. Considerable discussion having recently arisen in respect to the fundamental and original principles and purposes of the school, and knowing that Miss Baldwin, one of the founders, prepared these articles, I think them of sufficient importance to quote at length here. The first appeared in the Porter County Vidette, June 12, 1873, under the title "Normal Schools," and is as follows :

**Two questions are now engrossing public attentions (1) What kind of an education is adapted to the wants of the whole community? (2) How is it to be made easily accessible to all?

"A reply to the first of these questions needs no ingenious argument. We all concede that the present age is one of progression, one of improvement, and especially one of activity. The time has now come when man cannot be idle, cannot wait. So rapidly does the car of progression move forward in its course that for us to stop is almost certain ruin or failure. We must work in the age in which we live. The spirit of our age demands an education that will prepare the student for life as it is, real, active life. We may be acquainted with all the mathematics and thoroughly versed in all the classics ; yet if we know not how to use this knowledge, what will it avail us? No, we need an education that can be used in everyday life.

"How is an education to be made truly accessible to all? This is an important question and demands our most worthy consideration.

"Is it true that we must devote five, six, or ten years to the purpose of acquiring an education? Is it true that we must be wealthy before we can secure this? If so, then it is not accessible to all. Does it not seem reasonable that there ought to be improvement in this direction? We do not reap our grain with a sickle as did our forefathers ; we - do not mow our grass with the scythe ; it does not require five or six days to go to mill. Why? Because of improvement! In all the departments of life, except education, we see marked progress. The remark is frequently made by our aged friends : 'Our schools are not in as good a condition as they were when I attended school.' Why do we not see more improvement? Why these remarks? Simply because there is not as much work in the educational field as in other departments of life. We have no schools in which our teachers may prepare themselves for their work. In other words, education is not accessible to all. In our present school system, the poor have not the means to secure the advantages desired, and the rich too frequently buy their way through college ; thus the cause of education is retarded. We want a school where both rich and poor may secure a thorough, practical education in as short a time, and with as little expense, as possible.

"A school that, we think, will meet the demands of all will be established at Valparaiso. This school will open its first term on the third Tuesday in September, 1873, in the Valparaiso Male and Female College Building, and will be known as the Northern Indiana Normal School.

"This school will present many advantages to the young. It will have no endowment, and therefore must depend upon its own merits for its patronage and support, thus causing ' the teachers to exert every energy in order that entire satisfaction may be given,

"A student taking a three years' course in this institution will secure an education equivalent to a six years' course in many of our colleges, hence making it the cheapest and most profitable school in the West.

"Superior advantages will be presented to teachers. How shall I teach? What shall I teach? How shall I make the schoolroom a pleasant resort for my pupils? And a host of similar questions will receive special attention.

"In short, it is designed to make this one of the most practical and living schools of the age. We hope that its merits and the manner in which it is conducted will be sufficient passports to public attention.

"With this hope and claiming only that indulgence and forbearance, which is the common right of all, and which we know a kind and courteous public will grant, we present our views and plans to the candid consideration of the teachers and friends of education."

July 3, 1873, the following advertisement was published in the Porter County Vidette:

"The Northern Indiana Normal School will open its first term Tuesday morning, September 16, 1873, and will continue eleven weeks. Classes will be formed in all the common branches— Algebra, Geometry, Botany, Latin and German. It is designed to make this a thorough training school for f teachers as well as those who wish to enter any other pro-/ fession. Especial attention will be given to the methods of teaching and other school government.

"Those desiring to take a complete Business Course will find superior advantages in the Commercial Department. We do not propose to be excelled by any other popular Commercial College,

"The Principal is making great efforts to render everything as pleasant and home-like, and at the same time as cheap as possible. Arrangements will be made to supply furnished rooms and good table board at $3.00 a week. Furnished or unfurnished rooms for self-boarding can be had at very low rates. Private board, $3.50 to $4.00 a week. Tuition is $7.00 a term, payable in advance.

"While the moral and religious interests of the school will receive most careful attention, yet no sectarianism will be introduced or encouraged. For further information address H. B. Brown, Principal."

Two weeks after the foregoing the following was published in the Valparaiso Messenger under the heading "The N-ormal Idea" :

"No institution of learning, no matter how judicious its course of training, or how extensive its curriculum, claims to do more for its students than simply to give them the groundwork of an education. To claim more than this is absurd in the extreme, for all through life we are learning, hence the brief time that is given to the completion of the course of study is not sufficient to perfect us for this work. But if by the most rigorous course of training we obtain a general idea of the branches taught, and the knowledge of using what is learned, we have accomplished what thousands do not who devote many years to the acquirement of an education.

"We propose very briefly to present the normal or natural plan of laying this groundwork, and if possible to explain how it is that both time and money are saved by attending a normal school.

"We claim it to be the first principle of a sound educational philosophy, that the powers of the mind should be cultivated by the most natural order; and by natural order we understand the order in which they would naturally unfold themselves were they subject to no artificial control. We follow this order because nature will thus more willingly follow us. It will not do to war against nature, for in every battle we will most surely be defeated. Every violation of her law receives its just punishment. How quickly the child becomes familiar with this. Its earliest training is in her school. How readily it learns to distinguish differences; how enthusiastic it becomes over its* little toys; how excitedly it runs to its mother with the first rose of summer, exclaiming, 'How pretty' ; how earnestly and with what close application does it continue its study of the beautiful. Thus nature leads it onward and upward, making its hfe full of enjoyment and happiness."

Thus we see that Mr. Brown and Miss Baldwin had a clearly defined ideal, which was to establish a non-sectarian, self-governing and self-supporting co-educational school where work, not wealth, is the standard, where every student is judged by his merits, and where both rich and poor may secure a thorough, practical education in as short a time and with as little expense as possible.

While Mr. Brown was forming the details of his plans, William E. Blank, who had attended a country school taught by him, Pearly Sherman and another student, all taking work at the Northwestern Normal School at Republic, came to Valparaiso to prepare the Old College Building for school in September, In the latter part of August, B. F. Perrine, a friend of Mr. Brown, came to assist the three students in making arrangements for the opening of the Normal. A few days later Mr. Brown drove all the way from Ohio in an open, one-horse carriage, with his trunk, which contained practically everything he had, tied behind the seat. Though he had only two hundred dollars in money, energy, determination, faith in the future, and a thorough understanding of the educational needs of America stood him in stead. A short time before the opening of the term Miss Baldwin and the other two teachers reached Valparaiso.