Indiana University - Arbutus Yearbook (Bloomington, IN)

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INDIANA UNIVERSITY-WHAT IT WAS AND IS. The Board of Trustees met at Bloomington in July, 1820, to consider plans for the establishment of the Seminary. A site had first to be selected, and an elevation in the narrow plateau near the Clear Creek bottom was selected. It has been sug- gested by some one that the excellent spring at the foot of this elevation must have entered into the calculations for the selec- tion of this site, for the art of well digging was then not known. Our tenderfooted students and faculty of to-day would shudder' at taking up their abode in such a palace of Nature's art, amid the hazel bush and burdock, the sumac and elder, but would rather enjoy themselves in the soft balmy air of a gas lighted and furnace heated boudoir, undisturbed, except for the rustle of a cynic's philosophy, or the friction of the English in the theme of an English student. The plan of the building to be erected was decided by the Board at this meeting, and was copied from the historic Nassau Hall of Princeton College. The erection of a dwelling for the Professor was also decided upon. In November, 1823, about the time of the completion of the two buildings, the Board reassembled to elect a Professor. Rev. Baynard R. I-Iall, a graduate of Union College and a student of Princeton was elected for one year. He was directed to open the Seminary as early as possible in the spring of 1824, and to conduct two terms of five months each. His salary was fixed at 35250, of which 115150 was to be given in trade. On May 1, 1824, the first session of the Seminary began and among the many applicants for admission, ten were accepted. These 'ten students constitute the first student body of the Indiana institution of learning, and they waded into Latin and Greek with all the dreams and fancies that an Indiana son to-day drowns in the humiliation of an English I examination. A marked distinction between the character of the early years of the College and modern days becomes evident in a com- parison of the decision and continuity of purpose presented in the life of the young institution and the unnatural and strained attitude of these passing times. The pipe of peace and quiet had not yet become an improper spectacle, and the professor enjoyed his smoke between classes. But to-day, when all of the originality of human nature is concealed in the bosom of its possessor, the pipe becomes an indulgence of the secret precincts of the professor's study. DR. Maxw ELL. One of the members of the first student body was Joseph A. Wright, who became Governor of Indiana and served his country in a diplomatic position in a foreign land. The attendance at the beginning seems small, the first year the highest number was thirteen, the second year fifteen, and the third year twenty-one. It was a slow growth, but the cause

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INDIANA UNIVERSITXHS PRESIDENTS.

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COLLEGE CAMPUS