Indiana University - Arbutus Yearbook (Bloomington, IN)

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INDIANA UNIVERSITY-WHAT IT WAS AND IS. chanical Philosophy, and Chemistry. An amusing incident of his journey from Oxford, Ohio, to Bloomington, is related. He made the trip on foot and before arriving at his destination, halted at a creek, bathed, washed his shirt, dried it in the sun, and appeared in Bloomington in clean linen. Baynard R. Hall was continued as Professor of Ancient Languages. In the act creating Indiana College is found the birth of the Preparatory Department. YV. H. Stockwell was appointed Superintendent of this department. Soon after the organiza- tion of the College, another larger and more convenient build- ing was contracted for, but it was not completed until 18365 and that year the seventh commencement exercises were held in the new College building. 1 The College charter extended only through a period oi ten years. When this charter expired, an act was passed February 15,1838, by the General Assembly chartering a University. And from this time dates the growth of Indiana's educational insti- tution as a University. The College published its first catalogue in 1831, giving a list of the students, courses of study offered, and something with regard to the management and discipline. Under the last sub- ject it read, the studies are so conducted that each student gives his individual attention to one principal study until it is completed. Some one has said that this system was no doubt well adapted to minds like the Presidentts who had in phrenolo- gical language a great organ of concentrativeness, but not to the average minds of students nor to the condition of things as they then existed. This plan was changed in 1840. In that year the number oi students was 64, and three years later it had risen to 115. In 1842 the Law School was established as a de- partment of the University with Judge David McDonald as the first Professor. The year 1850 opened auspiciously for the University. At the opening of the year there were 160 students in attendance. But in light of this dawning prosperity the institution suffered the loss of its beloved President who had fostered its interests in that capacity for twenty-two years. Dr. Alfred Ryors, Presi- dent of Ohio University, succeeded Dr. W'ylie, but his adminis- tration was short. He resigned in the summer of 1853. Dr. NVm. M. Dailey, a member of the Board of Trustees, was chosen to succeed Dr. Ryors. The affairs of the University seemed to OLD COLLEGE BUILDING. be prospering and the outlook was good. But misfortune fol- lowed misfortune. The hopes of its friends were buried in the ruins of the new building which was destroyed by fire on the night of April 11, 1854. It seemed a death blow to the Univer- sity. Its small, though valuable, library, its chapel, recitation rooms, and the Philomathean and Athenian Society halls were

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INDIANA UNIVERSITY -WHAT IT WAS AND IS. all destroyed. But in the face of this almost irretrievable loss the friends of the University were not disheartened. The word -came from the Alumni all over the State, we will, to the last, -stand by our cherished Alma Mater. At the same time that this misfortune befell the institution, the Supreme Court ren- dered a decision for the Trustees of Vincennes University in the controversy over the Gibson county lands which the State hadsold, and appropriated the funds for Indiana University, claiming that the grant of these lands to Vincennes University in 1816 was void by non-use. By this decision, Indiana Univer- sity lost 370,000 These calamities falling almost simultaneously upon the University were enough to discourage all hopes of resuscitation. But the Trustees assumed at once the labor of considering plans for reconstruction and resolved that as soon as 310,000 was subscribed, they would proceed immediately with the erection of a larger and better building than the one des- troyed. This aid was soon assured and the old building now owned by the School Board of Bloomington, standing on the old campus at the south end of College Avenue, is the product of that contribution to the University by its friends in the hour of darkness. , The University atmosphere assumed a brighter hue at once and its student body and popularity increased rapidly. Proba- bly no President of the University ever worked as hard and as faithful as did Dr. Dailey, and to him must be the credit for the successful efforts to rebuild the University and maintain its standing in the State. It was during his administration that Prof. Elisha Ballantine and Prof. Daniel Kirkwood became con- nected With the University. In January, 1859, Dr. Dailey re- signed, and was followed by Dr. Lathrop. The latter was Presif dent but one year and Dr. Cyrus Nutt, of Greencastle, assumed the duties of President in 1860. Dr. Nutt entered upon his duties amid favorable circumstances. In 1860 the number of students in the collegiate department was 99, in 1861, 112 5 in 1863, it reached the minimum of 67 g then gradually rising, till in 1869 the number reached 182. The faculty at this time was composed of Professors Ballantine, Wylie, Kirkwood and VVoodburn, and Judge Bryant. ' An Act of Congress in 1862 created in each State a college for the benefit of mechanical arts and agriculture. A strenuous effort was made by Dr. Nutt and others to locate the new college in Bloomington and combine it with the University. It seemed that they would be successful when disappointment came by the location of the college at LaFayette, as Purdue University