Indiana University - Arbutus Yearbook (Bloomington, IN)

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An Old Campus Path Seminar}- days, and the thirty-five students had dwindled to twenty-four. Mean- while, the trustees had been at work erecting a large three-storied brick building, a rectangular structure with many windows, with a deck roof and a pepper box cupola, and resembling more, according to Dr. Wylie, A New England cotton-mill than a college . This building was burned in the spring of 1854. The first thing to be done after the inauguration of Dr. Wylie as president on October 28, was the announcement of a complete curriculum of studies. Great stress was given to the languages, mathematics, the mental and moral sciences, and to belles lettres. Inasmuch as there was no apparatus of any kind and no experimental work of any sort done, the scientific instruction given at that time was exceedingly meager. Following the coming of President Wylie, the thirty students entering college in 1829 grew to fifty-nine at the beginning of the following year. Three students took their degrees at the first commencement in 1830, and b} ' the end of the same year the enrollment had increased to sixty, four of whom took their degrees at the second commencement. The next year, (1831-32) the number enrolled was fifty-three, and in 1832-33 there were sixty-live students.

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At the time the Seminary was conferred into a college, the population of the state had increased to not less than 300,000 and twenty-two new counties had been added to the map. The population of Monroe County was about 4,600 and of Bloomington about 600, but the town was still in the woods, with its few business houses confined to the west side and the west half of the public square. Of Indiana College, Dr. Maxwell stated that the endowment was nearly $40,000 , and brought an income which was estimated at something like $2,000. There were two buildings, one built for a professor ' s residence, and the other a plain brick rectangular structure two stories high, containing six rooms, one of which was the chapel and another the Henedelphisterian Society room, leaving four rooms for recitation purposes. To this must be added the thirty-five students that Dr. Maxwell says there were in attendance, most of whom were in the pre- paratory department, and none of whom, except in one or two branches, had advanced beyond the studies usually pursued in the freshman class, and you have the warp and woof of the Indiana College the first year of its existence . Outside was the campus, containing ten acres, inclosed with a worm fence, and surrounded on at least three sides with walls of living trees. On the town side, the ax-men had been at work, but it was not until many years afterwards that the forest trees lining College Avenue between the town and the College were cut down. The Rev. Andrew Wylie, then the presi- dent of Washington College in Western Pennsylvania, and just thirty-seven years of age, was elected president of Indiana College by the board of trustees. This choice was made in May, 1823, but it was not until March 20, ten months following his election, that Dr. Wylie decided to ac- cept the Indiana call. Late in the after- noon of October 9, 1829, Dr. Wylie arrived with his family in Bloomington, prepared to take up his duties as president of Indiana College. During the twent)-two months that intervened between the chartering of the College and the arrival of the president, no change was made in the curriculum of studies. The work continued to be carried Dr. AxDRKw WvLiE on in all respects the same as during the

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The College prospered, its reputation spread abroad, and its classrooms were filled with students from almost every state in the West and the South. At the opening of the fall term in 1830, it became necessary to establish a preparatory department which continued down to the close of 1890, a period of sixty years. During the period of the College, Beaumont Parks and Ebenezer N.Elliot were elected to the chairs of languages and mathematics and natural philosphy, re- spectively. Professor Parks is remembered as mu ch for his eccentricities as his learning. In the middle of a recitation, without a word of warning, he would spring to his feet with the announcement that he must go home and kill a chicken for dinner; and off he would go, not to return till the next day. In the legislative year 1837-38, the corporate life of Indiana College ends and that of Indiana University begins. In December, 1837, Governor Noble, in his annual message, after paying a high tribute of praise to the thoroughness and effectiveness of the academic work which the College had already done, declared this to be a propitious time for carrying into effect the constitution of Indiana with regard to the establishing of a State University , and concluded by recom- mending that the College have bestowed on it that distinction together with the necessary endowment. On February 13, 1838, by a vote of the General Assemblj , the Indiana College was thus transformed into Indiana University. The Sun Dial