St Johns College - Yearbook (Annapolis, MD)

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At his entrance into the city, Lafayette was received by a large array of military and citizens, and by them was escorted to the State House. Little maidens with banners waving, bearing the inscription, Lafayette, the friend of our fathers, will always be dear to the hearts of their children, strewed flowers in his path. As he entered the Senate Chamber, Mayor Boyle made him an address of welcome, referring in tones of deep feeling to his service to our country in the revolutionary struggle, and expressive of the admiration and sympathy of our countrymen for him in the events of his glorious career. Lafayette responded with an expression of his joy in the blessed results of the great struggle, and his gratification in the manifestations of the respect and kindness of our people for him. While here he was entertained by our citizens and public officers, among them Governor Stevens and Judge Jeremiah Townley Chase. By invitation of Governor Stevens, he made the Governor's mansion his home during his stay among us. At night the city was illuminated, and General Lafayette was escorted to the ball- room, the Hall of St. J ohn's College, where the grace and beauty and sterling manhood of the region around were assembled, all eager to show their respect for our illustrious guest. A gay company, dazzling lights, brilliant flowers, music and song and rejoicing hearts made it lively times in old St. J ohn's. Next day on the college green there was a review of the military of the United States and the Maryland Volunteers, and a contest in rifle-shooting. The prize won was pre- sented by General Lafayette to a member of the company of Captain Lewis Neth. General Lafayette was then conducted to the Citizens' Banquet in the Hall of St. John's College. On Sunday General Lafayette attended divine service in the Methodist Church. Cn Monday he was entertained with a banquet in the Hall of St. John's College, by the Maryland Legislature, after which he left for the city of Washington, escorted by a com- pany of cavalry. Humphreys Hall is used for the accommodation of the Preparatory boys and Pinkney Hall is occupied by the three lower classes of college students. The Seniors have rooms in the new building. Woodward Hall contains the college library. In the library there are about eight thousand volumes, among them many valuable reference books relating to our early Colonial history. This building contains, also, the Chemical, Physical, and Biological laboratories. The view from the halls is attractive. The Severn River is on the left and in the rear of the grounds, the Naval Academy further along on the left, and the town, with the old State House and Governor's mansion in front and on the right. Such is St. John's College, whose history forms one of the most interesting chapters in the annals of Mary- land. IT

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History of Jt. john's College St. John 's College, the fourth oldest collegiate institution in the United States, traces its origin back to the year 1696, when an act was passed by the General Assembly, establishing King William's School. The purpose of this school was declared to be the propagation of the Gospel and the education of the youth of the Province in good letters and manners. Rev. Andrew Gaddes was sent out by the Bishop of London to take charge of the school, but as the school building was still incomplete, he was appointed a lay-reader in All Saints' Parish, Calvert County, Maryland. The earliest mention of an officiating master of the school is found in the records of St. Anne's Parish Church. They record, 'Died, November 9, 1713, Rev. Edward Butler, rector of St. Anne's, and master of the free school, Annapolis. Few of the names of the rectors of the school have come down to us, but about 1756, and for nine years after that date, Mr. Isaac Daken is men- tioned as master of the school. On the 17th of August, 1784, the Rev. Ralph Higgin- botham was appointed master of King William's School, and when at a latter date the school became incorporated with the college, we find him occupying the position of Professor of Languages in the newly-organized institution. , This school is noted in the annals of the State as the nursery of some of her greatest men, among others the dis- tinguished lawyer and statesman, William Pinkney. Information, however, regarding this seminary is but meager, although the Act of 1750 indicated that the school was not without influential friends and supporters. In the meantime, in 1732, as appears by a paper now lying in the executive department at Annapolis, proposals for founding a college at Annapolis were read in the Upper House of Assembly and recommended to the consideration of the Lower House, but no legisla- tive effect was given to these proposals. The project was again revived in 1763. A committee of the GeneralAssembly recommended that the house in the city of Annapolis which was intended for the Governor of the Province, be completely finished and used for the college proposed to be established, the money for the work to come out of the public treasury. The annual cost of the faculty, consisting of seven masters, with the five servants, was provided for. The measure, however, failed to pass the Upper House. Ten years later the intention of establishing a college in Annapolis was again manifested, as we learn from a letter written October 4, 1773, by William Eddis, surveyor of customs, at Annapolis, to a friend in England. In this letter he states that the Legislature has determined to found a college for the education of youth in every liberal and useful branch of science, which will preclude the necessity of crossing the Atlantic for the com- pletion of a classical and polite education. A building on the banks of the Severn, 19