St Johns College - Yearbook (Annapolis, MD)

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Pinkney Hall +,

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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

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eriginally intended for the Governor's mansion, but described in the letter as a melan- choly and mouldering monument, was des'gnated as the proposed collegiate edifice. This building is now McDowell Hall, the central one of five buildings constituting St. John's College. The Revolution interferred with the carrying out of the plan, but in 1784 the charter of St. John's College was granted, two years after a like charter had been given for the establishment of Washington College at Chestertown, on the Eastern shore. It was intended by the terms of the charter that the two colleges thus founded should constitute one university under the name of University of Maryland. By an act of 1785, the property and funds and students of King William's School were conveyed to St. John's College. Among the chattels passed to the college were a number of quaint and curious volumes brought over by the Rev. Dr. Bray from England, and which still remain in the library of St. John's. On November 11, 1789, the college was formally opened, and the dedication per- formed with much solemnity, all the public bodies being in attendance, and forming a long procession from the State House to the college hall. Among those who were active in promoting the welfare of the college in its infancy are to be found, John Carroll, the first Roman Catholic Archbishop of America 5 the Right Rev. Thomas John Claggett, Protest- ant Episcopal Bishop of Maryland, and other eminent divines of the Roman Catholic, Episcopal and Presbyterian churches. Tradition says that the name King William's School was changed to St. John's College to suit the ideas of the patrons of that period. Among the students of that early period are to be found the names of George Washington Park Custis, a stepgrandson, and Fairfax and Lawrence Washington, nephews of George Washington, also, of Francis Scott Key, who entered St. J ohn's, November 11, 1789, and graduated in 1796. On Friday morning March 25, 1791, President Washington, attended by the Governor of Maryland and a number of citizens, visited St. John's College, and expressed much satisfaction at the appearance of this rising institution. Almost all the noted families of Maryland, and of other States, have in some way, and at some time, been connected with the college. In order to establish the college under the terms provided for in the charter, private subscriptions amounting to 810,000 were collected, and to provide a permanent fund for the further encouragement and establishment of the college, the Legislature enacted that the sum of 191750 C5B8,750D current money be annually and forever hereafter given and granted as a donation by the public to the use of the college. With this aid the college went forward under Dr. John McDowell, the first president, in its work of educating men, till January, 1806, when the Legislature, by a majority of only six, withdrew the annuity, and the visitors and governors of the college were com- pelled to announce that the college must close. Within the brief period of thirteen years, from 1793, when the first class was gradu- ated, to 1806, the names of four Governors of Maryland, six United States Senators, five members of the House of Representatives, four judges of the courts, one Attorney-General, 21