Tufts University - Jumbo Yearbook (Medford, MA)

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and steady endeavor made Hosea Ballou II, first president of Tufts College. support. The wealthy and aristocratic neigh¬ bors of the college in the then residential Boston suburb of Charlestown were especially generous in their gifts. John Harvard, for whom Harvard University is named, had also been a resident of Charlestown. The colleges besides Harvard and Tufts that have been named for residents of Charlestown, “the mother of colleges,” are Carleton in Minnesota, Colby in Maine, and Doane in Nebraska. Among the early benefactors of Tufts who lived in Charlestown may be mentioned Dr. William J. Walker, who gave generously to the college and left $250,000 to Tufts in 1805. In terms of gifts to education at the time this was a notable benefaction. Dr. Walker, one of the well-known surgeons and physicians of New England, was a graduate of Harvard in the class of 1810. After studying medicine with Governor John Brooks of Medford, he went abroad and continued his medical 1 27

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Early diligent activity college in many ways. In this connection it may be interesting to note that when Tufts was founded Harvard by modern standards was still not a large institution. In 1852 Harvard had 320 undergraduates and an endowment of $888,611. It may also be interesting to Bostonians of the present dav to remember that when Tufts was founded educational work had not yet begun at Boston University, Boston College, Wellesley, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Rad- cliff e, Simmons, Northeastern, Brandeis, or the other institutions of higher education in this region. The decision that led to the founding of Tufts College on an independent campus partly in Medford and partly in that section of Charlestown which had recently been named Somerville was determined by a gift of land from Charles Tufts of Charlestown. The Tufts family came to the Mystic Valiev region in 1638 from Malden in England. The Tufts Mansion in Medford was one of the early “Great Houses” of New England. Charles Tufts was a large landowner in the northern part of suburban Boston. He supervised the farming of much of this land and was also a successful manufacturer. The original gift was twenty acres on what had up to that time been called Walnut Hill. Later Mr. Tufts largely increased his gift of land to the new college, which was given his name in gratitude. Symbolically Charles Tufts pointed to the top of the windswept height he had given to the new college and said, “I will put a light on it.” Once the decision had been made to build the new college the plan won wide financial Approach to the College as seen sixty years ago from the Revolutionary Powder House. U2G

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this scene our reality . Ballou Hall and Chapel in the background i 28 }