Hamline University - Liner Yearbook (St Paul, MN)

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year 1857 also marked the panic that met the university at the outset of its career There had been no opportunity for the settlers to store away wealth against time of adversity, and when this panic struck the country, it required the most heroic struggle to con- tinue. The trusteeslof Hamline University were obliged f 1 1 ' . ji i.l' .yly V T T, I Q ' to devise means to meet the current expenses of theinstitution..The saleof part of Bishop Hamline's property, which comprised the first endowment, andother real estate, the raising of a 310,000 endowment, together with contributions of friends of the institution and sale of scholarships-all failed to place theiinstitutionon a sound financial basis. The significant epochs Qin theuhistory of Hamline seem to come in regular beats of two years. In'1859,' thefirst class was graduated from Hamline University, the Misses Elizabeth and MaryfSo1Tin,4 sisters, being the ones' to complete their courses. Another two years' elapsed and the War of the Rebellion broke out. Prof. H. B. Wilson of mathematics and about seventy-five students enlisted, leaving almost no able-bodied' men, President Crary resigned, having been se- lected by the legislators of Minnesota' to organize the public schools system of the state. Dr. Brooks had meanwhile recovered his health and was again elected by the trustees to the presidency 'offHamline University. Many reminiscences of early Hamline .still cling to the graduates of those days. Judge Hascal R. Brill' contributes thefollowing recollections of the pioneer days: , V T . I ' . The boys who came to Hamline did not come with the intention of finishing a four-year course. They came and remained as long as they were able. The railroad did not penetrate as far as Red'Wing and the students had to travel by boatorstage. T , ' - We cooked and ate in our rooms., There were no athletics. There was in- deed no college to compete with if we so wished. We played a simple and crude game of baseball. The fact is, there was not much time for athletics, work was our major sport. The students applied themselves very seriously to Livy and Xeno- phon, or whatever they happened tobe taking. Ii -Qi 3: , nigh, 442. lil' L 'Lf 1 Q Lg.: ' fi: 15..W!'1: 'J .wig :awZ.f:' -I, 2 ,. gg . 1 1 ' f-, Q u 1 I .. ,fy K , K A ' . XX 1 h A I i . . ' . I Page Eigli

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my ' 1 . ' i.-.J .f X A 2 J 1' 2 Q ' l ki.. .7 Ll xl Lxfg.-7 Ll History of Hamline TURDY pioneers, coming to Minne- sota from the eastern frontier, were not satisfied to make their daily bread and hew away in the forests for their stock and crops. They wanted their children to be educated. As early as 1849, when Minnesota was organized as a territory, this need was manifest. There were no schools then, and no provision for higher A education. The Methodist Church took the first step in the matter. ' . In 1850, there was some- talk of organizing an academy or seminary, which soon grew into the dimensions of a university. Four years later a charter was granted on application made to the Territorial Council of Minnesota. Bishop Leonidas L. Hamline had been interested in the project, and made an endowment of 825,000, in real estate, putting the institution on a financial basis. The new university was incorporated under the name of The Trustees of the Hamline University of Minnesota. Provision was made in the charter to fix the location of the institution on the Mississippi River between St. Paul and Lake Pepin. The early legislators be- lieved that the success of an educational institution depended largely on 'its prox- imity to navigable streams, for the reason that a large majority of the early settlers made their homes near the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers. Also, the students, like freight, could be more cheaply transported by water than by land. L , ' Early History ED WING, then a collection of Indian huts and numbering 305 inhabitants, of whom only ive were white people, was made the site of Hamline University. In accordance with the provision of a treaty, the Indians vacated the place in 1853. In November of the following year, school opened for academic work with only one or two teachers and an attendance of probably sixty preparatory students. 'As Principal Brooks expressed it, Hamline University was founded at a time when tepees were more plentiful than houses, and Indian-trails more common than highways. However, the venture was considered a success. T he first catalogue published, in 1855, contained the following as the first faculty: Rev. Jabez Brooks, A. M., Principal and Librarian, Miss Louisa Sherman, Teacher of Modern Languages, Painting and Drawing, and Mrs. Frances L. Dun- ning, Teacher of Music and Ornamental Work. ' Two years later the university proper was opened, being the first and for some years thereafter, the only college institution in Minnesota. Chairs of mathematics, natural science and ancient languages were created, as well as professorships of theology and law. Hamline University also has the distinction of leading other colleges in the United States in establishing a scientific course of equal rank with the classical, and affording the same educational faciilities to the women as to the men, at that time a very novel idea. In the spring of that year, President Brooks resigned on account of ill health, and Rev. B. F. Crary, D. D., was elected to fill the vacancy. This Page Seventeen

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N: lb Y li. N 96 .iw lip 'A 'A ss -5 . mx. U P . 1 4 'va , , m,, gi 1 ,Nr iv. 1 F43 'Y me 'Q u .Y 9. :Sr '4 fa' 'Ib' P . -.-'.'f'. i 1. Mi . . L , w . 4',1' gp ZVL.-f'-af W' l' fi ,,x Q ,' V Rl VX 9- x .1 5 . K X , - .- 'AQ 'I V 1 U Ll .P--C. Lli' time il l:..'..: 1 iL...i1 li 'iii' i.'1fv.riwfr... Mr. A. J. Meacham, one of the earliest students, entering in 1857, has some de- l i gh t ful observations on the old days. In 1858 Hamline boasted of a chapel and three recitation rooms on the first floor. One of these, the music room, was also used as a li- brary. A ' At that time the tuition did not exceed ten dollars a term. There was no ground for argument concerning incidentals. The freshmen did not carry a check sewed up in his inside coat pocket, but calmly walked up to the receiving ofiicial and donated a few hams, some flour and a little pork and beans. This is what supported the faculty. ' ' - The main building consisted of class rooms on the first floor and a dormitory on thesecond. The girls were supreme at one end of the structure, while the boys held the other. The masculine element was as always, full of fun. There were three literary societies-the Philologian, the Adelphian, and the Segournian. The journalistic ambitions of the students were satisiied by a paper published weekly by each society in turn. It was not printed but read in chapel. Last Commencement HE year 1869 was another period filled with incidents. The liabilities of the university were such that a majority of the trustees favored a discontinuance of instruction and the school closed, Dr. Brooks having resigned. This decision was made quietly by the trustees and the students were not aware of it until commencement. It was the tenth -graduating class which went out of Hamline on March 4, 1869, and the last commencement at Red Wing. In the meantime, the Minnesota State University, Carleton College and other institutions of learning had been organized, and the need of this college in the state was less imperative, though the project of reopening Hamline University was still one of the first interests of the Methodist Church. During the eleven years fol- lowing the closing of the institution, the Board of Trustees continued its existence W .N ...grisly 1 s 1 .ss r ' rs: . .- .g-wi.: ya. -gs .f iXSQSswt:ySQSx n. tr. .'Fwf5' ' -ixXhX1i.Q3AXQ.i3Q.QX tx Q3 Page Nineteen at 13 , :..71,y..1,'f, 1:41-.zz ,igff-' - 1