Illinois Institute of Technology - Integral / Lewis Yearbook (Chicago, IL)

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He came to see clearly that to throw upon the world a boy or a girl incapable of doing well some one thing is to give that boy or girl the most unfavorable start possible in the only life they have to live, and it is believed that, when Mr. Lewis returned to Chicago, he had fully determined to set on foot a project that should lead directly to the establishment of a unique school. This school was to train boys and girls for lifework, and to train them so well that failure would be contingent upon lack of personal effort only. Mr. Lewis felt that such a school must needs have ample funds or it would fail. In accordance with this wise foresight he constrained himself to go slowly. His business was lucrative, and with wife, child and other near relatives gone, he gave himself up to it that he might thereby further his plans for a school, and when he died, in 1876, it was found that very nearly all of his fortune of about S6o0,0oo had been given to found a school, as previously outlined. Mr. Lewis had inserted clauses in his will which required that the money should rest as he had invested it until such time as it had reached a certain value. He felt that it would be useless to build and operate a school with less than, say, S8oo,ooo. In 1896 the trustees of the bequest prepared to carry out the plan of Mr. Lewis and found that the sum in hand amounted to nearly three times the amount he left at his death. After some difficulty regarding a site had been met, the southeast corner of Robey and Madison streets was choseng a serviceable building was erected and George Noble Carman was made director of the Lewis Institute. In fulfilling the mission planned for it by its founder, the Lewis Insti- tute has come to occupy 'a unique position among schools. It is essentially broad in its conception, being not an academy merely, nor a technical school, nor a college, but a closely combined union of the three. It receives boys and girls from the grammar school, and, after taking them through the preparatory course, offers either literary or scientific work through two years of college, or the engineering course to the degree of M. E. During the first two years of study, all engineering students are expected to take literary work with the technical. This affords them the opportunity to make a careful decision as to their course of study, and at the same time gives them a less one-sided training than would be possible in a strictly teclmical school. Besides this, the Lewis arrangement allows the literary student to take up some work not strictly literary, or the technical student some work not strictly technical, in departments far better organized than would be possible in an exclusively literary or technical school. This close relationship existing between the literary and engineering departments makes possible the association of all the students in the literary societies, musical and athletic organizations, and in the social life generally, a pleasant relationship which is kept up by the alumni association. 23

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ALLEN c. LEWIS AND His woRK BOUT the year 1870 a wave of discussion on industrial education swept over this country. Out here in the XVest, as it was then called, the discussion was as widespread as anywhere. Nor were the reasons far to seek, so far as Chicago was concerned. VVhat is to-day the Middle NVest was then beginning to make known its wants in a mercantile way, and prominent among these wants was a need for ma- chinery suitable for the farmer and the manufacturer, and for the machinists and engineers necessary for the production and operation of such devices. It was true that such machinery and experts could be obtained from New York, or Boston, or Philadelphia, but the cost was great, time was con- stantly being lost, and general dissatisfaction resulted. Tn the rising young city of Chicago marked interest was displayed in the consideration of this mercantile problem. Newspaper editorials dealt with the question, and busi- ness people talked about the matter as one of vital concern. Gradually cer- tain people came to feel that somehow or other a school of technical educa- tion was to be established. Given the engineers. we shall make our own machinery, and thus free ourselves of inconvenient and costly dependence upon a distant base of supplies. This was felt to be true. In those days the founding of schools was not in so great vogue as it is to-day, and the good citizens waited to see who would make the initial move toward found- ing an institution which had become a positive want. At that time there were but three technical schools of any importance in the country, and they were situated in the Eastern States. These matters were not lost upon Allen C. Lewis, hardware merchant. It is entirely probable, in the light of subsequent events, that even before his trip to France in search of health Mr. Lewis had. after much discussion and counsel with his brother, John Lewis, formulated the plan of establish- ing a school of technical education. He was vividly impressed, not only by the need for skilled artisans on the one hand, but also by the-to him-posi- tive need for thorough training in one art for boys and girls on the other hand. Mr. Lewis spent three years in Holland, Belgium and France. In those lands he observed the bitter struggle for existence, especially in the cities. He observed that t'he skill to ply a trade. even a small trade, such as the paper-ilower industry in Belgium, was the one thing that stood between many a young person and dependence. Particularly was this true of the young women, and particularly did Mr. Lewis deplore the lack of training that leaves young women, in so many instances, utterly without resources. . ' W Q 6 'u!4,J:F!J 22

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Another important advantage, one offered by few schools of equal size and rank, is the personal advice and assistance of the director in laying out the courses of study, a point of marked superiority over the system in many insti- tutions. Finally, these advantages are brought within the reach of any ambi- tious young man or young woman. Aside from the scholarships awarded annually, the tuition at Lewis Institute is less than at almost any other school of equal rank. This is the sort of school, we believe, that Allen C. Lewis planned, a school eminently practical, of broad scope, and within the reach of all. NVhat Peter Cooper's work has done for thousands in New York Allen C. Lewis' work is doing here in Chicago. SECRET SOCIETIES IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS N the secondary schools of the-country there are two policies .fol- lowed with regard to fraternities. In some schools fraternities are discouraged and even forbidden, and in certain-cases there has been resort to litigation. The authorities of these institutions maintain that boys in secondary schools are too young for the affiliations of the fraternityg that the fraternity causes them to waste time, and is thus a detriment to study, and that it too often encourages snobbislmess or artificial distinctions based on wealth. V ' In other schools fraternities are tolerated, recognized, and even en- couraged, upon grounds that they cause the formation of pleasant associa- tions, that they are not detrimental to healthful student life, and that they encourage school spirit. The question of allowing the existence of fraternities in any secondary school has recently been revived, and is now being discussed. The policy of the Lewis Institute is established. Fraternities and sororities are recog- nized by the school to the extent that they are allowed to post their notices in the school lobbies, on the condition that a member of the faculty be chosen as an honorary member. who shall act as the adviser of the organization. 24