Lake Forest College - Forester Yearbook (Lake Forest, IL)

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9 A Medical Department was organized in 1859 and began work in September in the Lind Block in Chicago fstill standing by Randolph Street Bridgej, with thirty-three students and a Faculty of fourteen. From 1859 to 1864 this College had three hundred and fifteen students and seventy-six graduates. In 1864 the Medical College seceded, because not satisfied with the financial support given by the Lake Forest Trustees, and is to day the Chicago Medical College and a branch of the University at Evanston. In 1861 a College Freshman Class of four students was started, under the instruction of Prof. W. C. Dickinson. The Academy building accommodated this small class for two years. Fred Chapman is dead. Velasco Chandler is a successful banker at Macomb. Dr. Ralph E. Starkweather, of Chicago, is a member of our State Board of Health. john C. Patterson is a brilliant lawyer in Chicago. The class broke up at the end of the Sophomore year. Chandler went to iight rebels, Patterson and Starkweather went to Yale, Mr. Dickinson took the pastorate of the Lake Forest Church. Mr. Lucien G. Yoe, who entered the Academy in March, 1860, writes: The only residences at the time I entered, as I now remember, were those of Dr. C. H. Quinlan ta predecessor of Mr. Rumsey'sj, with grand Corinthian columns and a Greek portico in front, Mr. Sylvester Lind's5 Mr. Miller's Qnow Mr. Davies'j, the Rev. Mr. Dickinson's fnow Mr. Learned'sj5 Mr. James Anderson's3 the house afterwards occupied by Rev. Brainerd Kent fnow Mr. Falesljg Mr. Rossiter's, anda little cottage just west fthe original of Mr. Watson'sj. These, with the Academy, hotel, the Dickinson Young Ladies' School, Mr. Hulbert's store fnow Mr. Scudder'sj, and the depot were the only buildings. Church services were held in the school-room of the Academy for the first year and a half or two years. Twice during the three years I was a pupil, there was a season of revival following the day of prayer for schools and colleges, the last one in the winter and spring of 1863 being especially marked. Mr. Yoe is an elder in Dr. Stryker's church in Chicago, and a successful merchant. In September, 1859, the Rev. Baxter Dickinson, D. D., formerly ofAuburn and Lane Theological Seminaries, with the assistance of his four daughters, opened a Seminary for young ladies in a building known to-day as Mitchell Hall, which he erected for that purpose, For eight years the school was one of the most widely known in the W'est. It was a home school, taking twenty boarders and adding about thirty others as day pupils. While the Dickinson school was not a branch of the University, it was decided to locate it here because of the plans of University promoters, and it was the beginning which grew into Ferry Hall ten years later.

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8 the Institution as Lind University, for Mr. Sylvester Lind had promised a land endowment to the value of SIO0,000, in Chicago lots. Of the original twenty Trustees, four still survive: Dr. Chas. H. Quinlan, D. R. Holt, Amzi Benedict, and Rev. R. W. Patterson, D. D. The panic of 1857 for a time blocked all progress. Mr. Lind could not make good his endowment, and the friends who had expected to raise a money endowment of SIO0,000 were penniless. But in 1858 Dr. Quinlan started a subscription paper and raised S4,000. With this, in the winter of '58 and 759, an Academy building was erected where the Art Insti- tute building now stands, and the school openedijanuary 3, with one teacher, Samuel F. Miller, and three students. These were the foundations, and all honor to the small begin- nings. The three students were William Atteridge, still of Lake Forest, John Johnson, and John C. Patterson, now of the Chicago bar. The two last named lived in the Old Hotel. Prof. Miller began teaching before the Academy was finished, and the iirst professorial chair was a board across a nail keg. In the fall of ,SQ about a dozen more boys came. They roomed in the Academy, boarding at Mrs. Kent's. Her house stood in the front of Mr. Hinckley's place. Une of the old boys of ,59-'60 writes: The Academy was then surrounded by the forest primeval, and hunting and fishing were good, and I cannot recall that any pupil over-taxed himself in intellectual gymnastics. Another says: I could write a poem about those happy days. i' A third remarks: The Fares! Gem, a weekly paper written by the members of the school, would have given you interesting information. It was in my possession at the time of the Chicago fire, but was burned up. The Academy began its third year in the fall of 1860, with forty-nine students, and three teachers, Rev. XV. C. Dickinson having come the previous year to teach the classics, and Mr. C. E. Dickinson in December, 1360, to teach the sciences. This was a year full of interest. Colonel Ellsworth, the famous Zouave commander, came up during the winter and drilled the boys on the present Institute grounds. Patriotism was at a red heat, and the 'LE1lsworth Guards were formed in the school. The little band of students gave its quota of patriotic soldiers to the war for the Union, and Captain William D. Price, of Ottawa, fell at the head of his men while leading on to the assault. Others returned with life and fame, and are to-day honored citizens of Illinois. Even the Faculty became polemic, and when an Irishman, who ran a groggery not far from the Catholic Church by the slough was caught selling liquor to the boys, he was informed that if he was caught again in such business the teachers would come over and tear down his shanty. The warning was efficient.

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10 The Trustees advertised a theological course in 1860, announced its postponement for a year in 1861, and finally abandoned the idea. The public had received the impres- sion that the real property of the institution was amply sufficient to meet all expenses, con- sequently no endowments could be secured beyond a 550,000 guarantee fund for a prospec- tive President's salary, and the current expenses of the Academy, after encroacliing on this fund, were met by sales of Universitylands. Thus the magnificent endowment of six hundred and fifty acres dwindled away, yet up to the fall of 1868 the Academy was the only school on the foundation. I i By an act of the Legislature, approved February 16, 1865, certain alterations were made in the original charter. The name was changed to Lake Forest University, the number of Trustees was fixed above fifteen and below twenty-six, all restriction as to occu- pation of members of the Board was removed, and it was provided that theological, medical or law-schools might be located at or near Chicago, byatwo-thirds vote. Prof. Milford C. Butler took charge of the Academy in the beginning of 1862. In 1864 Prof. Lewis M. Johnson succeeded him, and in 1867 Prof. Edmund A. Jones took charge for two years. In the summer of 1865 the Academy building was reconstructed at a cost of S20,000. Its area was doubled, an additional story was added, and a substantial base- ment was put in. At the same time a gymnasium was built, and special attention was given to physical training, military drill was introduced and a military uniform was adopted. A Prospectus of December 20, 1868, called attention to a recent legacy to the Insti- tution of SB,-55,000 from the estate of the Rev. William W. Ferry, of Grand Haven, Mich., designed for the establishment of a Seminary for young ladies. In the winter of 1868-69 the Trustees erected, at a cost of S45,o00, a handsome building of Milwaukee brick, of four stories and basement, which was thoroughly equipped for school purposes. In September of 1869, this H Ferry Hall Seminary opened, under a lease to Principal Edward P. Weston, with eleven teachers and sixty-six students. In 1872 Mr. Weston purchased of Dr. Dickinson, the present Mitchell Hall, and opened a preparatory school for girls as an adjunct to Ferry Hall. In 1869 the Academy came into the hands of Prof. Ira W. Allen, under a lease for tive years. Charges were raised, and the school began, for the iirst time, to pay its way. In 1874 Prof. A. R. Sabin succeeded Prof. Allen, under a similar tive years' lease. During all these early years the Academy maintained a high standard of work to such an extent that the zeal for a College languished. Even members of the Board of Trustees felt that