Monticello College - Echo Yearbook (Godfrey, IL)

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Harriet Newell Haskell HARRIET NEWALL HASKELL Born: Waldoboro, Maine, January 14, 1835 Died: Godfrey, Illinois, May 6, 1907 Miss Haskell came to Monticello from Castlcton Seminary in Vermont where she had been Principal for five years. When she first received the invitation to the wild and woolly West she declined to consider the proposition. Everybody considered the matter settled except the Trustees of Monticello who unanimously elected her as permanent Principal over and above her refusal to serve, which made her waver for the first time! It was a broader field and a wider opportunity. The music of the name Monticello— Mount of Heaven—grew more and more melodious. Captain Godfrey, founder of the Seminary was right, and its prosperous existence for nearly thirty years proved the wisdom of his forethought. The West won against the East and she accepted the position. To many people life in a secluded educational institution is monotonous; to others, green pastures beside still waters”. Monticello offered a worldwide life, with poets, philosophers, scientists, and saints. Monotonous? Never, with such a versatile woman at the fore. She was not only the presiding genius, but the permeating influence of the house. Platform and parlor knew her presence, also kitchen and door-yard; the spreading campus in front and the outlying farm behind were equally familiar to her keen and busy oversight. Besides her morning greeting to the school, there were her prayers after evensong in the dining room, the sacred hush of which can never be forgotten by any student or teacher who ever enjoyed the privilege of that devotional period. Though this usual serenity of life was sometimes stirred by eddies and currents of disaster, they disturbed but for a moment. Miss Haskell stood by Monticello until its golden age was in the ascendency. For forty years she guided Monticello students through many viscissitudes, and the progress of the institution during that period was the most notable of any time during its history. —Extracted from Harriet A ’ewe Haskell, a biography written by Emily Gilmore Aldcn. The Fire On June 12, 1888, Monticello celebrated its Golden Jubilee. Thousands were gathered from all over the country; old students, alumnae and friends, drawn there by tender memories and cherished associations. Every detail had been carefully and wisely thought out, and when the great day dawned everything was found in perfect readiness for the homecoming. In the fifty years from 1838 to 1888 over five thousand pupils had attended the Seminary. The celebration of the semi-centennial was an altogether happy day. At the close of the day Monticcllo’s daughters bade her good-bye with glad hearts. No omen of evil marred their sight, as in the glory of the setting sun they looked their last upon the grand old building with its “ivy crowned walls and gray towers.” On November 4, 1888, all was changed and Monticello was a heap of smoldering ashes. The fire broke out over the ovens in the laundry, but how it originated has never been ascertained. The servants were awakened by the smoke and flames and the Principal, Miss Haskell, was aroused at once. 'Flic teachers were sent through the corridors to awaken the sleeping girls. The chapel bell summoned aid from the neighborhood. 'Flic fire broke out a few minutes before one o’clock Sunday morning, November 4. There were 130 persons sleeping in the building. I he suddenly- aroused pupils were told to dress, secure what possessions they could, and to leave the building as quickly as possible. Friends and neighbors valiantly battled the flames, but their efforts were unsuccessful. It was evident that the building was doomed. The scene was magnificent and thrilling in spite of the forboding result. The flames lit up the countryside for miles around, and the fire raged all night. The stables, some distance from the building, were fired by the sparks and totally destroyed. While the fire destroyed the plant the unfortunate teachers and pupils gathered on the lawn and under the trees in the chill night air, helplessly watching the destruction of the building which represented fifty years of effort on the part of the Monticello founders. Possessions which had been saved were stored in the church, in Gilman cottage, and in the brick residence of Mr. J. G. Brown, which building is now known as “The Evergreens”. 'The neighbors provided breakfast for the students and faculty. During the day many departed for their homes, and others joined friends in Alton to await further developments. Miss Haskell had the sympathy of a large alumnae, and the grateful thanks of every student and patron of the school for her coolness and masterly self-possession in securing the safety of those in her charge on the fateful night. 24

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Pmii.ena Fobes PHILENA FOBES Born: Onondaga County, New York, September 10, 1811 Died: Roxboro, Pennsylvania, November 8, 1898 The name of Philena Fobes is indissolubly connected with Monticello and the influence emanating from its teachings. For twenty-seven years she was the institution’s presiding genius. Miss Fobes’ range of study and information was astoundingly broad and thorough, vet practical and available. She received her early education in Albany, New York. At the age of twelve, she attended a small private school which formed the ground work of many an ideal seminary that arose in her imagination. In 1830, she entered Cortland Seminary in Cortland, New York, where she completed her formal education. In 1834, Miss Fobes was invited to teach classes in the Seward Seminary in Rochester, New York. While at Rochester, she received a call from Theron Baldwin who invited her to take charge of a department in a seminary to be established at Monticello, Illinois. Her family had recently left the F.ast and established a home in Illinois. Under the escort of a brother-in-law who had come east on business, Miss Fobes journeyed to the West in 1837. I raveling at that time was dangerous and fatiguing. The journey took seven weeks, part of the trip being by train, part by steamer and part by stage-coach. Miss Fobes came to Monticello as Dean of the Faculty and as teacher of Rhetoric and Moral and Intellectual Philosophy. She won the esteem of associates and students, and her ability as a leader was quickly recognized. She was fitted in all respects to be the woman’’ to assist in the opening of the new institution on the Godfrey Prairie. Monticello 1845—1865 In the autumn of 1845 Miss Philena Fobes was elected the second Principal of Monticello by the Trustees. She had been the Acting Principal since 1845. At the time of her nomination the finances of the Seminary were in a sad condition. The national currency was greatly depreciated and Captain Godfrey had met with severe losses as a result of the current depression, but friends and teachers rallied to the cause and the institution was soon on its feet again. In 1855 the church opposite the Seminary was completed. In the summer of 1856 work was begun on the south wing, which included an octagonal tower, a public hall, a gymnasium. and additional rooms for students. A fourth story was also added to the original structure. Captain Godfrey lived over again the founding of the original building in planning and working for the needed addition. In 1862, Monticello was in deep mourning over the death of Captain Godfrey. He was always a personal friend and counsellor, an efficient trustee, and from the beginning of the enterprise to the last week of his life, he gave everything lie had to the interests of the school. In 1865, Miss Fobes left Monticello to join friends in Rochester, New York. On leaving Rochester in 1S6S, she made her home in New Haven, Connccticutt. In 1881 she went to live with friends in Roxboro, near Philadelphia, where she lived until her death in 1898. Xlontieello in IS5S after the addition of the new south wing begun in S56 and eonip eted in the spring of $57. 23

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“Monticcllo still lives and her walls shall rise again” was Miss Haskell’s prophetic utterance after the lire. Early in the week following the disaster, the trustees were summoned and it was resolved that some temporary building should be put up, which, in connection with Gilman cottage, could be used to continue the institution and graduate the class of 1889. In the interval the friends could rally and funds could be secured to erect a new Monticcllo. It was a hcraculcan task, but it could not dismay the courage of Miss Haskell. In sixty days a temporary structure was provided and furnished by the board of trustees. Eighty-nine of the students returned and the “Temporary” proved a success. The crude building was often called “Knotty Hall” because of the prominence of the natural features in the pine boards. The 70.000 insurance on the building which was destroyed was only a small start for a new Monticcllo, but gifts from generous friends were so numerous that a new and stately structure was erected within nineteen months. The largest donor was Y. H. Reid of Chicago. This donation included the money for the Eleanor Irwin Reid Chapel, which was erected in memory of his wife. The dedication of the beautiful new building in June, 1890, assured the future of Monticcllo as a permanent institution. —Extracted from Echo for January, 1900 Monticcllo tis rebuilt in $90.