Monticello College - Echo Yearbook (Godfrey, IL)

Page 25 text:

“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.

Page 24 text:

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

Page 26 text:

Martina Erickson Parsons MISS MARTINA ERICKSON (Mrs. W. W. Parsons) It has been said that an institution is but the prolonged shadow of one man. As we look at the various foundations that have added to the stature of human beings through the development of the United States we arc strongly inclined to agree. Monticcllo is the result of the fact that Captain Godfrey lived and had an idea. He was the founder—he cast the shadow. But the notable institution could have lived but a comparatively brief time if there had been no individuals of genuine ability and tireless devotion to prolong that shadow and to implement the ideas and ideals of the founder through the decades following the days of the Captain. Monticcllo has had the excellent good fortune to have been granted a succession of good leaders. On June io, 1910, the Board of Trustees appointed as the guiding hand at Monticcllo Martina Erickson, notable teacher of Mathematics and sometime Dean of Women at the State Normal School at 'Ferre Haute, Indiana, where she served with brilliance for several years. She lead Monticcllo for seven years as active head and has continued to serve as “elder statesman” for the past twenty years. In this capacity she has been able to do a great deal to further the best interests of women’s education in the Mississippi alley. On Sunday October 13th, 1917 she returned to the State Teachers’ college at 'Ferre Haute as wife of Dr. W. W. Parsons, the president. She took with her the lasting devotion of thousands of young women who had come to revere her as counsellor, guide and friend. The editor of the Echo in 1917 spoke for all her contemporaries when she wrote editorially: “It is with great difficulty that we bring ourselves to imagine a Monticcllo without Miss Krickson at the helm, who for the past seven years has so successfully guided us to the harbor of attainment where the new buildings, through the years to come will be the “pyramids” erected in her memory. It must be with an ever growing appreciation that we thank her for having shown that the real goal to strive for is that of gcnuincss and sincerity. We mourn our loss deeply, but arc consoled in the knowledge that she will never entirely sever her connections with Monticcllo.” Mrs. Parsons was at Monticcllo at the time of the celebration of the Seventy-fifth birthday of the opening of the college for instruction. 'Flic exercises were distinguished. Miss Mary Emma Woolley, then President of Ml. Holyoke College, was the guest of honor and chief speaker. It is a fortunate circumstance that Miss Woolley can return twenty-five years later to join Mrs. Parsons in the activities celebrating the one hundredth birthday at Monticcllo. As before, Miss Woolley will be the chief speaker and,as before, Mrs. Parsons will be present to greet her legion of friends and lend to the occasion her presence. Monticcllo’s Centenary throng will join in tribute to Mrs. Parsons, spirited leader in the line of duty. ■J6