Transylvania University - Crimson Yearbook (Lexington, KY)

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d B 'amin Franklin Its first President, the Rev. James 'in CD1 ' john Adams . f C of the books of James Lane Allen, an alumnus Moore. was the hero o oglay was a professor in, and later a trustee Of, the Ui 'hc,wHcge'f iienrypavis was a student here before he entered West institution. lctfegsolg Masque who was the First object teacher in the West l'-lint. lhc gifts? la Botanikal Garden in Lexington, Once taught in Tran- 'l'i me founder O me th first doctor in the West to employ .w,1i..mi.i, as did Dr. Samuel Brown, C U . ,. b I, H 15, jnqeph Buchanan, a genius almost as erratic as Rafinesque, i, , 'rut 10 - ' - -C niet! -1 horseless carriage which astonished the citizens of Louis- e.u.y iuvc - Q was first exhibited. He and Professor Benjamin Peers both mile nhcrc it . ascii the l'cstalouian System of teaching. . Nniiicnnit graduates of Transylvania have been elected to the Unlted g, .,. Sr-nite -ind 'ts many as eight were members at the same time. . .ls 5 - ' ' K' lan-r .iininni have occupied positions as Judges of the Supreme Court of the liautrtl Stan-Q, .ine has served as Vice-President, and one was the President .ti tm- xnnthr-rn Confederacy. Transylvanians were active in the founding .iff fl1.tll.lL:l'llil'lliUi- the Institute for the Blind in Louisvilleg of the Hos- gmi 1--z the Insane at Lexington, of the Orphan School established in lfxztxrgt-txt .nu-r the ravage of the cholera in 1883, and, later, of the Orphan s tw-12 .rt Xlidway. Scores of men now filling the highest positions of trust in i txt-not r--nnt it their greatest honor that they are alumni of Transylvania l1:w.r'iwi:t-. lr- tvtntu to 'l'ransylvania's peculiar relations to other educational in- -tzazrs llt-r first rival, Kentucky Academy, was established in 1794, 1-fi lt.insx'lx'.iuia Seminary had been in active operation less than ten years. iifsl' tn-1 -t-minaries were later united in Transylvania University. This .1 n .tori-lnot ln- permanent, however, because of the religious differences ...Q-:fig its --ttiuials, and the Presbyterians soon withdrew. ' lx: iNl ll1t'lll'Sl charter of Centre College was granted and in 1820 the l irnv- XlttChord, an alumnus of Transylvania,was chosen as its President. Nm tht' lletlilluing Centre College drew students from Transylvania ' f f, f l Um ll the 5UDDort of many of its most influential friends. The X TC' ' TEX'-'Q ' ' ' ' - , - - . N ' 1511 lt -Wil Df0hD6fCd wonderfully, so that it is not exaggeration to fx' ::1.s:1.iy -Q, -K -x - . , f 5' .i T' in M2116 UCHVCCW a college in America has a larger number -- a---itngtzistzetl alumni. lzt lNjl - ' , . , cl--L U W ' tfll iXUllUChS Conference of the Methodist Church decided to 't-it .TSR .1 fgvju 1 1 t . U31 0 SUCCCed Bethel Academy, which had been conducted l 1804. In 1822 a charter was obtained for .XZIQU-it Lirrllfvs - '- . -' -- ' 2 . v ' . . . 3.cCh.1mC A member of th O6 Q3 1U5t graduated from Transylvania University, .a::.i as President W- h C ht College faCUlfY and was connected as Professor ' 't Allgusta College for th z::1..:r: Xlctht-dist control unti C greater part of its history.

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'gafwa-41, - ' .,,-i,:.vw,,, . . idly and the sphere of th , , y . en e . e relative importance of Transylvania among the American colleges is shown by the fact that in 1821 it lacked l f Harvard. The Deriod following Dr. Holley's resignation is naturally marked by some loss of prestige for the institution. It was a period of depression during which the departments were maintained, but often only by heroic exertion 'd a-mi great difficulties and against strong opposition. Finally, with the elec- tion to the presidency of the Rev. Henry Bascom, there came a second era of great growth, which, however, continued ignation in 1849. A reorganization in 1856 made Transylvania mainly a state school for teachers. After about two years the state withdrew its aid and the beginning of the Civil War closed the departments of law and medicine, while the col- lege waned to a local grammar school and the history of old Transylvania University came to a close. e institution's influence was greatl eict d d Th On y our of having as many students as for only a short while after his res- At the time f1798ll when the act uniting Transylvania Seminary and Ken- tucky Academy was passed, another act was passed which reserved the public lands of the state for the use of seminaries of learning to be established throughout the Commonwealth. This wise legislation was largely due to the influence of Judge Caleb Wallace, who had aided in the founding of Hampden- Sidney College and Washington and Lee University, and who was a Trustee of Transylvania Seminary, later a Trustee of Kentucky Academy, and the principal promoter of their union. Thus was provided a remarkably compre- hensive system of state education, composed of seminaries of high school grade, having Transylvania as their head. Many of these academies were established and endowed, but they enjoyed only a brief existence as state schools. However, most of the colleges later founded in Kentucky were suc- cessors to the stronger of these academies, for example, Centre, Iientucky Wesleyan, and Georgetown Colleges, and the University of Louisville. The common school system also has been advocated and aided by Tran- sylvania alumni and professors. XVilliam T. Barry and john Pope served on first commission appointed to prepare and report on a system of common schools for the state. An enthusiastic advocate of the establishment of a State Normal School was Professor Peers. Credit for the passage of a law providing for the organization of the first public school system of the state must be given to Judge VVilliam F. Bullock. It may not be amiss to mention here a few other honored and prominent men who have been connected with the University. The roll of its first board of trustees contains the names of John Bradford, editor of the first newspaper in the West, and of Isaac Shelby, first governor of Kentucky. Contributions to the endowment funds of Transylvania were made by George XVashington,

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This college has the distinction of having been at one time the only Metho- distwcollege in the world. Other members of the faculty were the Rev. B. H. McCowau, a celebrated teacher, and the more noted Henry Bascom. .And now history takes a curious turn. In 1842 the trustees of Transyl- vania turned over the academic department to the Methodist Church and these two men came to Transylvania to play their parts in the work during the brilliant period of Bascom's administration, While Augusta College rapid- ly declined. Some years afterwards Kentucky Wesleyan College was founded as the successor of Augusta. In 1829 the Kentucky Baptist Education Society procured a charter from the Legislature for a college which was located at Georgetown. It is a curious fact that this institution, founded as a rival, in a sense, of Transylvania, and to oppose its teachings, should have had first-named on the first Board of Trustees the Rev. Alva Woods, who at that very time was the President of Transylvania. The University of Louisville is also a child of Transylvania. Mann Butler, a Transylvanian, the historian of Kentucky and first principal of the public school in Louisville, where he introduced the Lancastrian or Monitorial plan of instruction, was also the first principal of the old Jefferson Seminary,-later Louisville College, and the predecessor of the present College of Lib- eral Arts of the University of Louisville. The present medical department owes its origin to Dr. Caldwell and three other professors who left the Medi- cal College of Transylvania University to found a rival institution at Louis- ville. William F. Cook, of whom mention has already been made in connec- tion with the development of the public school system, was one of the pro- moters of the law school of the University of Louisville and was a professor in it for twenty-two years. Finally, in 1886, was founded Bacon College at Georgetown by the re- ligious bodies known as the Disciples of Christ. It was the first College of that denomination. After about twelve years of work, this College went out of existence. In 1849 South Kentucky College was founded at I-Iopkinsville under the auspices of the same religious body. The real successor, however, of Bacon College, was Kentucky University, founded by an alumnus in 1857 and conducted at Harrodsburg until 1865, when it was consolidated with Transylvania University, in which union Transylvania lost her very name for more than forty years, till 1908. Professor Robert H. Bishop, an alumnus and for a long time an honored professor at Transylvania, finally left the institution to become the first Presi- dent of Miami University, taking with him to the Ohio college a little band of students. After the removal of Dr. Bishop from the presidency of Miami, he remained as Professor of Political Science, a chair created for him.