University of Kentucky - Kentuckian Yearbook (Lexington, KY)

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Cransvlvania University and Its Successors. BY M. 1 . M l RY KEMPER, ' ().;. •• ' Ti education forms the common mind. 11 r T HE history of education in and around the historic i ' itv of Lexington must needs occupy a I pari of the history of Central Kentucky. So largely has the influence ol Lexington ' s educational facilities and institutions been fell dur- ing the past century that the little city has been called the Athens of the West, a title not inaptly chosen, for ii has at all times been the centre, intellectual and literary, of tl - Nor are we surprised that it has occupied so conspicuous a position when we reflect upon its surpassing advantages a an ed- ucational center. In fact, from the earliest period ofits settlement Lexington has always enjoyed the reputation which it now holds. Because the earliest settlers of the surrounding country wenl out on the frontier, and their life was one of trial and hardship. Contending in deadly strife with the native Indians and earning a hardy livelihood by the sweat ol their brow-. did not prevent many of them from being men of cul- ture, education, and refinement. Main- who had enjoyed the best society, the finest educational ad- antages, and all the refining influences afforded by their mother States, and having come to Ken tuck} . then only a distant county of Virginia, in quest of fortune and adventure, their fortunes made and their adventurous proclivities gratified, very naturally they turned their attention to the education of their descendants, thus laying, in the very earliest stages of Kentucky history, those broad foundations ol education, refinement and religion upon which is built the grand old Commonwealth of to-day, and which are, indeed, the only bulwarks against the tyranical oppression of rulers and the only means ol attaining the perfect liberties of the people. So soon, indeed, was the attention oi the earlj settlers turned to the education of their children that we find, in the year i 7 s . Transylvania Seminary, char- tered by the Legislature of Virginia. This institution was moved to Lexington i n i7 ss , and from this date schools and colleges have been constantly accumulating in Lexington, gaining tor the city an en- viable reputation throughout the whole country. Transylvania University, or. as it was called in the first charter granted by the Virginia Legisla-

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ture, Transylvania Seminary, was the first institution of any prominence west of the Alleghenies. The influence which it has exerted on the southern and western portions of our country cannot be esti- mated, and to-driy there is scarcely a city of any importance in the West or Southwest which has not among its citizens alumni of this famed institution. Nor has its influence been confined to America, hut its name is respected and favorably known in many portions ot Europe — a fact testified to by the many valuable donations made to it by some of the most celebrated institutions of learning in foreign countries and some of the foremost scholars of Europe. The name Transylvania — a classical rendering of ' the backwoods — is the same name as that selected by Richard Henderson and others when they attempted in 1775, to establish in Kentucky a proprietary form of government, in utter disregard of the authority of the Legislature of Virginia. The first charter of Transylvania Seminary is a very interesting document, but the limit of this article and its purposes will not admit any detailed account of its numerous provisions. This school, although supported by the grant of the Virginia Legislature, owed its existence, for the most part, to the efforts of a f-w prominent Presbyterians, and was, therefore, very naturally opened under the auspices ot that church. It is interesting to note the tuition then paid and the currency in which it was paid. The first published terms for Transylvania Seminary were: • ' Tuition, £5 a year, one-half cash, the other halt in property. Boarding. £9 a year, in property, pork. corn, tobacco, etc. Education in those days was evidently much cheaper than now. and, I have no doubt, was just as complete and sat- isfactory, if we can judge from the character of the men which it produced. From the time of its removal to Lexington — 178S to 1793 — in spite of the war troubles and dis- couragements — the schools seem to have enjoyed unusual prosperity, not so much in the number of its students as in the number and prominence of its instructors, tor in the Kentucky Gazette of December, 1793, we find the following announcement: The Transylvania Seminary is now well supplied with teachers of natural and moral philosophy, of the mathematics and of the learned languages. But soon, as was to be expected, sectarian differences arose between the Presbyterians and the Baptists, and, as a result, the Presbyterians withdrew their support and founded a separate school, which they called the Kentucky Academy. Among the liberal contributors to the endowment of this school we find the names of George Washington, John Ouincy Adams, Aaron Burr, and Robert Morris. These sectarian dissensions, in the end. resulted in mutual benefit to all concerned, for both factions perceived the error of their ways, became reconciled, and petitioned the Kentucky Legislature to consolidate the two schools, under the name of the Transylvania University, declaring that such a union would be for the public good and is consistent with the laws.