University of Pittsburgh - Owl Yearbook (Pittsburgh, PA)

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The OWL teie THE ACADEMY TIIK PRESIDENT'S IIOl'SE THE I'NIVKKSITY HISTORY AND PROGRESS OF THE UNIVERSITY HE UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH is the oldest institution of learning. with one exception (the University of Nashville), in the United States, west of the Appalachian mountain ranges. The early pioneers who crossed the Alleghenies, and settled at the forks of the Monongahcla and Allegheny rivers, brought with them the same ideals which were fixed in the minds of the Plymouth settlers. As soon as homes were built, they turned their thoughts toward the welfare of their children. Relieving “that the education of youth ought to be a primary object with every government, a school was started as early as 1770. which was to Ik- known a few years later, as the Pittsburgh Academy. An act of legislature, incorporating the school, was passed in 1787. The incorporators were men of affairs ami prominence at that time, and their activity in founding the school was just one of the many examples of their public spirit—cs| ccially along educational lines. Not content with starting the first 7

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Andrew Jackson Kelly, Jr. President of the Commonwealth Real Rstate Company. Member of the Pitta-burn h Chamber of Commerce, and of the Board of Trustee of the University. The man who planned and directed the campaign for securing the fund for the Second Building

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The OWL mo TIIK I'NIVKRSITY BUILDING. I«M IM2 scliool west of the Al-1 c g li c n -ics, s o m e of t li c 111 assisted in the early growth of the Washington and J efferson and the Mcadville Academics. My 1819 The Pitts-h u r g li Academy had grown in such a way as to justify the request for a new charter. This time, its curriculum was to l c — enlarged, and the name changed to The Western University of Pennsylvania. The men who petitioned and to whom the charter was granted were those whose names arc still familiar to us today. Almost all of them were identified in city or national affairs. Men who later liecamc Jurists. Congressmen. Cabinet Members, or Foreign Ministers, were mimliered among them. The first faculty was very catliolic in regard to its member —Romanist, Presbyterian. Reformed, and Associate Presbyterian worked together at a time when denominational rivalry was so keen. That these men were well chosen and were qualified to give instruction in the •“higher learning”, is best demonstrated by a glance at the character of the graduates of the first few years: Rev. Dr. Thomas C. Guthrie, ’23. of the United Presbyterian Church; Hon. W. W. Irwin, '24. Mayor of Pittsburgh. I nitial Stales Congressman, aiul Minister to Denmark: lion. Daniel Agnew. '25. Chief Justice of Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Twice In-tween 1X4.1 ami 1849 the I Diversity sustained the complete loss of its buildings, and as a result, the regular work was discontinued till 1855. In 1854. a new building was erected at the corner of Ross and Diamond streets, and instruction was resumed in the following year. The University prospered during the following three years, especially with regard to the student ltody. The coming of Dr. George Woods in 1858 as Principal, marked the beginning of a time of material expansion. In the same year a valuable collection of geological specimens was bequeathed to the University, and money was secured to furnish a Chemical l.alx ratorv. I.atcr. endowments f »r a Chair of Natural Sciences and a Chair of strophy ic were given by a number of I’ittshurg-crs. many of whom were alumni.