University of Pittsburgh - Owl Yearbook (Pittsburgh, PA)

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The 1911 Owl learning and strength of mind, not Puritanic in tendencies. but eminently practical and conservative in educational ability and morals. In 1818 the institution became the Western University of Pennsylvania. Under such men as Black, Bruce. Swift and Maguire the scope of learning enlarged and embraced a more extensive field. As men of stable character. of firm, enduring purpose, they are to be commended for their earnest and painstaking endeavors in building the University up from such a basis. The narrow tendencies of our forefathers held no sway with them, and their successful efforts are the result of dear experience. Prior to the change the school had flourished as the Pittsburgh Academy. Later some inconsistent litigation concerning the location of the buildings involved a change of situation. With the decision of the Supreme Court an appropriation of $2400 per year for five years was granted, conditional upon the surrender to the State of the original grant. This was done, and with the $12.000 received from the State, the first University building. located at the corner of Third ami Cherry, was erected. letter it was consumed in the great fire” of 1845. The presidency of the institution was held by I)r. Bruce from 1822 to 1835. when he was succeeded by Rev. Gilbert Morgan, who resigned after one year, and was succeeded by I)r. Bruce, who resumed charge and remained until 1842. when lie was succeeded by the Rev. Herman Dyer. These rapid and radical changes gave the institution a necessary experience. The best men were retained, and through their earnest work a foundation of solidity and progressive education was effected. A succession of disheartening misfortunes so discouraged these hardy educational pioneers that the faculty was disbanded. Through the efforts of John Harper. a man of indefatigable courage and will power, a new building was erected at the corner of Ross and Diamond streets. In 1855 Dr. J. !•'. Macl.arcn was elected, only to resign three years later, after an indifferent administration. He was succeeded by Dr. George Woods, who was the first to be accorded the title of Chancellor. For twenty-one years he remained at the head of the institution. Shortly after his arrival in Pittsburgh he became persuaded that the effort to secure an endowment would not be fruitless, and in his enthusiastic way he set about accomplishing his task. With the aid of a promise made by Mr. William Thaw, the sum of $20,000 was secured. It is to this man chiefly that the pioneer efforts of the University were successfully handled. Imbued with the idea that a great University was needed, he gave freely toward the accomplishment of its establishment. In 1880 Dr. H. M. McCracken was elected Chancellor. It was during his officiation that the engineering course was established, with Prof. Daniel Carhart at its head. Milton B. Goff became head of the institution at the resignation of Dr. McCracken. After six years of very efficient service, mainly in the establishment of an effective system, he died as the result of an accident, and his place was taken by Dr. W. J. Holland, under whom the University prospered to a marked degree. Dr. Holland is not only locally known, but his scientific reputation is world-wide, lie being a member of the Queen’s Society and several other impor- F+artrm

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MR. WIU.1AM TIIAW UR. J A BRASH FAR The 1911 Owl Point which was yesterday invisible is to-I day its starting point and to-morrow will be A its goal. This statement was made in regard to the philosophy of I-ord Bacon: apply it to the educational facilities of the University of Pittsburgh and one is enlightened with the versification of a conclusive principle. Front a small, inadequate building, situated on the corner of Third street and Cherry alley, the progress of the embryo institution was marked by prodigious leaps ami bounds until to-day it stands as the conceptive monument of the educational advantages of the city of Pittsburgh. What indefatigable efforts those made to promulgate the establishment of the germ! Bair, Finley. Powers. Steele. Swift. Stockton, men whose active energy and predominant wills overcame the apparently insurmountable objects barring their path. Bewildered by litigation, confused by pecuniary difficulties, they sustained the last remnants until under the able leadership of Mr. Hopkins, of Princeton, a reaction was effected. Under this energetic man the institution assumed a new lease of life and attained an unexpected and gratifying efficiency. Closely seconding his efforts came Rev. Stockton, who placed the Academy in a higher state of efficiency than Mr. Hopkins. He was a man of great Thirltn

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tant organizations of note. He is recognized in the scientific world as a leading authority of entomology. Attributed also is the enviable record of being a lecturer of national reputation. The successful administration of Dr. Holland closed with his resignation in October. 1900. From May 1. 1901. until January 1. 1904, Dr. John A. 15 rash ear guided the affairs of the University as Acting Chancellor. Good, delightful, agreeable Dr. lira-shear! The only man who could be guaranteed a full house when he gave a lecture. Then those stories, inimitable in their nature and told with a certain charming quality that makes every one of them a success. A friend of the University? Yes. and more, a friend of every student in it. Dr. Brashcar's love for the University and the interest he manifested in its welfare has constituted the major portion of his life. Although pressed by private affairs during his administration, he rendered most valuable service and maintained unimpaired the high efficiency of the institution. Conscientious in his duty, loyal in his attitude, devoted in his hopes, he gave his strength without stint to its welfare, and as a monument of his energetic efforts and activity the Observatory in Rivcrview Park stands to commemorate the memory of the grand old man of the University.” On May 26. 1904- the present incumbent. Samuel Black McCormick, was elected Chancellor. We understand Dr. McCormick thoroughly. It was through his efforts that the University of Pittsburgh became actual. Painstaking in his efforts, ambitious for the propagation and final establishment of an institution which should stand first among the educational institutions of the Fittrn country, his accomplishments have become the synonym for persistent energy. With the amalgamation of the various departments, beginning with the Medical Department in 1892. and ending with the Department of Dentistry in the final consummation of the hopes of its progenitors was realized- a University in fact. The transfer of the school to the akland district brings in a new element— the advantage of valuable surroundings, in music, art and literature. The facilities extant in this location are tremendous in their importance. As in the coming years the buildings will be reared upon the splendid campus, it requires no prophetic mind to foresee the complete realization of the most optimistic hope of the alumni and the friends of the University. It is as yet in the beginning, but it is in the beginning of the end. Its progress develops a wonderful contrast—the pioneers of Western Pennsylvanian education and the splendidly equipped faculty of the present are proofs of the marvelous educational advance. The school has already had an existence, tried and true, venerable in this land of over one hundred years; it has a tradition, one that others might envy; it has achievement, toward which one may point with pride; it has a high record of directorship, they have never been found wanting in efficiency. Some of its professors have done the world's great things; its alumni are some of the most successful men of Pittsburgh and vicinity, comprising our judges and our lawyers equal in power and initiative energy to any that could be gathered in Pittsburgh from the other educational institutions of the land. The igix Owl