University of Pittsburgh - Owl Yearbook (Pittsburgh, PA)

Page 12 text:

One of the first things that he did was to bring in John Scull, Joseph Hall, a printing press and some type from Philadelphia. The manpower and machinery enabled him to start the Pittsburgh Gazette. He then used this paper as a tool to obtain his other desires. After the paper had earned Brackenridge a seat in the State Assembly, he accepted responsibility for incorporating the Presbyterian congregation in Pittsburgh in 1787 and for creating Allegheny County in 1788, Pittsburgh being named as the county seat. In a Gazette column of September 2, 1786 entitled Observations on the Country at the Head of the Ohio River with Digressions on Various Subjects , Brackenridge laid out his case for education in the frontier town. Academies are the furnaces which melt the natural ore to real metal; the shops where the thunderbolts of the orator are forged. The function of the town of Pittsburgh is greatly to be chosen for a seat of learning; the fine air, the excellent water, the plenty and cheapness of provisions render it highly favorable. 8

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IK K m of tko Unw n.«y of f.lt»bv.®K I known Ikon o. Wm.wn Unnorvty of f««vwyfw n.o) on PonyinM Aronvo K t ttoy d ho.0 f . WflKlow. y on (INfrlfOII b f« mown® 10 Ooklond Pitt in 1789 The students attending Pitt in 1789, the year the Constitution of the United States was signed, were the sons of farmers and fur traders from outlaying districts. No women attended. Tuition was£5 a year, while one could find board for £20. The students were attentive to classes while seated on split log benches, taking notes with their goose quill pens. There was no keeping up with a fast lecturer in those days—the pens had to be dipped in homemade ink boiled from oak and sumac bark. Flyers describing the curriculum at the time promised that students are to be taught to read English according to the most approved method, and English grammar; writing Arithmetic and Bookkeeping; the Latin, Greek, and French languages; Rhetoric, and Belles let-tres; Geography, and the most useful parts of the Mathematics: to which will be added an introduction to Natural, civil, and Ecclesiastical History, Astronomy, Natural Philosophy, Logic, Moral Philosophy, and Chronology. The announcement also noted that the lower class will be taught Orthography agreeable to the standards of first taste. A French and Dancing Master will also attend, for those who may wish their children instructed in these graceful parts of a polite education. And instead of the Board of Trustees passing resolutions pertaining to football tickets and tuition hikes. The 1789 trustees passed a resolution forbidding students to duel with one another or to carry weapons into the classroom. 7

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Brackenridge also argued his case before the Pennsylvania Legislature (which met in the State House in Philadelphia). Pittsburgh should have a school, he told his fellow legislators, because it was wanted by the people; because the Pennsylvania Constitution dictated that public schools be erected in every country; because the establishment of a school in Pittsburgh would introduce money to Pennsylvania from the whole frontier country; and because the strength and dignity of government rests on the education of its people. The Scotsman ran into immediate opposition from another legislator, William Findley. Findley published an article Observations Upon the Address of Hugh Henry Brackenridge, Esq. to the Inhabitants of the Western Country. In the article, Findley argued correctly that the proposed school was illegal since it held neither property nor endowment. Realizing that he was temporarily outdone, Brackenridge returned to his constituents and promised them that the deal was not over. An orliit nc pti n of whol ih Oakland lompvt thould loot Mm oft , fv d« »l»pm nl. TK drawing wot mad m or+r MW at Hi m v ft tfw pr t nl Sch nl y fo»mt loro non wot fuiabnd At bvddmgi w . I b n ih hi , all m d i d off . Or li or hit tvr . Hi ahr (ompvi t b mtdtltd oft r Hi fomavt Aoopobt m 0r . A walk or , ih Ml thawt budding that w r compl l d occardmg lo Hi Mott , plan: Old Illy nr—g. Thaw. Alba. Fcnntyhrania. Hi — .«! Induihbt I ■ and Alumni. A n w odminittratian. ddf . nt tiudantt, changing dvugnt ond cat factor c«nrnbvf d r ih compvt w n w know, li t int«r t ing r t haw it might ha. I k d. 9