University of Rochester - Interpres Yearbook (Rochester, NY)

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assured for her the sound financial position which has continued to this day. 1887 saw the addition of Reynolds Memorial Laboratory to the Prince Street campus. The fol- lowing year, because of ill health, President Anderson resigned. He consented to stay on until a new University head was selected, however, and in 1890 David Jayne Hill, 40-year old presi- dent of Bucknell University, and one of the most promising young American educators, became the second president of the University of Roch- Anderson Hall in the 1880's ester. The joy at the selection of the new president was tempered by the news of President Ander- son's death in February, 1890. President Hill had to deal with several problems upon his assumption of the presidency of the University. Arnerica's industrialization had brought a demand for a greater role for science in education, and to meet this President Hill in- stituted an extensive revision of the ciu'riculum into four major courses: Classical, Latin, Greek, and Scientiic. By 1894, more than two times the number of courses offered in 1887 were available. At this time agitation began for the admission of women into the University. Although nothing was done until 1900, President Hill touched upon this issue at the 1892 commencement: We must consider . . . the question of the admission of young women to the university. Give us money, gentlemen, and we will take care of your daughters. There shall be no fraud or deceit about it .... Honor, truth, virtue, loyalty, and business methods will prevail. Still another issue, that Azariah Boody of Baptist sectarianism in the University, was settled by definite statements by Presi- dent Hill and members of the board of trus- tees, and since then the University has never been considered as anything but the leading educational institution of the city of Rochester as a whole. In 1891, the Biology laboratory on Prince Street was opened. At the 1893 World's Co- lumbian Exposition in Chicago the University pre- sented an exhibit which won several awards. In 1896, after six years of service, President Hill resigned, later to become Assistant Secretary of State of the United States. The years from 1896 to 1900 were dominated by the search for a new president. Professor Samuel A. Lattimore served as acting president from 1896-1898, and Professor Burton followed in a similar capacity for the remaining two years of the century, both doing excellent jobs. In 1899, the University Council, which eventu- ally evolved into today's Board of Control, was formed. Susan B. Anthony Early view of Sibley Hall and drive In 1900, women were first admitted to the Uni- versity. The semi-centennial celebration of the school was held during that year, featuring Assis- tant Secretary of State Hill, and Theodore Roose- velt, then Governor of the New York State, as speakers. It is remarkable that 1900, the half-way mark in the University of Rochester's first century,

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1851, Henry Ward Beecher delivered the principal ad- dress. The size of the audi- enc es attending the ceremony indicated that the University had already become an im- portant and respected part of Rochester life. The search for a president for the University of Roches- ter ended with the choosing of Martin Brewer Anderson in 1853. His formal in- stallation took place at the commencement exer- cises in 1854. A member of that class of 1854 was Henry Strong, later to become president of the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad and a generous donor to the University. At this time, too, John H. Raymond, one of the original faculty, left Rochester to assume the presidency of Vassar College-the first of a long series of faculty mem- bers and graduates to become heads of other schools. These were days of rapid growth and develop- M. B. Anderson President 1853-88 Early gridiron sportsmen ment for the University of Rochester, and the State of New York recognized the new institu- tion's worth in 1857 when it gave the school 825,000 Cprovided an equal amount was raised by the Universityj. Many present-day activities were initiated in these early years: the first issue of INTERPRES came out in 1858, and several of today's fraternities were established during the first decade. By 1860, the enrollment stood at 165, more than double the original number. In 1861 the University moved to what is now the Prince Street campus Con land that had been The undergraduate body in 1879 given by Azariah Boodyj, occupying Anderson Hall, the first college edifice built upon that site. But hardly had the school been established there when the Civil War broke out, disrupting the steady progress that had marked the decade of the 'f1fties. Like all American colleges, the University of Rochester suffered during the Civil War. Many of its students, teachers, and graduates served as oiiicers in the United States Army Cthe school and the city were strongly abolitionistj. After the con- clusion of the war, Rochester once more con- tinued to expand, but at a slower pace than in the previous decade. The most important faculty additions of the period were Professor William C. Morey in 1869 and Professor Henry F. Burton in 1877. In Octo- ber, 1873, the UNIVERSITY RECORD, a monthly newspaper, was started, developing in 1881 into the CAMPUS of today. The second plant addition to the Prince Street Campus came in June, 1876 with the opening of Sibley Hall. In 1878 the twenty-fifth anniversary of Martin Brewer Anderson's presidency was celebrated. By this time Doctor Anderson had become one of the best-known and most respected college presi- dents in the country. To partially aid his unre- mitting efforts toward the expansion and improve- ment of the University of Rochester, the alumni raised and p r e s e n t e d S260,000 in x in 1880, which X cleared up - gf 'gym all past debts ' f3:.w::.'i' of the Uni- f versity and

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should actually have been so significant a year. For it was in 1900 that Rush Rhees became the new president of the University, and the school entered upon the period of expansion that trans- formed it from a good local college into one of America's great institutions of learning. An indi- cation of Rochester's new status was offered at President Rhees' installation, present were the presidents of Colgate, Vassar, Hobart, Cornell, Saint Lawrence, Alfred, Columbia, Chicago, and Smith. Rally at the old Alumni Gymnasium In 1903 the University gained a new bene- factor-George Eastman, who gave 860,000 in that year for the laboratory, finished in 1906, which bears his name. In 1905 Andrew Carnegie gave 8100,000 for a science building, and in 1909 the Morgan Fund assured adequate education for women in the University. The story becomes one of continuous plant addition and endowment growth after this. A million dollars was given by john D. Rockefeller's General Education Board in 1912. Kendrick Hall, then used as a men's dorm, and the Art Gallery were built in 1913, the latter enlarged in 1926. Catharine Strong Hall was opened in 1914. America's entry into the World War brought 862 Rochester men into service, and a temporary halt on expansion, but the decade of the 1920's brought Rochester's final development into national significance. A Victory Endowment Fund drive in 1919 netted 8800,000 in six days. The Eastman School of Music, incorporated into the University in 1921, was joined by Eastman Theatre, seating 3,400, in 1922. Gifts of 85,000,000 from George Eastman, a like amount from the General Edu- cation Board, and 81,000,000 from Mrs. Gertrude Achilles and Mrs. Helen Strong Carter launched Rochester's medical school in 1925-from the first, one of the nation's finest. Early in the 1920's it became apparent that the Prince Street campus would not be able to absorb the rapidly growing men's and women's colleges. A movement to establish a new men's campus culminated in the purchase of the Oak Hill Golf Club for the new site. A ten-day drive for the raising of funds toward the financing of the new campus netted over seven and a half million dol- lars from 13,651 subscribers-another indication of the place the University had achieved in the life of the city of Rochester. George Eastman Eastman Theatre and School of Music On 21 May, 1927, ground was broken for the new River Campus. Three years later, on 10 October, 1930, the completed plant was dedicated. Boasting a brilliant faculty, an extremely able President, and one of the finest college plants in Strong Memorial Hospital in construction