University of Vermont - Ariel Yearbook (Burlington, VT)

Page 16 text:

4 (jleneral Uen (§ibes Jf iftp I crejS for Campu£{ COMMITTEE was directed as soon as conveniently may be, to cause to be cleared up a part of the College square, not exceeding ten acres, begin- ning on the westerly line and extending easterly the whole width of the lot. It is said that President Sanders helped to fell some of the great pines that stood on this lot. I eferences are made in earlier historical articles to the deeding of this land by Ira cAllen as a site for the University. Thompson, the Vermont Historian, relates that when Ira aAllen was in his early twenties he selected the present location of ' Turlington as a proper site for a city. The same judgment that saw in a forest-clad hillside a beautiful site for a city may well have per- ' ceived the advantages of the hilltop overlooking ' Turlington as a superb location for a University. Although the ' Turlington records do not show the transfer of the fifty-acre college lot, there seems no reason to doubt that it was part of Ira cAllen ' s gift. In his petition to the Legislature in 1789 he had offered as a part of his proposed gift of £4,000 to pay a part of the subscription in a proper square of lands sufficient to form a handsome green and convenient gar- dens for the officers of the college. Trof. Qeorge W. ' Benedict, who entered the service of the University in 1825, wrote in 1841 : Fifty acres were set off for this purpose (a college square) by metes and bounds on lands owned by Qeneral cAllen. cA similar statement was made by ' President Wheeler in his semi- centennial address. In a footnote in the printed records he added: It was part of lot 112 in the town plan. On the west it included the houses now (1854) on the west side of the College Qreen, and part of the gardens, as far as the north boundary, which was the plot on which stood the President ' s house. This line was north of the centre of the present College Qreen. The south boundary was S ' dain Street. The lot extended east, in the form of a parallelo- gram. Jf irsit iBuilbins isi resJitient ' iS l ouat (?i TTENTION was given first to leasing the College lands that revenue might be provided. cAt a meeting of the board held at Windsor, October 17, 1793 (such meetings being held, usually, in connection with the convening of the Legislature) , it was voted that the following summer a house should be built on the College Square for the use of the University, of the following dimensions, (viz). — 48 feet in length, 37 feet in breadth, to contain four rooms on a floor, two stories high and a hiped (hipped) roof with two chimnies the lower story to be 10 feet between joints and the upper story 9 feet between joints and that the same be completed with a good kitchen annexed to it. Joshua Stanton of liurlington, who had been elected a member of the corporation, was appointed an agent to clear the land in the college lot and contract and build the house, governor Chittenden and Messrs. Hitchcock, oAllen, Woodbridge and Stanton were chosen a committee to lay out the grounds. cAn article on the University of ' Vermont, written by T ' rof. S . Q. Clark and published in Hemenway ' s ' Vermont gazetteer, states that the Presi- dent ' s house was begun in 1794 and was nearly finished the following year. It was completed and occupied in the fall of 1799. The ' President ' s barn was built the following summer. Trofessor Clcfk also stated that Qen. Ira cAllen had been actively engaged in completing this structure and in preparing for the construction of a college edifice. His financial reverses interrupted this work. The President ' s house, later known as the Old Yellow House, was burned in Twelve Vr.- ' .- V

Page 15 text:

SS2ISSSS5 - - -t ' - . ' oarb of trustees: ii Createb TIN his History of ' Vermont, Ira cAllen, writing of the founding of this insti- tution, said: The Legislature endowed the University with a right of land in each township granted by them, the total amount of which is about 50,000 acres. President Wheeler says about J0,000 acres. He also mentioned the fact that the first trustees chosen were gentlemen of different religious sen- timents, to prevent any kind of preference being given to religious or political parties. ' By the terms of the charter the Qovernor of this State and the Speak- er of the tyissembly were ex officio members of the corporation, and Thomas Chittenden and Qideon Olin head the first list of trustees. Other members chosen at this time were ' ■Rev. C leb ' Blood of Shaftsbury (a ' baptist), %ev. ' ethuel Cf ' t ' enden of Shelburne (an Episcopalian) , ' T eu. cAsa ' Burton of Thetford (a C ngregationalist ) , Qeorge ' Bowne of S ew York (a Quaker), Ira cAllen of Colchester, Charles Tlatt, afterward S dge ' Piatt of Tlattsburg, S . Y., Jonathan iArnold of Lyndon, Enoch Woodbridge of ' Vergennes, Sam- uel Hitchcock of ' Burlington and Jonathan Hunt of IJernon. The board of trustees met at Windsor on S ovember 3, 1791, the day following the granting of the charter, and effected a temporary organization by electing Qovernor Cf ' t enden president and Samuel Hitchcock secretary. resient B itt Haib O ut in 1792 t OUT the middle of June, 1792, the trustees spent several days at ' Burling- ton, and under date of June 16, the following entry was made in the records: liesolved and voted. That, whereas the corporation have for several days past been believing in the town of ' Burlington for the most con- venient and eligible place for erecting a college and for laying out a square suit- able for a green and other accommodations for the University of ' Vermont and after having duly considered the several advantages and disadvantages attending the several places proposed, the following tract be established as the Square on which the College and public buildings of the University of IJermont will be erected, at such place or places on said square as shall be hereafter directed, (viz). ' Beginning at a stake and stones standing four chains and ninety-three links south 71° 24 ' east of the southeast corner of the tract of land now owned and pos- sessed by r. ' Phineas Loomis, thence south 86° east 47 chains and seventy links to a stake and stones, thence south 4° west ten chains and 50 links to a stake and stones thence north 86° west 47 chains and 70 links to a stake and stones thence north 4° east ten chains and fifty links to the first men- tioned bounds containing fifty acres and twelve rods of grounds. aZ

Page 17 text:

.• T.T.V zz p? 1844. 3 0 records of trustees ' meetings appear between January 31, 1794, and October 17, 1798. The absence of Ira iAllen in Surope may be the reason for the failure to hold a meeting. Cost 552 l ounbg N the last-named date a committee was appointed to examine the accounts of Joshua Stanton for building the college house. oAt an adjourned meet- ing, held October 25, 1798, the committee reported that S lr. Stanton ' s expenses incurred amounted to £552. There had been received in cash, rent, deed of land, subscriptions in notes uncollected and produce, the sum of 286 pounds, 9 shillings and 7 pence. Apparently the house had been nearly completed as an item was presented for glass, which had been omitted from a previous bill. iBurlinston Citizens ' jHonep l asitenfi Cfjoice of resibent T a meeting of the corporation held at Windsor, October 22, 1799, a peti- tion was received from a number of the inhabitants of Turlington, praying that the board proceed immediately to the appointment of a T ' resident of th University. The trustees were not ready to take this step and referred the peti- tion to the next meeting. qA letter from T)avid %ussell of ' Burlington was read, enclosing a copy of a subscription of sundry gentlemen for the sum of £2,310 for the purpose of erecting a brick edifice and procuring a library and philosophical apparatus for the University. There was no capital of Vermont at this time, and the. Legislature met in the larger villages of the State, as convenience and policy dic- tated. It chanced that the session of 1800 was held in iMiddlebury, and on Thirteen