University of Cincinnati - Cincinnatian Yearbook (Cincinnati, OH)

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University of cincinnati :5 I'3'r 639-33 $539 I! 2'. F d d 1870 A. D. 5-! Q wale- , nun e 1.3.9? a President. Charles William Dabney. LL. D. 6' Colora. Red and Black. YELL. Heigla, Heigla, Heigligan, Heigla, Heigla, I-la. Cincinnati Varsity, Rah I Q HISTORICAL STATEMENT. FOU N DATION . On his death, in 1858, Charles McMicken gave to the city of Cincinnati by will almost the whole of his estate, valued at about $1,000,000! for the purpose of establishing and maintaining tttwo c01- leges for the educatiOn of white boys and girls. He had long cherished the desire to found an institution where white boys and girls might be taught not only a knowledge of their duties to their Creator and their fellow men, but also receive the benefit of a sound, thorough and practical English education, and Such as might fit them for the active duties of life, as well as instruction in the higher branches of knowledge except cle- nominationul theology. t0 the extent that the same are now or may hereafter be taught in any of the secular colleges or universities of the highest grade in the country? Nearly half of the property devised by Mr. Mc- Micken was situated in the State of Louisiana. This was entirely lost, in 1860, by a decision of the Supreme Court of that State, ammlling that part of the devise. The court refused to recognize the validity of bequests of real estate to institutions controlled by non-resident trustees upon perpetual trusts. The remainder of the property. lying in Cincinnati and its vicinity. did not yield a suiticient income to warrant the establishment of the pro- Rah I Rah I M posed colleges. For ten years, therefore, the reve- nue derived from the estate was applied to its im- provement. In 1869 the trustees provided for a School of Design. which they maintained, with aid from Joseph Longworth, until 1884, when they trans- ferred it to the Cincinnati Museum Association. Meanwhile an attempt was made to unite the vari- ous educational trusts in Cincinnati. To this end, in 1870. the General Assembly of Ohio passed an act K'to aid and promote education, under which, almost a year later, the University Of Cincinnati was established. Bonds were soon issued by the city to provide funds for the erection of a suitable building. which was ready for use in the fall of 1875. But students Were received in 1873, and inf struction was given temporarily by the teachers of Woodward High School. In 1874 the Academic Department was organized by the appointment of three professors and two instructors who met classes during that year in a school building on Franklin street. The. chart to unite other trust funds with those given by Charles McMieken having failed, the in- Come remained long inadequate to the needs bf such an institution as he had intended to found. At length the City undertook to support the Uni- versity in part by public taxation, the tax for this purpose being limited to three-tenths Of one mill. In the course of time additional funds for the