University of Cincinnati - Cincinnatian Yearbook (Cincinnati, OH)

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A Brief History of the FOUNDATION On his death. in 1858. Charles McMicken gave to the city of Cincinnati by will almost the whole of his estate. valued at about $1,1'KHI,UDO, for the purpose of establishing and maintaining two colleges for the education of white hoys and girls. Mr. McMicken was situated in the State of Louisiana. Nearly half of the property devised by 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 validv ity of bequests of real estate to institutions. mntrolied by non-resident trustees upon perpetuai trusts. The remainder of the property, lying in Cincinnati and its vicinity, did not yield a sufhcient income to warrant the establishment of the proposed cutiegcs. For ten years, therefore, the revenue derived from the estate was applied to its improvement. In 1869 the trustees provided for a School of De- sign. which they maintained, with aid from Joseph Longworth, until 188-1, when they transferred it to the Cincinnati Museum Association. Meanwhile an attempt was made to unite the various educational trusts in Cincinnati. To this end, in 1870, the General Assembly at Ohio passed an act t'te aid and pmmutc education, under which. almost a year later. the Bonds were soon issued by the city to provide funds fer the University of Cincinnati was established. erection of a suitable building, which was ready for use in the fall of 1875, But students were received in 18?.3, and instruction was given temporarily hy the teachers of Woodward High School. In 1874 the Academic Department, now known as the McMicken College of Liberal Arts. was organized by the ap- pointment of three professors and two instructors. who met classes during that year in a school building on Franklin Street. University of Cincinnati 18 The effort to unite other trust funds with those given by Charles McMiekc-n having failed. the income remained long inadequate to the neetIS of such an institution as he had intended to found. At length the city undertook to support the University in part hy public taxation, the tax for this purpose being In the course of time additional funds for the maintenance limited at first to three-temhs of one mill. of the institution were provided by individual citi- zens. the most important being the bequest 0f prop- erty, valued at $130.le0. by Matthew Thorns in 1890, and the gift of $100.000 by David Simon in 1899. In 1872 the Cincinnati Astronomical Society tfounded in 1842i New departments were 3350 added transferred its property on Mt. Adams to the city. Whlch agreed, as a condition of the gift, to sustain, in connection with the University. on a new site pro- to be built with funds given by him. In 1896 the Medical Col- lege of Ohio tfounded in 1819; became the College of Medicine of the University, though still retaining In the mine year a Law Department was estabiished. and six vitled by John Kilgour, an Observatory, its original title conjointiy with its new one, professors of law were appointed. and gave instruc- But, in 1897, by a contract with the Law School of the Cincinnati tion at first in rooms on Fourth Street. College tfounried in 1833. :1 union was effected. The College of Law of the University was to be known as the Cincinnati Law School, and the degree of Bach- L'Inr of Laws. was tn he conferred by the concurrent action of the Board of Directors of the University and the Trustrt's Of the Cincinnati College. Out Of a professorship Qt Civil Engineering in the College of Liberal Arts has developed the College of Engineering. It was organized under that name in lQWi. and became a distinct department in 1904. Since its organization. in 1887. the Clinical and Pathological School of the Cincinnati Hospital has

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r39 L. 41 1 A M E. D'T-; c L E 5:55:75. .A D 1 No D R- I N r E 'E W C E FK' I '14 A ?L- C c, l- 23-2 F3 a . 6 QE ,4 IWH$W$$ The University of Cincinnati. 1 a a The University of Cincinnati comprises the following Departments: f. THE. GRADUATE SCHOOL. 1!. THE McMICKEN COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS. III. THE COLLEGE FOR TEACHERS. IV. THE COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING. V. THE COLLEGE OF LAW. VI. THE COLLEGE OF MEDICINE. VII. THE TECHNICAL SCHOOL. VIII. DEPARTMENT OF CLINICAL MEDICINE. 12

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been aFHliatcd with the University, being designated as the Medical Department, until 1896. and afterwards as the Department of Clinical Medicine. The College of Teachers was organized in 1905, in CO-operatiou with the Board of Education of the City of Cincinnati. In 1906'the Graduate School was separated from the McMicken College of Liberal Arts and a distinct organization with a clean at its head effected. 111 the same year the General Assembly of Ohio authorized the levying of an increased municipal tax for the University-r-ntivertenths of a mill, instead of threeitciiths as before BUILDINGS AND SITE. From 11 ?5 to 1896 the Academic Department occu- pied the buihling erected on the grounds of the It'IcMickeu homestead, as required by the will of the founder. This hitC proving altogether unsatisfactory, application was made to the courts. for permission to remove to a more suitable location 111 Burnet Woods Park. The desired permission having been granted by the court of last resort in March. 189:3, steps were immediately taken for the construction of a main buiitling, called McMieken Hall. which was completed in two years. This building stands on high ground at the southern end of the park, forty-three acres having been set apart as a site for the University. During 1895-96 the north wing, known as Hanna Hall. was built for the departments of Chemibtry and Engineer- ing, with funds amounting to about $70,000, provided by Henry Hanna. The south Whig. called Cunning, ham Hall, was built in 1898-99 by Briggs S. Cunning- ham, at :1 cost of $60,0t10. This wing is occupied by the departments of Physics and Biolcgy, The Van Wormer Library, costing about $00,000, the gift of Asa Van Wormer, was built during 1898-1900. A friend of technical education, whose name was not made known, gave the sum of $22,500. in 1901. to provide :1 building for the Cincinnati Technical School, founded in 1886, and transferred by its Trus- tees to the Directors; of the Univergity in 1901, Thu Observatory, httilt in 187:, with $10M!!! givmi by John Kilgottr. stench on Mt. Lookout. at a distance of several miies from the uthcr University buildings. A smaller structure, the O. M. Mitchel Building. was added in 1904 to house the old telescope; Since 1896 the building on the McMicken homestead site has been used by the College of Medicine. A Dispensary, erected in that year, is situated on the lower part of the grounds. The College of Law, 011 Ninth Street. occupies a new building, which was completed in 190;? at a cost of 5565.000. BENEFACTORS OF THE UNIVERSITY. Besicleg those whose names have already been mentioned, the following persons have contributed to the endowment or to the equipment of the Univer; sity: William A. Proctor, Rev. Samuel J. Browne. William J. OdeTl. Julius Dexter, Frank I Jones, Judge Moses F. VVilsun. Eugene F. Bliss. Dr. James T. Whittaker, Mrs. W'iltiam E. Merrill. Theodore A. Bruhl, Andrew Hickenlooper. Christian Moerlein. Laura Seasongood, Lewis Scasongood, S. Lilienthal. Mrs. Nannie Fechheimer, A. G. Wetherby. Charles F. Windiseh, C. T. Webher, Rev. P. Robertson, the Lane 8: Bodley Company, the Alumni of the University. and others. ENDOWMENT FUND ASSOCIATION. The Endowment Fund Association of the Univer- sity of Cincinnati was incorporated on April 2'1. 1905. by a number of prominent citizens of the municipal- ity, The purpose of the corporation, as stated in its Code of Regulations. is to secure property, including money, or the income from the same. for the use of the University of Cincinnati, and for that purpose to solicit, coliect. accept, hold, manage, invest, or pay over such property, money, or income, whether such property, money, or income arises by way of gift. devise, or purchase, for the benefit of said Univer- sity. Its aFfairs are managed by a Board of Trus- tees consisting of nine members. The officers of the Endowment Fund Association are: Rufus B. Smith, President. Jacob G. Schmidlapp, Vice-President. Charies F. Windiseh. Treasureri Howard C. Hollister. Secretary. THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY. The VEIH Wrormer Library Building is of stone, Iirc-proof throughout. and is built in aewrdance with the: most ahpmvcd modem plans of library construe tion. The rooms have been furnished by the Univ versity with heavy tables and desks of quartered oak. The University Library, in this building, con- 14