University of Massachusetts Amherst - Index Yearbook (Amherst, MA)

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Commumcatioit Jfrom tfje Clasisi of 1881 THE College was at its nadir in 1881. No less than five men — Clark, Flint, Stoekbridge, Chadbourne and Greenough — served as presidents during five years 1879-1883. The faculty could be numbered on the fingers of one ' s hands, the student body, on the fingers of eight pairs of hands. The State gave it a mere $10,000 a year, the Federal Government nothing. Governor Thomas Talbot tried to close its doors or, as an alternative, to turn it over to Amherst College — anything to get rid of it. Its constituency, the farmers, scoffed at book farming and there were none so poor as to do it reverence. The stork was just about to bring the newly born Experiment Station. The very word extension, as applied to agriculture, had not been coined. The physical plant included two dormitories; a barn-like wooden structure in which was a bleak room used for miscellaneous purposes, including compulsory chapel exercises, as well as mathe- matics and chemistry classrooms and laboratores, gymnasium, drill-hall and armory — a veritable blunderbus of a building; an uninviting hash house; barns; a botanic museum; and greenhouses. The farmlands were still in part untamed. The writer grabbed many alder roots with his classmates, doing unpaid student labor of an educational character. However, the instructional staff was a good one and, with limited resources, it wrought out of somewhat unpromising material a product of which Alma Mater need not be ashamed. At least one great captain of industry, three or more uni- versity and college presidents, four or more experiment station directors and deans of agriculture and kindred subjects are numbered among the graduates of that day. Eighty-one salutes thirty-one and bids it Godspeed! J. L. Hills, Sec, Class ' 81

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T i:ije 0xim of iH. . c. HE honor of conceiving the idea of a college for the scientific investigation of agricul- tural problems belongs to M.l ' Abbe Rosier, who broached it to the ministry of Louis XVI in 1775. But his plan, like many another great idea, was coldly received by the government and the world at large. More than sixty years later (1837) far sighted Americans began to see the need of such an institution and in 1849, thru the eflforts of Marshal P. Wilder, a bill for the founding of an agricultural school passed the Massa- chusetts Senate. It was defeated in the House of Representatives by men who could see no need for book farmers. The agitation, however aroused national interest, and in 1858, Senator Morrill of Vermont, then a representative, presented a bill for the founding of state agricultural colleges. President Buchanan vetoed the bill, and the honor of approval was reserved for Abraham Lincoln in 1862. The total grant under the Morrill Act amounted to over nine million acres of land — the share of Massachusetts being some 360,000 acres, which when sold, brought about $236,000. In the acceptance of this grant in 1863, Massachusetts became the proprietor and patron of the college, and bound herself to provide for, and maintain it forever. Once the money was available for the college, a great controversy started as to its location. Most of the existing colleges wanted to take the funds and add agricultural courses to their curricula. Harvard in particular expected to get it. Amherst and WiUiams also had hopes. As the national endowment required a department of mechani- cal arts, three tenths of the income was given to the Massachusetts Institute of Tech- nology. A board of Trustees was appointed, and, after studying the existing colleges, decided that, in as much as collegiate instruction in agriculture was a new field in Ameri- can Education, Massachusetts should have an independent Agricultural College which should work out its own destiny. Four towns competed for the location of this college: Northampton, Springfield, Lexington and Amherst. Each raised the $75,000 required by the State, and the trustees chose Amherst because of the surpassing beauty of its natural scenery, and because the Connecticut valley was the foremost section in rural pursuits. The Hon. Henry Flagg French was elected the first president in 1864, but resigned soon after when he felt that his wishes had not been consulted in the controversy over the building of North and South Colleges. He was succeeded in 1866 by Professor Paul Ansel Chadbourne, whose health forced him to resign in 1867. William S. Clark then became president, and M. A. C. had the unusual distinction of having had three presidents before it had any students.

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3n tfte Baps! of ' 8l==l ©uegtionnaire Q. Was the Gymnasium Association organized merely for gymnastic activi- ties (Indian clubs, flying rings, parallel bars, etc.) or was it also intended to pro- mote indoor track and field athletics? A. Only for the first mentioned, and you might leave off the etc. as we only had a trapeze, horizontal bar, and a few pulley tots. Four of us as freshmen used the gym between 11 and 12 p. m. by candle light. This was the only chance we had at the place. Q. Did the Gymnasium Association have anything to do with outdoor track and field athletics? A. Yes, in baseball, and later football, which were the only sports. Little later tennis came in, and we had a few walking matches. Q. Two Field Days were held, in ' 75 and ' 76; did the Gymnasium asso- ciation have any thing to do with these events? A. Before my time — I entered in ' 77. Q. How was money raised for a track team or general track athletics? A. By using a club with students in general, but this was only for uniforms as at that time there was no such thing as gate money. Q. Where can I obtain records of expenditures for track and field athletics during the early years of the college? A. I doubt very much whether any records were kept for future supervision. Q. Where was the Hampshire Park where the first Field Days were held? A. I went there a number of times, but my mind is hazy just where it was, somewhere southeast from Amherst. Q. What was the attitude of the students toward track and field athletcis while you were at college? A. I would say 75% of the students were fond of some kind of sport. We used to walk to the Conn, river to swim, and in winter to play Hockey. I remem- ber at one time at least 20 of us, swimming across the river, and then having a race back again. To show how easy it was to raise money, the rifle team had to steal lead pipe and such, melt it down for bullets with which to use in matches with other teams, and we had one man that made as high as four bulls ' eyes out of five at 100 yds. shooting at a 4 bull ' s eye — when the regulation was 8 for 100 and 200 yds. We shot at the 4 for sometime both at 100 and 200 yds. before we discovered our error, and made bulls ' eyes at 200 yds. with old rifles pulling at 14 lbs. instead of 7 lbs. A visit of the team to the Springfield aresenal corrected this. F. H. FAIRFIELD, ' 81. la 31