Ursinus College - Ruby Yearbook (Collegeville, PA)

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Examinations were held at the end of every quarter and a public exhibition at the close of the year. The exercises became very popular and did much to arouse the spirit of debate and to cultivate a taste for dramatic performance. In 1859 the Millersville Normal Institute, under the supervision and principalsliip of its founder, was recognized by the State authorities as the first normal school under the law. and year by year others came to the front, all of which were superior competitors with the academies, as the former had the aid of the State. The outlook was unfavorable. Meanwhile, county superintendents were holding institutes in the counties. The only defense was to Face about and try to do what the sup rintendents and normal schools did. In this Freeland Seminary was reasonably successful. Books on normal methods were bought, the best methods were taught, institutes in the school were held, which became popular, and the school continued to be a teacher of teachers and thus survived. The greatest enemy to the schools in the North was the Rebellion. Many female schools depending largely on Southern patronage were soon wound up. The firing on Fort Sumter only fired the patriotism of Freeland Seminary. No institution was ever more loyal. Anti-slavery agitators were always welcomed at Freeland Seminaty before and during the Rebellion. The very name, Freeland, tells it', own story. But when the draft was put into execution twenty-six students left for their homes in one day. The school was alarmingly decimated and more or less demoralized. These men preferred, if drafted, to be accredited to the districts from which they had come. The invasion of the Keystone Slate was threatened and the training of home guards became the order of the day. There arose a lively trade in hooks treating on military tactics. Teachers studied this new science more eagerly than classics and mathematics, and a West Point academy was right in the little village. W: rKNNSVI.VAMA FKMAI.K COI.I.KCK. At one time it was thought the wisest plan to save the school would be to establish a normal school in the district, to Ik? located at Freeland. Meetings were held to take the initiatory steps and stock was solicited with a promise of profits which would accrue from such a school. Great opposition was aroused by the neighboring schools, and when it was ascertained that no profits could accrue from a normal school the scheme was abandoned. 24

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Four farmhouses stood on each side of the turnpike between the tollgate and Perkioinen Bridge, a distance of a mile. The post office for Freeland Seminary for the first three years was Trappe. From 1851 to 1861 it was Perkiomen Bridge. As the school prospered a village began to grow around it, and it received its name, Freeland, from Freeland Seminary. In 1855 an effort was made to have this village called Townsend, in honor of Samuel Townsend, who had moved here from Philadelphia, and in the county map published about this time it is called Townsend ; but this name did not last long. In 1861 the post office of Perkiomen Bridge was moved to the store of Frank M. Hobson, who was appointed postmaster. The following year the name of the post office was changed to Freeland. When the Perkiomen Railroad was opened and time-table Xo. 1, May 8, 1868, was issued, there was a bitter light over the name of the station, called Freeland. The railroad company finally decided to give a new name to the station and accordingly called it Collegeville. In September of the same year the post office was moved to the station and the name changed to Collegeville. Thus fell the fortifications of Freeland. Section 7 of the constitution of ITsinus College,, adopted February 23, A. 1). 1869, reads as follows: “ The Board shall not change the name (Freeland) of the place in which the college is located, but shall use all proper means to have that name retained. This section, however, shall not be construed so as to prohibit the Board or College from designating the place by another name should its present name be altered.” In 1854 Benjamin A. Hunsicker, who had been steward of Freeland Seminary for several years, erected the brick boarding house known as Prospect Terrace, on land purchased from Matthias Haldeman, adjoining the southern boundary of Freeland Seminary campus, to accommodate the overflow of students in the school and to keep summer boarders. On March 25, 1855, he died and was buried in Freeland Cemetery before the church edifice was completed in the same year. The church, which was undenominational, supplied a long-felt want and was a necessary adjunct to Freeland Seminary. It is now Trinity Reformed Church and sustains a similar relation to Ursinus College. In 1856 the North Wing, 38 feet square, was built to supply an increasing demand to accommodate students. The second story furnished ample space for a first class schoolroom, which was used as a study-hall. The third and fourth stories served as dormitories. During the seventeen years of the Rev. Henry A. Hutisicker’s principalship 3799 students were under his instruction. The firm, yet mild and kindly, management enabled his students to cherish most agreeable memories of their school days. He had few equals in school life in his aptitude to advise and instruct the young. The normal class he organized supplied a want in the public schools. He furnished certificates of qualification to those competent to take charge of schools. 25

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These military manoeuvring? were hugely enjoyed. Right about face, left about face, forward, march, were words in the mouth of the youngest student. In 1865 Freeland Seminary was leased for a period of five years to Professor A. II. Fetterolf as principal and Captain II. H. Fotterolf as steward. During Professor Fetterolf's principalship the aim was to keep a school superior to that of former days. The school was successful and half the number of students remained when Ursinus College commenced in 1870. The school had many unruly boys from the towns and severe chastisement was regarded as defense of virtue in those days. Four strokes of the razor strop on the bare back was a cure for truancy ; for tearing down the limbs of cherry trees to procure cherries the switching of the offender with the limbs lie had broken until all were in splinters in the presence of the whole school was a reminder that this offense must not be repeated : and for private offenses the student was taken to that Gehenna where now the sewage collects, to he flogged until he cried for mercy and promised to do better. To put an unruly student out of the classroom by physical force was no uncommon occurrence. The teachers during Professor Fetterolf's administration were the principal. J S. Weinberger. Jared T. Preston, and Alexander McKlrath. The act of incorporation of Ursinus College was granted by the Legislature of Pennsylvania. February 5, 1X69, and five days thereafter the corporation was organized at a meeting of the Directors held in the City of Philadelphia. The property of Freeland Seminary was seemed subject to an unexpired lease then held by A. H. Fetterolf. The name of the title of Ursinus College was accepted i the lessee, and the first annual catalogue of the officers and students of Ursinus College appeared in 1869 for the academic year of 1868-69. The formal opening of Ursinus College took place on Tuesday, September 6, 1870. In a partial respect Ursinus College was a continuation, under an enlarged and more comprehensive form, of Freeland Seminary, and it was reasonable to expect that many would rejoice in its advancement to the stature of a college, and to manifest a lively interest in its prosperity. Before Ursinus College was in operation a report had spread that Ursinus was going to be a school to prepare ministers. A controversy was raging in the Church and the management of the school was more or less alfected by this spirit, and it was soon manifest that for the nucleus of the school dependence must be placed on another class of patronage. Some of the old patrons were offended, saying that the school was not what it used to be. There remained a remnant of the dear old Xi Rho Delta Society, which had three degrees, called the Academic, the Pythagorean, and the Platonic. This society became inane, and the Schaff Literary Society succeeded it. The establishment of the normal schools by the State was a death blow to the academies. Before they were established it was the province of the academy to instruct young men to become teachers, to prepare them for college, to afford 25