THE RISE OF THE
DENOMINATIONAL COLLEGE.
BY RUSSELL M. STOREY.
Of all the groups that had their part in
the early educational
life of the Ohio Valley none more
completely ran the gamut of
pioneer experiences than the founders
and builders of the denom-
inational colleges. They were hewers of
wood and drawers of
water; in their persons they combined
the functions of builder.
janitor, teacher, business manager, and
president, together with
whatever other odds and ends presented
themselves for atten-
tion. It was a time and a country in
which individual vision and
initiative seized the opportunities and
met the needs for which
denominational policy was unprepared or
incapable of supplying.
In the rise of the denominational
college, therefore, no more
potent factors existed than the
personalities in whose thought
they were conceived and in whose
activities they were realized.
The scope of denominational activity in
the founding of
collegiate institutions is realized more
fully when the discovery
is made that almost ninety per cent of
the institutions founded
before 1840 and which survive to the present
time had their
origin in or were connected with some
denomination. Practically
all institutions, whether of state or
denominational origin, had
back of them the influence of some
minister of the gospel. From
the valley of the Tennessee to the Great
Lakes and from the
crest of the Alleghenies to the
Mississippi denominational col-
leges were planted.
The Presbyterians were the most active
in the making of
collegiate history in the early days of
the Ohio valley. There
was scarcely an institution, even those
of distinctly non-denomi-
national origin, that did not feel the
impress of their power and
influence. Of the denominational
colleges founded in the Ohio
valley before 1840, nine of them
had their origin in the wisdom
and energy of those who subscribed to
the Presbyterian faith
and in all cases except one, that of
Transylvania, the Presbyte-
rians maintained their control
throughout this period. The
(52)
The Rise of the Denominational
College. 53
other institutions just indicated were
Washington, Jefferson,
Centre, Maryville, Illinois, Western
Reserve, Hanover and Knox.
The causes for the founding of these
institutions by the
Presbyterians vary somewhat in each
case, but one motive ap-
pears to have been common to all, viz.,
provision for a denomi-
national ministry. In the cases of
Transylvania, Maryville, Illi-
nois, Western Reserve and Hanover the
theological seminary
either preceded or became an active
factor in the development of
the college. Washington and Jefferson
grew out of academies,
while Centre was the result of losing
control of Transylvania.
The period before 1824 seems to have
been a time either of
slow development or of practical
stagnation in the careers of
these Presbyterian institutions. The
lack of funds, quarrels
and squabbles between colleges and in
presbyteries and synods
and the absence of any adequate and
organized denominational
policy on the part of the denomination
in this country as a whole,
all served to make this a period in
which progress was difficult
to achieve, and almost as hard to
maintain. Still, all of the
institutions founded by the
Presbyterians during the first quar-
ter of the 19th century had attained to
collegiate standing by
1824
and in this respect were rivalled only by
institutions of
state origin such as Ohio and Miami
Universities. The years
1824
and 1825
mark the opening of a better era in the
history of
denominational education and into such
blessing the early Pres-
byterian colleges were well prepared to
enter.
This pioneering in the realms of higher
education brought
to the front some very remarkable
characters. The Rev. James
Moore, a Presbyterian divine from
Virginia, proved to Transyl-
vania his vision and his constructive
ability until he resigned
the presidency in 1804. The years
following, until 1817, when
the Presbyterians lost control of
Transylvania, were not char-
acterized by large achievement. In 1818 the Rev.
Horace Hol-
ley, LL. D., led the movement for
collegiate expansion, and by
1827
had made Transylvania the leading
institution in the West
south of the Mason and Dixon line. The
choice of Dr. Holley
at Transylvania and the initiation by
him of more liberal and
broadminded policies led to disaffection
which soon expressed
itself in the founding of Centre by the
Presbyterians, Cumber-
54 Ohio
Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
land by the Cumberland Presbyterians,
Augusta by the Metho-
dists and Georgetown by the Baptists.
In the founding of Washington and
Jefferson colleges three
characters appear. The Dr. John McMillan
is prominent among
his brothers in the development of
Cannonsburg Academy, out of
which grew Jefferson College; he was a
man of large ability,
scholarship and an enthusiastic purpose
to seek out and educate
young men for the Christian ministry.
Under him was developed
the material which later maintained
Jefferson College during its
infancy and during the intense contest
with Washington College
in 1806, and which from rivalry soon
developed into a state that
was called the "college war."
In the organization of Washing-
ton Academy also Dr. McMillan
participated and with him was
the second of the trio above named, Rev.
Joseph Smith, likewise
a Presbyterian, a man of culture and
scholarship, and whose
work gave strength and vigor to the
character of the institution
until his death in 1792. In the founding of Washington
Academy the Presbyterians were aided by
Rev. John Clark, an
associate Presbyterian, and the Rev.
John Corbly, a Baptist.
Another active factor in the founding of
this institution was the
Rev. Matthew Brown, who became pastor of
the Presbyterian
congregation in Washington in 1805,
principal of the Washington
Academy in the same year and under whom
in 1821 Jefferson
College entered upon an expansive era,
continuing through his
presidency, which closed in 1845. Says
one of his biographers:
"No one man did more for the cause
of Christian education in
the Ohio Valley than did Dr. Matthew
Brown."
The list of great names on the
Presbyterian roll of this
period would be incomplete without the
name of one of the group
of college founders in Eastern
Tennessee. The Rev. Thomas
Craighead founded Davidson Academy in
1786, which later grew
into the University of Nashville; Rev.
Samuel Doak, one of the
claimants to the honor of being the
pioneer educator of the Mid-
dle West, chartered Martin Academy in
1783 and Washington
(Tenn.) College in 1795. But the name
which stands preeminent
in the history of education in Eastern
Tennessee before 1840 is
that of Dr. Isaac Anderson, the founder
of Maryville Seminary
in 1819, the college department being
added in 1821. The labors
The Rise of the Denominational College. 55
of this man appear almost superhuman both in their scope and
intensity.
With the exception of Transylvania the
heyday of the de-
nominational college before 1840 does not seem to
open before
1824. In that year Bishop Philander
Chase, who had had pre-
vious and uncongenial experience in the
presidency of Cincinnati
College, returned from a mission to
England, the object of which
had been to raise funds for an
institution in accordance with
his own ideals. He had succeeded in
interesting Lord Gambier
and other Englishmen and returned with
more than $30,000, and
the history of Kenyon, the first
Episcopal institution of the Ohio
Valley, began. The primary object of
Bishop Chase had been
to prepare men for the ministry and
hence the Theological Sem-
inary first opened its doors, the
college department following,
however, very shortly after, graduating
its first A. B. group in
1829. The name
Kenyon was not assumed until 1891 and com-
memorates the name of Lord Kenyon, who,
with Lord Gambier,
was one of the chief donors to the
initial funds with which the
institution was to be opened.
Up to the founding of Kenyon, collegiate
education of a
denominational character had been
largely in the hands of the
Presbyterians. From this time on to 1840, however, there
is
widespread activity among other
denominations. Under the
leadership of Rev. John M. Peck, D. D.,
the Baptists in 1827
founded what later became Shurtleff
College near Alton, Ill.,
following this up by opening up
Georgetown College at George-
town, Ky., in 1829, and Denison
University in 1831. In this
activity the names of Dr. Peck, the
founder of Shurtleff, and of
Rev. Rockwood Giddings, the builder,
though not the founder of
Georgetown, stand out preeminent. The
Denison University was
the work of the Ohio Baptist Educational
Society.
The Methodists had commenced their
activities along edu-
cational lines with the founding of
Allegheny College at Mead-
ville, Penn., in 1815. Thirteen years
later the Rev. Peter Cart-
wright inspired the founding of
McKendree College at Lebanon,
Ill., and in 1832 Asbury College, now a
part of DePauw Univer-
sity, opened its doors under the
guidance of the Methodist
church.
56 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
The energy of the Presbyterian
denominations did not abate
with the entrance of other denominations
into the field of higher
education. In conjunction with the
Congregationalists, Western
Reserve College began its career in 1826
and under the presidency
of the Rev. George E. Pierce, beginning
in 1830, forged rapidly
into prominence. These two denominations
again combined their
energies in the early history of Knox
College, which was founded
in 1837 at Galesburg, Ill. In the
meantime the Rev. John M.
Ellis, assisted by a band of seven men
from Yale, had in 1829
laid the foundations of Illinois College
at Jacksonville, Ill., and
the Presbytery of Indiana was rewarded
for its efforts by the
chartering of Hanover College in 1833.
The year 1837 inaugu-
rates the beginning of Muskingum College
under auspices which
later came to be United Presbyterian.
Catholic education enterprises seem to
have worked from
west to east in the region of the Ohio
Valley. What is now St.
Louis University was founded in 1818,
followed in 1821 by the
opening of St. Mary's College at St.
Mary, Ky., and by the crea-
tion of St. Xavier under the direction
of Rev. E. D. Fenwick,
Bishop of Cincinnati, in 1831.
Most of the denominational institutions
which thus came into
being before 1840 enjoyed a
considerable degree, of prosperity
and growth during that period of their
history which was com-
prised within the years 1824 to 1840.
Many of them suffered
serious setbacks in the wake of the
panic which swept the
country during Van Buren's
administration. But the hardships
incident to the pioneer days of the
latter part of the 18th and the
opening years of the 19th
centuries were no longer present.
Transylvania, Washington, Jefferson,
Maryville, Kenyon, George-
town, St. Xavier and Hanover all
experienced a period of depres-
sion during the fourth decade of the
19th century but the other
institutions seem to have developed and
grown steadily, though in
most cases slowly. And in all cases the
depression seems to
have been temporary in character and in
many cases was not
felt after 1840.
The financial history of the group of
denominational col-
leges whose careers have been thus
briefly reviewed is indi-
cated in the expression "a hand to
mouth" existence. In Transyl-
The Rise of the Denominational
College. 57
vania, Jefferson, Centre, Kenyon, and
Georgetown a productive
endowment was well started by 1840; in
some of the other insti-
tutions, Western Reserve in particular,
movements toward endow-
ment were either just being inaugurated
or seriously contem-
plated. There was an utter absence of
any adequate denomi-
national policy looking toward the
maintenance of collegiate
institutions except as denominational
loyalty and interest found
expression in private gifts and
donations for the benefit of the
annual budgets.
In reviewing the causes which led to the
Rise of the Denomi-
national College one cannot fail to be
impressed with the part
played by the missionary spirit. In over
sixty per cent of the in-
stitutions the founders were actuated
primarily by the desire to
establish facilities for the education
and preparation of a Chris-
tian ministry that was to further
denominational and Christian
propaganda and to give them stability
and permanence. Coupled
closely with this was the initiative and
enterprise of the men
who thus pioneered in the educational
life of the Ohio Valley.
Denominational policy and loyalty
actuated some; denomina-
tional rivalry seems to have been
present now and then; while
disaffection with existing institutions
and the lack of collegiate
educational facilities were motive
forces in many instances.
The curriculum in these denominational
colleges was always
broader than the number of the teaching
force would indicate.
The Bible, and works on Christian
philosophy and practice were
always prominent; but the cultural
courses in the arts and
sciences formed the body of the work
done. The methods of
instruction consisted of the text book
and recitation with what
additional exposition the instructor was
able or had time to offer.
The teachers taught almost continuously,
even the presidents
having a very large part of the
responsibility for instruction rest-
ing upon them. By far the larger
proportion of the instructors
were ministers of the gospel, and in
colleges where both colle-
giate and seminary functions were
combined, they gave instruc-
tion to both classes of students.
The Christian church of the Middle West,
and the cause of
higher education throughout this nation,
both are obligated in per-
petuity to the founders and builders of
the denominational insti-
58 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications. tutions which originated in the region of the Ohio Valley before 184o. From the first sectarianism was subordinated to larger Christian policy except in isolated instances, and this Christian character of higher education has been generally preserved even in those institutions which have freed themselves from that denominational control which existed in their early history. |
|
THE RISE OF THE
DENOMINATIONAL COLLEGE.
BY RUSSELL M. STOREY.
Of all the groups that had their part in
the early educational
life of the Ohio Valley none more
completely ran the gamut of
pioneer experiences than the founders
and builders of the denom-
inational colleges. They were hewers of
wood and drawers of
water; in their persons they combined
the functions of builder.
janitor, teacher, business manager, and
president, together with
whatever other odds and ends presented
themselves for atten-
tion. It was a time and a country in
which individual vision and
initiative seized the opportunities and
met the needs for which
denominational policy was unprepared or
incapable of supplying.
In the rise of the denominational
college, therefore, no more
potent factors existed than the
personalities in whose thought
they were conceived and in whose
activities they were realized.
The scope of denominational activity in
the founding of
collegiate institutions is realized more
fully when the discovery
is made that almost ninety per cent of
the institutions founded
before 1840 and which survive to the present
time had their
origin in or were connected with some
denomination. Practically
all institutions, whether of state or
denominational origin, had
back of them the influence of some
minister of the gospel. From
the valley of the Tennessee to the Great
Lakes and from the
crest of the Alleghenies to the
Mississippi denominational col-
leges were planted.
The Presbyterians were the most active
in the making of
collegiate history in the early days of
the Ohio valley. There
was scarcely an institution, even those
of distinctly non-denomi-
national origin, that did not feel the
impress of their power and
influence. Of the denominational
colleges founded in the Ohio
valley before 1840, nine of them
had their origin in the wisdom
and energy of those who subscribed to
the Presbyterian faith
and in all cases except one, that of
Transylvania, the Presbyte-
rians maintained their control
throughout this period. The
(52)