600 - HISTORY OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS Robert removed with his parents to Ohio in 1857, and in September, 1859, he was sent to school at the Institution for the Deaf, here. Meanwhile he had lost, through disuse, on account of his inability to hear, the power of speech. He has since learned to speak a few words and disconnected sentences but not enough to be of much practical use, so he depends almost entirely upon writing to communicate with those who can hear. During one of his summer vacations, which he spent at home, he attracted the attention of Josiah Griffiths, of Salineville, Ohio, an accomplished marble carver and a sculptor of considerable ability. He gave Robert lessons in modeling in clay, drawing and designing, and he was so struck with his evident artistic ability in that line that he offered to take him as an apprentice, after he should leave school, and, after he had taught him all he could, to obtain help to send him to Florence, Italy, to finish his studies as a sculptor. Robert was both willing and eager to enter into the arrangement, but his father objected on account of his apparently feeble constitution which he feared would be injured by the dust incident to a marble cutter's establishment. In November, 1865, he suddenly severed his connection with the institution as a pupil and entered the Preparatory Class of the National Deaf Mute College at Washington, D. C. He was the next year admitted to the Freshman Class and graduated in 1870 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He received his diploma from the hands of President Grant, whose signature, as Patron of the College, it also bears. During the summer of 1869, he was appointed by Hon. Columbus Delano, Commissioner of Internal Revenue, to a clerkship under Third Commissioner Colonel Given, an old resident of this city. His Chief of Division was Colonel Cox, also of this city. These gentlemen were so well pleased with his work that they urged him to return as soon as he had graduated and identify himself with the Government service. It was his intention to do so, with the object in view of preparing himself for newspaper work, but upon the representation of the President of the College that he would be more useful if he devoted his talents to the education of the deaf, when he was offered the position of a teacher in his Alma Mater here, soon after graduating, he resolved to accept it. He was married in 1875 to Miss Rosa 0. Gildersleeve, of Ross County, Ohio, one of the teachers at the institution. Like himself she is deaf, but she can speak and is remarkably expert at reading the lips. Four children, all of whom can hear, have resulted from their union. Three of them are living. In May, 1883, he was called to Washington, D. C., to deliver an oration on the late President Garfield's services in behalf of the higher education of the deaf, at the unveiling of a national memorial of him presented to the college by the deaf of the country, and upon that occasion also received the degree of Master of Arts in course. Professor Patterson has been a frequent contributor to the Annals of the Deaf, a quarterly magazine, the exponent of the profession in this country, and is at present the editor of The Mute's Chronicle, the institution organ. Once he has been honored with the Vice-Presidency of the Ohio Deaf Mute Alumni Association, and twice with the Presidency, In 1889 he was selected by the deaf of the state as their delegate to the International Congress of the Deaf which met in Paris, France, in June of that year. In June, 1890, he was chosen Principal of the Institution, and in 1891 he completed a course of study for the school which is acknowledged to be the most thorough and comprehensive for such a school of any ever written. As a master of the sign language of the deaf he has few equals and no superiors. He is known far and wide as a brilliant and talented lecturer and is much in demand as such. Professor Patterson has been connected with the institution as a pupil, teacher and principal for twenty-eight years, and it can be safely said that there is not a man in the state who is more thoroughly equipped and qualified, both by learning and experience, for the responsible and difficult task of supervising the education and training of these wards of the state. That this is true is evinced by the great changes for the better which he has brought about in his department since he took charge of it. Having, as a pupil, overcome, through patient toil, and steady endeavor, all the obstacles incident to the acquisition of knowledge by the deaf, he can appreciate the difficulties that his charges are obliged to encounter and is able to encourage them and show them the best way to succeed. Coupled with this his long experience as a teacher has given him an insight into the workings of the minds of the deaf which is of great value to them and enables him to correctly indicate and direct the methods to be pursued by his subordinates.] INSTITUTION FOR THE DEAF AND DUMB - 601 At the northwest corner of Town Street and Washington Avenue lies an area of ten acres, enclosed with an iron fence, strong in build though not very beautiful in design, with two massive gateways on the street and one on the avenue, which, for many years prior to 1873, graced Capitol Square. When this tract was purchased, in 1829, for the purpose for which it is now used, it was half a mile east from the town and was, in common parlance, referred to as "the hill." On the west was a pond extending from near the present site of the Broad Street Methodist Episcopal Church, in a southwesterly direction, to the corner of Rich Street and Hubbell Alley. Across this pond was a bridge near where now is the intersection of Town Street and Grant Avenue. The road leading westward to the end of Town Street, within the corporation line, which was Fourth Street, was low and swampy. It was not until 1852 that the sidewalks of Town Street were paved to these grounds. In the centre of the grounds, two hundred and fifty feet from the street, stands a stately edifice of brick, liberally trimmed with limestone, forming a striking piece of architecture, with its frontage of four hundred feet, its seven towers, of which the central one is one hundred and fifteen feet high ; its iron pillared balconies three in number, one above the other, and its broad flight of lime- stone steps. balconies, is the Ohio Institution for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb, the fifth of its kind established in the United States. The institution is an outgrowth of that noble idea of the indispensable conditions of liberty which are declared in the ordinance of 1787 and which the Constitution of 1802 reiterates in these words: " Religion, morality and knowledge being essentially necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of instruction shall forever be encouraged by legislative provision not inconsistent with the rights of conscience." The same policy that aims at advance along the lines of improvement and helpfulness in every direction to the citizens of the state again showed itself in the Constitution of 1851, which says : " Institutions for the benefit of the insane, blind and deaf and dumb shall always be fostered by the state." The first time that the subject of deafmute education was brought to the attention of the General Assembly was during the session of 1819-20, when a citizen of Stark County applied for aid from the state to send his deaf son to the American Asylum established at Hartford, Connecticut, in 1817. A bill was reported in his favor but it appears that no final action was taken upon it. In the spring of the following year, 1821, a number of citizens of Cincinnati formed themselves into an association " for establishing a school for the instruction of the deaf and dumb in this part of the western country." Who knows but this movement received its impetus from the fact that a citizen of that city had his deaf son educated at the American Asylum, 1818-22, at his own expense? The association selected a principal in the person of Rev. James Chute and sent him to Hartford in July to acquire a knowledge of the system of deafmute education, which should qualify him for the new work. Shortly after his return in the (following November the association applied to the General Assembly for an act of incorporation and for pecuniary aid. The proposed institution was to be named " The Western Asylum for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb," and was to be located in Cincinnati. The application was rejected on the ground that a• state school of the kind should be centrally located. The interest thus revived was increased the next year (1822) by the receipt of a letter by Governor Trimble from the directors of the Pennsylvania Institute, established at Philadelphia in 1820, where a Buckeye boy had been sent by his parents in 1821. The letter contained an offer to the General Assembly to receive pupils on the same terms as charged to the citizens of Pennsylvania. The results of a recent census of Pennsylvania were given as evidence that the number of mutes was much greater than was generally supposed. The offer was not accepted, INSTITUTION FOR THE DEAF AND DUME - 603 Mr. Hampson, from the select committee, reported back the bill with sundry amendments which were agreed to, and it was ordered to be engrossed for its third reading on the following day, which was done and the bill passed. On the same day the bill was sent to the Senate, and on the twenty-second it was committed to a committee of the whole Senate. On the twenty-third Mr. Baldwin reported that the committee had made sun, dry amendments to the bill, and it was recommitted to a select committee consisting of Messrs. Wyllis Silliman of Muskingum, Ebenezer Currier of Washington and Athens, and Samuel Lee of Coshocton and Tuscarawas. On the twentyfourth Mr. Silliman, from the select committee, reported recommending that " the further consideration of the bill be postponed until the first Monday of December next." The report was not agreed to and the bill was ordered to lie on the table for further consideration. On the same day the Senate resumed consideration of the bill and it was recommitted to a select committee consisting of Messrs. Nathaniel G. Pendleton of Hamilton, Joseph Foos of Franklin, and Daugherty of Champaign and Clark, who recommended its passage. The report was then agreed to, and the bill read a third time and passed January 30, 1827. Acting upon the suggestion of Governor Morrow's message, Mr. Samuel Dunlap, of Tuscarawas, offered a resolution in the House on the fourth of January, 1827, that a committee of three members be appointed to prepare a resolution looking to a donation of a township from Congress for the use of the institution. Messrs. Dunlap, Doan and Higgins were appointed said committee, and on the next day Mr. Dunlap reported the following resolution : That our Senators in Congress be instructed and our Representatives be requested to use their exertions to obtain from Congress a grant of a tract or tracts of land in this state, equal in quantity to one original surveyed township, for the purpose of aiding in the education of the deaf and dumb persons in this state." This resolution was agreed to and sent to the Senate for concurrence, but it appears that no action was taken upon it by that body. It was not until Governor McArthur took up the subject again in his message to the legislature of 1830-1 that a resolution passed both houses. A bill granting a township passed the United States Senate without opposition and it was confidently expected to meet with equal favor in the House. It failed, however, only for the want of time, as it was not reached, in the order of business, at the hour of adjournment. No other effort in this direction was ever made. Before any organization was effected under the act of incorporation a school for deaf mutes was started at Tallmadge, now in Summit County. A citizen of that place, Justus Bradley by name, had three deaf and dumb daughters in his family. A mute by the name of Colonel Smith, who had been educated at the American Asylum, took up his residence there. The citizens, struck by the contrast between an educated mute and an uneducated one, and finding that there were other mutes in the vicinity, held a meeting March 19, 1827, at which a resolution was adopted " to make an attempt to establish a school or asylum for the deaf and dumb." A committee with full powers was appointed and the school was opened in May under the instruction of Mr. Smith. It was continued two years and was sustained by private charity with the exception of $100 given to it by the legislature in 1828 towards paying the salary of the teacher. The bill which granted this sum also allowed $100 for the next year "should the school at Columbus not go into active operation." The money was never drawn from the treasury. Eleven pupils were enrolled in this Tallmadge school, which, to use the words of the committee, " if public sentiment and benevolence shall justify, is intended to become a permanent institution." In accordance with the act incorporating the institution, a board of trustees was appointed by the General Assembly. The board consisted of the following gentlemen : Rev. James Hoge and Hon. Gustavus Swan, of Franklin County ; 604 - HISTORY OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS. Hon. Thomas Ewing, of Fairfield; Rev. William Graham, of Ross ; John H. James, of Champaign ; Thomas D. Webb, of Trumbull ; and Sampson. Mason, of Clark This board met and organized in July, 1827, with Governor Trimble as President, ex of ; Rev. Dr. Hoge, Secretary, and Hon. Gustavus Swan, Treasurer. Invested with the usual corporate powers to hold property for the object specified, the annual income of which should not exceed $30,000, the board assumed the duty of organizing the first of the now socalled Public Benevolent Institutions of Ohio. The plans of the board contemplated a school that should receive all pupils north and west of the Ohio and also divide with the Kentucky Asylum, founded in 1823, the patronage of the Mississippi Valley. It was estimated that fifty pupils were eligible from Ohio alone, and twenty-five from the states and territories west of it. The board recommended that the institution be located at Columbus, urging that " At this place it will be under the eye, and subject to the inspection of the Legislature, its immediate patron, at all times, and the facilities of intercourse and conveyance which are collected at this point render it more convenient to every part of the state than any other place.” By an act of the General Assembly, passed in January, 1829, an appropriation of five hundred dollars was made for the purchase of a site for the institution in Columbus. The committee of the board on sites consisted of Messrs. Gustavus Swan, N. McLean and Michael L. Sullivant, who selected the present site, comprising-three outlots containing three and a third acres each. Three hundred dollars were paid to John B. McDowell, Peter Sells and James Hoge. February 21, 1829, for the lots. The trustees, in their report for the year, speak of "these lots as sold to us for the use designed for a price considerably below the supposed value." Doctor Hoge, in a letter to Hon. M. Birchard, April 25, 1854, also said : " These lots were sold to the state for less than their value, for the express purpose of being so used, and would by no means have been sold at that price for individual use." For want of funds the trustees were not able to erect any buildings until 1832. At the session of 1827-8 an appropriation of $376.60 being made for the training of a principal, the board selected Horatio N. Hubbell, a young man of energy and character, who had just fulfilled the trust of removing twelve Osage Indian students from the Cornwall school, suspended in Connecticut, to the Miami University at Oxford, Ohio. In March Mr. Hubbell went to the American Asylum where he spent eighteen months in studying the theory- and practice of deafmute education. Upon his return the board rented a house of D. W. Deshler, Esq., at one hundred dollars a year, at the northwest corner of Broad and High streets, now the site of the Deshler Block. It was a twostory brick house containing three rooms with a hall and a frame addition in the rear of four rooms. On the sixteenth of October, 1829, in front of this building stood a stout, medium-sized man of thirty years of age, dressed in a suit of dark clothes, with a beaver hat. This was Principal Hubbell, who was expectantly watching the four roads in sight from this point for pupils. At ten o'clock in the morning a man on horseback, with a boy behind him, came up West Broad Street and stopped. Mr. Hubbell greeted them cordially and lifted the boy off. This was the first pupil of the Ohio Institution for the Deaf. He was eleven years old, looking bright and cute in his homespun suit of brown pantaloons and gray jacket which was buttoned up with three large brass buttons. A coarse, close-fitting fur cap completed his outfit. He was a son of Judge Flenniken, who lived where now Sellsville is. Within half an hour the Governor arrived, and taking the little fellow by the hand, patted him heartily on the back. Two years had elapsed since the passage of the act incorporating the school and a circular stating its objects had been published for some months previously in the leading papers of the state. INSTITUTION FOR DEAF AND DUMB - 605 606 - HISTORY OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS. Yet, on opening day, only three pupils presented themselves for admission. One of them proved to be idiotic and another was of a weak mind and not long afterward became hopelessly insane. The attendance, however, increased to nine pupils before the year closed. In the course of the second year the number of pupils grew to twenty-two and Mr. Hubbell was compelled to engage a schoolroom in the rear of what was for a long time known as the Capital Hotel, on Broad Street, the present site of the Board of Trade Building. After a few months he had to abandon this room for two in the old Courthouse which stood near where is now the west gate of the Statehouse Square,. These rooms also had to be given up after a few months. The inconvenience resulting from boarding and lodging in one building and going to school -in another finally led Mr. Hubbell to move out of the Deshler house into a frame house at the corner of Front Street and Lynn Alley. Here Mr. Hubbell remained until 1834, when the first building of the institution was completed. In 1832 the trustees succeeded in securing an appropriation from the General Assembly which enabled them to undertake the erection of a building. Gustavus Swan. Lincoln Goodale and Robert W. McCoy constituted the building committee of the board. The foundations were commenced in 1832 and the building was ready for use in the fall of 1834. Its cost was $15,000. The building, fronting toward the west, was fifty feet by eighty in lateral dimensions and three stories high. It was considered sufficiently large to meet the wants of the State for a long time to come. In 1844 the number of pupils reached over a hundred and an extension four stories high and seventy feet by thirty was made, giving a south front to the institution. The institution then furnished ample accommodations for one hundred and fifty pupils, but that number was passed in 1853, and thenceforth the neccessity of enlarging the accommodations was constantly urged. In 1860 a bill was introduced in the House providing for the erection of a new building owing to the dilapidated condition of the older portion of the institution, which was described in public prints as " an uncomely relic of modern antiquity." The bill failed by one vote to pass. The next year a bill for the same purpose reached its third reading in the House, when all further action was dropped on account of the gathering cloud of the Civil War. The progress of the war instilled new energy and life into the people, and in March, 1864, notwithstanding the greatly enhanced cost of materials and labor, a bill passed the General Assembly unanimously providing for the erection, under the direction of the Governor, of a new house " to be of plain, substantial construction, having special reference to adaptation and proper economy for the convenient and suitable accommodation of three hundred and fifty pupils and necessary officers and servants." Governor Brough appointed as architect Joseph M. Blackburn, of Cleveland, Ohio, who designed the present structure. It is of the French-Italian style of architecture. The campaniles, or towers, are of the form and appearance peculiar to the Italian order, while the steep roofs and dormer windows are of the French style. The first sod was cut for the foundation on the thirtieth of June, 1864, by the superintendent, George L. Weed, Junior. The first foundation stone was laid in August, and the corner stone was laid on the thirty-first of October by Lieutenant Governor Anderson. In March, 1867, an epidemic of typhoid pneumonia broke out in the old building. Thirty pupils were sick at one time, five of whom died at the institution and three at home. This necessitated the disbanding of the school, soon after which the demolition of the old building began. The erection of the present building was carried on under the direction of the successive Governors, Brough, Anderson, Cox and Hayes during the years 1864-9. The cost was $625,- 000, the yearly appropriations being $40,000, $200,000, $100,000 and $125,000. The house was furnished at an expense of $35,000, and was opened for the recep- INSTITUTION FOR THE DEAF AND DUMB - 607 tion of pupils in September, 1868. In the following November, when the Central Lunatic Asylum was burned, its entire household of over three hundred persons was temporarily quartered at the institution. During the session of 1829-30, an act was passed authorizing the support of one indigent pupil from each of the nine judicial circuits of the state, the pupils " to be selected by the board of trustees from persons recommended by the Associate Judges of the counties where they reside." At the next session the support of an additional pupil from each circuit was allowed by law. At the session of 1832-3 this number was increased to twenty-seven, in 1833-4 to thirty-six, in 1834-5 to forty-eight, and in 1835-6 to sixty. In 1844 an act was passed making education free to all deaf children of the state. This was a fulfilment of the true spirit of the school law of 1825 which authorized a general tax for the education of all and was virtually, a command to the people of Ohio to educate their children. Yet it is common to regard appropriations for the purpose of educating the deaf as benevolent and charitable. Every argument which proves it a matter of state interest and policy to educate the hearing children bears with much greater force upon the deaf. The institution of Ohio was the first to carry out the important and only true principle that the entire expense of educating the deaf should be defrayed by the state. As early as 1836, when the institution was fairly settled, the board of trustees considered the question of having the pupils employed to advantage out of school hours. For the girls, housework, sewing and knitting afforded full occupation. With the boys it was different. True, gardening and chores were available but far from sufficient and satisfactory. Shopwork was deemed to be desirable for cultivating skill and habits of industry that might be of advantage in after life. In 1838 the first shop was erected and mechanics selected by the board contracted to carry on their respective trades at the institution. The boys were to work four hours a day for the sake of learning a trade. A machine shop was run for a short time and a shoeshop received several trials. The foremen had no interest in teaching the boys beyond making profit out of their labor, which was impossible owing to the great waste of material. As the foremen were not able to communicate with the boys in their sign-language, a want of harmony naturally arose and resulted in the dropping of trade teaching in 1846. In 1850 Peter Hayden, Esq., offered to erect, as an experiment, a building on the grounds of the institution, provided with a steam engine, and to introduce some branch of his extensive manufactures at which to employ all the boys and give them wages for all they could earn. This offer was not accepted. It was not until 1863 that the problem was satisfactorily solved in the revival of shoemaking, when a deaf foreman was appointed to teach the trade on a salary, the state owning all the material and disposing of all the products. Since 1868 printing; bookbinding, carpentry and tailoring have been made valuable additions. The foremen being paid salaries they have no interest except in the progress of their apprentices. The time at first allowed for the course of instruction was three years. In 1833 the term of pupilage In as lengthened to four years, and in 1835 to five years. In 1844 an act was passed empowering the trustees to keep pupils, at their discretion, for a period longer than five years and not exceeding seven years. In 1866 the law was revised making the time ten years, which is the present limit. In 1872 the school was divided into three departments, viz.: Academic, which has two classes; Grammar, which has five classes; and. Primary, which has sixteen classes. The teachers were similarly classified and their salaries fixed " without regard to the ear." The institution was thus the first to, abolish the distinction between its hearing and its deaf teachers. The system practiced is what is called the " American, or Combined System," which makes use of all methods known to be of practical value. For those pupils 608 - HISTORY OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS. who retain speech as well as those who evince aptitude for vocal training, articulation and lip-reading are taught by two teachers who devote their whole time to the work. When the average deaf and dumb child comes to the institution for the first time, no matter at what, age, he may not show any marked difference in personal appearance from other children of his ago ; but his mind is almost a blank. Ile knows not even his own name, nor anything about his Creator and the life beyond the grave. The teacher begins by teaching him the names of the most common objects. The word cat may be written upon the blackboard. A picture is presented before the class. The sign for the. animal is given and the word is spelled manually. Then the pupil copies the word on his slate until he is familiar with it and can reproduce it readily when the sign is made for it. After nouns come simple verbs, adjectives, prepositions and adverbs, in which writing from actions and pictures plays a prominent, part. Gradually he is led on through the principles of English grammar until he acquires the art of intelligent reading. Then he takes up primary geography and history. If, at the end of seven years he proves proficient, he enters upon a higher course of three years, which includes geography, history, arithmetic, physiology, science of government, a textbook on morals and manners and some bookkeeping. For obvious reasons it has been deemed important to hold short services in the chapel daily, and more prolonged services on Sunday, and to impart a knowledge of the principles of morality and Christianity, care being always taken to make them free from sectarianism. In order to secure the best results from both the school and the shops the following system of rotation, inaugurated by Doctor G. 0. Fay in 1868, is in force. The school is arranged by classes in threw divisions. The day is also divided into three sessions of two and two and a half hours, the first extending from 8:15 to 10:15, the second from 10:30 to 12:30, and the third from 2 to 4:30, with a recess of fifteen minutes at half past three. At eight o'clock the regular duties of the day begin, when all the children repair to the chapel. After chapel services two divisions go to their class rooms and the third is distributed to the shops and to housework. At 10:15 all are dismissed, and at 10:30 two divisions go to their classrooms and onethird are distributed, as before, to the shops and the housework. All are dismissed at 12:30. At two o'clock, as before, two divisions go to school and one to the shops and to housework. All are dismissed at 4:30. Thus from 8:15 in the morning until 4:30 in the afternoon two thirds of the scholars are at school and one third are at work. Every pupil attends school two sessions daily and works one session. The average daily time spent in school is about four and a half hours and that spent in shopwork is about two hours and a half. To secure a fair distribution of time and also a desirable variety, the whole system moves forward one session the first day of each month, so that those who work in the morning in any month work the next month in the forenoon and in the afternoon t e month after that. Those who work in the forenoon any month work in the afternoon the next, and those who work in the afternoon any month work in the morning the next. The domestic life of the Institution runs on the following daily programme: 1. Rise not later than 5:45 A. m. 2. Breakfast, week days, 6:30 A. M.; Sundays and holidays, 7:00 A. M.; 3. Chapel, week days, 8:00 A. M.; Sundays, 9:45 A. at.; 4. School and work from 8:00 to 10:15 A. M. ; 5. Recess, 10:15 to 10:30 A. M. ; 6. School and work until 12:30 r. M. ; 7. Dinner, week days, 12:45 P. M. ; Sundays and holidays, 1:00 P. M. ; 8. School and work from 2:00 to 3:30 P. M. ; 9. Recess, 3:30 to 3:45 r. M. ; 10. School and work from 3:45 to 4:30 r. m.; 11. Supper, 5:30 P. M. ; 12. Study hour, 7:00 to 8:00 P. M. for Primary, 7:00 to 8:15 P. M. for Grammar; 13. Bedtime for younger pupils, 8:00 P. M. ; 14. Bedtime for adult pupils, 9:00 P. M. ; Sabbath school from 3:00 to 3:45 P. M. INSTITUTION FOR THE DEAF AND DUMB - 609   A legacy of twenty thousand dollars, reduced by litigation and compromise to $10,886, came into the possession of the institution in 1879, in accordance with the terms of the last will and testament of Matthew Russell, Esq., of Jefferson County, and it has since been used in the construction of the Russell Conservatory and the fountain. Until 1842 Mr. Hubbell performed the combined duties of principal, teacher and steward. In that year he was relieved of the labor and confinement of teaching a class in order to have an opportunity of overseeing all the classes both in respect to government and instruction. He was then given the title of superintendent. A year later he was released from the cares of the domestic department when George Gobey, Esq., of this city was appointed steward. Mr. Hubbell achieved it position of influence and honor among the citizens of Columbus. Of the thirtyone persons who, in 1839, united to form the Second Presbyterian Church, no one took a more active interest in the enterprise or contributed more liberally of his own means .for its advancement than Mr. Hubbell. For many years he was trusted and honored with the offices of elder and trustee. He enjoyed the friendship and confidence of Governor Ford, Judge Gustavus Swan, Hon. Peter Hitchcock, Judge of the Supreme Court of Ohio, and his sons, Henry L. Hitch- cock, D..15., President of the Western Reserve College and Reuben Hitchcock, LL. D.; Doctor Samuel Parsons, Doctor Robert Thompson, Colonel John Noble, Robert W. McCoy, John S. Hall, D. W. Deshler and many others. One of his most intimate friends was John C. Miller, an aristocratic gentleman of the old school, connected with the " First Families of Virginia." Mr. Miller was in the habit of wearing knee-breeches and the queue many years after he settled in the city. When Mr. Hubbell proposed making a trip to the East in 1831, Mr. Miller insisted upon his stopping in Washington en route to call upon his brother-in law, President John Tyler. In his letter introduing Mr. Hubbell to the President, Mr. Miller said : " You will, of course, recognize in him one of our most useful citizens, and I ask leave to assure you that he is one of the most excellent of men." In January, 1851, Mr. Hubbell resigned his position as superintendent, but at the request of the trustees his resignation did not take effect until the following October. He was then offered the superintendency of the Wisconsin Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, but declined it, although he went to Delaware and did all he could toward organizing the school. He was one of the very first to propose founding an institution for the feebleminded, in behalf of which he made urgent appeals to the General Assembly in 1854. The last year of Mr. Hubbell's life was spent in preparing for the press a work entitled, Dying Words of Eminent Persons. On Saturday he completed and arranged his manuscript, and on the following Monday morning, January 19, 1857, he was called to his reward above. His grave in Green Lawn Cemetery is marked by a monument whereon appears his name carved in the manual alphabet of the deaf. Rev. Josiah A. Cary succeeded Mr. Hubbell in the office of superintendent. He had been a successful teacher in the New York Institution for the deaf for nineteen years. He entered upon his new duties with a zeal and perseverance beyond all praise, but died at the end of one year of anchylosis. Rev. Collins Stone, who had been a teacher in the American Asylum for many years, was chosen as Mr. Cary's successor. He was a man of great dignity of character and was a fine disciplinarian. In 1862, after eleven years of service, he resigned to accept a similar position in the American Asylum which he held until he met with his death by being struck by a moving train in Hartford, Conneticut, in 1871. Rev. George L. Weed, Junior, who had been connected with this institution for seven years as teacher, was appointed superintendent to succeed. Mr. Stone. 39* 610 - HISTORY OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS. His affability and tact had a great deal to do with the success of the effort which resulted- in the building of the present structure. He resigned in 1865, and was afterward superintendent of the Wisconsin institution. He is, at present, a teacher in the institution at Philadelphia. Rev. Gilbert 0. Fay succeeded Mr. Weed as superintendent. He had taught in this institution for four years. He showed remarkable executive ability in the management of the institution, which is still conducted in accordance with his plans. He resigned in 1880 to accept a teacher's position in the American Asylum. Charles S. Perry, who had taught in this institution since 1865, was next appointed superintendent, which position he resigned in 1882. He is now teaching in the California institution at Berkeley. Rev. Benjamin Talbot, who had been superintendent of the Iowa institution at Council Bluffs for fifteen years and was teaching at this institution, acted as superintendent until Amasa Pratt' was appointed to the office to succeed Mr. Perry. Mr. Pratt had taught in the Philadelphia institution for one year, and in the California institution for several years. He tendered his resignation in April, 1890, to take effect on the first of August, and is now one of the principals of the Columbus Latin School. James W. Knott, who had been superintendent of the Tiffin Public Schools for eleven years, entered upon his duties as superintendent of the institution August first, 1890, with Robert Patterson who was educated at the institution and has been connected with it as a teacher since 1870, as principal of the school department. Quite a large number of teachers trained in this institution have been called to the highest position in their profession. Indiana, Illinois, Tennessee, Louisi- ana, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, California, Maryland, Arkansas, West Virginia, Nebraska and Florida have found superintendents here. The two thousand, in round numbers, who have been discharged from the institution have completely refuted the familiar couplet of Lucretius : To instruct the deaf, no art could ever reach, No care improve them, and no wisdom teach. The many who have taken their places as members of society, sharing its burdens and adding their quota to its productive wealth, have proved the injustice of the Justinian Code, which, in the sixth century, denied civil rights to all congenital mutes and consigned them to perpetual legal infancy as incapable of managing their own affairs or of transmitting their property. The many who have learned to turn their thoughts heavenward and find their comfort and companionship in the Holy Bible, have exposed the fallacy of St. Augustine who, in the fourth century, commenting upon Romans X, 17, asserted, that deafness from birth makes faith impossible since he who is born deaf can neither hear the word nor learn to read it." The many who have found delight in social intercourse and in the treasures of literature have exploded the idea of Samuel Heinicke, who, in the eighteenth century, declared that " it was speech only which comprehended, contained and expressed the movements of the soul," and that " every other means of communication was dead." Verily, the institution has accomplished a great and good work in carrying out the idea of the Abbe de l'Epee who, in the eighteenth century, said: " There is no more natural and necessary connection between abstract ideas and articulate sounds which strike the ear than there is between the same ideas and the written characters which address the eye." CHAPTER XXXIX. INSTITUTION FOR THE BLIND. BY G. L. SMEAD, LATE SUPERINTENDENT. The Ohio Institution for the Education of the Blind was the fourth in order of establishment in the United States. The institutions in Boston, New York and Philadelphia preceded that of Ohio by a few years. Among the subjects considered at a State Medical convention held in Columbus on January 5, 1835, was the establishment of public asylums for the reception of the insane, and for the instruction of the blind. During the session of 1834-5 the legislature authorized the Governor to obtain statistics of the unfortunate of the State. In his message to the Thirtyfourth General Assembly Governor Robert Lucas reported that, in fiftyfive counties, the number of idiots was 508; of lunatics 206 ; of blind persons 202. The whole number of blind in the State was then estimated at 250. On March 11, 1836, the legislature by resolution appointed Rev. James Hoge, N. H. Swayne, Esq., and Doctor William M. Awl as a board of trustees for obtaining information in relation to the instruction of the blind, together with the probable expense of commencing a school. The board was required to submit a report to the next General Assembly. The trustees ascertained that in fifty-nine counties there were 287 blind persons. It was estimated that sixty of these were proper persons to receive instruction in a school. From information secured, the trustees further estimated that there were at that time five hundred blind persons in the State. The board fixed upon $1,500 as the sum necessary to commence the school. Upon invitation of the board of trustees, Doctor Samuel G. Howe, the Director of the New England Institution for the Blind, visited Columbus with several of his pupils. On December 23, 1836, Doctor Howe addressed the legislature on the subject of the education of the blind, and exhibited the proficiency of the blind pupils who were with him. In view of the facts obtained the board recommended the immediate establishment of a school for the blind. Doctor William M. Awl, of Columbus, drew up the resolution for this purpose and it was passed by the legislature on the thirtieth of April, 1837. The same board was appointed to secure land, commence the building and proceed with the school. In pursuance of this purpose the trustees secured for the site of the building nine acres of land east of the city limits of Columbus, on the north side of the National Road, now Main Street. The price of the land was contributed by citizens of Columbus and the deed presented to the State. The Board appointed N. B. Kelley, of .Columbus, architect and superintendent of construction, deter- [611] 612 - HISTORY OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS. mined upon the plan of the building, and directed Mr. Kelley to make contracts for materials and prepare for commencing work the following season. The house of Mr. Joel Buttles, on South Street, was rented at once for the use of the school, but soon there was need of larger accommodations, and one of the " eight buildings," on Town Street, was secured and used until the completion of the building erected by the State. On July 4, 1837, the school was opened. The preliminary exercises were held in the First Presbyterian Church. There were present five pupils. This number was increased to eleven before the close of the year. Mr. A. W. Penniman, a blind man who was educated in the New England Insti- tution, and afterwards assistant teacher in the Philadelphia Institution, was selected as the first teacher. Mr. Isaac Dalton was the first Steward and Mrs. Dalton was the first Matron. The trustees showed their knowledge of the wants of the institution by expending $256.60 for books and apparatus procured from Boston and Philadelphia. Among the items of books and apparatus purchased were a box containing an alphabet, figures and punctuation marks made of pin points, $30; fortytwo pounds of type, $21 ; an alphabet cat in wood, $2.60; eight arithmetic plates and type, $40 ; two dozen Writing boards, $2.50 ; maps of the world and of the United States, $36. Among the books were the New Testament in four volumes, geographies, spelling books, grammars, Baxter's Call, and the Dairyman's Daughter, all in raised print. The sum expended for salaries and current expenses for the first year was $1,707.15. The studies of the first year were reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, grammar and music, both vocal and instrumental. Music was recognized as of the first importance, and $229.50 more expended for a piano during the first year. In these early days of the institution the girls were taught housework, knitting and sewing. The boys were endeavoring to learn the trade of shoemaking. The first building was occupied October 15, 1839. It was intended to accommodate from sixty to eighty pupils with the necessary officers and teachers. In it were provided school rooms and workshops. There was expended upon the construction of this house, with the necessary outbuildings, the sum of $34,409.34. For the first three years the school was under the direction of the principal teacher, Mr. A. W. Penniman. In May, 1840, Mr. William Chapin entered upon his duties as the first Superintendent. In those days it was especially necessary to make the existence of the institution known, and to demonstrate the practicability of educating the blind. For this purpose both Mr. Penniman and Mr. Chapin made many visits to the cities and towns of the State, taking with them several of the pupils of the school and giving exhibitions of their proficiency in literary studies and in music. These exhibitions excited great interest and called forth many expresions of approbation from the citizens of the State. Also visits were made by Mr. Chapin to the capitals of Kentucky and. Indiana. Before the legislatures of these States exhibitions were given by several of the pupils of the Ohio Institution, which resulted in the establishment of the Kentucky Institution at Louisville and of the Indiana Institution at Indianapolis. On March 10, 1838, an act was passed fixing the tuition at $120 per year, which was afterwards changed to $100. This included board and tuition. This act permitted the admission of twelve indigent pupils who should be boarded and instructed at the expense of the State for five years. By act passed in March, 1843, the trustees were authorized to admit free of charge as many pupils as they thought proper ; to continue for two years longer those whom they thought too young to be dismissed ; and to admit free indigent persons over twentyone years of age for the purpose of learning a trade, and to retain them for two years. This last provision was the beginning of the adult department which has continued, with modifications, to the present time. On INSTITUTION FOR THE BLIND - 613 March 11, 1851, the distinction between indigent and pay pupils was abolished, and all of proper age, character and mental ability were admitted free to receive board and tuition at the expense of the State. Thus the institution became, and has been ever since, a free school for the blind of Ohio. In 1845 Mr. Chapin visited Europe and made an examination of various institutions for the unfortunate. Upon his return he made a full report of his observations, which added very much to the information concerning the education and care of the unfortunate. At the end of the fiscal year, October, 1846, Mr. Chapin resigned his position as Superintendent. The school during his last year had enrolled seventy-three pupils ; 124 had to that time enjoyed the privileges of the institution. Mr, Chapin's administration was eminently successful. He was a man of imearnestness and intelligence.    is heart was in the work of the education of the blind, and he gave much thought to improving methods of instruction. Especially was his attention given to i .proving the industrial department. He also contemplated and advised the establishment of a working home for the adult blind, to be situated in. Cincinnati or in one of the large cities of the State where a market could be found for the manufactured products of the home. Mr. Chapin was in 1849 appointed Superintendent of the Philadelphia Institution for the Blind, where he showed the same zeal and ability which were of so much value to the Ohio Institution. In Philadelphia Mr. Chapin was permitted to fill out a career of usefulness and philanthropy granted to very few. He remained at the head of that institution to a good old age, keeping up his interest and attending the conventions of educator's of the blind even when age might have excused him from the service. When too old to bear longer the burden of labor for the institution, he was retired upon a living salary to rest for his remaining days amid the scenes of his life work — a fit recognition of a useful, faithful life and a fit prelude to the heavenly rest to which he passed, September 20, 1888. Upon Mr. Chapin's resignation Mr. Penniman was made acting superintendent, in which position he continued until the spring of 1848. In April, 1848, Mr. George McMillen, of Columbus, took charge of the institution. Mr. McMillen was an experienced teacher and entered upon his duties with zeal and intelligence. The work of. the school was kept up to the high standard of his predecessor. To Mr. McMillen is due the suggestion that the distinction between indigent and pay pupils be abolished and that all blind persons of proper age be admitted and instructed free of charge ; and during his administration this important change was made in the policy of the institution. Mr. McMillen continued in office until his death, July 25, 1852. The committee ad interim of the board of trustees, in its report of that year, speaks of Mr. McMillen as follows The close of the last session was saddened by the decease of George McMillen, Esquire, the late Superintendent of this Institution. For more than four years he had faithfully and honorably discharged the duties of that honorable post. Under his control the institution commanded public confidence and continued to fulfill the ardent anticipations and benevolent designs of its founders and friends. He exhibited by his energy and assiduity a laudable devotion to the interests of the State and to the duties of his calling ; contributed much by his talent and intelligence to sustain the reputation and develop the advantages of the school ; and successfully guided, by his salutary teachings and exemplary life of morality and religion, the pupils committed to his care in the pursuit of life's highest and holiest aims. Until 1852 the institution was under the direction of a separate board of trustees. By act of April 28, 1852, all the State institutions were placed under one board of nine trustees. The policy continued until April 8, 1856, when the institutions of the State were again put under the management of separate boards. Sixtynine pupils were enrolled the last year of Mr. McMillen's administration ; up to the date of his last report 199 had, from the beginning, been connected with the 614 - HISTORY OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS. institution. By the census of 1850, 912 blind persons were reported in the State of Ohio. In May, 1852, Mr. Penniman, so long a faithful teacher and at times performing the duties of Superintendent, resigned his position and terminated his connection with the institution at the close of that term. His resignation was much regretted by the board of trustees and by all connected with the institution, and he was ever held in grateful remembrance by those who came under his instruction. In the summer of 1852, R. E. Harte, of Marietta, was appointed Superintendent. During his administration the work of the institution went on with no special events to distinguish his term of office. Mr. Harte advocated the higher. education of the blind. He proposed a plan of two departments in the school, the academic and the collegiate. In the academic department he would have the pupils pursue the common English branches; to the collegiate department he would admit, at the commencement of each school year, such pupils as had manifested an ability to learn and should pass .a satisfactory examination in the required preparatory studies. The studies in the collegiate department should be, in his opinion, the English, Latin and Greek languages and literature and such other studies as are usually pursued in colleges. He claimed that such an education would afford a higher degree of culture, and also fit the students to fill higher positions in the profession of teaching-- positions better adapted to the blind than the lower grades in that profession. Such was his line of thought as expressed in one of his reports, and perhaps these opinions shaped somewhat his direction of the studies of the institution. Mr. Harte's administration of four years ended in July, 1856, and on July 4, 1856, Doctor A. D. Lord assumed the duties of Superintendent of the institution. In the appointment of. Doctor Lord the trustees showed an intelligent appreciation of the purpose of the institution as a school for the education of the blind. Doctor Lord was eminently an educational man. He was by nature, by education and by experience a teacher ; a teacher not only of students but a teacher of teachers. in the twenty-second year of his age he became principal of the Western Reserve Teachers' Seminary at Kirtland, Ohio. There he remained for eight years, having under his charge each year nearly three hundred students, many of whom went out as teachers to all parts of the State. In 1843, at Kirtland, he inaugurated the first teachers' institute ever held in Ohio. When such institutes became common he was often called upon to conduct them. In the institutes of the State he made -his influence felt in the cause of education, and hundreds of teachers imbibed his enthusiasm and went forth to their work with a loftier appreciation of the responsibilities of their high calling He was one of the pioneers in improving the public school system of Ohio and in introducing better methods of teaching and organizing the common schools of the State. By his influence the system of graded schools was established in Columbus, and in 1847 he was appointed Superintendent of the schools of this city, in which position he remained for nine years. He edited, during different periods, the Ohio School Journal, the Public School Advocate, and the Ohio Journal of Education. With such preparation and experience, combined with a love for his calling and a heart responsive to the needs of humanity, Doctor Lord came to the superintendency of this institution. With no reflection upon his predecessors his administration may be said to mark a new era in the history of the institution. Circumstances were favorable. He was assisted by Mrs. Lord, who was the mother of the institution, as he was the father. He had associated with him a corps of officers and teachers who were in harmony with his spirit and methods. The mutual confidence of himself and the board of trustees secured unity in the purpose and management of the institution. His reputation throughout the State attracted pupils and secured the confidence of parents. And freedom from politi- INSTITUTION FOR THE BLIND - 615 cal interference enabled him to look forward with assurance to the fulfilment of his plans. The moral influence of Doctor Lord's methods of discipline was peculiarly effectual; effectual first; because his methods were wise, and second, because behind his method was the presence of a man of tender heart and of pure life. The annual attendance of pupils during this administration of twelve years increased from sixty to. one hundred and fifty. In August, 1868, Doctor Lord resigned to accept a similar position in the New York State Institution for the Blind, at Batavia, New York. This institution was just then about to be organized. He established it upon a firm basis of usefulness and continued to be its Superintendent for seven years, until March 7, 1875, when his useful life was cut short by death and he passed to the better life leaving in two institutions, and in two States, many sorrowful and loving hearts who have ever cherished the memory of his noble character as an inspiration to better lives and higher usefulness. Upon Doctor Lord's resignation, G. L. Smead, who had been the senior teacher in the institution for nine years, was appointed to succeed him. For many years it had been realized by those in charge of the institution that the building first erected was too small for the growing wants of the school. It was intended to accommodate sixty pupils. Some small additions had been made to its capacity. One hundred and thirty pupils had been crowded into it, but such overcrowding involved much risk of health to the inmates. Several applications to the legislature were made for relief, but the finances of the State in those days did not justify the expenditure. Then the war from 1860 to 1865 was an effectual bar to any increase of the accommodations of the institution. In 1866 permission w as obtained to erect quite an extensive addition to the house, but when plans came to be arranged it was deemed unadvisable to make additions to such a building with the probability that in a few years the growing institution and the developing taste of the public would demand an entirely new building. Accordingly, the trustees determined to abandon the project of adding to the old building and go before the legislature and ask for an appropriation for a new house. In 1867 the legislature passed an act authorizing the board to erect a building to accommodate three hundred pupils, and provide the necessary officers and teachers, at a cost not to exceed $175,000. Plans were secured, but it was found that the approved plan could not be carried out for less. than $350,000. The trustees being unwilling to enter upon the construction of a building whose cost should be greater than the sum fixed by the legislature decided to wait and present the matter again to the General Assembly. By act of May 6, 1869, the trustees were directed to erect a building at a cost not to exceed $275,000. William Tinsley, of Cincinnati, who had prepared the approved plans, was employed as architect. The plans were modified to bring the building within the required cost, and in the spring of 1870 the foundation was laid. Four long years of watching and waiting were consumed in its construction. On May 21, 1874, the new building was occupied by the school. The pupils soon became accustomed to their new quarters and the work of the classes went on as though no change of place had been made. The new house was commenced in the trusteeship of IL C. Noble, Stillman Witt and F. C. Sessions. It was completed and occupied under H. C. Noble, John G. Dun and Thomas Bergin. The cost of the new building, according to the report of the trustees in 1874, was about $358,477.92. Later, a new boiler and coalhouse were added, which, with the new workshop and barn made the cost of the present buildings aggregate $376,477.92. During this administration various kinds of work were introduced, such as the use of the sewing machine, knitting machine, typewriter, caneseating and mattress-making; also the use of the New York point print was introduced, and the kin 616 - HISTORY OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS. dergarten established. The tuning department, after some interruptions, became a fixed fact and has been a valuable profession and means of livelihood for many who have gone out from the institution. A large amount of apparatus was procured to illustrate the different subjects taught in the schools. A pipe organ was placed in the chapel, and the number of pianos was largely increased. Thus, from 1868 to 1885, the institution advanced from an old house, crowded and ill-adapted to the uses of the school, with very little apparatus, and restricted means of illustrating the different subjects taught, to a well-equipped school with ample resources for doing the work for which it was established. Mr. Smead served the institution twenty-five years, nine years as teacher and sixteen years as Superintendent. He was succeeded in January, 1885, by Henry Snyder, who occupied the position for six months, until in July, 1885, Mr. Snyder was followed by Doctor H. P. Pricker, of Ashtabula, Ohio, who fulfilled the duties of the office during the remainder of Governor Hoadly's administration. At the close of the term of 1886, C. H. Miller became Superintendent and held the office during the two administrations of Governor Foraker. In May, 1890, Doctor H. P. Fricker came again to the position in the change of politics, and is in office at this present date -- June 1, 1890. During the history of the institution four reunions of former officers and pupils have been held, viz.: In 1860, 1874, 1880 and 1885. Upon all these occasions there were present many who had completed their course in the school, and who testified by their bearing and character as men and women that their training at the institution had been a great blessing to them. A large proportion of then had been able to support themselves and to secure the respect of the public for their worthiness of character and life. At least thirty have been employed as teachers in institutions of learning, mostly for the blind. Twenty-three have been employed in this institution as teachers and helpers. Ten or more have entered college, and several have graduated. Four are clergymen ; two are physicians; three who have been connected with the institution as teachers or pupils have been superintendents of other institutions. The most gratifying part of the history of the institution is that written in the success in life of those who have been instructed and trained under its influence, and whose lives, but for their education, would have been a dreary blank. This portion of the history can not well be put upon paper, but it is none the less real. In 1837, the first year of the institution, there were enrolled eleven pupils; in the year ending November 15, 1889, the number was 283. In all 1,502 have been connected with the school as pupils. The sum of $1,786,321.66 has been expended, $510,086.40 of which was applied to permanent improvements, and $1,276,235.26 to maintenance. Dividing the whole expense by the whole number of pupils, we have the sum of $1,189.22 expended for each person taught and supported by the institution. The employments taught in the institution during its history are as follows : The making of shoes, baskets, brushes, carpets, doormats, brooms, mattresses, caneseating, hatbraiding, beadwork, hand and machine knitting, hand and machine sewing, crocheting, housework and pianotuning. The number of officers and teachers of the institution from the beginning to the present time is as follows: Trustees, 55; Superintendents, 9 ; Teachers, 94; Stewards, 11; Matrons, 12; Assistant Matrons, 12; Housekeepers, 3; Physicians, 11. Of the fifty-five trustees, twenty-eight have been Columbus men, viz.. Rev. James Hoge, Noah H. Swayne, Doctor William M. Awl, John A. Bryan, M. J. Gilbert, John W. Andrews William Armstrong, Samuel McClelland, Joseph McElvain, Joseph R. Scroggs, W. B. Thrall, F. C. Kelton, Doctor S. M. Smith, A. P. Stone, Thomas Sparrow, Henry Wilson, John Greenleaf, John Greiner, F. C. Sessions, H. C. Noble, Thomas Bergin, B. F. Martin, Joseph Falkenbach, John C. English, James Poindexter, Samuel Thompson, Daniel McAlister, Edward Pagels, CHAPTER XL. INSTITUTION FOR THE FEEBLEMINDED. BY HON. NORTON S. TOWNSHEND. The Ohio State Asylum for Imbecile Youth was established in 1857. Starting with difficulty, it has grown to be the largest institution of the kind in the country. At a meeting of the American Association of Superintendents of Institutions for the Insane, held in Philadelphia in 1844, Doctor William M. Awl, then Superintendent of the Ohio Lunatic Asylum, introduced the subject of special training for imbeciles. After some discussion the matter was referred to a committee which made an able report at the next meeting of the association held at Washington, D. C., in 1846. In 1850 Hon. Pinckney Lewis, of the Ohio Senate, introduced a resolution requesting Doctor S. Stanbury Smith, then Superintendent of the Ohio Lunatic Asylum, to report at the next session of the General Assembly the probable number of imbecile youth in the State, and as to the expediency of making provision by legislation for their support ; also the result of experiments which had been made in the education of such persons and the advisability of supporting and educating them in public institutions rather than by the methods then prevailing. It is not known that any such report was made. In his message to the General Assembly in 1852 Governor Wood directed attention to the necessity of making State provision for the care and training of imbeciles, but no action upon the matter was taken at that session of the legislature. In 1854 Governor Medal in his message invited the attention of the General Assembly to this unfortunate class, for whom no State provision had yet been made. In the Senate that part of the Governor's message relating to imbecile youth was referred to a select committee, the members of which were N. S. Townshend, Heslip Williams and J. L. Wright.1 Doctor Townshend, the chairman of that committee, bad spent the year 1840 in visiting several of the medical colleges and hospitals of Europe, and while in Paris had become interested in the efforts of Itard, Pinel, Esquirol, Seguin and others for the training of idiots. The report of this committee was ordered to be printed, but the bill which accompanied it and provided for the establishment of an asylum was not reached in time for action at that session. In 1855 the legislature did not assemble. [617] 618 - HISTORY OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS. In the year 1856 Doctor H. B. Wilbur, Superintendent of the New York Asylum for Imbeciles, passed through Columbus with two pupils, and gave a lecture and exhibition before members of the General Assembly. This produced a very favorable impression. In the same year Hon. Ralph Plumb, of Trumbull County, introduced into the House of Representatives a bill for the establishment of an asylum for imbeciles, but this bill was not reached before the session closed. In 1857 Hon. Herman Canfield introduced a bill to establish an asylum for imbeciles and this measure was passed by large majorities in both branches of the legislature. Pursuant to this act William Dennison, Asher Cook and Norton S. Townshend were appointed trustees. These trustees met and organized by selecting Mr. Dennison as President of the Board ; they also appointed Doctor R. J. Patterson as Superintendent of the institution. The trustees and superintendent then visited the asylum for imbeciles in the States of New York and Massachusetts. From the New York asylum they were permitted to secure two experienced teachers, viz.: Miss Emily C. Whitman, to whom was assigned the duties of matron and Miss Julia B. Burbank for first teacher. A house on Friend Street, in Columbus, was leased, and on the third day of August, 1857, the first pupil was received. By the time the first report was made in the ensuing November, the number of pupils had increased to sixteen. In 1858 Miss Harriet F. Purple was engaged as matron. Although the institution had only made a beginning, Mr. Charles Chapman, of Avon, Lorain County, had by will made it the residuary legatee of his estate, from which it subsequently realized $4,000. In 1859 Doctor G. A. Doren was engaged as assistant superintendent; in 1860 he was chosen superintendent vice Doctor Patterson, who resigned to take charge of the Iowa Asylum for the Insane. In 1860 Hon. Herman Canfield was appointed trustee in lieu of William Dennison, who had been elected Governor of Ohio. In 1861 Hon. Asher Cook resigned from the board of trustees to serve in the army and Doctor William Ide, of Columbus, was appointed to the vacancy. In 1862 Colonel Canfield was lost to the institution by the effects of a wound received at the battle of Pittsburgh Landing, from which he died. Hon. Peter Hitchcock, of Geauga, and John A. Lutz, of Circleville, then became trustees, the firstnamed to continue in service for thirteen and the lastnamed for fifteen years, each with great devotion and profit to the institution. In 1862 the number of pupils had increased to fifty-seven and the need of more ample accommodations had become apparent. Consequently, in 1864, the legislature authorized the purchase of land and the erection of suitable buildings thereon. A tract of 130 acres on Broad Street, two and one-half miles west of the Capitol, and an addition of 571 acres was subsequently made. In 1868, the new asylum buildings being then near completion, the institution was transferred to them with 105 pupils, which number gradually increased from year to year until, in 1876, it exceeded four hundred. At this time the need of a better water supply and better sewerage being felt, the boards of trustees of the asylums for imbeciles and the insane were temporarily united and these improvements were obtained. Hon. Peter Hitchcock having resigned from the board, Hon. J. A. Shank was appointed in his stead. In 1878 the Board Of Trustees of the Asylum for Imbeciles was reorganized and J. A. Lutz and Norton S. Townshend were not reappointed, the latter after having served twentyone years.2 The year 1881 brought to the institution a severe experience : on November 13 the central building took fire. The pupils were all promptly removed to places of safety, but the fire was not extinguished until the main building had been destroyed and other buildings considerably damaged. Many valuable records and tabulated results of more than twenty years of observation, were by this misfortune irretrievably lost. Fortunately no inmate of the institution was injured, The repairs and reconstruction made necessary by the fire were INSTITUTION FOR THE FEEBLEMINDED - 619 immediately commenced, and included some needed improvements, one of which was that of making the new building fireproof. Since 1881 the institution has steadily increased in the number of its pupils, which at the present time (1890) amounts to 852 besides many applications on file. Doctor Doren continues to discharge the duties of superintendent with marked success, and Miss Purple still performs in an acceptable manner the duties of matron. Four separate buildings now have each an assistant matron. Instead of one teacher, as at the beginning in 1857, Mrs. L. N. Doren, principal of instruction, has twentyone helpers, all of whom find plenty to do. Additional buildings have from time to time been erected, including hospitals, school rooms, workshops, engine and gas houses, barns, etc. The location of the institution is a most delightful one, sufficiently elevated, not too near the city and easy of access. Instruction for imbecile children must necessarily be greatly varied. While all the pupils received are more or less below the normal intellectual standard, it is not easy to classify them, scarcely any two being alike. Hence the necessity for widely different methods and means of instruction. The eye, the ear, the hand and the powers of locomotion but especially the brain may need incitement to activity. Play, work, military drill, gymnastics, and vocal and instrumental music are all employed for this purpose. Little is learned from books; only object lessons are fully appreciated by the pupils. Some of the studies of the public schools are attempted; most of all, habits of cleanliness, neatness, selfhelp, gentleness, kindness, good manners, and ideas of right and duty need to be inculcated. If from early disease or want of brain development it is difficult or impossible to make scholars of imbecile children, it is nevertheless no small gain if they can be taught some useful employment so that they will no longer be a tax upon friends or the public. Experience has proved that the hand may be trained to work skilfully even when the brain has less than normal activity. It may therefore be said that for the imbecile an industrial education is "the one thing needful." The Ohio Asylum for Imbeciles' has now been in operation more than thirty years. Some of the pupils who were received many years since and have profited by its training, are now efficient workers, but because they have no friends and no other home, still remain in the institution to the exclusion of younger and equally needy applicants. The trustees and superintendent have for many years. been asking the legislature to establish an industrial home to which some of the older pupils may from time to time be transferred and where, under suitable guidance, they may make a comfortable living without further expense to friends or the public. A good farm, with gardens, would afford them exercise and employment both healthy and profitable. If the legislature does not in the near future meet this demand, what kindhearted philanthropist will make hundreds of poor, unfortunates happy by supplying their greatest need? NOTES. 1. Note by the Author : A short time before the meeting of the General Assembly in 1854, Doctor Townshend, of the Senate, visited Governor Medill and inquired whether he intended to recommend in his message the establishment of au institution for the training of imbecile youth ? The Governor said he had not thought of it, and added, 'if by imbeciles you mean fools, what can we do for fools ?" The Doctor then stated what had been done in France and also in this country, for the class of persons referred to. The Governor appeared to be much interested, and taking the manuscript of his message from a drawer 620 - HISTORY OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS. said : " Here is the message already written." Then finding where he had. referred to the institutions for mutes and the blind he added : "Here you may interline a sentence or two." Doctor Townshend thanked him and inserted suggestions as to imbeciles which he said he would endeavor to have referred to a committee the report of which he hoped would justify the interest which the Governor had manifested Accordingly, after the message had been read in the General Assembly, Doctor Townshend moved in the Senate that so much of it as related to an asylum for imbeciles be referred to a select committee. This motion was approved and the committee named in this chapter was appointed. 2. These removals were illustrations of the partisan meddling which up to the present time has been a standing curse to the public charities of Ohio. CHAPTER XLI OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY. Special education for farmers was one of the first subjects to engage their organized attention in Ohio. At the organization of the State Agricultural Society in Columbus on January 8, 1839, a committee was appointed to consider the propriety of purchasing a tract of land for experiments, and establishing thereon an agricultural school. Better facilities for the education of young men upon the farm were demanded by the State agricultural convention of 1845. The introduction of agriculture as a study in the common schools was suggested by the State Society in 1854. Meanwhile a school in agriculture—the first of its kind in Ohio — had been established by Hon. N. S. Townshend at Oberlin.1 In lieuof an endorsement of this school, proposed at the meeting of the State Agricultural Society in 1854, a resolution was adopted recommending that schools in agriculture be permanently endowed by a congressional grant of public lands. Eight years later —on July 2, 1862 —Congress acceded to this recommendation and passed an act which granted to each State 30,000 acres of public land for each of its Senators and Representatives then in Congress, the proceeds of said grant to be applied to the endowment of at least one college the leading objects of which should be, " without excluding other scientific and classical studies, and including military tactics, to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts." At a special meeting held in November, 1862, the State Board of Agriculture recommended that Ohio accept the grant offered her, and appointed N. S. Townshend and T. C. Jones to memorialize the General Assembly on the subject. The memorial thus provided for was presented, and on February 9, 1864, its requests were complied with by the passage of an act accepting the lands tendered, and pledging performance of the conditions accompanying the donation. Pursuant to this action certificates of scrip for 630,000 acres of land were received and placed in the State Treasury, and on April 13, 1865, an act providing for the sale of this scrip, and the disposition of its proceeds was passed. Immediately extravagant hopes were raised as to the amount of money that would be realized from the sale, and applications were made by various institutions of learning in the State for a share of the fund. In consequence of this, the General Assembly was vigorously memorialized in behalf of two schemes, one of which proposed a division of the fund among various existing colleges, while the friends of the other insisted that the entire proceeds of the lands should be applied to the establishment of a single institution. Chiefly owing to this difference of opinion, definite proceedings for the establishment of the college were delayed for six years. From beginning to [621] 622 - HISTORY OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS. end the State Board of Agriculture favored the application of the fund in its entirety to the maintenance of one centrally located institution. Most conspicuous among the members of the board in advocating this policy and in securing its final acceptance by the General Assembly, were Norton S. Townshend, Thomas C. Jones, W. B. McClung and John M. Milliken. It was also actively favored by Governor Hayes. The sales of land scrip were slow, and in December, 1865, the commissioners' reported that unless they should be allowed to reduce its price below the minimum which had been fixed, they could not sell the whole of it in less than ten years. An act of April 5, 1866, therefore removed the minimum restriction to eighty cents per acre, and authorized the commissioners to sell the scrip for the best price they could obtain. Thereupon the sales proceeded, for the most part, at the rate of fifty-three cents per acre, and ultimately produced a fund of about $500,000. Pursuant to an act of April 13, 1865, Darwin Gardiner, David Taylor, Peter Thatcher, C. L. Poorman and Miles Greenwood were appointed commissioners to receive propositions for the location of the college, and submit recommendations as to its location, and also as to its organization. After visiting several places, these commissioners, except Mr. Greenwood, recommended acceptance of a proposition from Miami University ; Mr. Greenwood recommended one from the Farmers' College. Neither proposition was accepted. By resolution of March 30, 1868, the General Assembly declared in favor of "one college," and provided for the appointment of a joint committee to receive propositions for its location. This committee was also authorized to receive donations for the institution and proposals for the location of an experimental farm. After receiving numerous propositions, a majority of the committee favored one from Wooster, the minority one from Urbana. After various additional measures of like purport and inefficiency the General Assembly, on March 22, 1870, passed an act by which something definite and practical was accomplished. From this act the present Ohio State University dates the beginning of its existence. Its initial words, following its enacting clause, were: " That a college to be styled the Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College is hereby established in this State, in accordance with the provisions of an act of Congress passed July 2, 1862." This act vested the government of the college in a board of trustees, comprising one member from each congressional district, to be appointed by the Governor. Upon this board was conferred power to make rules for the government of the college, to appoint its president, to regulate its course of instruction, to manage its finances, to receive donations for its benefit, and to fix its permanent location.' The board held its first meeting at Columbus on April 18, 1870, and elected Valentine B. Horton president, R. C. Anderson secretary and Joseph Sullivant treasurer. On May 11, 1870, the General Assembly passed an act to authorize the several counties of the State to raise money by taxation to compete, by donations, for the location of the college, and on June 4 of the same year an address to the people was issued by the executive committee of the trustees setting forth the character and purposes of the institution, and inviting the counties to tender donations for its location and equipment. In response to this appeal Champaign and Clark counties each offered $200,000, and Montgomery County offered $400,000, all in eight per cent. bonds. In Franklin County, on August 13, 1870, a proposition to donate $300,000 was submitted to a vote of the electors, and was ratified by over five hundred majority. Additional donations were made by citizens of Columbus, and by railways centering in the city, amounting to $28,000. The gift of the county was tendered in money or in seven per cent. bonds, as the board of trustees might elect. In October, 1870, the propositions of Franklin County were accepted, and the board proceeded to select from numerous farms offered a site for the institution. OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY - 623 On October 13, 1870, the board voted, fourteen to one, in favor of the tract known as the Neil Farm, lying on the Worthington Road, at that time about two miles north of Columbus. The lands chosen were thus described in resolutions reported to the board: A tract held by R. E. Neil and William Dennison, in trust for Henry M. Neil, of 190 acres ; a tract of Adam Zinn of fifty acres ; a tract of Matilda Ellen Witt of twenty acres ; tract of William Dennison and wife of twentytwo acres and ninety poles ; a tract of J. J. Rickly of ten and fiveeighths acres ; a tract of Isabella R. Phisterer of five acres; a tract of George Potts of six acres ; and a tract of L. Humphreys of two acres ; with all the buildings and appurtenances thereunto belonging, containing in all 327 acres, more or less, . . . and all except the Zinn tract being a part of the old William Neil farm, and all lying in a body adjoining each other ; the board on behalf of the State agreeing to pay for the same the sum of $115,950 out of the subscription made to the State for the benefit of said college by Franklin County ; the parties owning said land agreeing to receive in part payment of said consideration a subscription of $28,000 made by other parties to secure said location, or to guarantee the payment of said lastmentioned subscription to the board within four months. On January 6, 1871, W. B. McClung was appointed superintendent of the college farm, at a salary of $1,500. A site for the college building was selected, plans for the structure were invited, and Jacob Snyder, of Akron, whose plan was accepted, was appointed architect. R. N. Jones, of Delaware, Ohio, was appointed superintendent of construction. The presidency of the institution was offered to General J. D. Cox, of Cincinnati, but declined. General August V. Kautz, of the United States Army, applied for appointment as military instructor. The course of study to be pursued in the institution was the subject of much diversity of opinion, but finally a curriculum proposed by Mr. Joseph Sullivant, of Columbus, was adopted. The departments of study which this plan included were agriculture, mechanic arts, mathematics and physics, chemistry, geology, mining and metallurgy, zoology and veterinary science, botany and horticulture, English language and literature, modern and ancient languages, and political economy and civil polity. The equipment of the laboratories and cabinets, for which purpose the sum of $25,000 was appropriated, was assigned to Mr. Sullivant. On October 10, 1872, Hon. J. W. Patterson, then a member of the National Senate, was elected president of the college, but after considering the matter for some time Mr. Patterson declined the position tendered him. In January, 1873, the following members of the faculty were chosen : Thomas C. Mendenhall, of Columbus, Professor of Physics and Mechanics; Sidney A. Norton, of Cincinnati, Professor of General and Applied Chemistry; Edward Orton, of Yellow Springs, Professor of Geology, Mining and Metallurgy ; Joseph Milliken, of Hamilton, Professor of English and Modern Languages; William G. Williams, of Delaware, Ohio, Professor of the Latin and Greek Languages; Norton S. Townshend, of Avon, Ohio, Professor of Agriculture. All of these accepted except Professor Orton who declined the chair of geology, but accepted the presidency of the institution tendered him during the ensuing April. Professor Williams was released on request of the trustees of the Ohio Wesleyan University, with which he was connected. The chair of geology was assigned to Professor Orton and accepted by him in connection with the presidency. During the summer of 1873 Professor R. W. McFarland, of Oxford University, was called to the departments of mathematics and civil engineering, and John H. Wright, who had recently graduated from Dartmouth College, was chosen Assistant Professor of Languages. In January, 1874, Professor Albert H. Tuttle was appointed to the chair of zoology and Thomas Matthew, of Columbus, was appointed Instructor in Drawing. In June, 1875, William Colvin, of Cincinnati, was appointed Professor of Political Economy and Civil Polity, and Miss Alice Williams was made an assistant in the Department of English and Modern Languages. An act passed by the General Assembly April 29, 1872, provided that 624 - HISTORY OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS specimens of all the minerals, soils and fossils of Ohio collected in the geological survey of the State should be classified, labeled and presented to the college. By an act of Congress passed February 18, 1871; certain unsurveyed and unsold lands in the Virginia Military District were ceded to the State of Ohio, and by act of the General Assembly, passed April 3, 1873, the title to these lands was vested " in the trustees of the Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College for the benefit of said college." On September 17, 1873, while the college building and its surrounding grounds were still in a state of incompleteness, the institution was opened for the reception of students. Between thirty and forty presented themselves at the opening, and classes were organized in nearly every department. The inaugural address of President Orton was delivered at the Senate Chamber January 8, 1874. By an act of April 16 of that year the Board of Trustees was " reorganized," and the number of its members fixed at five. A second " reorganization " was effected by an act passed April 20, 1877, which fixed the term of service at six years, and increased the number of members to twentyone for each congressional district. By an act of May 7, 1877, a school of mines and mining engineering in connection with the college was provided for. In June, 1876, John H. Wright, Assistant Professor of Languages, resigned, and Josiah R. Smith, A. B., then teaching in the Columbus High School, was appointed in his stead. During the same year, First Lieutenant Luigi Lomia, of the Fifth United States Artillery, was, on request of the trustees, detailed by the Secretary of War to take charge of the department of military instruction. Military drill was required of all the students except such as might be excused on account of physical disability or religious scruples. On June 20, 1877, the trustees eliminated the department of Political Economy and Civil. Polity from the curriculum, and substituted that of Miners, Mine Engineering and Metallurgy. Henry Newton, A. M., M. E., was appointed to this chair but died before he could assume it. William E. Guy, E. M., of St. Louis, was appointed in lieu of Mr. Newton, but business engagements prevented him from entering upon the duties assigned him. John A. Church, E. M., was next appointed to the new professorship, and in January, 1878, entered upon its duties. An act of the General Assembly passed May 1, 1878, "reorganized" the Board of Trustees for the third time, and changed the name of the institution to that of Ohio State University. The number of the trustees was fixed by this statute at seven, to be appointed by the Governor, the full term of service to be seven years. On June 18, 1878, Professor T. C. Mendenhall resigned the chair of Physics and Mechanics to accept a similar position in the Imperial University of Tokio, Japan. His successor, appointed in July, 1878, was Professor S. W. Robinson, C. E., of the Illinois Industrial University. On June 19, 1878, the fifth commencement was held, and the first class was graduated. It comprised six young men, five of whom took the degree of B. S. and one that of A. B. At the close of 1878, the productive fund of the institution, derived from the sale of land scrip, amounted to $500,000, which fund constituted a part of the irreducible debt of the State, and bore interest at the rate of six per cent. The number of students in attendance at the institution during the first year was 90; second year, 118 ; third year, 143; fourth year, 254; fifth year, 309. In 1879 a mechanical laboratory was erected and equipped. In June, same year, a department of History and Philosophy was created, and was placed under charge of John T. Short, of Columbus, as Assistant Professor. Professor Lomia, in charge of the military department, was appointed Adjunct Professor in Mathematics and Teacher of Elocution. N. W. Lord was appointed Assistant Professor of Mining and Metallurgy. The honorary degree of Doctor of Laws was conferred on Allen G. Thurman and Morrison R. Waite. Of the farming land belonging to