Category Archives: Chapter 12

p. 252 – The Merrill Presidency, 1899-1908

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under Professor Thomas were among the most popular. Students saw them not only as a means for learning skills useful after college but also as training for the several oratorical and debating contests which engendered as much undergraduate enthusiasm as intercollegiate athletic competition.

To relieve Professor Moore of his courses in French, Frank C. Ewart, a Denison graduate who had studied at Chicago and Heidelberg, joined the faculty in 1899. In 1900 he added Spanish and in 1903 Italian and in 1907 seems to have introduced the use of the phonograph for instruction in speaking.

The arrival in 1903 of Everett W. Goodhue, a Dartmouth alumnus, to teach economics and sociology enabled Professor Spencer to offer additional history and political science courses until his departure in 1905 to become one of Woodrow Wilson’s preceptors at Princeton. His successor was Adna W. Risley, A.B., Colgate, 1894, who had studied at Chicago and whose modern approach is indicated by the “Catalogue” (1906-07) statement that the basic course in political science emphasized “practical citizenship” rather than “Theoretical government” and featured student reports on the government of their own localities.

Additions to the Science and Mathematics staff included: Roy B. Smith of the University of Michigan, who had studied at Heidelberg, in Chemistry; Arthur W. Smith, Chicago, in mathematics; and Harold O. Whitnall, Ph.B., Colgate, 1900, who did postgraduate work at Harvard, in geology and biology. They were promising young men hired to assist Professors McGregory, Taylor and Brigham, and were to round out their own careers as worthy successors to the earlier generation. Herman T. R. Aude, Colgate, 1905, who was in the group from 1905 to 1907, returned in 1920 to teach mathematics until his retirement in 1949. Mention should be made also of Albert B. Stewart, more nearly a contemporary of Taylor’s, a graduate of Bucknell, who came into the Department of Mathematics in 1909, after a career which covered secondary education in Pennsylvania and at Colgate Academy.

No newcomer of the Merrill period made a greater mark on Colgate than Ellery C. Huntington who arrived in the fall of 1900 to take the place of George W. Banning as Instructor in Physiology and Hygiene and Director of the Gymnasium. Inheriting the title of “Doc” from his predecessor who was an M.D., he quickly won the esteem and affec-

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p. 251 – The Merrill Presidency, 1899-1908

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Education Society Trustees, who were especially concerned over the poor furnace system of Eaton Hall, made it possible. In 1907 a stone power house with a five-boiler capacity was constructed to the south of Whitnall Field; two boilers installed; and a pipe-line to Eaton Hall laid. As occasion arose the main could be extended to the other buildings on the campus.

The size of the faculty grew from 29 in 1899 to 38 in 1908, the biggest change being in the College where the number increased from 16 to 21; in the Academy it rose from 6 to 10 while the figure remained at 7 in the Seminary. By 1908 the average salary in the College and Academy had reached slightly more than $1,700 and in the Seminary approximately $2,000, levels which the President felt were much too low.

During the Merrill period the chief curricular change was a revision of the Sophomore program in 1903 so that, except for a public speaking course, it consisted of electives chosen from three well-defined areas. Also, the Ph.B. was abolished and the philosophical and classical courses were amalgamated into a new arts course leading to the A.B. degree. The faculty took this action by nearly unanimous vote with the President and Professor Andrews alone opposing the move because it involved dropping Greek as a requirement for entering the arts course. Nevertheless, Dr. Merrill reluctantly accepted the change as in line with current practices of American colleges. Colgate now granted two degrees-A.B. and B.S.

The rapidly growing interest in science, as rising enrollments in science courses and the construction of Lathrop Hall and the Chemistry Building addition indicated, gave pause to Dean Crawshaw in 1906. He acknowledged, in his report to the President, that the facilities had been sorely needed but he called for equal emphasis and opportunity for the humanities as essential for liberal education which was the University’s primary purpose. There was no more staunch supporter of the Dean’s position than the President himself who had repeatedly stressed the importance of the humanities both in terms of course offerings and non-classroom activities, such as concerts and lectures, and who enthusiastically encouraged the expansion of the University’s art collection of plaster busts. and reproductions of classical sculpture housed in the Library.

Aside from the science courses, perhaps those in public speaking

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Lathrop Hall completed (p. 250)

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Lathrop Hall, A1000-51, Folder10, p250

Within minutes of the Lathrop Hall dedication Dr. Lawrence, President of the Trustees, laid the cornerstone of an addition to the Chemistry Building-a unique juxtaposition of events in Colgate’s history of building construction. This project, too, came from Dr. Merrill’s initiative. When Lathrop Hall had been assured in 1905 he had appealed at once to Andrew Carnegie for funds and, after extended consideration, $20,000 was granted, provided a like sum be raised for endowment for the Chemistry Department. This condition was soon met and the architects, Harding and Seaver, and the contractors for Lathrop Hall given orders to proceed with plans and construction. The three large laboratories, lecture room and other facilities were in use by the following autumn.

During his first months on the campus the President discovered that the dormitories, East and West Halls, had fallen into serious dilapidation. With the requirements of the science departments satisfied and with increased college enrollment pressing for student accommodations, he made plans for their renovation. The only tangible result, however, was the equipping of a lounging room on the first floor of West Hall which faculty wives opened in December 1905 with a tea for students and professors. More extensive remodeling would come with the next administration.

The last major building project of the Merrill administration was the central heating plant which represented a significant advance in efficient maintenance and comfort. The financial assistance of the Baptist

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p. 249 – The Merrill Presidency, 1899-1908

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Willow Path and Bridge, A1000-72, Folder 5, p249

ment was to have a large part of the building, through an oversight, had not been informed of the occasion and missed it. Incensed, he had an angry interview with the President with whom he already had differed over raising funds for the building.*Its location, too, had been controversial and as decided upon made it the first in the closed north quadrangle of the upper campus. The architects were Harding and Seaver of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and the cost about $90,000. Built of stone from the University quarry, it was a three-story structure with a basement, and provided ample lecture rooms, laboratories, and display areas for the museum collections of geological and biological specimens. The building which was named for the recently deceased Rev. Edward. Lathrop, Class of 1839, who had been a Trustee for nearly thirty-four years and the oldest living alumnus, was dedicated at commencement 1906.

*Herman T.R. Aude, Recollections of Colgate Years, 1901-05, part H, 5.

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Taylor Lake and Willow Path (p. 248)

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Taylor Lake Peninsula, A1000-68, Folder 2, p248

inspiration which came to him from seeing Addison’s Walk at Oxford, his daughter recalled.*  In appreciation of his skill and toil, the Trustees named the lake for the builder whose memory it fittingly perpetuates.

In response to the growing and insistent needs of the physics, biology and geology departments, the President, as early as 1900, urged the Trustees to plan for a science building. It was not until five years later, however, that the $75,000, required before work could start, had been raised by subscription among alumni and friends and that ground could be broken. Student anticipation was especially keen, very much as if each regarded the building as a gift to, him personally. At the formal ceremonies on May 22nd the faculty and the entire student body were present; President Merrill shovelled the first sod and the seniors, followed by the other classes in ,order, pulled the plow which turned the first furrows. Professor Brigham, whose depart-

*Letter, Mrs. Florence Taylor Morris to Mrs. Everett Case, 4 June 1958.

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Merrill House is built (p. 247)

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President's House (Merrill House) now Faculty Club, A1000-55 Folder 2, p247

admirably fitted for entertaining which the President and his wife had intended.

Taylor Lake and the Willow Path, which are among the most distinctive features of the Colgate landscape, may be said to date from 1905 though early in the ’90’s Professor Taylor had begun to drain the swamp area between the foot of the Hill and the Academy and convert it into a lake. Gifts from Hendrick S. Holden of Syracuse enabled him to bring his plans to fruition. Under the immediate supervision of the faithful Lant Gilmartin, a crew of Irish workers, armed with shovels and horse-drawn scoops, dug out the wet clay and spread it along a path over a sewer pipe which connected the Academy with the campus sanitation system. To relieve the bareness of the resulting embankment Dr. Taylor planted golden Russian willows, an

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Whitnall field completed (p. 246)

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Whitnall Field, Grandstand, Old Gymnasium 1905, A1000-72, Folder 2, p246

 

floor of Alumni Hall, had it transformed in 1899 by putting in a hard wood floor, an oak-beamed ceiling, oak stalls on the platform, oak casing around the old iron pillars and hanging portraits of Colgate worthies on the walls; the next year a fine organ was installed. The large assembly room on the third floor was converted into classrooms, the last being finishing in 1903. Whitnall Field, named for the donor Thaddeus O. Whitnall of Syracuse, was completed in 1900; it encompassed a quarter-mile running and a 220-yard straight track, a football gridiron, baseball diamond, tennis courts and a grandstand. The President’s House, a gift of James B. Colgate, was another building project of the first years of the Merrill administration which is of interest. Planned by the Merrills in conjunction with Mr. Colgate’s Yonkers architect friend, Edwin A. Quick, it was finished in 1900 and proved

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p. 245 – The Merrill Presidency, 1899-1908

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alumni-hall-chapel

friends of the University. He sponsored the first “General Catalogue of Alumni” since 1872 and encouraged the publishing of campus view books. For two brief periods the Board provided him with an assistant for fund raising and in 1905, Vincent B. Fisk, the newly appointed Registrar, was given the additional responsibility of “Field Secretary” which meant primarily student recruitment.

Building construction and campus landscaping which Professor Taylor had come to regard as his exclusive domain held a great interest for Dr. Merrill; his experience in these’ areas gave him positive opinions which occasionally brought the two men into conflict. Nevertheless, improvements went on at a steady pace.

The President, repelled by the dreary college chapel on the second

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James B. Colgate passes away (p. 244)

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acknowledge he had much to learn about educational matters and willing to accept the judgment of the Dean and others.

Dr. Merrill had a clear picture of the University’s finances and sought to improve them. Despite the income from the Dodge Fund there were annual deficits ranging from $22,000 in 1899 to $42,000 in 1908. Of the three divisions of the University, the College accounted for the largest percentage of loss which reached $21,000 in 1908. This increase is explained in part by growth in College enrollment from 151 in 1899 to 287 in 1908 accompanied by more tuitions remitted and additional expenditures for faculty salaries and for maintenance of buildings and grounds. The tuition of $60.00 was much lower than that in most colleges in the east and none was charged in the Seminary; that for the Academy was $45.00. As he had done for the past several years, James C. Colgate made up the deficits, contributing over $300,000 from 1899 to 1908. Meanwhile, the endowment, excluding the $1,000,000 Dodge Fund, grew from nearly $556,000 to $695,513 in 1908.

The University’s munificent patron, James B. Colgate, died at the age of eighty-five in 1904 not long after he had made his last large gift of $100,000 for endowment. In attempting to arrive at a summary of Mr. Colgate’s chief benefactions, admittedly incomplete, Dr. Merrill estimated that they totalled over $1,700,000. Gratefully acknowledging them, he pointed out to the Trustees, none-the-less, that the University would need many friends and many large donations to keep its standing at a time when most of the nation’s colleges were expanding rapidly. On James C. Colgate’s declining to become his father’s successor as Trustee President, the Rev. William M. Lawrence, Class of 1870, was chosen. Formerly pastor of a large Baptist Church in Chicago, where he had a prominent part in founding the University of Chicago, he was an active alumnus and in 1905 had become pastor of the North Orange, New Jersey, Baptist Church.

Dr. Merrill demonstrated a Hair for what later generations would call public relations. He felt that the advantages and needs of the University should be advertised as widely as possible. He traveled extensively to speak before secondary schools, churches and religious groups. Alumni relations he regarded as especially significant and he not only met with alumni clubs but encouraged the forming of new ones. He printed his annual “President’s Report” and mailed it to

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p. 243 – The Merrill Presidency, 1899-1908

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President George E. Merrill, 1899-1908, Presidential Photographs (Artificial Collection), p243

recognize it as something they needed and responded to it. His wife, somewhat younger than he, was a charming and gracious hostess who enjoyed entertaining and made the president’s home a social center as it had not been since the time of President Eaton. She was also a skilled soloist and took an active part in promoting vocal and instrumental concerts on the campus.

The new president found it easy to identify himself with the University’s prevailing educational purposes. In his first chapel speech he endorsed the liberal arts idea and maintained that it should include physical training as well as intellectual pursuits and the cultivation of spiritual life. At his inauguration he paid special tribute to Colgate as a small college which enabled students to have personal contact with their teachers. Dean Crawshaw recalled that he found him ready to

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