Chapter VII – THE REMOVAL CONTROVERSY 1847-1850
To all outward appearances John N. Wilder’s dinner party given for
thirty or forty faculty members and alumni at Hamilton’s Eagle Hotel
on Thursday evening, August 19,1847, was a great success. The round of activities attendant upon commencement was over and the guests were prepared to enjoy the generous hospitality of their host. A wealthy Albany merchant in his early thirties, he was a member of both the Education Society and the University Boards, though his primary concern was with the University, perhaps because he himself had not enjoyed the benefits of a college education. He represented a happy combination of business ability, culture, energy, and genial sociability which easily won him friends and positions of leadership. Professor Maginnis was asked to say grace, and when the table was cleared Professor Eaton presided over the session of speech-making which lasted till after midnight. One guest reported that all those present “loved Hamilton with a more earnest devotion, and pledged to it anew their exertions for its growth and effectiveness.”
The spirit of good-fellowship and unanimity did not prove lasting. In its place was soon to develop animosity and strife over the very subject in which the guests had the greatest mutual interest, the University. The issue which generated so much ill-feeling was whether the institution should be removed to Rochester or some other city which would offer more advantages than Hamilton. Wilder was to become a moving spirit in trying to effect a new location; Professor Maginnis was to assist him; and Professor Eaton to be one of their most vigorous and conspicuous opponents.
Differences of opinion as to the management had first come into sharp relief as early as 1839 when non-ministerial students were admitted over the protest of Dr. Kendrick, who had considered this
