Category Archives: Student Life, 1869-1890

Railroad comes to Hamilton (p. 206)

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boys signed. On another occasion, a student caught in exceptionally incriminating circumstances sought exceptional clemency. Unmoved, he responded, “Young man, sometime you may be President of Madison University, but not now, not now.”

Student town-gown relations were generally good. Hamilton remained unchanged from the pre-1869 years-a country village of about 1,500 inhabitants whose economic base rested primarily on providing goods and services for the adjacent area and for all those connected with the University. It was not until 1870 that a railroad, the Utica, Clinton, and Binghamton, reached the village, giving it access to the New York Central in Utica and the New York Oswego and Midland at Smith’s Valley (Randallsville); the latter provided a connection with the New York Central at Oneida to the north and New York City and intervening points to the south. About three years previous, rail service had become available at Poolville, about four miles southeast of Hamilton, when the Utica Chenango and Susquehanna was put through to open up a line to Binghamton. Townspeople and students alike recognized that the coming of the railroads brought a new era by breaking down the community’s isolation. Timetables were published regularly in the student paper and soon special trains to carry them to athletic contests in Clinton and Utica and to bring in alumni and friends at commencement became customary. The new railroads seem to have stimulated business life; real estate was improved, flagstone sidewalks were laid, and a new brick block built to replace the old stores in the center of the village. The construction of Tripp’s Hall or “opera house” in 1870 encouraged both townspeople and students to import a variety of entertainers, musicians, and lecturers and afforded campus organizations excellent facilities for their public meetings.

From time to time villagers complained of student rowdiness. One source of friction was the delay at the post office each evening as they waited for the mail to be sorted and distributed. Sometimes bored students and “townies” scuffled and broke window lights. Another irritation was the noise and clangor from “ringing the rust” each spring. Yet, there were no serious clashes.

Students often participated in political campaigns. Since the Hill was predominantly Republican, as were the villagers, they found a ready welcome at rallies and helped to swell torchlight processions and victory parades. Occasionally those who went to the polls were chal-

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p. 205 – Student Life, 1869-1890

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countryside, sleighriding, coasting, dancing, and had happy times with the village young people. His academic achievements included winning the Lewis Oratorical Prize, election to Phi Beta Kappa, and graduation honors.

Student discipline in the Dodge period seems to have raised no problems which the President could not handle with equanimity. There were, of course, the usual student pranks-burning fences and dilapidated plank walks, putting a wagon in the chapel, stealing apples from Dart’s orchard near the campus, and substituting an unabridged dictionary for the chapel Bible. The custom of publishing “mock schemes,” the scurrilous false programs for the Junior Exhibition, ended in 1888. “Ringing the rust,” however, continued unabated each spring as the sophomores celebrated their promotion from the freshman class. An altercation in 1872 between sophomores and Academes over whether the latter should carry canes, had become the traditional freshman-sophomore cane rush by the 1880’s. Freshmen also enjoyed the “Cremation of Livy,” a burning of their textbooks when they completed the course based on the writings of that Latin historian. A new custom in imitation of a practice at other colleges seems to have begun in the early 1880’s when freshmen started throwing salt at the sophomores and then both sides staged a free-for-all. Combat between freshmen and sophomores as they left chapel was not uncommon.

The President had no use for military discipline as applicable to a college; rather he sought to inspire and counsel students toward good behavior. He set aside two afternoons each week for conferences at his home and students who came with problems found him approachable and understanding as they sat in his book-lined study. When, however, some unusual deviltry or delinquency came to his attention and the culprits had been summoned, he “put the law into the foreground and every student knew it would be executed to the last iota.” On such occasions he would often present them with a pledge to be signed, expressing regret for an incident and promising not to repeat it. According to various accounts, one student, present with his classmates at such a session, asked with amazing impertinence what would happen if, on the grounds of conscience, he did not sign. Looking him squarely in the eye, Dr. Dodge slowly and in his most impressive way replied, “Then I shall expel you for having such a conscience.” All the

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p. 204 – Student Life, 1869-1890

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women’s dormitory. His death in 1890 terminated consideration of such radical departures. The Madisonensis editor in 1870 had heartily disapproved of coeducation though his successor six years later enthusiastically endorsed the idea.

Among the freshmen on the campus in the fall of 1876 there was a fourteen-year old who was to become Governor of New York, Secretary of State, and Chief Justice of the United States; he was Charles Evans Hughes. His classmate, Edward F. Waite, remembered him as no infant prodigy but as a hardworking, good all-around student. Shy at first, he proved to be companionable and “ready for whatever fun was going.” One of the young freshman’s closest friends was a sophomore, Albert P. Brigham, destined to become an eminent geographer and geologist, who was his neighbor in West Hall and a fellow member of Delta Upsilon. Hughes described him as a “real sort of father to me.” The boy’s studious habits did not keep him from ball playing, tramping over the hills, coasting, skating, and even snowballing. He himself told of joining his classmates in painting a cow red, white and blue and putting it in the chapel and in hoisting a stove to the roof of West Hall as a protest against the shortage of coal in the classrooms. Though at the end of his second year he transferred to Brown University to take courses not available at Madison, he cherished fond memories of his friendships and instruction on the Hill.

In the next decade there was another undergraduate whose subsequent career makes his campus years of particular interest-James C. Colgate, Class of 1884. Contrary to his inclinations but in accord with the wishes of his father, James B. Colgate, he entered Madison rather than Yale where his cousins, the sons of Samuel Colgate, enrolled. Furthermore, at his father’s insistence, he lived in Dr. Dodge’s home, an arrangement which neither he nor the President liked. They, nevertheless, worked out a satisfactory modus vivendi– the boy was to have his freedom to come and go as he pleased and in turn, agreed not to leak confidential information. Despite his initial reservations, he maintained in later years that he had acquired a good education, not only in the classroom and study but also in rubbing shoulders with boys less privileged than he. His fellow students found him very friendly and ready to take part in sports and other activities. He was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon, first editor of the yearbook, the Salmagundi, and a leader in the YMCA. He enjoyed hiking over the

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First woman to be granted freshman status (p. 203)

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Student and his room c. 1885, Henry Hill Collection-6, p203

University policy on coeducation, however, was somewhat more flexible. Though President Stephen W. Taylor’s daughter had sat in one of her father’s classes in the 1850’s it was not until 1876 that a woman was granted freshman status. In 1881, on recommendation of President Dodge and James B. Colgate the Trustees voted that

 

while we do not hold out any encouragement for women to connect
themselves with the University yet we will allow them to enjoy the
privileges of the classroom on payment of the tuition fees without
recognizing them in any way as members of the University.

 

 

Soon, at least five were enrolled in the Academy and there is some evidence that a few others came later. Mrs. Mabel Dart Colegrove, who had already completed all but one semester of college work at Madison before transferring to Vassar in 1882, recalled that Dr. Dodge favored coeducation and that there was even discussion of building a

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p. 202 – Student Life, 1869-1890

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decade do not seem to have raised the number of admissions. The modest increase in the College enrollment may have resulted from the University’s growing reputation under Dr. Dodge’s leadership.

Tuition in the College remained at a low of $30.00 a year throughout the entire period while for the Academy it increased from $20.00 in 1869 to $36.00 in 1890. No tuition or room rent was charged the theologues. Room rents for College students and academes rose in 1887 from $9.00 to $10.50 and $15.00 a year and board was about $3.00 a week. Approximate overall costs per year for the College students increased from $168 to $180; for those in the Academy they rose from $159 to $200; but for those in the Seminary they remained about $130.

Until the new measures were taken for campus improvement in the early 1880’s, largely under Professor Taylor’s direction, student “house-keeping” in the dormitories was somewhat unsupervised and casual as it had always had been. The occupants papered, painted and carpeted their rooms as they chose and some even kept house plants in their windows. Each room was heated by its own stove, of course, and students furnished their own coal and wood and their banging coal scuttles and ash cans often resounded through the stairwells and halls.

After the Boarding Hall had been converted into apartments in 1874 students fended for themselves. Some took their meals with private families but the prevailing trend was to eat at fraternities or “clubs,” which occasionally bore such fanciful names as “Les Gens de Qualite.” At Thanksgiving Dr. Dodge, at his own expense, made it a practice to see that each group had a turkey.

The Seminary professors and the Education Society Secretary, Dr. Lloyd, seem to have had difficulty in maintaining proper standards for admitting theological students. There was a scarcity of well-qualified men and it would appear also that several of limited abilities and background were attracted by a rather generous financial assistance policy. Many supplemented their resources and gained vocational experience, as their predecessors had done, by supplying in nearby churches, occasionally to the detriment of their academic obligations because of activities not directly related to their preaching assignments.

Though the University had a standing rule prohibiting students from marrying, men already married were occasionally admitted to the Seminary, especially those who enrolled in the Shorter Course. The

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p. 201 – Student Life, 1869-1890

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Chapter X – STUDENT LIFE, 1869-1890

The composition and complexion of the student body underwent a significant change in the 1869-’90 period as undergraduates in the College who were not preparing for the ministry began to outnumber the theologues. One observer detected the onset of the transition as early as 1873 and noted that it would be difficult to retain the religious and moral tone of the past in combination with all that was really valuable in the life and government of American colleges of the present. Indications of the new order came in 1876 with the entrance of the Class of 1880 which was to be the first in the history of the University to have less than half its members go into the ministry. This class set the pattern for its successors. The profession of teaching was to draw the largest percentage of the non-ministers and law and business were to follow in attraction. Campus life reflected the change as social life, fraternities, student organizations and athletics engaged an increasingly greater amount of student time and interest.

The combined enrollment for College, Seminary, and Academy rose fairly steadily from 162 in 1869 to 346 in 1890. It was not until 1880, however, that the total enrollment of 239 exceeded the record for the 1846-69 period which was 228 in 1855. The increase is most marked for the Academy which had 51 students at the beginning of the period and 154 at its end. Comparable figures for the Seminary are 10 and 56. Expansion in the College was much less; 101 students were registered in 186.9 and 146 in 1890. Reasons for Academy growth may be found in the introduction of the “English and Scientific Course” and the construction in 1873 of a building for the school’s exclusive use. The major spurt for the Seminary came between 1869 and 1870 when enrollment jumped from 10 to 19; thereafter it rose rather gradually. Provision of its own building, Eaton Hall, in 1886, and curriculum changes of that

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