Tag Archives: Ebenezer Dodge

p. 217 – Colgate in the 1890’s

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Chapter XI – COLGATE IN THE 1890’s

The death of Dr. Dodge in 1890 marked the end of an era. He and his friend, James B. Colgate, had retarded but not prevented change. With Dodge, or the “magister,” as he was sometimes called, no longer on the scene and the aging Patron gradually relinquishing responsibilities to his son, James C. Colgate, the University moved forward with unprecedented speed. The change of name from Madison to Colgate University seemed to foreshadow innovation. Starting with the Board of Trustees, the administrative structure was reorganized, the endowment greatly augmented, the physical plant expanded and improved, several young scholars added to the faculty, new academic departments set up, the curriculum liberalized, student life, especially fraternities and athletics, given new vigor, and the alumni encouraged to participate in the University’s life. Even though there was no president for most of the period, to the distress of students and others of the academic community, morale was high and a quiet, well-founded pride was abroad on the campus. Colgate was getting in step with her sister institutions.

The Trustees quickly discovered after Dr. Dodge’s death that he had been the center of administration and with his removal they had no effective communication with the faculty and students. On faculty recommendation, they reconstituted their Provisional Committee with James C. Colgate as chairman and directed it to take over the President’s duties until that office should’ be filled. In 1891 they replaced this body with an Executive Committee with James C. Colgate as the most important member. Dean Newton Lloyd Andrews carried out the routine campus duties of the President’s office until June 1891 when four of his’ colleagues were associated with him to share the burden. “His rich experience,” Dr. Crawshaw remembered,

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p. 213 – Student Life, 1869-1890

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dents accustomed to manual labor, as most of them were, many having come from farms, lack of exercise often led to impaired health. An adequate gymnasium, a required physical education program and a competent teacher should be provided, the editors asserted. The faculty and trustees acknowledged the validity of these points but action had to wait until the 1890’s.

To be sure, there was a dilapidated wooden gymnasium, so called, of an earlier time which, despite occasional repairs, was little more than a barn. President Dodge in 1886 became genuinely interested in seeing it replaced with a suitable structure and the undergraduates, themselves, launched subscription campaigns for a building fund which were to bear fruit in 1894.

Madison students, like those in other colleges, believed that physical exercise should be made a pleasurable experience in the form of athletics. In 1880 they formed the Madison University Athletic Association to promote various campus sports and intercollegiate competition. Interest in athletics, however, was intermittent, a condition which critics felt a new gymnasium would remedy.

The most popular of the sports was baseball which had been played on an organized basis since 1863 though support for it had fluctuated. In the 1870’s the players had difficulty in finding a suitable spot for the diamond. One location, north of the present Huntington Gymnasium, was plowed up in the spring of 1875, despite their objections. In retaliation, students made an evening’s escapade of turning the sod back into the furrows and thus ruining the field for immediate replowing and planting. They also put the plow on the roof of Alumni Hall and the harrow on the roof of East Hall, emptied a manure wagon on village gardens and dismembered its parts which they distributed on the village green and the “Ham Fern Sem” grounds.

A revival of interest in baseball occurred in the spring of 1880, seemingly inspired by Henry C. Wright, a senior who was the pitcher and the first student to be designated “captain” of a team of any kind. The recently formed Athletic Association sent delegates to Syracuse to join those from Union, Hamilton, Cornell, Syracuse and Rochester in establishing the New York Intercollegiate Baseball Association. This group worked out an elaborate schedule of thirty games to be played in less than a month which was not a success since many games were canceled. All the members of the Association were criticized for hiring

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Madison University name changed to Colgate (p. 199)

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largely on the many associations which had been attached to the old name since 1846. It was also suggested that potential donors would be less likely to contribute if the institution bore the Colgate name, believing that the family should assume its chief support. The Colgates, in fact, had not been consulted, nor did they favor the change but once the strength of opinion for it became clear they assented rather than embarrass its advocates.

The University and Education Society Trustees at their meetings in June, 1889, at which neither James B. Colgate nor his brother, Samuel, were present, adopted, without opposition, the motion to petition the State Supreme Court for the change. Dr. Dodge was foremost in urging this step. His leading opponent was Dr. Spear, the recently retired Treasurer, who seems to have been convinced he was called upon to defend the University, whatever the cost, as he had done so effectively in the Removal Controversy of 1847-50. He proceeded to obtain counsel, send communications to the press, circularize alumni, and collect the affidavits of those who agreed with him. To meet his tactics, Dr. Dodge, the faculty, and representative trustees also put their views before the public and the alumni and solicited affidavits. Rather than take immediate action on the petition the court appointed a referee to gather evidence and make a report. Meanwhile, Dr. Dodge died January 5th, 1890; Dr. Spear, who was, he thought, fatally ill, withdrew his opposition at the strong behest of Samuel Colgate who assured him that James B. Colgate would continue to support the University but only if the objectors were to lose their case. The referee preceeded with the hearings and in due time made his report recommending that the petition be granted. The court accepted the recommendation and, on April 21, 1890, authorized the change of name, effective May 26th.

Of the approximately 650 alumni over 400 had signed the affidavits for change while of the 75 who objected, all but 13 withdrew their opposition before the court acted. The undergraduates, who at first disapproved of the new name, by February, 1890, unanimously endorsed it, many of them out of respect to the late Dr. Dodge’s wishes.

Public celebration of the name change was set off by the news on March 14th, 1890, that the Regents of the University of the State of New York had approved it unanimously the day before. The momentous telegram reached Hamilton about noon and soon pandemonium

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p. 196 – Administration, Faculty, and Instruction in the Dodge Era

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Society, apparently anticipating possible criticism, appointed a standing committee in 1888 to examine classes and departments and to report to the Board.

Dr. Dodge’s liberality as Professor of Christian Theology undoubtedly encouraged his Seminary faculty colleagues to venture in new directions. His theology was always open to revision, Dr. Maynard recalled..Yet, he had a strong conservative strain and was no iconoclast. Dr. William Newton Clarke, his friend and successor, saw him as “swift in spirit, and cautious in step.” He permitted wide freedom in class discussion and had consideration and patience for students, no matter how extreme their views.

Professor Hezekiah Harvey, who had resigned from the faculty in 1864 returned in 1869 as Professor of New Testament Interpretation and Pastoral Theology. A saintly man who suffered from chronic ill health, he held a moderate position, emphasizing an evangelical creed. He had no quarrel with Biblical scholarship as such but rejected radical interpretations; his real concern was to teach in terms of the “practical necessities of the pastorate.”

The third division of the University, the Grammar School, or Colgate Academy, developed its own organization and policies independently of the College and Seminary with the completion of its building in 1874. The University Trustees, of course, maintained a general oversight. Mr. James B. Colgate was especially interested in its fortunes and liked to visit the school and address the students. He felt that the faculty should stress instruction in morals and stated “If any teacher dare to teach . . . sentiments subversive to the teachings of God’s word, let him be dismissed.” The school’s major purpose continued to be preparation for college but it did offer an “English and Scientific Course” for those not planning to go on. A large percentage of the graduates entered the College. Francis W. Towle, ’62, was principal 1873-82, and James W. Ford, ’73, followed him from 1883 to 1888. Outstanding among the faculty was Eugene P. Sisson, a graduate of Oswego Normal School, who joined the staff in 1873 after five years as principal of the Hamilton High School. He was sometimes acting principal and taught in the Academy until its closing in 1912 when he became Assistant Professor of Mathematics in the College. A natural teacher, “Daddy” Sisson won and held the affection of his students who prized his fatherly oversight and timely encouragement.

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p. 193 – Administration, Faculty, and Instruction in the Dodge Era

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class in French his senior year. This appointment marks the start of a lifetime of outstanding service to Colgate in teaching and administration which ended with his retirement 43 years later.

Belonging to the “old school,” by reason of age if not necessarily temperament, was Terry’s old teacher, William H. Maynard, Hamilton College A.B., 1854, who came from the pastorate to Madison in 1875 as Bleecker Professor of Moral Philosophy and as Professor of Ecclesiastical History. He seems to have had a roving assignment teaching variously church history, ethics, “Social Science”-not defined-and political economy. In 1886 he introduced a course in “Contemporary Socialism” in which he discussed “the views of the most prominent living socialists.” He stressed the “right of private judgment” and, to the distress of some, was a staunch free-trader and Democrat. In later years Professor Terry remembered how, as a student, he had been impressed with the atmosphere of Maynard’s classroom, “its fairness, its justice, its patient charity for the foibles of the past, its belief in humanity, its confidence in the future” which Terry sought to realize in his own teaching.

Professor Edward Judson, who had joined the faculty in 1867, to teach Latin and modern languages, resigned in 1874 to go into the pastorate. Most notable of the four men who followed him was Albert G. Harkness, 1883-89, who subsequently became an eminent Latin scholar at Brown University. Under his direction the number of courses in French and German had expanded by 1886.

Dean Andrews, “Kai Gar” as he was affectionately known to his students, continued in the chair of “Greek language and literature” until his death in 1918. In 1879-80 he spent the year abroad studying philology and classical archaeology. This was to be the first of four trips to Europe and Asia to enrich his teaching. He viewed the instruction of his department as providing intellectual discipline and literary culture. As his Greek courses began to’ recede in importance with the curriculum revision of the ’80’s he offered a course in art in 1880 which extended the work Professor Lewis had done in that field and which won enthusiastic student acceptance. Professor Andrews also introduced instruction in psychology which was a outgrowth of Dr. Dodge’s course in metaphysics and it, too, was highly regarded.

Dr. Dodge continued to give the presidential courses for seniors in Evidences of Christianity and Christian Ethics which culminated their

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p. 182 – Administration, Faculty and Instruction in the Dodge Era

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41-year old structure, but a dwelling, incorporating some of its thick stone walls, was soon erected and survived until 1924 when the site was taken over for the Huntington Gymnasium.

The Dodge era saw the construction of four new buildings. The first, to house the Preparatory Department, or Grammar School, was completed in 1874. Heretofore, the Grammar School had operated in the same facilities as the College and Seminary in East, West, and Alumni Halls. A gift of James B. Colgate, the new structure was dedicated to the memory of his parents and designated as William Colgate Memorial Hall. In appreciation of Mr. Colgate’s generosity the Trustees in 1873 named the school itself Colgate Academy. The building and site had cost $60,000. With walls of locally manufactured brick, it was three stories high in the center and two on each side, and had a mansard roof. After Colgate Academy was discontinued in 1912 the structure was used as the Administration Building until its destruction by fire in 1963.

The second edifice of the Dodge period is the Chemistry Building. That an entire structure should be devoted to one department, though it housed physics for a few years, showed that the President and Trustees were responding to a strong and growing interest in science. Dr. Dodge, himself, contributed $2,500 to the building fund and three Trustees, Samumel Colgate, Thomson Kingsford, and Col. Morgan L. Smith, made up the balance of the $10,000 which it cost. Joseph F. McGregory, recently appointed as the first Professor of Chemistry, assisted in the planning though he was not to take up his duties until the fall of 18,84. A two-story structure, designed in the “Queen Anne style,” its walls were of local stone trimmed with red brick. There were two large classrooms, one for chemistry and one for physics, on the first floor and a quantitative analysis laboratory on the second. No formal dedication seems to have been held though work in the laboratory had begun by February, 1885. In recognition of Dr. Dodge’s generosity the Junior Class placed over the front entrance a stained glass window showing his portrait and quoting his statement “The amplest knowledge has the largest faith,” a declaration of confidence that Christian doctrine would not suffer at the hands of those who used the building.

Professor Hezekiah Harvey of the Theological Seminary in 1881 strongly urged a building for the exclusive use of that division of the University. Two years later the Education Society vigorously launched

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p. 173 – Administration, Faculty, and Instruction in the Dodge Era

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Chapter IX – ADMINISTRATION, FACULTY, AND INSTRUCTION IN THE DODGE ERA

Ebenezer Dodge, President of Madison University, and James B. Colgate, President of its Board of Trustees, were the dominant figures in its development from 1869 to 1890. They were easy yoke-fellows as they worked and counseled together for its advancement. Dodge was fifty at the beginning of the period and Colgate fifty-one. Their families had been on terms of intimate friendship since the 1840’s when Dodge was pastor, first at New Hampton and then New London, New Hampshire; the latter was the home of the Colbys, Mrs. Colgate’s family. Dodge was a welcome guest at Glenwood, the Colgate estate overlooking the Hudson at Yonkers, and his host, of course, always stayed at the President’s House when he made his annual visits to the campus at commencement. Colgate confided to his journal soon after Dodge’s death in 1890, I had no friend like him outside my family, and again, “His entering my home was always a joy & when he left it, it was a Regret to all… his great & grand thoughts touched my nature and always after his leaving me I felt myself a better man & my home enriched by his presence.” It was singularly appropriate that Mr. Colgate’s daughter, Mary, when she gave the chapel in her father’s memory nearly a generation later, Should provide two marble plaques to commemorate him ,and his co-laborer and friend.

Dr. Dodge’s administration was to a large extent the reflection of his own personality, perhaps too much so, though he was devoid of ambition, self-importance or self-assertion. His role was somewhat that of a pastor who exercised his responsibility toward his people, not in a dictatorial fashion but in such a way that there could be no uncertainty as to his views or wishes. His quick temper, which he almost invariably kept in control, was well known and on occasion he could act swiftly

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p. 154 – Recovery and expansion, 1850-1869

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Gallup, a member of the Class of 1843 and a Seminary graduate. Eaton shared the Theological Department with Turney and taught intellectual and moral philosophy in the College. Spear became Professor of Hebrew and Latin and Gallup held the chair of Greek. William T. Biddle, Class of 1859, remembered as the leader in organizing students opposed to Removal and who was now preparing for a missionary career, was appointed tutor in Mathematics and Natural Philosophy for one year. The Trustees also retained Dr. William Mather to lecture in chemistry and geology.

The ablest of the new staff was Beebee. Though originally called to teach logic and English literature he subsequently had classes in sacred rhetoric and ecclesiastical and civil history. As a young man he attracted attention with his handsome strong features, keen eyes, and brown curly hair. Students in the ’50’s, particularly those underclassmen whose stumbling recitations sorely tried his patience, feared him as no other professor. His relations with students improved with the years though the undergraduates always held him in awe. His sensitivity to the correct use of language made taking an essay or oration to him for criticism an ordeal to be remembered. Vulgarity or unrestrained humor in his classes he refused to tolerate. “To lead the student on with alluring gentleness and graceful tact, or to burn out his dross with consuming fire, was equally within his power. He was a master of sarcasm but never used it to hurt.”

President Taylor, in his capacity as Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, took over Tutor Biddle’s classes in 1851. At the President’s request, Lucien M. Osborn was brought in to assist in mathematics and to have charge of the Preparatory Department, or Grammar School. A classmate of Professor Beebee’s and for one year a student in the Seminary, he had been principal of the Hamilton and Morrisville Academies. Except for the brief experience as disciplinary officer under President Eaton, his main interest was natural science. He was a very modest man and pitched his instruction at a rather elementary level. His course in astronomy inspired students with “the majesty of the Author of nature and life.” One of them also remembered the exceptionally high spiritual tone he imparted to the chapel services which he occasionally conducted.

The most noteworthy of the post-Removal faculty was Ebenezer Dodge. His selection in 1853 to succeed Edmund Turney as Professor

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Ebenezer Dodge elected as University president (p. 148)

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three candidates, to accept, the Board in August, 1868, chose Professor Dodge. Eaton continued as President of the Seminary, a position he had held since its creation in 1861. In commenting on Dodge, one local observer described him as “one unexcitable, cool, and dispassionate, who could administer the required discipline of the school, with a determined hand.”

If Dr. Eaton had never taken the presidency of the University, his career would have been an unqualified success. He was a good teacher, popular with his students and well-regarded in the village and in the Baptist denomination. He liked human contacts and he and Mrs. Eaton dispensed generous hospitality at “Woodland Height,” which was one of the most attractive spots on the Hill, set as it was among beeches and hemlocks. A cedar hedge, sweet briar on the walls, a lilac path, and a “Lovers’ lane” of snowball bushes added to its charm. The Eatons entertained extensively, particularly at commencement, when visitors filled faculty and village homes, and their receptions at this season were gala occasions. In 1866 Mrs. Eaton prepared sponge cake and lemonade for a crowd of over 300 which gathered in the brilliantly lighted house and wandered about in the yard decorated with Chinese lanterns; the last guest departed at 2:00 a.m.

The University profited from the social leadership which the President and his wife provided. Its distinguished visitors were assured a warm welcome at their home and callow students, whether they came to court the attractive Eaton daughters or on more serious business, found an environment which taught them manners and poise. The University also profited from the cordial town and gown relations which the Eatons fostered as they moved in village society. The citizens remembered gratefully that the President and Professor Spear had been the two most stalwart defenders of the Hamilton location in the Removal Controversy.

With the inauguration of President Dodge in 1868, old memories had dimmed. When he had come to the campus fifteen years before, the University was already well on the way to recovering from the effects of the troublesome ’40’s. Soon a highly valued member of the faculty, Dodge had quietly built a reputation for original teaching but it was the Presidency, especially after 1869, however, which was to disclose his full stature. Eaton, alone of his colleagues, had publicly opposed the appointment on the ground that Dodge lacked administrative

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p. 147 – Recovery and expansion, 1850-1869

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sistence, and sagacity, Dr. Eaton found uncongenial. He preferred rather to represent the University at public assemblies or, in his ornate style, to discuss abstract ideas from the platform or pulpit. The dogged, methodical Professor Spear took over many of the less colorful duties, including those as Librarian, but his.. special interest was finances. Others, the Trustees themselves often managed. Aversion to administration and a desire to give full time to his theological professorship explain Eaton’s enthusiastic efforts to induce ex-Governor George Nixon Briggs of Massachusetts, a prominent Baptist, to become “Chancellor” of the University. Interestingly enough, Eaton began this abortive movement in 1859, only three years after he had taken office, and was joined in it by the entire faculty.

Strained relations between the President and the faculty appeared in 1862 when they refused to support him on a question of honorary degrees. Mrs. Eaton recorded in her diary that a professor told her that one member had been so impudent to the President at a faculty meeting that, had her informant been in Dr. Eaton’s place, “he would have pitched him out the window.” His two foremost critics were Alexander M. Beebee Jr., and Ebenezer Dodge. Beebee, the son of the editor of the Baptist Register, a member of the Class of 1847, and graduate of the Seminary, had joined the faculty in 1850 as Professor of Logic and English Literature. Dodge, an alumnus of Brown University, and Newton Theological Seminary, had replaced Professor Turney in 1853. Appointed under the Colgate family’s sponsorship and enjoying their confidence, he was in a strong position.

The stresses of office impaired Dr. Eaton’s health, and on medical advice in 1853 he went to Europe for a change and to rest. His trip was a moderate success but he complained bitterly that the Trustees failed to provide him with sufficient funds, unaware that James B. Colgate had arranged with a London banker to honor all his drafts. He also worried and fretted about University matters. His return in May 1864, was the occasion for cordial and enthusiastic welcome by students, townspeople and faculty, who had gathered at his home“Woodland Height.”

The year 1864-65 saw no material improvement in conditions and with the Civil War over an opportune time had come for the President to resign. He did so in July 1865, but, at the request of the Trustees, continued to serve until his successor was selected. Failing to induce

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