Tag Archives: James M. Taylor

Memorial Chapel (p. 268)

be well-organized appeals in the form of the annual alumni fund.

The early years of the Bryan administration saw renovation and adaptation of four old buildings. Work on the dormitories, West, and East Halls, which Dr. Merrill had planned and to which the growing enrollment of the College gave urgency, was completed-West in 1910 and East, with a Commons for feeding 100 in the basement, a year later. At the termination of Colgate Academy in 1912, its facilities became available for other uses. Administrative offices were moved from the Library to the academy building, henceforth known as the Administration Building, and Taylor Hall, which the Academy fraternities had occupied, was taken over for the post office and the YMCA.

The long recognized need for an infirmary was met in 1913 through the generosity of Mrs. James C. Colgate whose contributions enabled the University to acquire and equip the former Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house on East Pleasant Street for this purpose,

Though the College, Seminary, and Academy each had its own chapel, the College chapel had become so crowded by 1915 that only a part of the student body could be accommodated. Plans for a new building were drawn by Harding and Seaver, architects of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and a location chosen which would bring buildings together around the north quadrangle. The donor, Miss Mary Colgate, sister of James C. Colgate, who gave it in memory of their father, James B. Colgate, specified that it should be in the simple New England meeting house style. Construction began in the spring of 1917 and it was first used for the September 1918 convocation. Miss Colgate dedicated the building in June, 1920, and provided an endowment for its maintenance. Its symmetry and simple classical beauty have made a focal point on the Hill ever since.

By the early 1920’s the campus had grown into the park-like tract that its planners and creators, especially the landscape architect Ernest W. Bowditch, and Superintendent of Buildings and Grounds, James M. Taylor, had envisioned. The former died in 1918 and Dr. Taylor resigned two years later to be succeeded by Lt. Colonel James Ballantine, who had recently come to Colgate as Director of Military Instruction. Colgate’s buildings and grounds by 1922 had an estimated value of $1,100,000.

Though the size of the faculty had increased from 36 in 1908 to 48 in 1922 these figures are misleading since the first includes ,21 for the

Merrill House is built (p. 247)

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

p. 245 – The Merrill Presidency, 1899-1908

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

p. 240 – Colgate in the 1890’s

First band, 1895

behavior. The Executive Committee informed the Trustees in December 1893 that the students on the athletic field “have conducted themselves in a manner which has reflected credit upon our institution, and the interest in athletics has helped the general tone of college life.” Many Colgate supporters regarded achievements in sports as especially valuable for enhancing the University’s reputation.

Other enterprises for making Colgate more widely known enlisted considerable faculty and student support. Professor Thomas was particularly active in several. He aided students in 1892 in organizing a Press Club to supply newspapers with stories on all phases of campus life and, incidentally, to give the undergraduates journalistic experience. He took the lead in establishing the Department of University Extension (1892-96) as a part of the New York State educational system to  provide neighboring communities with lecture courses taught by the faculty. With Professors Thurber, Taylor, and a Norwich printer, he formed the Colgate University Press in 1894 which in its less than two-year existence published the Salmagundi and Colgate Catalogues, among other items. Professor Brigham initiated a series of

p. 222 – Colgate in the 1890’s

Colgate and his son made them up, quietly sending the Treasurer the sums required and having them credited on the books as from the Executive Committee. These deficiencies are explained by increased expenditures for improvements, new equipment, and new instruction. After the Compact of 1893 had been signed the University’s accounts included those of the Education Society and hence comparative statistics for total income and expenditure for 1890′ and 1899 give a somewhat distorted view. It is useful to note, however, that in 1899 real estate and equipment were valued at $700,000 and endowment, including the Dodge Fund, at $1,718,202.

At no time in the ’90’s did the payments from the Dodge Fund exceed $20,000 and in 1895 the figure reached a low of $11,800. Income from other sources declined also. When a Trustee Committee attempted to raise $10,000-among some 1,000 living alumni for a gymnasium and other improvements, they met with apathy and failure. It seemed clear that few alumni or Trustees felt any obligation to contribute. Many of the former, because their low salaries as pastors gave them little surplus, were unable to do so, but one suspects there was a general disposition to let the financial load rest on the Colgates alone. Raising tuition from $30.000 to $45.00 in 1892 and to $60.00 in 1896 and also tightening up on scholarship grants helped in some degree to reduce deficits.

Landscaping made a notable advance in 1891 with the hiring of Ernest W. Bowditch, landscape architect and engineer of Boston. He at once proceeded to make a detailed and meticulous survey of the entire campus which was to serve as the basis for all future plans. A major part of its cost the citizens of Hamilton contributed as an expression of their interest in the University. Under the direction of Professor James M. Taylor, Superintendent of Buildings and Grounds, a long-term program of grading, planting, and building new roads was begun and carried out, principally by his crew of Irish groundsmen. In 1893 a sewer system connecting all the buildings was constructed though it was not until 1895 and 1896 that electricity and water from the village began to be available in one building at a time.

The major building erected in the ’90’s was the long-desired gymnasium. Funds accumulated slowly and F. H. Gouge, a Utica architect, drew up plans for a three-story structure in a modified Romanesque style, which echoed the lines of the Library. Amid great

p. 191 – Administration, Faculty, and Instruction in the Dodge Era

and Lecturer in Natural History, 1874-88, the Darwinian theory presented no problems. One former student remembered: “His belief in Evolution as the method of God not only did not interfere with his Christian faith, but confirmed it, and seemed a part of it. To him as scientist, God was in all things; to him as Christian, all things were in God.” He seems to have been a Baptist version of St. Francis of Assisi in his “warm brotherly feeling for even the humblest of living things” and in speaking always of plants as if they were fellow creatures. He was the old-fashioned preacher-scientist without formal training, or pretensions to having it, who “reached his conclusions by insight” which others arrived at “only after long and painful toil.” It was not the laboratory but the out-of-doors which aroused his enthusiasm. Here he introduced his students to the secrets of the rocks and of plant and animal life. Perhaps their most treasured experiences were his field trips, especially those to Trenton Falls, north of Utica, which lasted three or four days. His classrooms in West Hall attracted attention for his unusually artistic and clear blackboard drawings and the display of specimens and equipment, much of which he bought out of his own funds. He taught his classes by lectures which were sometimes illustrated by lantern slides and published notes in zoology and geology printed by the local press. For the more advanced students there were delightful evenings at his home for the reading and discussion of papers. Guests were often present and at the end of the evening Mrs. Brooks provided bountiful refreshments. As one alumnus recalled: “The man himself was an inspiration to a better life. Students who came into contact with him didn’t learn very much about formal science but they did get new conception of the Glory of God.”

Aaron H. Cole, ’84, who took over Dr. Brooks’ work after his death, regarded laboratory work as an absolute necessity for biological and geological study. He fitted up a room in West Hall for this purpose and at his suggestion the Class of 1889 raised $500 as a class memorial for the purchase of microscopes and other apparatus.

During the Dodge period Professor Taylor established himself as an outstanding teacher of mathematics. Vigorous and exacting, he nonetheless won the affection of his students to whom he was “Prof Jim.” Despite his extensive labors as Superintendent of Buildings and Grounds he found time to make important contributions in the field of mathematics textbooks. His first, Calculus, 1884, was rated the most

p. 179 – Administration, Faculty, and Instruction in the Dodge Era

The University, in accordance with its agreement of 1853 with the Baptist Education Society, paid operating expenses and faculty salaries for both the Seminary and College but left to the Society the responsibility of providing for the beneficiaries. Collection and disbursement of the Society’s funds and supervision of its investments were the major duties of its Treasurer. Agents assisted in making collections in the Baptist Churches throughout the state as they had done since 1817. The Madisonensis editor in 1872 objected that some of them often exaggerated stories of student privations to play on the emotions of potential donors and that such an approach cost the University a loss of respect and standing. The agents competed with their opposite numbers from the Rochester Theological Seminary but by the late 1870’s a plan “for the equitable tilling” of the field had been drawn up.

The increase of tangible assets is a useful measure of growth in the Dodge regime. The major items are, of course, land and buildings though this heading also covered the contents of the library and museums and instructional apparatus and equipment. Valued at $91,000 in 1869, they were worth $312,000 in 1890.

The campus of the 1870’s and the early ’80’s was in deplorable condition. Professor James M. Taylor described it as a “third class farm” Envious of other institutions, students published their frequent criticisms in the Madisonensis, noting the overgrown fields kept as a pasture for the janitor’s cow, the large unsightly tree stumps, ash heaps outside the dormitories, ancient fences, and tumbled down barns, and sarcastically urged that something be done to make the buildings and grounds “look less like a county poor-house, and more like a University.” Any improvements made represented the labor of students and faculty, usually on a volunteer basis; most of their efforts were devoted to tree-planting. In 1877 the faculty petitioned the Trustees to employ a landscape architect to draw up an over-all plan. The Board responded by asking Professors James M. Taylor and Lucien M. Osborn to make a topographical survey as a first step, but here the matter dropped. President Dodge was averse to bringing in outside experts and Treasurer Spear opposed any changes.

The final impetus for campus improvements came from an outbreak of diphtheria among the students in November and December, 1882. This focused attention on the unsanitary conditions in the janitor’s barns and in the dormitory, East Hall. To ensure an objective investigation, Professors Taylor and Alexander M. Beebee were instrumental

p. 156 – Recovery and expansion, 1850-1869

competence in teaching and his “high moral worth” made a most favorable impression, it was made permanent by request of his colleagues. He read and spoke French, German, Spanish, and Italian and had a good knowledge of Russian and Arabic. For use in his courses he produced a French grammar and reader. In 1865 the Trustees regretfully accepted his resignation. His career was to include professorships at Vassar, Yale and the University of Chicago.

Professor Ezra S. Gallup, who had taught the Classical languages since 1850, left in 1867. Newton L. Andrews, Class of 1862 and a Seminary graduate, Principal of the Grammar School since 1864 and Latin Professor since 1865, and Edward Judson, then studying in the theological department, took over Gallup’s classes. Andrews became Professor of Greek in 1868; a position he was to hold with great distinction for fifty years. Judson, son of Adoniram Judson, the noted missionary to Burma, had lived as a boy in Professor Dodge’s home and after three years in the college transferred to Brown where he graduated in 1865. He was Professor of Latin and Modern Languages at Madison from 1868 to 1874.

Three more appointments made in. 1868 completed the faculty roster: John J. Lewis, Professor of Logic and English Literature; Albert S. Bickmore, Professor of Natural History; and James M. Taylor, Instructor .in Mathematics. Lewis a former student at Madison (1860-63) and a Hamilton College alumnus of the Class of 1864, assumed part of the instruction formerly given by Professor Beebee so that the latter might devote all his time to civil and ecclesiastical history. He was an effective and highly esteemed member of the faculty until his death in 1884. Professor Bickmore, Class of 1860 at Dartmouth, had been an assistant to Louis Agassiz at Harvard and was well-known for his scientific articles and his Travels in the East Indian Archipelago. His two-year stay on the campus gave a notable impetus to instruction in science. Taylor, the last of the appointees, on graduating from-the College in 1867 had entered the Seminary where he completed the course two years later. It was in mathematics, however, that his real bent lay as his career of over fifty years as teacher and author revealed.

Most appointments to the faculty from 1850 to 1869 were made to the rank of full professor; there were exceptions-“adjunct professor,” lecturer, instructor, and tutor-for a few men who held these positions