Tag Archives: Joseph F. McGregory

McGregory Hall dedicated and Student Union completed (p. 297)

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CORNER OF BIOLOGY BUILDING, LATHROP AND MCGREGORY HALL

McGregory Hall, the chemical laboratory, was made possible by a bequest of Miss Evelyn Colgate, supplemented by a gift from her father, James C. Colgate. It honors Dr. Joseph F. McGregory, esteemed Professor of Chemistry for forty-five years, who assisted the architect, Mr. Chambers, in drawing up the plans for the building which he intended to provide ample accommodations for his department. Its dedication in 1930 was the occasion for a conference on chemical education addressed by leaders in the field.

The projected student activities center, which the burning of the old gymnasium in 1926 delayed, at last became a reality in 1937 in the James C. Colgate Student Union. The need for a freshman dining hall had become acute in view of the impending change in fraternity practices, which would defer rushing and pledging from the first to the second semester. This would require eating arrangements for the first year men, more extensive than the Commons in East Hall, since they

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Posted in Chapter 14, p. 297, The Cutten Period 1922-1942, timeline

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p. 271 – The Bryan Period, 1908-1922

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rhetoric and public speaking. For brief periods he had the assistance of Anthony F. Blanks, a Vanderbilt alumnus, Lionel D. Edie, ’15, and Clarence J. Myers, ’20, immediately after they graduated; and Carl A.Kallgren, ’17, who had outstanding success coaching the debate teams of 1921-27. Other alumni who returned were Robert C. Ward, ’08, and Frederick M. Jones, ’09, to the Romance Language Department in 1908 and 1910, and Clifford E. Gates, ’15, to the German Department in 1915-all studied in Europe, Jones earning his doctorate at Grenoble and Gates at Cornell.

In 1912 the Department of Music was established and William H. Hoerrner, supervisor of public school music in Binghamton, was made Professor. Under his supervision the glee club achieved a remarkably fine standard of performance and a far-reaching reputation. He was also active in arranging for many concerts on the campus by nationally known artists. From 1913 to 1920, Robert G. Ingraham, ’13, was a member of the Music and English Departments. Ford B. Saunders, even prior to his graduation in 1921, was designated organist and joined the Music Department after receiving his degree. His weekly recitals became a significant means for broadening students’ appreciation of music.

With the arrival of Alfred E. Alton in 1911, Biblical Literature became a permanent department of instruction and he developed for his classes a familiarity and appreciation of the Bible as a part of a liberal education. Like his own teacher, the liberal William Newton Clarke, he had a sympathetic understanding of problems of students from conservative backgrounds who found difficulty in adjusting to newer religious ideas. In addition to his classroom contacts, of course, he touched a great number of young men as counsellor and “chaplain,” as noted earlier, and never with cant or pious ways but on their own ground as advisor and guide.

In mathematics and natural science student interest had grown rapidly in the past few years. Dean Crawshaw was disturbed in 1909 that it might lead to a lop-sided program which, of course, the major and minor and distribution requirements arrested. Chemistry under the vigorous direction of Professor McGregory was probably the strongest and most popular department. Additions to his staff included: Arthur E. Wood, ’15, Kenneth S. Daniels; ’18, and Raymond J. Hemphill, M.S.’ ’24. The introduction of an industrial chemistry course in

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p. 233 – Colgate in the 1890’s

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University’s benefactors to establish a chair of Semitic languages and in September Schmidt resigned to accept appointment to it.

The extent of faculty involvement in their colleague’s case is difficult to determine. Of those in the Seminary, Jones, in addition to Burnham and Loyd, opposed him while Clarke assisted him and McGregory and Brigham, among his friends in the College, appear to have been active in his behalf. Little publicity seems to have been given to the case until after Schmidt resigned when a long account appeared in the New York Sun. Aside from the issue of academic freedom, valid objection can be made to the procedures employed to effect his dismissal. No definite charges were formally made; no investigation of allegations undertaken; nor was he given a hearing and an opportunity to defend himself. Had he possessed a less pugnacious spirit it is entirely possible that the Trustees could have parried outside criticism of his views and permitted him to continue teaching along with the liberal William Newton Clarke. He “was sent away because he was a troubler of the peace,” Dr. Loyd confessed some years later.* At Cornell he was to win great fame as scholar, author and teacher.

The combined enrollment of all three divisions of the University during the ’90’s fluctuated, with a high of 369 in 1891 and a low of 314 in 1898. The College enrollment reached its peak of 167 in 1895 and its low of 125 in 1898; likewise the Academy with 184 in 1891 and 111 in 1894 and the Seminary with 61 in 1892 and 45 in 1891. The number of graduates from the College entering the Seminary declined from 10 in 1890 to 6 in 1898.

The growing secularization of the University caused concern to the theological faculty who were mindful that its original purpose was to provide an educated clergy. The alumni, too, noted changed conditions and complained about the loss of “the old spirit” which they remembered from the days when a large percentage of the College students went into the ministry.

Student interest in religious matters continued, however, but expressed itself in new forms. In 1891 William H. Cossum, ’87, came to the campus as an agent for the YMCA-related Student Volunteer Movement and organized 57 students from all divisions of the University into the Students Volunteer Band for Foreign Missions. They met for prayer and the study of missions and carried their message and

*Copy, letter, Dr. Hinton S. Lloyd to Rev. E.P. Brigham, January 15, 1902.

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p. 190 – Administration, Faculty, and Instruction in the Dodge Era

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Colgate Years: “It might almost be said we were being swept along by a restless current and that we dragged our oars once in a while to keep from being carried too fast or too far.”

Madison University experienced no serious conflicts between science and religion. ;President Dodge, though primarily a theologian, kept up with the broad outlines of current scientific trends. His attitude profoundly affected the intellectual climate of the campus making it hospitable to :new data and theories.

The senior science professor, Lucien M. Osborn, who at various times taught; physics, astronomy, and chemistry, was a profoundly religious man. He saw science as revealing the Creator’s hand and inspired his students with his own reverential but undogmatic approach. His course in astronomy, taught with a rather simple telescope, met with their enthusiastic approbation.

The appointment of Professor McGregory to the new chemistry chair in 1883 and the construction of a building for his department mark a major; advance in science teaching. An Amherst graduate in the Class of 1880, he proved to be an ideal man for the position which he was to hold for 46 years. His qualifications included, in addition to membership in the Baptist church, a thorough grounding in science at Amherst, two years experience as a chemistry instructor at his Alma Mater, and study at Gottingen and Heidelberg where his professors included H. Huebner and Victor Meyer. He had an aptness for teaching, and an understanding and affection for students. When he met his classes in the fall of 1884, after an additional year of graduate work in Germany, he at once won their admiration. Though the laboratory facilities of the new building were not to be available for nearly six months, the students found that their new professor enlivened a subject they had expected would be dull and soon it became one of the most highly regarded in the curriculum. In discussing the role of his department in 1893, Professor McGregory stated that all branches of science should be viewed as parts of a liberal education. He had no desire, he said, to make the college in any way a scientific school but stressed thorough instruction and a broad foundation as preparation for graduate study elsewhere. Many of his students were to prove the soundness of this approach as they moved on into eminence in chemistry and related fields.

For Dr. Walter R. Brooks, former pastor of the First Baptist Church

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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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