mittee, made a report in favor of establishing the college at Colorado Springs. He also made an address on the benefits of higher education in general and of Christian education in particular. State universities are specially liable to suffer deterioration from the high standard of Christian faith and morals. We can not commit all college culture in the country, or even in Colorado, to such secularizing and semipolitical care. A Congregational college for Colorado, forever Christian, without ecclesiastical control, comes nearer to that unsectarian ideal which I most admire and wish to see fulfilled. In this address mention was also made of the science of chemistry and irrigation as important for the development of the mining and agricultural resources of the Rocky Mountain region, and of the importance of the study of the Spanish language in the education of teachers and missionaries for work among the Mexican population of the United States. After this address and a full discussion, conference decided without dissenting vote to undertake at once the establishment of a Christian college in Colorado under Congregational auspices, having a board of trustees of not less than 12 nor more than 18 men, two-thirds of whom must be members of evangelical churches. Colorado Springs was also selected as the most suitable site and the offers made from that town through the educational committee were accepted. The conference subsequently elected the following self-perpetuating board of trustees, 18 in all: Rev. E. P. Wells, Rev. J. M. Sturtevant, jr.; Rev. T. N. Haskell, Rev. E. B. Tuthill, Rev. Nathan Thompson, Rev. T. C. Jerome, Rev. R. C. Bristol, Maj. Henry McAllister, Gen. W. J. Palmer, Gen. R. A. Cameron, Dr. W. A. Bell, H. W. Austin, esq.; W. S. Jackson, esq.; E. S. Nettleton, esq.; Prof. J. E. Ayers, J. R. Hanna, esq.; W. McClintock, esq., and H. B. Heywood, esq. The trustees immediately proceeded to arrange for the opening of the college. Mr. Haskell was appointed financial agent and endeavored to secure subscriptions in Colorado and in the East for the beginning of college work, but with no great success. There was much business depression in Eastern cities. Also, the College Aid Society would not permit the presentation of the cause before the New England churches until the college should have a freshman class and be regularly received under the wing of the society. In spite of difficulties, the trustees secured the services of Rev. Jonathan Edwards, a graduate of Yale and pastor of the Congregational Church at Dedham, Mass. Mr. Edwards was to be professor of literature and was to receive as compensation the fees of students attending the college. A preparatory department was opened at Colorado Springs on May 6, 1874, in rooms secured near the center of the town. The first term continued for ten weeks. There were about 18 students in attendance. At the end of the term "a committee of educated men passed 13 of these students to the literary and scientific freshman rank." On July 1, 1874, the Colorado Springs Company made the following report: Since our last report the Congregationalists have located a college at Colorado Springs and preparations are now being made to erect a large, substantial building for its purposes. This institution will be of a high character, equal to the best Western colleges. The location will undoubtedly insure it a large patronage, as here pupils of both sexes will have the best facilities for acquiring an education while at the same time reaping the benefit of a climate of unsurpassed salubrity and enjoying scenery of unequaled beauty and grandeur. Until the permanent college buildings are erected instruction will be given in suitable buildings already secured near the central part of the town. A preparatory department is now open and a freshman class has been formed for the autumn term. Other classes will be formed if competent students apply. Rev. Jonathan Edwards, of Yale college, is principal. The location of this institution at Colorado Springs is the first step toward the accomplishment of an object that the directors of the company have ever kept in view-that of making the town of Colorado Springs prominent as an educational center and a home of refined and cultivated society. In September the college began the work of the fall term in a new frame building on the corner of Tejon street and Pike's Peak avenue, where the First National Bank now stands. Afterwards the college was moved to the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. It continued to occupy rented buildings until the completion of the central portion of the first college building, in the year 1880. During the year 1874–75 there were in all 76 students, of whom 17 were of freshman rank. Before the end of the year Professor Edwards resigned. He was succeeded by Rev. James G. Dougherty as president of the college, who continued in office during the ensuing year. The first catalogue of the college was published in 1875. The members of the faculty were as follows: Rev. J. Edwards (resigned), Rev. James G. Dougherty, president; Solon T. French, professor of Latin and Greek; R. Spencer Dills, instructor in Spanish; S. C. Robinson (resigned), instructor in natural science; E. N. Bartlett (resigned), instructor in mathematics; Prof. J. W. Jameson (resigned), instructor in music; Minnie S. Mackenzie, instructor in English; Georgia B. Gaylord, instructor in music. There was therefore a faculty of 5 members, including the president. In the collegiate and preparatory departments there were classical and scientific courses. The requirements for admission to the freshman class included the completion of the work of the three years' preparatory course or its equivalent. The studies of the preparatory classical course were as follows: Latin-grammar, reader, composition, Cæsar, Virgil's Georgics and Æneid, Cicero's Orations. Greekgrammar, composition, Anabasis, Iliad, Greek and Roman history; algebra and geometry. The classical college course was outlined as follows: Freshman class.-Latin-Livy, Cicero's De Senectute. Greek— Diodorus, Iliad; Greek and Roman history; algebra and geometry. Sophomore class.-Horace, Tacitus, Demosthenes, Plato's Crito, French or Spanish, rhetoric, trigonometry, mechanics, essays. Junior class.-Astronomy, English literature, political economy, logic, chemistry, English history, German literature, original speeches, essays. Senior class.-Mental science, modern history, German or Spanish, moral science, evidences of Christianity, essays. Some of these courses were elective, and no student was permitted to pursue more than three full courses at the same time. The courses were open to men and women on the same terms. The college tuition fee was to be $39 a year and the preparatory fee $29, with music extra. The policy of the college is thus described: The college is under no ecclesiastical or political control. The faculty are selected with no other limitations than that they shall be Christian men with special fitness to teach the studies of their departments. The Congregationalists undertake to build the college, not as a Congregational college but as a Colorado college. At no time will the special doctrines or polity of any religious denomination be taught. At suitable times the absolute truth of the biblical revelation and the supreme authority of Jesus Christ will be illustrated or enforced by argument. During the first two years of its existence the college struggled under financial embarrassment. The sums of money collected by Professor Haskell, Professor Dougherty, and other friends of the college amounted to only $2,616.45. This, together with the receipts from fees, was inadequate to the support of the college. It does not appear that the $10,000 promised conditionally by the Colorado Springs Company was ever paid. During the year 1875-76 the college became involved in debt and many of the students left. It was feared that the college would have to suspend work, but it continued to exist until the close of the term, in June. When the college was reopened in the autumn of 1876 there was no property except some $700 in a mortgaged building and lot. There were debts for services rendered and other obligations equal at least to the value of the property. Meanwhile the college had been adopted by the American College and Educational Society, now known as the Congregational Education Society. On the recommendation of this society, and through the influence of the Rev. E. P. Tenney, six gentlemen of Massachusetts agreed to furnish money to reopen the college and to establish a permanent endowment to be known as the "founders' endowment fund." Their names and subscriptions are as follows: James G. Buttrick... Samuel Crooks.. Henry Cutler A. A. Sweet... B. T. Thompson... Total:. $100 2,600 6, 800 5,335 50 1,000 15, 885 |