LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,

BUREAU OF EDUCATION,

Washington, D. C., January 23, 1903.

SIR: I have the honor to transmit herewith the History of Higher Education in Colorado, prepared by James Edward Le Rossignol, A. M., Ph. D., professor of history and economics in the University of Denver. The document constitutes Circular of Information No. 1, 1903, and is the thirty-fourth of the series which was prepared under the direction of the late Prof. Herbert B. Adams, of the Johns Hopkins University, and edited by him up to the time of his death.

This history, like others of this series which deal with higher education in the newer States, shows the zeal of the first settlers of these States in establishing all the links of a complete system of education. Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

W. T. HARRIS,

Hon. E. A. HITCHCOCK,

Secretary of the Interior.

Commissioner.

5

CHAPTER I.

COLORADO COLLEGE.

Before the year 1874 many proposals had been made looking to the founding of one or more colleges in the Territory of Colorado. The University of Colorado was incorporated in 1861. The Colorado Seminary was founded in 1864, and continued to exist for several years. An Episcopalian school for boys afterwards known as Jarvis Hallwas established at Golden in the early seventies.

The same desire for educational improvement was shown on July 12, 1871, when the Colorado Springs Company adopted the report of a committee concerning the laying out of a town site for the Fountain Colony. This committee, consisting of Gen. R. A. Cameron, William H. Greenwood, and E. S. Nettleton, recommended that a tract of land one-third of a mile wide and a mile and a half long in the valley of Monument Creek be set aside for educational and other public purposes. Included in this tract was the present college reservation, "which was distinctly set aside by this committee for the founding of a college." This action of the committee was largely owing to the advice and suggestions of Gen. William J. Palmer and Gen. R. A. Cameron.

One of the first proposals to establish a college in Colorado under the auspices of the Congregational Church seems to have been made by Rev. T. N. Haskell, A. M., before the Congregational Conference at Boulder on October 28, 1873. Mr. Haskell was appointed moderator of the conference and chairman of a permanent committee on education "to ascertain what opportunities there are for founding a higher institution of learning in Colorado under Congregational auspices."

The committee immediately took steps to secure offers of land and money from towns desiring to be the seat of a college. Several towns made proposals, including Greeley and Colorado Springs. The Colorado Springs Company offered to give to the college 70 acres of the reservation above mentioned, together with a block of 20 acres on higher ground and a cash donation of $10,000, on condition that the trustees should raise $40,000 more.

At a meeting of the General Congregational Conference held at Denver on January 20, 1874, Mr. Haskell, as chairman of the com

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 seces 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."