PUTNAM COUNTY, INDIANA
ASBURY UNIVERSITY.
Greencastle is the county seat, and
is a thriving town of about four thousand five hundred inhabitants,
with good public improvements
and educational facilities. The chief attraction of the place is the
Indiana Asbury University. The town
has excellent railroad facilities.
The Indianapolis, Vandalia and St.
Louis Railroad intersects its southern, and the Indianapolis and St.
Louis Railroad its northern
limits. The Louisville, New Albany and Chicago Railroad crosses the
former a mile and a half to the southwest,
and passing through the western
border of the city, it crosses the latter a half mile north of the
public square. These three
railroads, by means of their numerous connections, afford almost hourly
communication with all portions of the country, and render the site particularly
eligible for an institution of learning. The city extends over a high
plateau, bounded by the
several railroads, a little more than a mile square. The founders of
the university were fortunate in selecting for its
situation a place so admirably fitted
by nature to all the purposes of educational demand. The citizens,
through the lapse of the
years, have added to its natural advantages whatever industry and taste
could effect. With salubrity of atmosphere, purity of water, and the uniformly large
grounds connected with the homes of the people, the city has been
reputable for its
healthfulness, and rendered desirable as a place of residence. The
attractions of the place have been such as to allure a class of inhabitants very superior in their
intelligence, morals and rank in social life.
While the university is freely open
to all persons of whatever religious education and preference, it is
yet under the more particular
patronage, and in the interest of the Methodist Episcopal Church. By
the conditions of its organic law,
it is under the supervision, in very
important regards, of the several annual conferences of Indiana. These
conferences have
representation in its joint board of trustees and visitors, of equal
numbers of ministers and laymen. The trustees are
twenty-one in number, and have full
authority over all the interests of the institution. There are nine
visitors, clerical
representatives of the conferences, who are associated with the
trustees with full advisory powers, but voting only on questions concerning the election and
dismissal of the faculty.
As early as in 1830, a resolution was
adopted by the Indiana Annual Conference to establish within its
territory an institution of learning of liberal character. For
reasons of economy; efforts
were repeatedly made to arrange for the joint management of the State
university on terms that would adequately meet the increasing demand of the church,
which was spreading rapidly, under the vigorous energy of an itinerant
ministry, over every portion
of the country. Failing, however, in the consummation of this plan, an
appeal was made to the
legislature, and a charter was granted by the session of 1836-7. The
first meeting of the board of trustees was held in March, 1837, at which the organization of a
preparatory department was authorized, in which instruction should be
given in all the branches
usually pursued in that grade of schools. This work was effected in
June, 1837, by Cyrus Nutt, D. D., LL.D., at this date president of Indiana State
University. An edifice suitable for collegiate purposes being necessary
for the prosecution of the
enterprise, the foundations were commenced about the time of organizing
the preparatory classes, and
the corner-stone was formally laid June twenty-first, 1837, Bishop
Henry Boseau officiating. In 1839, the regular collegiate classes were formed and placed
under the direction of an able faculty of instruction. This university
sent out from these classes
its first graduates, three in number, in June, 1840; since which
period, there have been annual additions to the lists of its alumni, who, in gradual yet
constantly increased numbers, have swelled to an aggregate in 1875 of
five hundred and eighty-one.
In 1866, by a formal act of the board
of trustees, ladies were admitted to the privileges of the institution.
They were invited to all the departments of instruction, and with no discriminations, subject to the same
requirements and disciplines, and eligible to the same distinctions and
lessons that at other periods
were offered only for the advantage of gentlemen. Already large numbers have availed
themselves of these liberal
privileges in both the preparatory and collegiate departments, and nineteen have passed, by
excellence in scholarly
attainment, to their graduation. Two of these graduates have won distinction in their respective
classes. By the terms of the
charter, the institution is invested with
full university powers, so that the
board have authority to
establish the complete circle of schools comprehended in the representative university.
On November first,1848, a medical college was organized,with a large corps of learned and experienced
practitioners retained as its
faculty. This department of the university was continued with energy and success during
three years, having its seat
of operation at Indianapolis, under the conviction that facilities for medical learning could be
had more advantageously in the
midst of a large population. During this period, about fifty persons, having
completed satisfactorily
the prescribed course of lectures and
examinations, were graduated
into the medical profession.
A department of law was established in July, 1846, with Hon. R W. Thompson, professor elect, at
its head, and has been
continued, with occasional interruptions and varying encouragement, until the present year
(1875). An aggregate
of fifty-six have completed the
entire course usually required
for practice in the legal profession. Many of them have proved their ability by the eminent
positions an intelligent
people have awarded them as a popular recognition of their
merit. Because of limited funds, the
university has, however, been
devoting its strength chiefly to intellectual culture. This, with Biblical' literature,
embracing under the term the
Hebrew language and Old Testament criticism and exegesis —
also the Greek Testament with
criticism and exegesis —has
received greatest attention, and hereafter to this class of instruction will the resources of the
university be particularly
devoted. In this field of endeavor has it achieved its enviable
reputation among the institutions of
the continent. Such,
doubtless, will be the policy of the future, exclusively. Since the State has undertaken to supply the
demand for medical and legal
knowledge, and from its treasury for this purpose
appropriates liberal sums annually,
it is deemed to be the dictation
of wisdom that this institution of the church should have a more exclusive consecration to
that which is disciplinary and
non-professional. It is proposed, however, in any
event, that the work of Biblical
instruction shall receive
increased attention. This comes legitimately within the purpose and intent of the founders, and
accords strictly with the
requirement of the church under whose patronage it comes.
To this extent and in this way may
its work be deemed professional.
Two departments of instruction are provided for, the preparatory and collegiate. The former
extends through a period of
two years. The course of study consists of the elements of the classic languages, and the
mathematics, including algebra,
complete. This part of the course is fully equal to the requisites for admission into first-class New
England colleges. To these are
added Latin, prose composition, rhetorical lessons, American history, and American
antiquities. The condition of
public education is such, that to discontinue the department of preparatory study, would be disastrous
to the interests of higher
education. It is a singular fact that the high schools of the country furnish very few students
to collegiate classes; once
graduated from the comparatively limited courses there pursued, they at once enter their
respective avocations of life.
The Indiana high schools usually make no provision for instruction in the Greek language, for
the reason, probably, that the
masses of the people have not and do not require it. Every aspirant for a thorough higher
education, however, wishing to
have an acquaintance with that branch of learning, the university has not sympathized in the
least with the suggestions of
some of the leaders of public school education of the State, to dispense with this language
from the requirements of
collegiate preparation. It has been believed, rather, that to act under this suggestion would be to
reduce disastrously the
standard of mental culture, and discriminate far too greatly against the dignity and real worth of
classic learning. It is
believed also that to abate such preparatory classic requirements, would be to deter effectually many
from an extended course of
study, especially in the classics, who otherwise would be influenced to pursue it. Certain it
is, that the proposed plan
does discriminate, in the popular interpretation, to a very great extent, against a liberal classical
education. The decision and
sufficient proof is, as it seems to the greater number of collegiate educators, the facts connected
with those seats of collegiate
learning where the suggestions alluded to have been adopted, and have been carried into
practical effect. It has been
thought advisable, therefore, as a wise economy of resources, that the faculty retain under
their own exclusive management
a preparatory school, adapting its course precisely to that required for the advanced classes.
The collegiate department embraces a full four years curriculum, and consists of nine
professorships: the mental and
moral, natural science, Greek language and literature, Latin language and literature, belles-lettres
and history, modern language
and Hebrew, mathematics, civil law, and Biblical literature. Provision is made for instruction in
the Anglo Saxon, in connection
with the chair of belles-lettres and history. In connection with the chairs of Greek,
Latin, and modern languages,
instruction is afforded in the Sanskrit, Spanish and Italian languages. Physics is taught in
connection with the natural
sciences. It is understood that a donation of $25,000, by Robert Stockwell, Esq., in the latter
part of 1874, is expressly for
the support of a professor of systematic and practical divinity. This fact, together with
the large demand existing for
instruction in these branches of study, will, no doubt, result in the creation of the proposed
chair at the earliest meeting
of the board of trustees, which will occur in June, 1875. The course of study in all the
professorships, respectively, is
remarkable for the fact that nearly everything has been excluded that is not of a strictly
educating character. It is the
aim to supply facilities whose use shall result in substantial discipline. The faculty and board of
trustees agree fully in the
policy which should be pursued in executing the educational trust committed to them. They are
of the conviction that he who
is disciplined into ability to control the attention, and to think closely, can himself gain
knowledge to any extent the
exigencies of life may require. They have, therefore, constructed the work of the departments with
the view of promoting sound
discipline, leaving the accumulation of knowledge to the discretion and industry of the
student, after he shall have
taken his graduation. The result is that the meta-physical philosophy, the classic
languages, and mathematics,
constitute a very large part of the undergraduate requisites The prescribed sciences are, for this
reason, taught with the use of
such authors, or texts, as treat their respective subjects under profound and exhaustive methods.
They are encouraged to
continue this plan of instruction by the success which has uniformly attended its practical
operation in every period of
the institution's history.
Many scores of eminent men are numbered among the alumni, who have gone from its halls at
the several commencements.
These are represented in the public trusts, both civil and political, and equally in the
responsible and successful
industries of the country. The
university has become distinguished
as the educator of many of the most eloquent of orators; also many of the most efficient and
reliable workers in both the
church and state. In all these regards the institution
has cause of congratulation, and can
confidently point to the men
educated under its direction — their learning—their character—their power — their work, as
the unquestioned proof of the
excellence of its educational processes. No institution of learning in the entire country
has made for itself a more
brilliant record. In the respect of its educated men, strong and efficient in their respective
spheres, Asbury University
holds a high position among the colleges of the continent — the peer of the best—superior to
most. Such is the meed of
distinction the impartial discriminator yields, as justly due to the wise adjustments and thorough
application of a well selected
means of scholastic discipline.
The endowment of the university is $212,000, the greater portion of which is profitably invested.
Of this amount, $75,000 are
the gift of Robert Stockwell, Esq., of La Fayette, and consisted of first mortgage bonds of
the Indianapolis, La Fayette,
and Chicago railroad, with two thousand dollars accrued interest in addition. Fifty
thousand dollars, and the two
thousand dollars interest, by the direction of the donor, go into the general fund for endowment
purposes; twenty-five thousand
dollars, was a special direction, and is intended to be the nucleus of a foundation for a
theological department; the
balance of the fund, one hundred and thirty-five thousand dollars, was procured, with possibly very
small contributions excepted,
by the sale of scholarships. Early in the history of the institution, an attempt was made to
make sale of scholarships at
the rate of five hundred dollars each, with the hope that, by such sales, the necessary amount
could be quickly secured. This
proved a failure, the cost of the certificates being greater than the friends of the
university could, at that day
of comparative poverty in the development of the country, afford. In 1844, a plan was devised,
adapted better to the ability
of the people. Under this plan, certificates of tuition in perpetuity were issued for one hundred
dollars. At a later period
still, certificates running through twelve years were issued for fifty dollars; six years, or
one full course, preparatory
and collegiate, for twenty-five dollars. At these rates of cost, severally, scholarships were taken,
amounting in the aggregate, in
1858, in cash and productive notes, to seventy-five thousand dollars. In the year 1866,
marking the centenary period
of the Methodist Episcopal Church as an organized body in the United States, a vigorous
effort was again made to
increase the funds of the institution. Appeals were made directly to the people for their
contributions, by agents of the
Indiana conferences, who, in prosecuting their work, canvassed the entire State. Scholarships were
issued, meanwhile, to any
contributors who desired to use them, and whose contributions were sufficiently large to meet the
conditions of their sale. The
sum realized through this plan of operation amounts, in cash and notes, to sixty thousand
dollars. Small portions of the
fund are not yet productive, and the productive portions are realizing for the purposes intended
at different rates. The whole,
however, is sufficient to yield an income equal to the essential demand of instruction. Having
confidence in their ability to
maintain their endowment and increase it in proportion to any enlarged requirement that in
any probability will arise,
the board of trustees, at their annual meeting in June, 1874, declared that tuition shall be free
to all. This provision of free
tuition applies not alone to students in the regular classes of the university, but
equally to all who are
candidates for those classes in its preparatory school. To
date (collegiate year,
1874-5), four hundred and twenty-four are availing themselves of these liberal
allowances, and the number is
very rapidly increasing.
On December fifth, 1837, Rev. Joseph A. Tomlinson was elected to the chair of mathematics, and
at the same meeting of the
trustees, Rev. Cyrus Nutt was made professor of ancient languages, and principal of the
preparatory department. Rev.
Mr. Tomlinson declining to accept the chair of mathematics, it was tendered to Rev. Mathew Simpson,
who also declined the
position. The presidency was tendered to Mr. Tomlinson in 1838, but, declining to accept which,
it was offered, in 1839, to
Mathew Simpson, who accepted the position, and served nine years in that capacity. During these
nine years the institution was
permanently endowed by the sale of scholarships, and by donations to the amount of
$50,000. In 1840, the faculty
consisted of the president and the professors of mathematics and natural
science, the Latin and Greek
languages, and two tutors. The course of study was made equal to the older institutions, and
was quickly brought up nearly
to its present status, but little having been added since, except to the departments of
English literature and natural
science.
Mathew Simpson, D.D., came to the presidency of the university in 1839, was elected editor of the
Western Christian Advocate in
1848, and bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1852. In his administration he
was positive and strict, yet
kind and gentle, his most severely disciplined students generally loving him best,
because brought to repentance
and reformation by his kind and firm exercise of authority. No man has been more popular,
both among the students and
citizens.
Lucian W. Berry, D.D., succeeded to the administration in 1849. He came directly from the active
itinerant ministry, he was
strong in the pulpit and in extemporaneous discourse on the rostrum. He was known particularly
for his wonderful
power in exhortation. He was exact in
the tone of the discipline he
executed in the university, and precise in his own moral and Christian conduct.
In the later years he became
sensitive to a fault by reason of protracted physical suffering.
He went to the presidency of the Iowa
Wesleyan University in 1854,
and presently died in an attempt to establish an institution of learning of high grade in
Missouri.
Daniel Curry, D.D., succeeded Dr. Berry as president of the university, in 1854. He was strict,
fearless, almost rash,
inflexible, estimating expediency as nothing in the alternative of right. He would compromise with no
shadow of wrong,
and his will was unconquerable. He
was the man to quell a
rebellion, at the same time that he was the very man under whom a rebellion would be most likely to
occur. Dr. Curry resigned his
position in the University in 1857, having held it
for only three years, and, within a
brief period, was elected
editor-in-chief of the Christian Advocate, in New York. Thomas Bowman, D.D., was president in
1858. A man of trust, affable,
versatile, of unusual ability to utilize resources, exerting influence kindly, yet
powerfully, he presided with
great success over the work of the institution for fourteen years. In 1872, the general conference of
the Methodist Episcopal Church
gave him an election to the episcopacy, where
he executed duty as properly as in
the narrower sphere of the
presidency. Take him, all in all, though not the most learned nor eloquent, yet, in the judgment of a
discriminating public
sentiment, Bishop Bowman overranks any of his predecessors in the elements of popular character and
of efficiency in work. Many
men of note have had part in the work of the university, either as trustees, agents, or in
other positions of responsibility.
Isaac Owen deserves very honorable mention. A man of energy and steady faith, he
successfully sold scholarships,
at one hundred dollars each, for the endowment of the institution. He was without a liberal
education, but self-educated
in theology, and a ready and constant reader of the scriptures in Greek, eccentric and
unpolished, yet commanding
great respect. In terms not greatly dissimilar should allusion be made to Samuel C. Cooper, Daniel
DeMotte, and Aaron Wood, who,
in the agency of the institution, did excellent service. In the list of men who have
honored the university by
their attentions and counsel, the names of Calvin Fletcher, Joseph A. Wright, Tilman A. Howard,
Austin W. Morris, Alfred
Harrison, F C. Holliday, John L. Smith, Henry S. Lane, Williamson Terrell, John Ingle, W.
C. DePauw, Asa Iglehart, David
McDonald, John A. Mat son, T. J. Sample, S. W. Parker, G. M. Beswick, E. G. Wood,
Allan Wiley, Bishop Ames, John
Wilkins, Isaac C. Ellston, Bishop Roberts, A. C. Downey, W. H. Goode, Calvin Butter, D. L.
Southard, Will. Cumback, and
many more ranking among the nobility of the State.
Among the alumni should be named: James Harlan, distinguished for his career in public life;
Newton Booth, governor of
California and United States senator; Thomas Goodwin, W. H. Larrabee, Joseph Glenn, James P.
Luse, W. H. Barnes,
Henry Benson, George B. Jocelyn,
Oliver S. Munsell, George W.
Hoss, Samuel Lattimore, Philip Gillette, and many others in literature, authorship, and the
practical professions. Many
represent the university in the learned professions and in political life; many are in military
life. During the period of the
great rebellion, the classes of the university were nearly deserted, by students volunteering. The
same was substantially true in
the Mexican war. Among the distinguished specialists, it is but just to mention
Elkanoh Williams, of
Cincinnati, who stands quite at the head of the celebrated oculists.
Not invidiously, but as justly indicating the notable legal record of very many of the alumni, may be
mentioned the names of Albert
G. Porter, James Mcintosh, Daniel W. Voorhees, John W. Boy, John Hanna, John S.
Torkington, Wm.
P. Hargrave, H. C. Gooding.
A very large proportion of the alumni have entered the work of the Christian ministry, chiefly
as it is prosecuted under the
methods of the itinerancy in the Methodist Episcopal Church.