The Rev. Dr. William Smith,[6] head of what is now the University of
Pennsylvania, being out of employment on account of the revocation of
that college's charter, was called as pastor in Chestertown on the
Eastern Shore in 1780. To add to his income, he conceived the idea "of
opening a school for instruction in higher branches of education." As a
nucleus for his school, he took an old academy, the Kent County school,
and, beginning the work of teaching, was so successful, that in 1782 the
Legislature, on his application, granted the school a charter as
Maryland's first college. To it the name of _Washington_ was given, "in
honorable and perpetual memory of His Excellency, General George
Washington." Dr. Smith was so earnest and zealous in the presentation of
the claims of the college, that in five years he had raised $14,000 from
the people of the Eastern Shore. All seemed propitious for the college.
In 1783 the first class graduated and the first degrees ever granted in
Maryland were conferred, at the same time the corner-stone of the
college building was laid, and in 1784 General Washington himself
visited the college.
Dr. Smith prepared a three years' curriculum for the institution, equal
to that of any college of the day and similar to the one used at the
University of Pennsylvania. But the Western Shore could not endure that
the educational success of its rival section of the State should so far
outstrip its own. In the early days of the State, the sections were
nearly equal in importance and the prevailing dualism of the political
system invaded the field of education.
In 1784, two years after the founding of Washington College, _St. John's
College_ was chartered.[7] It was to be placed at Annapolis, and in it
was merged the old county Academy, "King William's School," founded some
eighty years before. By the same act, the two colleges were united in
the _University of Maryland_. This University was modeled on the English
type: the governor was to be its chancellor, and the governing body was
to be the "Convocation of the University of Maryland." The convocation
was to be composed of seven members of the Board of Visitors and
Governors and two of the faculty of each college; it was to establish
ordinances for the government of the colleges, to cause a uniformity in
the "manners and literature," to receive appeals from the students, and
to confer "the higher degrees and honors of the University." Its
meetings were to be annual, and to be held alternately at each college
on its commencement day.
The provisions of the act were never carried out; two fruitless attempts
were made to hold sessions of Convocation in 1790 and 1791, and then
nothing was even attempted. So thoroughly was the project forgotten,
that the Legislature of 1805, in withdrawing the State appropriations
from the two colleges, did not even mention the University, and in 1812,
though the old charter had never been repealed, there was no hesitation
in bestowing the name of University of Maryland on a second
institution.[8]
The two colleges which constituted this first University are still
existing and doing good work. The elder, Washington College, lost Dr.
Smith in 1788 by his return to Philadelphia and re-accession to his old
position there. He was succeeded by Rev. Colin Ferguson, a native of
Kent county, and educated at Edinburgh University. Under him the college
continued to flourish, until the withdrawal of the State's appropriation
in 1805. The constitutionality of this withdrawal is questionable, as
the original grant was to be paid annually "forever;" but the State
refused to permit itself to be sued by the college and, some years
later, on increasing its appropriation to the college, the legislature
required a release of all claims on the State under the original act.
By the act of 1805, the activity of the college was paralyzed and its
usefulness much impaired. It had not yet become strong enough to stand
alone and, when the helping hand of the State was taken away, it was
almost obliged to close its doors to students. Since that time the State
has renewed its grants to the college and has greatly aided it in
performing its functions; but from the disastrous effects of the act of
1805, the institution has never fully recovered.
Indeed, from 1805 to 1816, nothing but a grammar school seems to have
been maintained in the college building. In the latter year, however,
the college was re-opened, since the legislature had granted it a
lottery of $30,000. A year later Rev. Dr. Francis Waters became
"Principal," and under his able leadership the college bid fair to
regain its old position; but in 1827 a second great misfortune overtook
it. On January 11, 1827, the college building was discovered to be on
fire, and, in spite of the most zealous efforts, was entirely consumed.
After this misfortune the college proper seems to have been suspended a
second time, and only a grammar school maintained with one instructor.
The classes were conducted in a building intended originally for a
rectory, until that was destroyed by fire in 1839, when the school was
again moved.
Richard W. Ringgold, the principal of the school from 1832 to 1854,
seems to have been a man of ability, and under him the number of
students so much increased that in 1843 it was resolved to rebuild the
college on the old site and to revive the college course. As a result,
the present main building was erected, the corner-stone laid with
imposing ceremonies on May 4, 1844, and the college was reopened in its
own edifice on January 1, 1845. In 1849, a class of four was graduated,
and in 1854, two additional buildings were erected; one for the
Principal's residence and the other for dormitories and recitation
rooms.
The college continued prosperous during the second administration of
Rev. Dr. Waters from 1854 to 1860; but in the presidency of his
successor, Rev. Andrew J. Sutton, came the Civil War, depriving the
college of its Southern constituency and distracting men's minds from
learning. After the Rebellion, an unfortunate selection of teachers and
laxness of discipline caused the college to lose still more ground, and
Wm. J. Rivers, Principal from 1873 to 1887, had much to do to build it
up again. He was a faithful and diligent teacher, and under him the
moral tone of the college was improved and the course of instruction
enlarged. The present head, C.W. Reid, Ph.D., is still further advancing
the cause of the institution and a new career of prosperity seems
opening before Maryland's oldest college and the only one on the Eastern
Shore of the Chesapeake Bay.
St. John's College, like its sister institution, founded on a
non-denominational basis, started out under even fairer auspices.[9] It
was granted, by the State, Governor Bladen's mansion and four acres of
land surrounding it, was made heir to the funds of King William's
School, and secured £9,000 from private beneficence in the first two
years of its history. The Bladen mansion, now known as McDowell Hall,
was repaired and enlarged and, on August 11, 1789, Bishop Carroll was
elected president of the Board of Visitors and Governors and Dr. John
McDowell accepted the Professorship of Mathematics. After unsuccessful
attempts to obtain a principal from England, Dr. McDowell was chosen to
that position in the following year and continued in office, until the
State withdrew its aid to the college in 1805. He was a man of great
learning and was very successful at St. John's and later at the
University of Pennsylvania as provost. Under him, St. John's flourished
greatly and many men of a national reputation were enrolled among its
students, from the time the first class graduated in 1793.
The same disaster fell on St. John's, as on Washington College. The
Legislature withdrew the annual grant given by the State. The same doubt
as to the constitutionality of this withdrawal existed here, and the
State confirmed its position in the same way, by increasing its
appropriation in 1832,[10] on condition of the college's accepting it in
full satisfaction of all claims against the State under the original
charter. Of late years Maryland has been quite generous to St. John's,
but it has never quite recovered the station and prestige it lost by the
taking away of the State's grant in 1805.
In the first despair over the Act of the Legislature, the Visitors and
Governors voted to discontinue the college, but their courage soon
returned and the Rev. Bethel Judd, elected principal in 1807, was able
to graduate a class in 1810. After his withdrawal in 1812, matters were
in a disturbed state for some years and no classes were graduated until
1822, when Rev. Henry L. Davis, the father of Maryland's famous orator,
Henry Winter Davis, was principal. After that year there were no
graduates until 1827, when Rev. William Rafferty was head of the
college. The struggle for existence was a hard one and the wonder is
that the college succeeded as well as it did.
With 1831, however, began a third and more successful period in the
history of St. John's. In that year the Rev. Hector Humphreys, then only
thirty-four years of age, was chosen president. He was a native of
Connecticut and a graduate of Yale College in 1818, and was called to
St. John's from the professorship of Ancient Languages at Washington
(Trinity) College in his native State. The effect of his energy and
devotion was soon recognized, and, largely through his efforts, was
passed the compromise of 1832. The curriculum was enlarged, the
instruction made more thorough, and classes were yearly graduated, with
but six exceptions, until his death in 1857. His energy was very great,
his learning wide and accurate. In 1834, after travelling about the
State in the interests of the college, he succeeded in raising about
$11,000, which were used in the erection of a second building for the
college, which most appropriately has since been called by his name.
During his administration, the professors' houses were also built, as
was Pinkney Hall, a third building for the use of the college. Dr.
Humphreys also secured cabinets and philosophical apparatus for the
college and gave instruction in Political Economy, Latin and Greek,
Chemistry, Geology, Natural Philosophy, Astronomy, Composition,
Elocution, Evidences of Christianity, Moral and Intellectual Philosophy,
Rhetoric, and Logic. Verily, an encyclopaedic man of vast industry! Only
four years after Dr. Humphreys' death the War of the Rebellion broke
out, and St. John's, unlike the temple of Janus, closed its doors at the
rumors of war. The buildings were used as an hospital, and not until
1866 was the college again reopened with the well-known educator, Henry
Barnard, at its head. In less than a year he resigned to become the
first United States Commissioner of Education, and neither he nor his
successor, Dr. James C. Welling, who was principal until 1870, was able
to graduate a class. Since the beginning of the administration of the
next principal, James M. Garnett, LL. D., the succession of classes has
been unbroken and the college has steadily advanced in reputation and
usefulness. Dr. Garnett made the English department especially excellent
and, after ten years faithful service, resigned in 1880. The Rev. J.D.
Leavitt, his successor, made a departure from the old classic curriculum
and organized a department of Mechanical Engineering. After he resigned
Prof. W.H. Hopkins acted as principal for a time and introduced military
discipline, having secured the detail of an officer from the United
States Army as instructor in Military Tactics.
St. John's celebrated its centennial in 1889, and has begun its second
century with excellent prospects. The four years' administration of its
present principal, Thomas Fell, LL. D., has been a most successful one,
and St. John's is fulfilling the purpose of its founders "to train up
and perpetuate a succession of able and honest men, for discharging the
various offices and duties of life, both civil and religious, with
usefulness and reputation."