xt7sxk84nj8k_209 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7sxk84nj8k/data/mets.xml https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7sxk84nj8k/data/L2021ua019.dao.xml Kentucky University 18.26 Cubic Feet 32 document boxes, 5 flat boxes, 21 bound volumes archival material L2021ua019 English University of Kentucky Property rights reside with Transylvania University.  The University of Kentucky holds the copyright for materials created in the course of business by University of Kentucky employees. Copyright for all other materials has not been assigned to the University of Kentucky.  For information about permission to reproduce or publish, please contact the Special Collections Research Center.  Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Transylvania University Library. Record Group 5:  Collection on Kentucky University Part of annual catalogue beginning page 35, Historical Sketch of Kentucky University" text Part of annual catalogue beginning page 35, Historical Sketch of Kentucky University" 2024 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7sxk84nj8k/data/L2021ua019/Box_5_34/Folder_45/Multipage8088.pdf undated section false xt7sxk84nj8k_209 xt7sxk84nj8k HISTORICAL SKETCH

OF

KENTUCKY UNIVERSITY.

 

The efforts of the Christians of Kentucky to establish a College
for the education of young men began in Georgetown about the
year 1836; and, after repeated failures to raise an endowment for
their institution, which was removed in 1840 to Harrodsburg,
the enterprise was virtually abandoned in 1850. An unsightly
building, a small library of almost worthless books, and a small
fund of eight or ten thousand dollars, called at that time an en-
dowment fund—but which was, in fact, a loan and incumbrance—
was all that remained of the results of thirteen years of labor.

A few Alumni of Bacon College—as the institution at Harrods-
burg was called—watched the struggle and decline of their alma,
mater with concern and mortification, and a few brethren of liberal
views and some philanthropy sympathized with them. But one
only seemed to cherish the least hope of a resurrection of the'Col-
lege; he regarded its failure as a sad but suggestive lesson, provi-
dentially given, and in his heart resolved to profit by it in
future. JOHN B. BOWMAN conceived the idea of concentrating the
distracted energies and means of the brotherhood of Kentucky,
and the influence of all the liberal citizens of the Commonwealth,
upon the great work of erecting a University, in the full sense
of the term, upon the ruins of Bacon College.

His simple appeal to them was: Brethren, you have failed to
build up a College; now, then, let us establish a great University.
The boldness of his logic at first merely surprised them. He
asked the co—operation of some already distinguished for their
zeal and patience in every good work; they deemed the enter-
prise as the chimera of a young man, and discouraged his dream
as idle, if not dangerous to the Church. Almost alone, and in the
face of every adverse circumstance, he began his werk. Sacri»

 

 3.6

ficing his professional aims, abandoning his farm, and foregoing
the comforts of a pleasant home, he started out in the dreary
winter to lay the foundation of a great University in the hearts
of a people already sick of College enterprises, hopeless by reason
of past failures, and suspicious of any new undertaking, The
county of Mercer, in which he lived, and in which Bacon College
was located, having, at his instance and through the efforts of
himself and of its leading citizens, raised conditionally the sum
of thirty thousand dollars, he went abroad with this encourage-
ment, to secure from other communities the nucleus of his pro-
posed endowment.

In many places he met the shrug of the cold shoulder, or re-
ceived the grave admonition to return to his home and be wise.
He met with harsh criticisms upon the former management of the
affairs of Bacon College, and still harsher prophecies of misman-
agement and failure in future. But that which most discouraged
him—if, indeed, anything could be said to have discouraged him—-
was the opinion, bitterly expressed by more than one sorrowful
father whom he approached, that Colleges were unmitigated curses;
and who pointed, in sad confirmation of the fact, to their sons
whom some College had ruined—who had been driven from its
halls in disgrace. He met with these discouragements, and he
dealt with them as with facts. He would sit down and argue at
the fireside, first with the father and then with the mother, he
would argue along the highway and in the field. Seated on a
log, perhaps, in some sleety forest, with bridle in hand, he
would unfold his plan to some industrious farmer, in plain and
earnest language, unmindful of the freezing winds or inclement
skies. Thus he went from house to house, through the few cen-
tral counties of Kentucky, disarming prejudice, rekindling the
hopes of his brethren, and enlarging their ideas of education.
In one hundred and fifty days he obtained one hundred and fifty thou-
sand dollars! Thus, without the use of the press or the pulpit, he
quietly laid the corner-stone of his University.

The simple financial idea, in his endowment scheme, deserves
special mention. The notes for money subscribed were made pay-
able in easy instalments, and, when collected, the principal was at
once safely invested. A certificate of stock was issued to each
subscriber, with coupons attached, bearing value equal to one
year’s tuition, and made transferable. The coupons were redeem-
able in tuition only, so that the stock, without interest, would be
gradually refunded to the subscriber. But by the scheme devis-

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37

ed, while the capital subscribed was refunded in the form of tui-
tion, it remained in the form of cash as the permanent, unincum-
bered endowment, the interest on which should pay the expenses
of the Institution.

As soon as this amount of $150,000 had been obtained, Mr. Bow-
man called together the donors and friends of the movement, in a
meeting held at Harrodsburg in May, 1857. The meeting was
numerously attended, chiefly by representatives from the seven or
eight central counties of Kentucky, which he had already appealed
to in behalf of the enterprise. It was a meeting harmonious in
spirit, earnest in its action, and most favorable in its results.

“Thus far,” said Mr. Bowman, as reported in the published
minutes of the meeting—“ thus far have we progressed in the
work up to the present time, averaging about one thousand dol-
lars for each day that we, have been engaged. 'We have, by this
effort, partially laid the pecuniary basis for an Institution which,
we hope, is destined to become the support of the Church and the
ornament of the State, and which will meet the highest expecta-
tions of those who have so liberally contributed to it. We beg
leave, however, to say, that we regard this as but the beginning of
a work, which, with the Divine blessing, we intend to prosecute
until perfected. In reference to the plan of organization, I would
merely remark, in general, that there are some features in our
present collegiate system that should be discarded. The spirit of
the age, and the present state of society, call for colleges for young
men, rather than for boys. The Natural Sciences, in their appli-
cation to the useful arts and to agriculture, should receive more
attention. A higher grade of scholarship should be established,
as a condition both of matriculation and of graduation. And,
generally, we need a more modern, American, and Christian basis
for every department of our proposed Institution.”

This meeting was important as having recognized the contem-
plated University as the property of the people at large who had
subscribed the money. They divested it of all local charac-
ter, and suggested such provisions in the proposed Charter as

would give to the donors a perfect representation in the Board of
Curators.

During the following winter the Legislature granted a liberal
Charter, incorporating a Board of thirty, under the name of the
Curators of Kentucky University, giving them full power, for the
purpose of promoting the cause of education in all its branches, ,
and of extending the sphere of science and Christian morality, to

 

  

38

establish and endow fully, in said University, any departments
and professorships they may deem necessary to carry out their
objects. By the same organic instrument, the Trustees of Bacon
College consenting, the property of that defunct Institution was
transferred to the new Board, and Bacon College ceased to exist,
in name as well as in fact.

One of the early prejudices that had to be met in raising a
sufficient endowment for a University, was the notion that no in-
stitution of learning ought to be largely endowed; that it was
better to keep the Professors dependent on tuition fees for their
support. This, it was frequently argued, would make them more
active in obtaining patronage and more faithful in the discharge
of their duties. In fact, the last attempt that the Trustees of
Bacon College had made to revive that Institution was to elect a
nominal President, and send him out to raise a fund of thirty
thousand dollars from the State at large! This amount, it was
supposed, would be sufficient for all the purposes of a first-class
College.

When, therefore, Mr. Bowman had obtained one hundred and
fifty thousand dollars, the general expression was that he had
enough—that it was already a magnificent endowment, and many
of the friends of the enterprise seemed to be satisfied. But this
view of the matter seriously embarrassed his operations in two
ways: First, it made any further appeals for money seem like
extravagant and unreasonable demands. Second, it led to an
urgent request, which, at last, amounted almost to clamor, that
the Institution should be opened forthwith. Mr. Bowman, and
others, saw that a premature opening of the College would be
ruinous; and yet the popular demand must be satisfied. It was
accordingly agreed that a Preparatory School should be opened
temporarily in the old Bacon College building; and in September,
1858, this school went into operation under the name of the Tay-
lor Academy, with nearly one hundred students in attendance. At
the same time, it was agreed that in September, 1859, a College
of Science and Arts should be opened under the Presidency of
R. Milligan, assisted by the proper number of Professors.

In the meantime, in order to present the plan of a University
more plainly to the people on whom he relied for the material
aid, Mr. Bowman began to discuss earnestly the great question of
collegiate and professional education, and to insist that he needed
not less than one half a million of dollars in order to lay the founda-
tion of his enterprise. He says:

 

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_—V——.—_—.‘§.& -