Origin and Development of Northeastern University, 1898-1960
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
I ORIGIN and DEVELOPMENT of NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY 1898 - 1960 /O M. fZe.t'P'^'^'^ ' ORIGIN and DEVELOPMENT of NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY 1898 - 1960 by Everett C. Marston Professor of English Northeastern Un iversity Published by Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts Manufactured in the United States b\' The Cuneo Press of New England, Inc. Copyright Northeastern University 1961 PREFACE The purpose of this book is to report the history of North- eastern University, not in the fomi of a definitive factual record but as the story of an unusual institution of learning. The time span of the history is not extensive— 1896 to 1960— yet within that period a simple program of evening education for emploved young men, conducted by the Boston Young Men's Christian Association, became a large and impressive universitv. The assembling of this report has been difficult for two rea- sons. From 1898 until the years following World War 1, the builders of Northeastern were unaware that they were devel- oping a universitv; as a result, they did not record and preserve the information and interpretation which now would be of great value. The immediacy of time imposes the second handi- cap, since in 1960 an objective view of many events and people important to the historv of Northeastern is impossible to estab- lish. No doubt another recorder in 2060 will see these elements in authentic historical perspective. The present story of Northeastern is the result of composite eff^orts. Although anv errors of fact or sins of judgment must be the responsibility of the writer, many other people con- tributed, directly or indirectlv, to the content of this book. The setting and background of the Northeastern story was drawn from the writers listed in the Bibliography. The Annual Reports of the Boston Young Men's Christian Association from 1883 onward were a vital source of information, as were nu- merous Universitv reports and records. Dr. Carl Ell authorized this project in the fall of 1958, and in the following months provided invaluable data and general assistance. A reviewing committee made up of Dr. Ell, Dr. William White, Dean Kenneth Rvder, and Mr. George Speers read first drafts of chapters and made corrections and suggestions. Professors Joseph Spear, Harold Melvin, and Edward Par- sons were helpful in many ways but particularly by evaluating iii Preface the first version of the development of student activities at Northeastern. Similarly, Dean Roy Wooldridge and Professors John Morgan and Thomas McMahon passed judgment on the chapter on Co-operative Education at Northeastern. Mrs. Marjorie Prout contributed valuable information from memory, from extensive records which she had built up through past years, and in numerous folders labeled "Odds and Ends of NU History." President Asa Knowles provided valuable assistance and made possible the final form of this history. Mr. Landon Herrick of the Library staff, in charge of Ar- chives, was helpful and co-operative; he performed a service for the University by systematizing a mass of historical material which earlier had been only a mass. Miss Manola Simpson tvped the first version of the manu- script and Virginia Ryder, an expert though volunteer worker, prepared the final version; both exercised editorial judgment as well as technical skill. In addition, the following people contributed to the content of this book, in some instances without knowing thev were do- ing so—Julian Jackson, Major Charles Skinner, Roland Moody, Frederick Holmes, William Wilkinson, Charles Havice, G. Rav- mond Fennell, Donald MacKenzie, Martin Essigmann, Richard Sprague, Robert Bruce, Loring Thompson, Rudolf Oberg, Mil- ton Schlagenhauf, Charles Kitchin, William Miernyk, Galen Light, Emil Gramstorff, Herbert Gallagher, George Mallion, Arthur Vernon, Lester Vander Werf, Alfred Ferretti, Chester Baker, Albert Everett, Ralph Troupe, Charles Baird, Carl Muckenhoupt, Mrs. Mildred Garfield, Wilfred Lake, Myron Spencer, ]. Kenneth Stevenson, Roger Hamilton, Franklin Norvish, William Alexander. If, by this combined effort but with final responsibility rest- ing with the writer, the story of Northeastern to 1960 reflects a portion of the imagination, courage, and enterprise which made a university, the time and effort have been well spent. IV CONTENTS CHAPTER I The Time and the Setting 1 II An Evening Institute for Young Men 9 III The Founding of Schools 14 IV Fonning an Educational Pattern 31 V Establishing an Independent University 57 VI Adaptation to Change 63 VII A Home is Built 75 VIII Fifty Years of Co-operative Education 98 IX Sixty Years of Evening Education 108 X Student Activities 116 XI The Student in After Years 132 XII Wars and the Armed Forces 140 XIII "A Familv of Men and Women" 149 XIV The Governing Body 161 XV "A Great Unrealized Potential" 171 Appendix A Northeastern University Chronology 185 Appendix B Members of the Corporation 1936-1960 189 Appendix C Directors and Deans 215 Appendix D Northeastern Buildings and Rooms 219 Appendix E Honorary Degrees 221 Bibliography 233 THE TIME AND THE SETTING Boston in the 1890's was a city glorying in its past, reveling in the present, and with a new and different future pressing in upon it impatiently. The past had been long and distinguished, not only studded with such stirring events as those at Faneuil Hall, the Common, Bunker Hill, and Dorchester Heights, but with a vigorous nine- teenth century coming to a close. Major events were occurring in various parts of the world during the last decade of the century. In Gemiany, Bismarck "the Iron Chancellor" died in 1898, leaving as a monument to his long life a unified Germany and a legacy of trouble for the future. In France, in the same year, Marie and Pierre Curie brought their experiments to the point of discovering and es- tablishing radium as a new element. In England, Victoria was the symbol of an empire. Queen of Britain and Empress of India, with the Diamond jubilee of 1897 celel^rating and dem- onstrating the greatness of the empire. In Central America and in the orient, uneasy developments were forming and growing. An unstable balance of power and the pressure of new forces resulted in the Spanish-American War of 1898, a minor conflict in contrast to later wars since the four months of hostilities cost a mere $250,000 and a total of 5000 American lives, most of the deaths the result of disease rather than battle casualty. Yet the war resulted in ownership or protection by the United States 1 Origin and Development of Noiiheastern University of Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippine Islands. With the addition of Hawaii to its possessions, the United States as- sumed the new and difficult role of world power, in territory as well as in responsibility and leadership. Boston was involved, both directly and indirectly, in all of these wide developments. At the same time, Boston was pre- occupied with its own affairs, for the 1890's ended a century of local expansion, material progress, and modernization. The phvsical citv was growing. The pear-shaped peninsula of 783 acres which constituted colonial Boston would become by 1903 an area of 1829 acres. Mill Cove in the North End, roughlv from Haymarket Square to Causeway Street, had been filled during the first quarter of the nineteenth centurv. Over a hundred acres had been added in East Cove, along the present Atlantic Avenue section. In the 1830's the South Cove Com- pany had redeemed from tidewater fifty-five acres of land lying southward from South Station. The Back Bav tidewater area had been in process of filling and development for forty years, and was absorbing more and more of the overflow population, including some people from the alreadv congested North End. The terrain of Boston was beginning to acquire the extent and aspect which in our time are so familiar. Inventions and improvements, bringing to portions of the Boston population the niceties of life, were beginning to be taken for granted. In 1848 the opening of the water suppK from Lake Cochitu- ate to the streets and houses of Boston had been the occasion for high rejoicing, with parades, orations, fireworks, a man- made gevser rising sixtv to eightv feet in the Frog Pond, and a day of freedom for all school children of the cit\'. The Railroad Celebration, three years later, when Boston was connected by rail with Canada, was a round of banquets, vacht races, and the entertainment of distinsuished visitors, including; President Millard Fillmore. In following decades such marvels as the telephone, the Boston subwav, and even the common use of bathtubs and ice- The Time and the Setting boxes, were accepted without celebration, or even much sur- prise. America was a growing, progressive nation, and Boston was assinned to be in the front line of advance. The phrase "Athens of America" was still applied to Boston and its kindred intellectual suburbs of Cambridge and Con- cord, though the label was less used as time passed. The influential giants Daniel Webster, Emerson, Longfellow, Haw- thorne, Thoreau, and others of their generation had passed from the scene. The impression thev had made still lingered, however, and other and different great men were taking their places. A representative of distinguished public service was Chief Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, who in 1902 would join the Supreme Court. At Harvard, William James and George Santavana were onlv two of the powerful minds that were to influence thinking in America and in the world. As a background to the outstanding figures in law, science, scholarship, and the arts, Bostonian culture was a pattern unique in American cities, with deep roots and long, steadv growth. Institutions and traditions familiar in our time were alreadv well established in the 1890's.