Preservation Racine, Inc Newsletter a History Of
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PRESERVATION RACINE, INC NEWSLETTER SUMMER 2002 A SPECIAL EDITION ON THE 150™ ANNIVERSARY OF RACINE COLLEGE A HISTORY OF RACINE COLLEGE by DOROTHY OSBORNE In the 81 years of its existence, Racine College in Racine, Wisconsin, went from one professor and nine students to enrollments of 250 in the several educational categories: college, high school, and grammar school. It went from ten acres to ninety and back again to ten; from a rented room to ten impressive buildings; and finally closed in 1933 facing bankruptcy. From the very beginning of its life in 1852, it exerted a beneficial effect upon the cultural, educational, and religious life ofthe city of Racine and surrounding areas. The need in the area for a school of higher learning was first broached to the Episcopal Diocese of Wisconsin about 1850 by the Rev. Dr. Joseph Nichols, Rector of St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Racine, and the Rev. Dr. Azel Cole of Nashota House, the Episcopal seminary at Delafield. There was at that time no such school west ofthe Appalachian Mountains. They suggested a contest between Racine and Milwaukee to determine the site. Racine won, without question, with ten acres of land and a fijnd of $10,000. The city of Racine had been incorporated only four years before and had a population of about five thousand; the membership of St. Luke's Church was about 150. Throughout the years both city and church were represented on the board of trustees which fimctioned as the governing body ofthe college. In March of 1852, the charter from the state incorporated the board of trustees, which immediately set the opening date for the coUege for November of that year. Since the first building was not completed until 1853, the first classes were held in a rented room downtown in the basement ofthe First Baptist Church, then located on Haymarket (Monument) Square, with one professor, the Rev. Dr. Roswell Park (who was also president), and his nine students. When Dr. Park was invited to come to Racine to establish and to be the first president of Racine CoUege, he was qualified in many fields. He had a bachelor's degree from Union College in New York State, and had graduated first in his class from West Point Military Academy. He had served five years in the Army Corps of Engineers, and resigned to become professor of chemistry and natural philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania before he secured his religious training. After his ordination he became rector of an Episcopal church in Connecticut, where for seven years he served a dual role as rector and headmaster of an academy connected with the church. He arrived in Racine in early November 1852. He must have been a man of enormous energy, for it appears that in the beginning he held all ofthe offices ofthe college—president, professor, chaplain, treasurer, fijnd raiser, curriculum planner; in addition he was rector of St. Luke's Church. The college experienced a steady growth under his leadership. According to historian Dr. Thomas Reeves, Dr. Park was an "effective administrator and fiind raiser, and at the conclusion of seven years the school had assets of about $ 13 5,000, a greatly improved curriculum, and forty-three graduates." The first building was named for him; he is buried on the coUege grounds just east ofthe chapel, and later the city of Racine named a street for him. The founders ofthe college. Dr. Nichols and Dr. Cole, feU that the "interests of religion and the political strengthening ofthe new West are so intimately interwoven with the morals of our settlers that secular education ought to be combined with Christian teaching. .." The original charter did not specify that the college was to be an Episcopalian institution, but the board of trustees, early in 1853, amended the charter to specify that it would be an Episcopalian school. Over the years, however, provision was made for non-Episcopalian students to enroll. Dr. Park deviated from the classical program of most ofthe religious schools ofthe time by adding a science course to the college curriculum. Over the years, the curriculum changed to suit the enrollment. In 1859 the grammar school was added, and in 1887 the collegiate department closed, but the school did attain, in the very last year of its existence, accreditation as a junior coUege. The founders ofthe college had expectations that the preparatory course and the college course would attract some young men who wished to enter the seminary at Nashota. That did happen and in the early years those young men, with the assistance of clergy on the faculty, helped to develop several Episcopal missions which became established churches in Racine—Immanuel, St. Stephen's, Holy Innocents, and St. Michael's. The young men taught Sunday School, and helped in other ways. The college and its successors, the Academy and the Military Academy, were always governed by a self-perpetuating board of trustees. The original board included: Bishop Jackson Kemper, the first bishop ofthe Episcopal Diocese of Wisconsin, ex officio; Dr. Park; Dr. Cole; ten clergymen from ten parishes (including Dr. Nichols of St. Luke's in Racine); and thirteen business and professional men (including from Racine, attorney MarshaU M. Strong, Elias Smith, Isaac Taylor, Gen. Philo White, Nelson Pendleton, Matthew B. Mead, Peyton R. Morgan, William H. Lathrop, and Henry Ullman). Of course, as the years passed the membership ofthe board changed as the members elected their own successors. In 1902 on the board were five bishops, seven clergymen (including two from Racine, the Revs. Arthur Piper and R.C. Hindley), and sixteen prominent professional and business leaders (among them, seven from Racine). Seven years after the founding ofthe college, a nationwide depression caused financial worries, but it actually initiated the years of Racine College's greatest success. Dr. Park, who had been president since its beginning, asked the Rev. Dr. James DeKoven if he would consider a union ofthe college with St. John's Hall of Delafield, a grammar school which Dr. DeKoven directed. Flis agreement and the consolidation ofthe two schools in Racine began the most important epoch ofthe college. Following Dr. Park's resignation as president in 1859 (he continued his duties as professor and as rector of St. Luke's Church for four more years). Dr. DeKoven assumed the leadership of Racine CoUege and, according to all authorities available, that twenty-year leadership brought the college its finest years. Mrs. Lincoln wrote of him as gracious and suave. Dr. Reeves applied the adjectives "saintly, brilliant, outspoken" to him and said, "DeKoven devoted almost all of his incredible energy for the next two decades to Racine College, making it the most distinguished church college west ofthe Alleghenies." He instituted a community plan in which faculty members and their families lived in the dormitories and 3 ate their meals with the students, giving a family atmosphere to the school. Dr. DeKoven's strenuous efforts to preserve the Anglo-Catholic tradition in his church cost him elections to two bishoprics, one in Wisconsin, the other a year later in Illinois. Had he been writing a resume before coming to Racine, he would have listed that he was a graduate of Columbia University in 1851, second in the class; that he had done outreach work in lower Manhattan establishing a "ragged school" for disadvantaged boys; that he had graduated in 1854 from the General Theological Seminary in New York City. After his graduation he accepted the Chair of Ecclesiastical History at Nashota Seminary. While continuing his duties at Nashota, he became rector of St. John Chrysostom Episcopal Church in Delafield and warden of St. John's Hall in the same village, untU the consolidation ofthe two schools in Racine in 1859. Dr. DeKoven's inspired leadership brought renewed vitality and prosperity both to the college and to the grammar school, but after his sudden and early death at age 48, the spark was lacking, even though the leadership was qualified, competent, and devoted. He is buried next to the chapel on the grounds ofthe college. In 1963, 84 years after his death, his name was placed in the Episcopal calendar ofthe Church year, noting that he "has left a permanent stamp on the learning and piety ofthe Episcopal Church." AU ofthe buildings on the campus ofthe DeKoven Center, which now owns all ofthe remaining college property, were built during the administrations of Dr. Park and Dr. DeKoven, except for the swimming pool. The campus today is a pleasant and peacefijl scene. The buildings, all on the National Register of Historic Places and built in the Collegiate or English Gothic architectural style, are almost unaltered from the time they were built. The original ten acres were described as an oak knoll, and some ofthe old oak trees still survive, as well as many that are probably descendants ofthe old trees. Many other varieties of trees and shrubs, some of which were brought to the campus by professors retuming from their travels, have been planted. I know there was a fence, because a stile on DeKoven Avenue is mentioned several times in the College Mercury, a newspaper published by the students. Authorities differ as to the identity ofthe architect ofthe complex. Susan E. Karr, Racine's former architectural conservationist, credits J.F. Miller of New York as the designer, and Lucas Bradley, noted Racine architect and contractor, as the builder. It may be that Bradley adapted Miller's designs to changing needs. 7he Mercury sometimes gave Miller the credit, and sometimes Bradley, when buildings were being erected. The buildings, all of Racine cream brick with some imported red brick trim, were planned to form a quadrangle with the chapel in the center according to Dr.