Origins of the University of Louisville

ORIGINS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE BY WILLIAM CASSELL MALLALIEU Professor of History, University of Louisville Read before The Filson Club, March 1, 1937 The University of Louisville originated in two separate institutions, both of which were founded by the City of Louisville in 1837: the Louisville Medical Institute and the Collegiate Institute of Louisville. It is the oldest of the institutions now known as municipal universities and this year, beginning April 3 [1937], will celebrate its centennial., The school was chartered as a municipal university in 1846, but, as we shall see, it failed to receive annual support from the City until 1910. This paper is an attempt to explain the origins of the University of Louisville and its relations with the City government during the early years of its existence. Why did the City of Louisville start a municipal university in-18377 The answer is found in the conditions of the time and in the personal motives which were both an index and a reflection of the conditions. The period between 1810 and 1840 was one of expansion, of economic, pohtical, and intellectual growth. The population of the United States doubled in these three decades and most of the increase was in the West along the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers and their branches. The West of 1812 had consisted of only four states--Ohio, Kentucky, Ten- nessee, and Lonisiana--and these only partly settled. By 1840 there were eleven Western States, and settlement was practi- cally solid out to the Great Plains and from the Great Lakes to the Gulf. Towns had become cities almost overnight, though not always the towns that land-owners had laid out for specula- tive purposes. Increasing population meant huge profits for lucky or clever land speculators. Statesmen thought of the possibility of using part of the increased value which society had created to benefit society as a whole. Part of the huge Federal income from land sales was deposited with the states to promote 1 In this connection we call attention to the fact that the College of Charleston Charleston, South Carolina) was founded in 1790 and became a municipal "college" n 1837. See R. H. Eckelberry, The History of the Municipal University in the United States, Office of Education, Bulletin, 1932, No. 2, pages 7-22. 1938] Origins of the University of Louisville 25 internal improvements. States and cities gave lands for the support of schools and colleges. Democracy was also on the march. "King Caucus" was overthrown in 1824. Andrew Jackson was elected four years later. In all parts of the country "the common man" came into power. The "aristocrat of talents" was no more. This made a democratic educational system necessary. Especially in the cities, working men demanded free public schools for their children. Academies and colleges were founded in every section. Libraries and lyceums ministered to the thirst for knowledge among the older folk--the beginnings of adult education. All of these developments, leading to increased interest in education, affected Louisville greatly. The Falls of the Ohio became an important stopping point in the rapidly developing steam-boat trade. Indian cessions in western Kentucky and southern Indiana opened new areas for its traders. The sugar and cotton plantations of the lower Mississippi called for the hemp bagging and slave cloth, the cornmeal, corn-whiskey, and pork of the Ohio Valley; and many of these originated in Louis- ville or passed through the hands of its merchants. The town grew rapidly. The frontier town of 1810 with 1,397 inhabitants became, in 1828, an incorporated city, and in 1830 was credited with 10,341 inhabitants, and, in 1840, with 21,210., The City Council realized the necessity of educating its future citizens and very soon took steps toward establishing an elementary school. In 1829 they petitioned the Kentucky Legislature "for a portion of the funds and lands of Jefferson Seminary and the fines and forfeitures accruing within this city for the use and benefit of the public school of this city.''a The Legislature com- plied with the spirit of their request rather than with the letter. Jefferson Seminary had been founded in Louisville as a result of an act of 1798 which allotted land for the support of a "seminary," or secondary school, in each county not already having such an institution.' Jefferson County obtained 6,000 acres of unsettled land and later raised $5,000.00 through a lottery. In 1813 a lot of two-and-a-half acres was purchased on the west side of Eighth Street between Green (now Liberty) - iL.A.W--'-"illiamsandCornpany, His•oryof theOhloFallsCitle•andThelrCountles (HenryA.FordandKateFord, editors). 2 Vols. (1882). Vol. 1, pages 223, 264, 287. z Louisville City Records• No. 2, pages 71, 77, 80, 81. 4William Littell, D/gent of the Statute Law of Kentucky. 2 Vols. (1822). Vol. 2• pages 108, 208. 26 The Filson Club History Quarterly [Vol. 12 and Walnut streets. An additional quarter-acre was later purchased, and a one-story brick building was erected, facing Grayson Street. Here Jefferson Seminary began in 1816, with between forty and fifty students. The faculty consisted of the principal (Mann Butler) at a salary of $600.00 a year, and two assistants at $500.00 each. The tuition fee was $20.00 for each session, which lasted six months., Jefferson Seminary was con- trolled by the Fiscal Court of Jefferson County until 1830, when the Legislature, in response to the City's petition, authorized the transfer to it of one-half the seminary lands and funds for the purpose of erecting a high school building (the other half going to the Orphan Asylum at Middletown)o The lot and building in Louisville was agreed on as the City's share and, accordingly, was transferred to the Seminary in 1844., In the fall of 1837 James Guthrio introduced an ordinance providing for the Collegiate Institute of Louisville. This ordinance, passed on November 27, 1837, specified seven departments: (1) Mental and Moral Science and Political Economy; (2) Mathematics, Natural Science, and Civil Engineering; (3) Latin, Greek, and Hebrew; (4) Modern Languages; (5) Belles Lettres and History; (6) Elementary Branches and English Literature; (7) History and Principles of Agriculture, Manufacture, and the Mechanic Arts. However, since this ambitious plan could not be carried out at once, the faculty, in the beginning, was to consist of a president and three professors (of Mathematics, Ancient Languages, and Belles Lettres and History), at $2,000.00 a year. The faculty could employ such tutors and additional professors as it thought proper, and could make regulations for the conduct of the school. The board of visitors, consisting of nine members, included six ministers and Judge John Rowan. The tuition was to be $25.00 or $30.00 each session of six months, but the City promised to pay $2,000.00 annually for thirty scholars from the public schools. The Institute was to be located on the Seminary Lot.8 It was l H. MeMurtrie, Sketches of Louisville and Its Environs, 1819, pages 124, 125. J. Stoddard Johnston, Memorial History of Louisville, from Its Firet Settlement to the Year 1896. 2 Vols. (1896). Vol. Iz pages 69, 70, 233. e Johnston's Memorial History (op. czt.I, Vol. 1 page 234. Collection of Acts of Virginia and Kentucky Relative to Louisville and Portland (Louisville, 1839), page 92. ' Louisville City Records No. 2, page 500. City Journal No. I, pages 23, 144, 145, 202. ' Louisville City Journal No. 7, pages 370 and following; No. 8, pages 71, 108, el pa•slm. 1938] Origins of the University of Louisville 27 chartered in 1840 as Louisville College under a board of nine trustees chosen by the Mayor and Council., The first faculty (1838) consisted of .five teachers: The Reverend Mr. B. F: Farnsworth, President and Professor of Philosophy and Political Economy; John Harney, Professor of Mathematics, Natural Science and Civil Engineering; James Brown, Professor of Greek and Latin; Leonard Bliss, Professor of Belles Lettres and History; and H. F. Farnsworth, Tutor of Latin.10 In 1840 the faculty was: J. H. Harncy, President and Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy; Noble But- ler, Professor of Ancient Languages; William H. Newton, Pro- fessor of Moral Philosophy, Rhetoric, etc.; L. Lewinski, Pro- fessor of French.l• In 1843, Louisville College was still active, teaching the subjects "usually included in a college course. 'u' In 1844, however, it was said to be yet in its infancy: "It had a faculty until very recently, hut the gentlemen composing it, have, for some cause resigned; and the college edifice is temo porarfly closed. This College has an endowment, but which at present is not sufficiently productive to enable the trustees to provide the proper buildings and sustain a faculty. No great time, it is believed, will elapse before it will be placed on a respectable footing.''1• The Louisville Medical Institute, the other school from which the University of Louisville originated, had been chartered in 1833 on the petition of a number of Louisville physicians headed by Dr. Alban Gold Smith (or Goldsmith). •° The purpose of the Institute, as given in its charter, was simply "the advance- ment of medical science," and no reference was made to teaching or the granting of degrees, although departments were referred to. It was also provided that the Board of Managers should be chosen annually by the "members," and that the medical departments of the Marine Hospital of Louisville and of the City Poor- o Collection of Acts (1839) (op. cir.), pages 153, 15•, 159, 191,192.

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