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XI.-OTTERBEIN UNIVERSITY.

(WESTERVILLE, FRANKLIN COUNTY.)

About 1840 there began to be felt among the members of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ a desire for a college where their sons might obtain a collegiate education within the protecting influence of the church. This feeling and the reasons underlying it were thus strongly stated by Bishop Glossbrenner:

Not a few United Brethren in the days of other years were deterred from sending their sons to college from perhaps a well-grounded apprehension that their religious principles might be endangered. Conscientious United Brethren themselves, they wished their children to be partakers of the same precious faith; and this many of them esteemed of greater importance than any mere intellectual attainments. And there were never wanting examples of religions defection and ensuing profligacy well calculated to awaken their fears. Comparatively few of the sons of United Brethren who were educated 20 years ago are now members of the church. Even those who were regular communicants when they left their homes for the theater of literary training were in a large majority of instances carried away by the force of surrounding influences, and either fell into the ranks of other denominations or else made shipwreck of their faith and were thus lost to the church.

Possibly the United Brethren suffered more than other denominations from defections of this sort, but whether this was the case or not the feeling was setting strongly towards the establishment of a college within the control of the church.

The range of education among the United Brethren early in this century was not high, and Bishop Glossbrenner records that when he became a minister in the church he did not know half a dozen United Brethren graduates, and that "there were several large conferences which did not contain a single minister or layman who enjoyed the benefits of a collegiate education." Another of those who were interested in the organization of the university speaks of "the need of education for the benefit of the church being deeply felt by many of its ardent supporters, and the want of a permanent location in Ohio where the church could concentrate their united efforts in establishing a school of learning to give to the lovers of education an opportunity of securing it within the same."

In 1846, while the subject was in agitation among the United Brethren, the Methodist Episcopal Church, in order to concentrate at Delaware its educational efforts in Ohio, decided to dispose of certain property in the village of Westerville, which was known as the "Blendon Young Men's Seminary." It was proposed by the citizens of Westerville to turn this property over to the United Brethren at a nominal price if

they would establish their projected college in the village. The proposition was received by the United Brethren in October of that year, a committee of investigation appointed, the purchase recommended, and trustees selected. The board held its first meeting April 26, 1847, which date marks the foundation of the institution. For 2 years an academy only was maintained but the institution was chartered in 1849, as "The Otterbein University of Ohio," receiving its name from Philip William Otterbein, the founder of the denomination. The board of trustees were to be elected by certain couferences of the church that were cooperating in its organization. The usual collegiate powers were conferred upon the corporation, and a college was soon organized and opened for students.

As in the case of most of the smaller colleges of the country, thehistory of Otterbein University is in a large measure the record of a long and severe struggle to solve the financial problem and provide the necessary funds for carrying on the educational work of the institution. At the outset the only resources of the college were the tuition fees of students and the contributions of the conferences of the church. Rev. Lewis Davis, D. D., became president of the institution in 1850, in the third year of its existence and the first of its educational work, and to him more than to any other man is due the honor of establishing it upon a permanent basis among the colleges of the State. Dr. Davis was among those most active in starting the movement for a college, and was a member of its first board of trustees. The records of the trustees show that it was beset with serious financial troubles, especially in its early years. To these troubles, so fatal to the successful prosecution of educational work, Dr. Davis did not succub, but when necessary left the halls of the college in order to canvass the church for funds to pay debts and meet current expenses.

In the first years of the college plans had been adopted for raising an endowment fund by the sale of scholarships. Those who purchased them gave their notes for the amount, with the understanding that when $75,000 had thus been raised the scholarships would be furnished and the notes collected. By the time sales to that amount had been made a difficulty arose by which the university lost almost the entire amount. This came about through the failure of the trustees to establish a manfual-labor department.

MANUAL LABOR.

As in many other colleges at about this time, so at Otterbein there was a strong feeling on the part of some of the trustees that the manual-labor system should be adopted. It is unnecessary to explain the system, or to discuss the arguments for and against it. They were substantially the same when adduced at Otterbein as elsewhere. Among those who founded this institution it was strongly advocated, and the charter provided for the establishment of a "manual-labor

school," and for several years this was announced as one of the features of the institution. In 1849, the board of trustees adopted a resolution that "the manual labor system be and is hereby attached to this institution and shall be put into operation as soon as possible." A similar resolution in 1854 shows that during the 5 intervening years nothing had been done to carry out the previous resolution. In 1855, when the movement was in progress to raise an endowment fund by the sale of scholarships, the trustees resolved that one-third the sum raised be applied to "the perfecting of the manual-labor system." Again, in 1857, the board agreed that one professorship of the endowment fund when raised be established in the manual-labor department. Notwithstanding all these resolutions little serious effort was bestowed upon the scheme, and nothing that could be called a system was established. Whether this state of affairs came from lukewarmness on the part of the managers, or from the consciousness that the system was not practicable, is not apparent. Finally, in 1859, when the question once more came before the board, the whole subject was indefinitely postponed, "aud the manual-labor department," according to ex-President Thompson, "has slept in peace ever since." While this disposition of what is now generally regarded as an impracticable educational notion was perhaps not to be regretted for its own sake, its effect upon the endowment fund was fatal. The majority of those who had given their notes in payment for scholarships claimed that they had done so on the pledge of the trustees that the manual-labor system would be established and maintained. Consequently they now refused to pay their notes, on the ground that the trustees had broken their agreement. The result was that nearly the whole endowment fund, which had been raised with great labor, had to be abandoned, and at the end of its first 15 years the institution found itself without endowment and in debt.

In 1865 President Davis and others determined to raise a fund by voluntary subscription. In this they were measurably successful, aud a fund of about $75,000 was raised in a few years and the debts pro. vided for. Between 1880 and 1884 $100,000 were added to this, so that the fund is now about $200,000.

In 1870 the university met with a serious, almost fatal, disaster in the destruction by fire of the main building, with its entire contents, including the library. The citizens of Westerville and Columbus, 12 miles distant, interested themselves in behalf of the university, and through their assistance and the contributions of the supporting conferences a new building was erected in 1871, thus placing the university on its feet again. This building afforded room for the chapel, library, recitation. rooms, and literary societies.

Before leaving the subject of the financial resources of the college it should be stated that the property of the Blendon Seminary, purchased in 1847, consisted of 8 acres of ground and two buildings, one of which was

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