Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1861-01-03
Cleveland, Dec %. 1860.
CHICAGO AND HER INSTITUTIONS
OF LEARNING.
Correspondence of the Rutland Herald.

o1 LLAhNiNu
Correspondents of the Rutland Herald
CHICAGO, ILL.,, Dec. "a, 1860
DEAR HERALD Your readers, doubtless
have heard much about Chicago in polili-
| cal, commercial and financial point OF view,
but OF Chicago as a literary place bat little
| has ever been said or written. You have
heard how rapidly Chicago has Increased in
population aud in commercial importance !;
how IT has become the greatest grain metrop-
oils in the world how it builds huge " Wig
vans in two weeks that will accommodate
twelve thousand persons; how it raises up
massive blocks of buildings that cover an acre
of ground without cracking ceiling or IN
any way interrupting the business Of the
stores within, but / presume you have not
heard, except perhaps in a general way, how
well il provides for its educational wants, by
IFS free public schools, its large and elegant
school bouses, which are equalled by none
even in New York or Boston, its liberal APP
preparations of money for the support of
schools; by founding Colleges and Universi-
ties and Theological Seminaries, and by es
tablishing Asylums and Reform Schools.
therefore propose TO give you brief view Of
Chicago as a place whose educational pro-
gress has kept pace with its commercial and
political growth.
PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
To appreciate fully what Chicago has done
for put lie instruction, it would be necessary
to look back some twenty or twenty-five years
and contrast that little village struggling
against the disadvantages incident 10 a new
country, almost destitute of the means Of ed
ucating the young, with the present pOpulous
city possessing, as it does, $1,000, 900 IN pub
lie school property, with the spacious and
oor,,,oI;o,,s a.bool buiIdiu0z tho fo.tlu
paratus and the various facilities for instruc-
ton. Chicago now has system Of graded
schools second in efficiency to none in the
country; il was modelled after the Boston sys-
TEN and has been thoroughly ca ried out,
and, notwithstanding the opposition il has
met with from time to time by the ignorant
and short-sighted it las produced and is pro-
ducing results most encouraging to the friends
of popular education. The High School is
really school Of superior order. TIE cost
of the building and the lot on which IT stands,
was about $4,000. The Grammar School
buildings cost the city from $4,000 to
S35, 900 each, not including the lots, which
are valued at nearly as much more. No city
in the country has made better arrangements
for the free instruction Of the youth at large
than Chicago.
UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES.
Chicago IS called the Garden City Of the
West, and It has been well suggested that. IN
learning lear, established here, il should also be
called her "Cradle of Learning" You would
hardly expect a city, less than twenty-five
years old, would have half dozen different
Colleges; aud yet -uch is the case, and some
Of them are of high order and will compare
tAvorably with many eastern Colleges. OF
this stamp Is the " University of Chicago"
whose Course of Study" is quite as thorough
and as extensive as that OF Ysle or Harvard.
Though it is less than two years old, 1t cata-
logues nearly two hundred students in all
departments. The Faculty are elected from
different religious denominations, and hence
il receives patronage from all quarters
''Lynde University" under the direction of
the new School Preshyterians, is located a
few-miles out of town, at Lake Forest, bat is
easily accessible by the cars. Ii has pros
porous beginning, and promises to be a sue
cess. The Northwestern University" the
Methodist institution, is situated at Evanston, !
about forty minutes ride from the city by |
rail. Ii has suffered so ne, believe, from |
the financial depression of the West, and |
scarcely less from the consequent esignaton |
of the President. But IFS friends are gather |
ing new courage. The College OF the old /
school Presbyterians is yet IN its incipient |
state. The Catholic College, am told, Is |
prospecting in its way, but the general disci- |
pine of that Church does not seen to pro-
mote a love of learning among the mss.ss.
Under the head of Colleges | should men
ton also the Female Seminaries, of which
there are three or four in and about Chi, apo.
The most prominent are " Dearborn Semi
nary" Hyde Park Seminary" and " Lake
Forest Seminary" all of which, am inform
ed, are IN prosperous condition
THEOLOGICAL SUMMARIES.
There are four Theological Summaries in
Chicago, more, perhaps, than in any other
city in the country. The Congregational
Seminary has fine class to graduate next
summer, while the lower classes are still lar
ger. The Old School PRESBYTERIAN Seminary
is under the charge of DIR. Rice, who accord
ing TO Cincinnati paper, has the faculty OF
drawing anti-slavery deductions from pro-
slavery propositions. The Semin airy is well ,
attended. The Garrett Biblical Institute !
the Methodist institution, is perhaps more /
largely attended than any other, and is said
to be well endowed and prosperous. The !
New School Presbyterlans have not yet per- |
fected their plans and arrangements, but | |
that number of young men are
pursuing their studies under regular Profess 4
sors. n
MEDICAL COLLEGES. "
There are three Medical Colleges, all of :
which are in a fourishing state,-the 4" Rush >
Medical College," the Medical Department !:
Of Lynd University, and the Homeopathic y
Medical College.
Time fails me to mention in order other u
professional schools, such as Law Schools (of =
which the most prominent is the Chicago
University Law School) the Commercial
TolIepes the Schools of Art, and the ibra
les, all of which 90 to show that Chicago is N
,y no means behind times in affording facili- d;
les for human culture. CT
LUDo GRAPHIC. OF
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