The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-07-17

of ten trustees. of whom seven
| we're members of the Church Of kngland.
Several of the latter were likewise vestrymen tI
| OF Trinity Church, and this circuns .ance,
| taken in connection with a liberal BIeus y.
land made by Trinity, occasioneo q 9 ylolens
opposition TO the granting Of royal onarter
to the protected institution, on the ground that
| IL was an attempt to Introduce church esta-
lishment into the province. In November,
1853, DR.. Samuel Johnson, oil connecticut,
was invited 20 become President of the pro-
posed College, which position he accepted, on
the passage of the charter in October, 1754
From this period dates the history of the
collegiate corporation which, next to Harvard
University, is the wealthiest in the United
States.
The institution was given ths name of Kings
College, and was placed under the manage
ment OF board of governors, including the
Archbishop of Canterbury and various colo
NAL and home officials for the time being, the
ministers OF Trinity, the Reformed Protestant
Dutch, the German Lutheran, the French, and
the Presbyterian Churches, and twenty-four of
the principal men of the city. Although it is
now generally regarded as an institution of the
Protestant Episcopal Church, it is not so, pro-
perly speaking. But by an imperative re-
quirement, the President must be member
of and in communion with that denomination.
The ground designated by Trinity Church
for the site of the College was bounded by
Barclay, Church, and Murray streets, and the
Hudson river. This was granted to the Col
lege in May, 1855; and on portion of it, at
the foot of what was then called Upper Robin
son street, now Park Place, the College was
subsequently built remaining there for
period of one hundred and three years. until
removal was rendered necessary in 1857 by
the demands of business. The portion of the
lands granted by Trinity which was not re-
quired for College purposes was leased, the
rental furnishing the institution with valu-
able revenue. In addition to the above grant,
and the money raised by lottery, the resources
of the College were increased by contributions
from England, France, and America, and by
Legislative grant, in 1914, of twenty acres of
land, bounded by the present Fifth and Sixth
avenues, and Forty-seventh and Fifty-frst
streets. At that time this tract was worth
about $4,000, but at the present day its value,
owing to the improvement of the neighbor-
hood, is almost incalculable.
In 1853 Samuel Johnson was succeeded in
the Presidency by the Rev. Myles Cooper
LID, who retained the position until 1775.
He was only twenty-seven years of age when
he came over from England to take the posi-
tion, and was somewhat given to the compost
tion of rather unchaste poetry. Being an
earnest sympathizer with the Tories, he be-
came very unpopular, and was finally obliged
to escape from the city under cover Of dark
ness, being saved from personal violence only
through the exertions of Alexander Hamilton,
then student of the College Since that
time, the following persons have filed the
Office of President:-Rev. William Samuel
Johnson, a son of the first President (17S7-
1900, Rev. Charles Wharton, ID. QS01),
Bishop Benjamin Moore, (lS01-181D, Rev.
William william Harris ID {lSll-l929g2s Hon
Notho,,;al (1QdO 1Q1QN
Charles King, LID. (1S49-1S64), and the
Rev. Frederick H. P. Barnard, D. D., LID,
the present incumbent.
Ihe hrst class that graduated from the Col
Iege was IN l75o, and consisted of members.
IL was not until l766, when IL students were
graduated. that this number was equalled
from i75S to 1916 the graduates murdered
1vI, In April of the latter year. the buildings
were taken for military purposes, and the Col
lege exercises were almost entirely suspended
until the rstaFn Of peace. Among the stu
dents who were prevented from completing
their regular course was Alexander Hamilton.
In l784 the institution was erected into a
University; but this proved unsuccessful, and
in 1887 its original organization was restored,
and the name changed to Columbia College
At subsequent periods slight changes were
effected in the organization by legislative
authority. In 1920 important alterations and
additions to the buildings were made, and in
May, 1857, the College was removed from its
old location on Park Place to East Forty
ninth street, between Madison and Fourth
| avenues.
The first graduating class after the Revolu-
tionary War was that of 1856, which numbered
members. From that time to the present
the size of the classes has varied greatly,
reaching the maximum in 1868, when AS were
graduated, but seldom rising above 35
Among the prominent men which it has giver
to the country were John Jay, Chief Justice o
the United States; De Witt Clinton and Hamil
ton Fish, Governors of New York; Daniel ID
Tompkins, Vice-P President of the United States
Gouverneur Morris, Robert R. Livingston, ant
John Slidell.
In 1867 a Medical Department was esta
blished, the first graduating class being that 0
1869, and numbering two members. 1t die
not prosper, however, and was discontinued
on the establishment of the College of PLY
sicians and Surgeons in 1873. In 1860 uniol
was effected with the latter prosperous insti
tuition, which is now known as the Medica
Department of Columbia College.
In 1927 grammar school was establishes
in connection with the College, but this wa
discontinued in 1868. In 1880 a more popu
lar course of study known as the Literar
and Scientific Course, was established; bu
this did not meet with much favor and wa
also discontinued in 1943. In 1868, however
it was reorganized by the appointment of tn
Faculty of the School of Mines, which is no,
in a very prosperous condition. In May
1855 the Law School was established, an
has become one of the largest in the country.
The last general catalogue was issued i