Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-08-01
The Names Of Colleges.

men is Smith college at Northampton,
Mass, and now millionaire nursery
man Of Geneva, N. Y, whose name Is
william Smith, proposes to found 6
college in that city and it. too,
is to bear the name of Smith College.
1t is a pity that another name is not
selected for two Smith colleges for
women will result in unnecessary con-
fusion and will be an injustice to the
older institution. The duplication of
names, however, among higher insti-
tutions of learning is nothing new.
though in few instances is a college
whose name is also borne by others so
large and important as Smith.
There are, for instance, three colleges
bearing the name Of Union, one each
in New York, Kentucky and Nebraska.
There is washington University in St.
Louis and one Washington college in
Maryland and another in Tennessee.
The names of Washington and Jeffer-
son and Washington and Lee are COM
bined in college names. There is
Trinity college in Connecticut and an
other in North Carolina. ST. Mary's
College appears three times on the list,
in Kansas, kentucky and North Caro-
lima, respectively, and there is Mt. ST.
Mary's college in Maryland. Wesley
an is a favorite name with Methodist
colleges, though it is usually preceded
by the name of the state where located,
as Illinois Wesleyan, Kentucky Wes-
leyan, Kansas Wesleyan. Nebraska
Wesleyan, Ohio Wesleyan and Iowa
Wesleyan. There are also Wesleyan
University in Connecticut and Central
Wesleyan College in Missouri.
Oregon is big enough for both Pa
cific college and Pacific University
Illinois not only has the well known
Northwestern University at Chicago
with $500 students, but it has North
western College at Mapierville with
400 students, and there is another
Northwestern University in Wisconsin.
There four Southwestern colleges and
universities. There are Clark univer-
stiles in Massachusetts, and Georgia,
and though everybody in the East
knows of Cornell University in New
York. few of us ever heard of Cornell
College in Iowa which is credited with
1875 students. The most mysterious
case of similar names is in Virginia
where there are two colleges bearing
the name of Randolph Macon, both I'M
der Methodist control, one of them
founded in 1880 and one in 1898. the
older having 100 and the younger 266
students.
And so it goes. There are many 9TH
err instances where names are duplicat-
ed. and perhaps instead of scolding Will
liam Smith of Geneva, New York. for
founding another Smith college for
women we should simply express our
wonder that so common name as
Smith has not long ago been given to
more than one educational institution.
There do not happen TO be colleges
elsewhere bearing the name of any of
our Maine institutions. The Ameri-
can Almanac for 1903 gives Alb col
leges and universities in the United
States. The great majority, of course,
were never heard of by most of us, and
two or three hundred Of them are little
worthy the name of college or univer-
sity as these designations are applied
in New England, but there is a place
and work for all of them and they are
all factors of Importance in our great
educational system upon which depends
the future welfare of our republic.