Evening star., 1909-07-02
HamiIton's Name Perpetuated
by College at Clinton, N. Y.
PLACED ON A HIGH HILL
No Educational Institution Better
Located.
GIFTS OF LEADING GRADUATES
Home of Senator Root-Greek Letter
Societies Favored-Home Of
One Fraternity.
BY WILLIAM e. CURTIS.
Special Correspondence Of The Star and the
Chicago Record Herald

BY WILLIAM e. CURTIS.
Special Correspondence Of The Star and the
Chicago Record Herald.
CLINTON, n. Y, July 1. 1909.
Hamilton College is situated at the top
of a ridge Of land that bounds the val
ley Of the Oriskany river the west.
1t Is long climb from the village, like
that of the hill OF science. and other
appropriate SMILES might be introduced
here. but they would not make it any
shorter. A portion of tract of two
square miles. decided to Samuel Kirkland
in 177S by the Oneida Indians, furnished
the site, OF which ninety acres has been
retained for a campus, and much of 1T is
shaded with groves OF stately trees. No
college in the world has a nobler loca-
ton. The ridge upon which the buildings
stand is 300 feet above the village, 800
feet above the sea and faces the morning
sun. The view is wide and beautiful,
the air is clear and healthful and the
water supply is abundant and pure. Here
Samuel kirkland placed a school in 1889.
and Baron Steuben laid the corner stone
of the first building in the presence of
Skenandowa. the aged Oneida chief.
whose ashes rest in the college burying
ground by the side of his white brother"
back of the row of buildings, which are
sixteen in number, and all but three are
of the same material-a gray stone. quar-
ried from the ground. dignifed. simple.
severe of design, of imposing proportions
and half concealed by groups of splendid
trees.
The chapel. which has recently been
| restored by the generosity of Horace B.
Siliman, and the spire rebuilt by Elihu
Root is the central feature. An organ
has been furnished by Henry Harper
Benedict and memorials by various class
es and graduates.
Some Of the Buildings.
Knox Hall, the original commons. was
enlarged and reftted as a mneralogical
cabinet and museum by the late James
Knox of the class of 80 1t was built in
| 1912. the year the college was incorpo-
rated. and for eight years was the only
building on the ground. For a lifetime
| Prof. Oren Root ST.. taught his classes
| and lived under it's roof with his family,
and in an upper room of the rear part
| Senator Elihu Root was born.
Middle College, formerly called Kirk
| land Hall, and built in 1921. has been de-
voted to various purposes during its long
| and useful career. 1t has served as a
! dormitory, has been cut up into lecture
| halls, and in 1891 the Soper brothers, Ar
thur, Alexander and James, had it re-
modelled into d gymnasium with a swim
| ming pool IS by 30 feet in size where
every freshman is taught to swim under
| the direction of the director of athletics.
| Commons Hall, where the undergraduates
| take their meals, looks like chapel. 1t
| is built of brown stone and half hidden
| under the trees; the dining room is 80 by
40 feet, and 80 feet to the ceiling with a
| big fireplace that lights it up in a most
| cheerful way during the winter days
| The Library Hall, built in 1867 and
largely the gift of the late Perry H:
| Smith of Chicago. class of AZ has served
its purpose well for thrty-five years, but
| is now crowded with an accumulation of
| fifty thousand books and thirty thousand
| pamphlets. and new f1reproof building
| capable of holding two hundred thousand
| volumes is very badly needed. The fac
ulty hope that some generous son of Ham
| ilton will soon provide the means for a
/ combined library and memorial hall.
| The little od-fashioned observatory. in
| which DIR. Peters, the famous astronomer,
| spent his life gazing at the stars, and
| learning from them much of value to hu-
man knowledge, still stands modest and
humble monument to his memory.
| The newest and the grandest building
/ on the campus is Carnegie Hall. erected
| a few years ago through the generosity
of the Laird of Skbo. At the same time
| he gave a fund to furnish twenty-five
scholarships for young men who are
| educating themselves, and-> only a few
weeks ago Mr. Carnegie made a third
| gift of $4,000, the interest upon which
is to be used to increase the salaries Of
| the faculty.
| Senator Roots Home
| And this is to commemorate El:hu
4 Roots services in promoting the peace of
| the world. No more grateful or more ap-
| propriate tribute could have been paid
| to Mr.. Root, because he was born on
| this campus and spent his youth here;
| his fathers life was spent here as
| professor. his elder brother succeeded his
| father, in his chair; Mr.. Root himself, his
| two brothers and two sons are graduates
| of Hamilton, and his family occupy the
| old homestead as their summer home. He
| has recently bought the adjoining cot
| tage as a summer home for his daughter
| the wife of Capt. Ulysses S. Grant Ill
| Mr.. Root has also purchased four farms
| which lie south of his fathers old home
along the banks of the Oriskany river
| making altogether a tract of 672 acres
which he is having laid out as a park
| with walks and drives, fish ponds and
| fountains, and has recently planted 5000
| shade trees. He regards Clinton as his
| home. New York is only a place of busi-
ness, and Washington temporary abid-
| ing place.
Mr.. Root himself has erected a hall Of
science as a memorial to his father, Prof
Oren Root class of '33; Henry Harper,
90, has built a hall of languages; Judge
| Chauncey S. Truax, 10, a hall of phi
losophy. and a new south college dor
mitory has been erected by the gift of an
| unknown donor, through Elihu Root, and
| subscriptions from other friends
| Siliman Hall, the home of the Young
/! Mems Christian Association. was built by
| legacy from the late Horace B Silli-
| man, and is admirably adapted for it's
| purpose. 1t serves as a clubhouse for all
| the students and is particularly useful to
those who do not belong to Greek letter
| fraternities, but one cannot help wishing
that Mr.. Silliman or whoever selected
the design and material did not make
them harmoniZe with the other buildings
| on the camp is, which are a soft gray
stone while this is a very pronounced ex-
| ample of the cottage school of architec-
ture and of red brick.
Memorial to Hamilton.
The general education board, founded
by John d. Rockefeller, has offered
900 10 Hamilton If other friends of the
institution will raise 5000 for an addi-
tional endowment. which ought not to be
difficult. and Judge Charles Holland
Deuel., II, formerly commissioner of pat
| ents as his father before him, makes a
pertinent suggestion that the fund of
$500, 900 now being raised to erect at
| Washington a monument to Alexander
| Hamilton could be much better placed
| here at Clinton, where, he says:
| For nearly a century there has been a
memorial to him of far greater value than
| STORED urn or animated bust Its grad
| yates. numbering several thousands, have
life added luster TO the name of Alexan-
dor Hamilton from whom II derives jt~