Evening star., 1909-07-11
HISTORY OF vASSAR
How a Brewer Founded the
Great Woman's College.
SUGGESTED By HIS NIECE
Came Near Giving His Money for
Monument to Hudson.
FIRST GIFT NEARLY $500, 900
Pioneer to Adopt the Same Standards
as Those in the Highest
Colleges for Men.
SUGGESTED BY HIS NIECE
FIRST GIFT NEARLY $50o,o0o
BY WILLIAM r. CURTIS.

Special Correspondence Of The Star and the
Chicago Record Herald
POUGHkEEPSIE, y. Y, July 2 1909.
Adjoining the steamboat dock at Pough
keepsie is a group of old-fashioned ware
houses with most of the windows knocked
out The walls were formerly white, but
the paint has crumbled off the bricks and
has left a freckled appearance. sign,
which time and the weather have allowed
to remain. is painted in large black let
ters above the double doors that open
upon the docks. and 1t reads:
IN. Vassar Brewery"
And there was made the money that
founded the first college in the world to
OFFER a higher education and bachelors
degrees in arts and science exclusively to
young women.
Near the close of the eighteenth century
James and Thomas Vassar, brothers, emi-
grated from Norfolk county, England and
settled in the village of Manchester which
is now part of the city of Poughkeepsie
The foundations of their dwelling still re.
main and their farm is a part OF the
beautiful valley of the Mapping creek.
They were Baptists. of the old-fashioned
kind Thomas Vlssar was a bachelor and
never married. James had wife and
four children. and the youngest was
son named Matthew.
The Vassar brothers raised barley and
made home-brewed ale; they had the best
orchard in Dutchess county, and made the
best cider and when he was not more
than eight or ten years old little Matthew
used to drive farm wagon to town with
a barrel of ale. basket of eggs and tub
OF butter, for which there was great de-
mand. In 1903 the brothers sold their farm
and started a brewery in town; and
Young Matthew. not only assisted IN
brewing and delivering ale to their local
customers but he set up an oyster house
which proved profitable. At twenty-one
he married. and began Housekeeping In a
cottage which cost him $40 a year, and
his father considered it rather extrava-
CANT A little deal table on which the
bridal couple ate their first supper. IN
their new home. is preserved in the found
er's room at the college.
The industry and thrift of Mr.. and Mrs.
Vassar enabled them not only to improve
their situation. but to lay by more and
more money every year, but they nVed
we'll and enjoyed life. and even indulged
in a trip to Europe, which at that time
was unusual and was probably considered
a great extravaganza by the neighbors
They were accompanied by Cyrus Swan,
lawyer of Poughkeepsie, the most init
mate friend Mr. Vassar had, and one of
the original trustees and secretary of
Vassar College. Being childless, when
approaching the scriptural limit OF life,
Mr. Vassar began to think about the dis
position of his large estate. He was
very rich man for those days. although
his wealth did not compare with the plu-
tocrats of this period. In London he had
become interested In hospital founded
by Thomas Guy. and upon his return es-
tablished a similar institution for the poor
of Poughkeepsie.
Germ of the College.
He also became interested in the
achievements of Henry Hudson and for
several years discussed with his inti-
mate friends a plan for erecting monu-
ment to the memory of the voyageur.
Then. one day Miss Lydia Booth, the
principal of school for young women at
Poughkeepsie, who was a daughter of
one of his sisters, said:
Uncle Matthew. / can propose some
thing better than that. Found an institu-
ton for the higher education of young
women-a real college"
The idea impressed Mr.. Vassar favor
ably and the death of Miss Booth shortly
after emphasized its importance to him.
Her Cottage Hill Seminary for Young
Ladies' was taken charge of by Rev NJ
p. Jewett, Baptist clergyman, who be-
came a close friend and adviser of Mr..
vassar. and when consulted on the sub
ject he said:
IF you desire to become notable BEN
efactor of your race and make your name
imperishable follow the suggestion OF
your niece and found an institution that
shall be TO young women what Yale and
Harvard are to young men.
Mr.. Vassars natural business sasacity
recognized a rare opportunity to be for
ever known as pioneer in the education
Of women. and he employed Prof. JeWet
10 assist him in perfecting plans for an
institution on liberal basis which should
have a Christian influence, but should be
strictly undenominatonal in instruction
and worship. Being an active and proml-
nent member of the Baptist denomina-
tion. he naturally consulted people of
that creed because he knew them best,
but when it was proposed to place the
college under the control OF tie Bapusts
g,rs H. ar,6 ,1NQf IL
ly dissented. and in his charge 10 the
board OF trustees said
"All sectarian influence should be
avoided. but the training of the young
should never be intrusted to the skeptlcaI,
the irrelisicas or the immoral.
"It occurred to me that woman, nav
iag received from her Creator the same
intellectual constitution as man, has the
same right as man to intellectual cul-
ture and Development
1T Is my hope to be the instrument in
the hands Of Providence in founding an
institution which shall accomplish for
young women what our colleges are ac-
complishing for young men,"
Chartered In 1861.
In January, 1881 a charter was obtain
ed from the legislature of New York.
February 26 following twenty-nine gen
tlemen. who were named as ihcorpora-
tors. were organized as board of trus-
teed ana elected OmCeTS, ana 10 them
Mr.. Vassar conveyed a deed to a site for
the college on the outskirts of Pough-
keepsie and a small tin box containing
$4,000 OF securities. June 4. 1861, Mr..
Vassar turned the first sod for the foun-
dations OF main building 500 feet long
and FIVE stories in height, which had been
designed by James Renwick, the archi-
tect
The work of construction was Very
much retarded by the civil war but the
building was completed and the first
semester began September 20, 1865. with
80 students and a faculty of eight pro-
fessors and twenty Instructors under
John III. Raymond. president and Han
nah ". Lyman. lady principal. Mr.. Vas
sar lived nearly three years after the
college opened and watched it's growth
with JOY and satisfaction. In the mean
time he added SiOo 900 to the original en-
dowment and presented a collection OF
paintings ana q library of books of art
At the annual meeting of the trustees
IN June. 1865, while he was reading his
annual report as chairman. his face
flushed suddenly, the manuscript fell
from his hnds. he staggered and would
haze fallen to the floor but for one of
HIS colleagues who sat near him Within
few moments his heart had ceased to
beat His great soul had departed. He
was seventy-six years OF age, but the
morning OF his death was as active,
cheerful and hopeful as he had been for
twenty years. But he would not have
chosen any other place to die, and he
passed away in the building he had erect
ed and in which he took so much pride,