Houston County, Minnesota - Chapter with an unread heading (no. 22 of those read), 1882

Chapter with an unread heading (no. 22 of those read)

CAPITOL - PENITENTIARY - UNIVERSITY - DEAF AND DUMB INSTITUTION - SCHOOL FOB BLIND AND IMBECILES - INSANE ASYLUMS - STATE BBFOBM 8CHOOL - NORMAL SCHOOLS.

Temporary Capitols

In the absence of a oapitol the first legislature of the territory of Minnesota convened on Monday, the 3d of September, 1849, at St. Paul, in a log building covered with pine boards painted white, two stories high, which was at the time a public inn, afterward known as the Central House, and kept by Robert Kennedy. It was situated on the high bank of the river. The main portion of the building was used for the library, secretary's office, council chamber and house of representatives' hall, while the annex wes occupied as the dining-room of the hotel, with rooms for travelers in the story above. Both houses of the legislature met in the dining-hall to listen to the first message of Governor Ramsey.

The permanent location of the capital was not settled by the first legislature, and nothing could be done toward the erection of a oapitol with the $20,000 appropriated by congress, as the permanent seat of government had not been designated.

William R. Marshall, since governor, at that time a member of the house of representatives from St. Anthony, with others, wished that point to be designated as the capital.

Twenty years after, in some remarks before the Old Settlers' Association of Hennepin county, Ex- Governor Marshall alluded to this desire. He said: "The original act [of congress] made St. Paul the temporary capital, but provided that the legislature might determine the permanent capital A bill was introduced by the St. Paul delegation to fix the permanent capital there. I opposed it, endeavoring to have St. Anthony made the seat of government We succeeded in defeating the bill which sought to make St. Paul the permanent capital, but we could not get through the bill fixing it at St Anthony. So the question remained open in regard to the permanent capital until the next session in 1851, when a compromise was effected by which the oapitol was to be at St. Paul, the State University at St Anthony, and the Penitentiary at Stillwater. At an early day, as well as now, caricatures and burlesques were in vogue. Young William Randall, of St. Paul, now deceased, who had some talent in the graphio line, drew a picture of the efforts at capitol removal. It was a building on wheels, with ropes attached, at which I was pictured tugging, while Branson, Jackson, and the other St. Paul members, were holding and checking the wheels, to prevent my moving it, with humorous speeches proceeding from the mouths of the parties to the contest."

The second territorial legislature assembled on the 2d of January, 1871, in a brick building three stories in height, which stood on Third street in St. Paul, on a portion of the site now occupied by the Metropolitan Hotel, and before the session closed it was enacted that St Paul should be the permanent capital, and commissioners were appointed to expend the congressional appropriation for a oapitol.

When the Third legislature assembled, in January, 1852, it was still necessary to occupy a hired building known as Goodrich's block, which stood on Third street just below the entrance of the Merchants' Hotel In 1853, the capitol not being finished, the fourth legislature was obliged to meet in a two-story brick building at the corner of Third and Minnesota streets, and directly in the rear of the wooden edifice where the first legislature in 1849 had met

The Capitol

After it was decided, in 1851, that St. Paul was to be the capital of the territory, Charles Bazilie gave the square bounded by Tenth, Eleventh, Wabasha, and Cedar streets for the capitol. Apian was adopted by the building commissioners, and the contract was taken by Joseph Daniels, a builder, who now resides in Washington as a lawyer and claim agent. The building was of brick, and at first had a front portico, supported by four Ionic columns. It was two stories above the basement, 139 feet long and nearly 54 feet in width, with an extension in the rear 44x52 feet. In July, 1853, it was so far completed as to allow the governor to occupy the executive office.

Speeches Op Ex-President Fillmore And George Outline History Of The State Of Minnesota

for important meetings. On the 8th of June a large excursion party, under the auspices of the builders of the Chicago & Rook Island railway, arrived at St. Paul from the latter point, in five large steamboats, and among the passengers were some of the most distinguished scholars, statesmen and divines of the republic. At night the population of St. Paul filled the capitol, and the more sedate listened in the senate chamber to the stirring speeches of Ex-President Fillmore, and the historian, George Bancroft, who had been secretary of the navy, and minister plenipotentiary to Great Britain, while at a later period of the night the youthful portion of the throng danced in the room then used by the supreme court.

The "Pioneer" of the next day thus alludes to the occasion : " The ball in honor of the guests of the excursion came off, in fine style. At an early hour, the assembly having been called to order, by the Hon. H. H. Sibley, a welcoming speech was delivered by Governor Gorman, and replies were made by Ex-President Fillmore and the learned historian Bancroft. ****** The dancing then commenced and was kept up till a late hour, when the party broke up, the guests returning to the steamers, and our town's people to their homes, all delighted with the rare entertainment."

Hon. W. H. Sewabd'S Speech

On the 8th of September, 1860, the capitol was visited by Hon. William H. Seward. At mid-day he met by invitation the members of the Historical Society in their rooms at the Capitol, and an address of welcome was made by the Bt. Bev. Bishop Anderson, of Rupert's Land, to which he made a brief response.

In the afternoon, crowds assembled in the grounds to listen to an expected speech, and every window of the capitol was occupied with eager faces. Standing upon the front steps, he addressed the audience in the language of a patriot and a statesman, and among his eloquent utterances, was the following prediction.

" Every step of my progress since I reached the northern Misissippi has been attended by a great and agreeable surprise. I had, early, read the works in which the geographers had described the scenes upon which I was entering, and I had studied them in the finest productions of art, but still the grandeur and luxuriance of this resrion had not been conceived. Those sentinel walls that look down upon the Mississippi, seen as I beheld them, in their abundant verdure, just when the earliest tinge of the fall gave luxuriance to the forests, made me think how much of taste and genius had been wasted in celebrating the highlands of Scotland, before the civilized man had reached the banks of the Mississippi; and the beautiful Lake Pepin, seen at sunset, when the autumnal green of the hills was lost in the deep blue, and the genial atmosphere reflected the rays of the sun, and the skies above seemed to move down and spread their gorgeous drapery on the scene, was a piece of upholstery, such as none but the hand of nature could have made, and it was but the vestibule of the capitol of the state of Minnesota. ***** ***** * * * Here is the place, the central place where the agriculture of the richest region of North America must pour its tribute. On the east, all along the shore of Lake Superior, and west, stretching in one broad plain, in a belt quite across the continent, is a country where State after State is to arise, and where the productions for the support of humanity, in old and crowded States, must be brought forth.

"This is then a commanding field, but it is as commanding in regard to the destiny of this country and of this continent, as it is, in regard to the commercial future, for power is not permanently to reside on the eastern slope of the Alleghany Mountains, nor in the sea- ports. Sea-ports have always been overrun and controlled by the people of the interior, and the power that shall communicate and express the will of men on this continent is to be located in the Mississippi valley and at the sources of the Mississippi and Saint Lawrence.

"In our day, studying, perhaps what might seem to others trifling or visionary, I had cast about for the future and ultimate central seat of power of North American people. I had looked at Quebec, New Orleans, Washington, Cincinnati, St. Louis, and San Francisco, and it had been the result of my last conjecture, that the seat of power in North America could be found in the valley of Mexico, and that the glories of the Aztec capital would be surrendered, at its becoming at last the capital of the United States of America, but I have corrected that view. I now believe that the ultimate seat of government in this great Continent, will be found somewhere within the circle or

In a few months after this speech, Mr. Seward was chosen by President Lincoln, inaugurated March 4, 1861, as secretary of state, and the next great crowd in front of the capitol was collected by the presentation of a flag by the ladies of St. Paul to the First Minnesota regiment which had been raised for the suppression of the slave-holders rebellion. On May the 25th, 1861, the regiment came down from their rendezvous at Fort Snelling, and marched to the capital grounds. The wife of Governor Ramsey, with the flag in hand, appeared on the front steps, surrounded by a committee of ladies, and presenting it to Colonel Gorman, made a brief address in which she said: "From this capitol, to the most remote frontier cottage, no heart but shall send up a prayer for your safety; no eye but shall follow with affection the flutterings of your banner, and no one but shall feel pride, when you crown the banner as you will crown it, with glory."

As the State increased in population it was necessary to alter and enlarge the building, and in 1873, a wing was added fronting on Exchange street, and the cupola was improved. The legislature of 1878 provided for the erection of another wing, at an expense of $14,000, fronting on Wabasha street. The building, by successive additions, was in length 204 feet, and in width 150 feet, and the top of the dome was more than 100 feet from the ground.

The Capitol In Flames

On the morning of the 1st of March, 1881, it was destroyed by fire. About 9 o'clock in the the evening two gentlemen, who lived opposite, discovered the capitol was on fire, and immediately, by the telegraph, an alarm notified the firemen of the city, and the occupants of the capitol.

The flames rapidly covered the cupola and licked the flag flying from the staff on top. One of the reporters of the Pioneer Press, who was in the senate chamber at the time, graphically describes the scene within.

He writes: "The senate was at work on third reading of house bills; Lieutenant Governor Gilman in his seat, and Secretary Jennison reading something about restraining cattle in Bice county ; the senators were lying back listening carelessly, I when the door opened and Hon. Michael Doran announced that the building was on fire. All eyes were at once turned in that direction, and the flash of the flames was visible from the top of the gallery, as well as from the hall, which is on a level with the floor of the senate. The panio that ensued had a different effect upon the different persons, and those occupying places nearest the entrance, pushing open the door, and rushing pell mell through the blinding smoke. Two or three ladies happened to be in the vicinity of the doors, and happily escaped uninjured. But the opening of the door produced a draft which drew into the senate chamber clouds of smoke, the fire in the meantime having made its appearance over the center and rear of the gallery. All this occurred so suddenly that senators standing near the reporter's table and the secretary's desk, which were on the opposite side of the chamber from the entrance, stood as if paralyzed, gazing in mute astonishment at the smoke that passed in through the open doors, at the flames over the gallery, and the rushing crowd that blocked the door- ways. The senate suddenly and formally adjourned. President Oilman, however stood in his plaoe, gavel in hand, and as he rapped his desk, loud and often he yelled: "Shut that door! Shut that door!"

"The cry was taken up by Colonel Crooks and other senators, and the order was finally obeyed, after which, the smoke clearing away, the senators were enabled to collect their senses and decide what was best to be done. President Oilman, still standing up in his place, calm and collected as if nothing unusual had happened, was encouraging the senators to keep cool. Colonel Crooks was giving orders as if a battle was raging around him.

"Other senators were giving such advice as occurred to them, but unfortunately no advice was pertinent except to keep cool and that was all. Some were importuning the secretary and his assistants to save the records, and General Jennison, his hands full of papers, was waiting a chance to walk out with them. But that chance looked remote, indeed, for there, locked in the senate chamber, were at least fifty men walking around, some looking at each other in a dazed sort of a way; others at the windows looking out at the snow-covered yard, now illuminated from the flames, that were heard roaring and crackling overhead.

Outline History Of The State Of Minnesota

From some windows men were jelling to the limited crowd below: "Get some ladders! Send for ladders!" Other windows were occupied. About this time terror actually siezed the members, when Senator Buck remarked that the fire was raging overhead, and at the same moment burning brands began to drop through the large ventilators upon the desks and floor beneath.

"Then, for a moment, it seemed as if all hopes of escape were cut off. * * * * * But happily the flames having made their way through the dome, a draught was created strong enough to clear the halls of smoke. The dome was almost directly over the entrance of the senate chamber, and burning brands and timbers had fallen down through the glass ceiling in front of the door, rendering escape in that director impossible.

"But a small window leading from the cloak room of the senate chamber to the first landing of the main stairway furnished an avenue of escape, and through this little opening every man in the senate chamber managed to get out.

"The windows were about ten feet high, but Mr. Michael Doran and several other gentlemen stood at the bottom, and nobly rendered assistance to those who came tumbling out, some headlong, some sideways and some feet foremost.

" As the reporter of the Pioneer-Press came out and landed on his feet, he paused for a moment to survey the scene overhead, where the flames were lashing themselves into fury as they played underneath the dome, and saw the flag-staff burning, and coals dropping down like fiery hail.

"It took but a few minutes for the senators to get out, after which they assembled on the outside, and they had no sooner gained the street than the ceiling of the senate chamber fell in, and in ten minutes that whole wing was a mass of flames."

Similar scenes took place in the hall of the house of representatives. A young lawyer, with a friend, as soon as the fire was noticed, ran into the law library and began to throw books out of the windows, but in a few minutes the density of the smoke and the approach of the flames compelled them to desist, and a large portion of the library was burned. The portraits of 'Generals Sherman and Thomas which were hung over the stairway were saved. The books of the Historical Society, in the basement, were removed, but were considerably damaged. In three hours the

Steps were immediately taken to remove the debris and build a new oapitol, upon the old site. The foundation walls have been laid, and in the course of a year the superstructure will be completed.

The Penttentcabt

Before the penitentiary was built, those charged or convicted of crime were placed in charge of the commandants of Fort Snelling or Ripley, and kept at useful employment under military supervision. At the same time it was decided to erect a capitol at St. Paul,it was also determined that the territorial prison should be built at or within half a mile of Stillwater. A small lot was secured in 1851 in what was called the Battle ravine, in consequence of the conflict between the Sioux and Chippeways described on the 103d page. Within a stone wall was erected offices of the prison, with an annex containing six cells. A warden's house was built on the outside of the wall. In 1853, an addition of six cells was made and on the 5th of March, 1853, F. R. Delano entered upon his duties as warden. His reports to the legislature show that for several years there was little use for the cells. The prison was opened for criminals on the 1st of September,1853,and until January, 1858 there had been received only five convicts, and forty-one county and thirty city prisoners awaiting trial The use of the prison by the counties and city as a temporary place of confinement led to some misunderstanding between the warden and Washington county, and the grand jury of that county in November, 1857, complained that the warden was careless in discharge of his duties. The jury, among other complaints sent the following ironical statement: "It was also found in such examination that one Maria Roffin, committed on charge of selling spirituous liquors to the Indians within the territory of the United States escaped in the words of the record, 4by leaving the prison' and it is a matter of astonishment to this grand jury that she so magnanimously consented to leave the penitentiary behind her."

Francis O. J. Smith acted as warden for a brief period after Delano, and then H. N. Setzer. In 1859, the nnmber of cells had increased to sixteen, and among the inmates was a hitherto respectable

In 1860 John 8. Proctor became warden, and after eight years of efficient service, was succeeded by Joshua L. Taylor. By successive additions in 1869 nearly ten acres were enclosed by prison walls, and during this year extensive shops were built. The State in 1870 erected a costly prison at an expense of about $80,000, which, besides a chapel and necessary offices, contained two hundred and ninety-nine cells.

A. C. Webber succeeded Taylor as Warden in March, 1870, and the following October, Henry A. Jaokman took his place, and continued in office until August, 1874, when the present incumbent, J. A. Reed, was appointed.

It has been the policy of the State to hire the convicts to labor for contractors, in workshops within the walls. At present the inmates are largely engaged in the making of agricultural machines for the firm of Seymour, Sabin & Co.

The University Of Minnesota

The Territorial Legislature of 1851, passed an act establishing the University of Minnesota at or near the Falls of St Anthony, and memorialized Congress for a grant of lands for the Institution. Soon after, Congress ordered seventy-two sections of land to be selected and reserved for the use of said University.

As the Regents had no funds, Franklin Steele gave the site now the public square, on Second Street in the East Division, opposite the Minnesota Medical College. Mr. Steele and others at their own expense erected a wooden building thereon, for a Preparatory Department, and the Rev. E. W. Merrill was engnged as Principal At the close of the year 1853, the Regents reported that there was ninety- four students in attendance, but that the site selected being too near the Falls, they had purchased of Joshua L. Taylor and Paul B. George about twenty-five acres, a mile eastward, on the heigth overlooking the Falls of St. Anthony.

Governor Gorman, in his message in 1854 to the Legislature said : "The University of Minnesota exists as yet only in name, but the time has oome when a substantial reality may and should be created." But the Regents could not find any patent which would compress a myth into reality, for not an acre of the land grant of Congress was available. The Governor in his message therefore added: "It would not embarrass our resources, in my judgment, if a small loan was effected to erect a building, and establish one or two professorships, and a preparatory department, such loan to be based upon the townships of land appropriated for the sole use of the University."

While it was pleasing to locrl pride to have a building in prospect which could be seen from afar, the friends of education shook their heads, and declared the prospect of borrowing money to build a University building before the common school system was organized was visionary, and would be unsuccessful. The idea, however, continued to be agitated, and the Regents at length were authorized by the Legislature of 1856, to issue bonds in the name of the University, under its corporate seal, for fifteen thousand dollars, to be secured by the mortgage of the University building which had been erected on the new site, and forty thousand dollars more were authorized to be issued by the Legislature of 1858, to be secured by a lien on the lands devoted for a Territorial University. With the aid of these loans a costly and inconvenient stone edifice was constructed, but when finished there was no demand for it, and no means for the payment of interest or professors.

In the fall of 1858, in the hope that the University might be saved from its desperate condition, the Regents elected the Rev. Edward D. Neill as Chancellor. He accepted the position without any salary being pledged, and insisted that a University must necessarily be of slow development, and must succeed, not precede, the common schools, and contended that five years might elapse before anything could be done for a University which would be tangible and visible. He also expressed the belief that in time, with strict watchfulness, the heavy load of debt could be lifted.

The Legislature of 1860 abolished the old board of Regents of the Territorial University by passing an act for a State University, which had been prepared by the Chancellor, and met the approval of Chancellor Tappan, of Michigan University. Its first section declared "that the object of the State University established by the Constitution of the State, at or near the Falls of St. Anthony, shall be to provide the best and most efficient means of imparting to the youth of the State an education more advanced than that given in the public schools, and a thorough knowledge of the

This charter also provided for the appointment of five Regents, to be appointed by the Governor, and confirmed by the Senate, in place of the twelve who had before been elected by the Legislature. The Legislature of 1860 also enacted that the Chancellor should be ex-oflicio State Superintendent of Public Instruction.

The first meeting of the Regents of the State University was held on the fifth of April, 1860, and steps were taken to secure the then useless edifice from further dilapidation. The Chancellor urged at this meeting that a large portion of the territorial land grant would be absorbed in payment of the moneys used in the erection of a building in advance of the times, and that the only way to secure the existence of a State University was by asking Congress for an additional two townships, or seventy- two sections of land, which he contended could be done under the phraseology of the enabling act, which said : "That seventy-two sections of land shall be set apart and reserved for the use and supporUof a State University to be selected by the Governor of said State," etc.

The Regents requested the Governor to suggest to the authorities that it was not the intention of Congress to turn over the debts and prospectively encumbered lands of an old and badly managed Territorial institution, but to give the State that was to be, a grant for a State University, free from all connection with the Territorial organization. The Governor communicated these views to the authorities at Washington, but it was not till after years of patient waiting that the land was obtained by an act of Congress.

At the breaking out of the civil war in 1861, the Chancellor became Chaplain of the First Regiment of Minnesota Volunteers, and went to the seat of war, and the University affairs continued to grow worse, and the University building was a by-word and hissing among the passers by. During the year 1863, some of the citizens of St. Anthony determined to make another effort to extricate the institution from its difficulties, and the legislature of 1864 passed an act abolishing the board of Regents, and creating three persons sole regents, with power to liquidate the debts of the institution. The Regents under this law were John S. Pillsbury and O. C. Merriman, of St. Anthony, and John Nicola, of St. Paul.

The increased demand for pine lands, of which the University owned many acres, and the sound discretion of these gentlemen co-operated in procuring happy results. In two years Governor Marshall, in his message to the legislature, was able to say: "The very able and successful management of the affairs of the institution, under the piesent board of Regents, relieving it of over one hundred thousand dollars of debt, and saving over thirty thousand acres of land that was at one time supposed to be lost, entitles Messrs. Pillsbury, Merriman, and Niools to the lasting gratitude of the State."

The legislature of 1867 appropriated $5,000 for a preparatory and Normal department, and the Regents this year chose as principal of the school, the Rev. W. W. Washburn, a graduate of the University of Michigan, and Gabriel Campbell, of the same institution, and Ira Moore as assistants. The legislature of 1868 passed an act to reorganize the University, and to establish an Agricultural College therein.

Departing from the policy of the University of Michigan, it established what the Regents wished, a department of Elementary instruction. It also provided for a College of Science, Literature and the Arts; a College of Agriculture and Mechanics with Military Tactics; a college of Law, and a College of Medicine.

The provision of the act of 1860, for the appointment of Regents was retained, and the number to be confirmed by the Senate, was increased from five to seven.

The new board of Regents was organized in March, 1868. John S. Pillsbury, of St Anthony, President; O. C. Merriman, of St. Anthony, Secretary, and John Niools, of St. Paul, Treasurer.

At a meeting of the Regents in August, 1869, arrangements were made for collegiate work by electing as President and Professor of mathematics William W. FolwelL

President Folwell was born in 1835, in Seneca county, New York, and graduated with distinction in 1827, at Hobart College in Geneva, New York. For two years he was a tutor at Hobart, and then went to Europe. Upon his return the civil war was raging, and he entered the 50th New York Volunteers. After the army was disbanded he engaged in business in Ohio, but at the time of his election to the presidency of the University, was Professor of mathematics, astronomy, and German at Kenyon College.

The Campus And Buildings

The campus of the university since it was originally acquired, has been somewhat enlarged, and now consists of about fifty acres in extent, undulating in surface, and well wooded with native trees. The buildings are thus far but two in number, the plan of the original building, which in outline was not unlike the insane asylum building at St. Peter, having been changed by the erection in 1876, of a large four-story structure built of stone and surmounted by a tower. This building is 186 feet in length and ninety in breadth, exclusive of porches, having three stories above the basement in the old part* The walls are of blue limestone and the roof of tin. The rooms, fifty-three in number, as well as all the corridors are heated by an efficient steam apparatus, and are thoroughly ventilated. Water is supplied from the city mains, and there is a standpipe running from the basement through the roof with hose attached on all the floors for protection against fire. The assembly hall, in the third story, is 87x55 feet, 24 feet high, and will seat with comfort 700 people, and 1,200 can be accommodated.

The Agricultural Building

is the first of the special buildings for the separate colleges, and was built in 1876. It is of brick, on a basement of blue stone, 146x54 feet. The central portion is two stories in height The south wing, 46x25 feet, is a plant house of double sash and glass. The north wing contains the chemical laboratory. There are class rooms for chemistry, physios and agriculture, and private laboratories for the professors. A large room in the second story is occupied by the museum of technology and agriculture, and the basement is filled up with a carpenter shop, a room with vises and tools at which eight can work, and another room fitted with eight forges and a blower - the commencement of the facilities for practical instruction.

Deaf And Dumb Institution

Of all the public institutions of Minnesota, no one has had a more pleasing history, and more symmetrical development than the Institution for the education of the deaf and dumb and the blind at Faribault.

The legislature of 1858, passed an act for the establishment of "The Minnesota State Institute for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb," within two miles of Faribault, in Rice county, upon condition that the town or county, should within one year from the passage of the law give forty acres of land for its use. The condition was complied with, but the financial condition of the country and the breaking out of the civil war, with other causes retarded the progress of the Institution for five years.

The legislature of 1863 made the first appropriation of fifteen hundred dollars for the opening of the Institution. Mr. R. A. Mott, of Faribault, who has to this time been an efficient director, at the request of the other two directors, visited the East for teachers, and secured Prof. Kinney and wife of Columbus, Ohio. A store on Front Street was then rented, and adapted for the temporary

On February 13th, 1864, the State appropriated about forty thousand dollars for the suppert of the Institution, and the directors expended about one thousand dollars in the erection of small additional building, eighteen by twenty feet in dimensions, with a recitation room in the basement.

After laboring faithfully for three years and securing the respect of his associates, on July 1st, 1866, resigned on account of impaired health.

The directors the next month elected as Superintendent Jonathan L. Noyes, A. M. On the 7th of September Professor Noyes arrived at Faribault with Miss A. L. Steele as an assistant teacher and Henrietta Watson as matron.

Nobth Wing Of Edifice Completed

Upon the 17th of March, 1868, the Institution was removed to a wing of the new building upon a site of fifty-two acres beautifully situated upon the brow of the hills east of Faribault. The edifice of the French louvre style, and was designed by Monroe Sheire, a St. Paul architect, and cost about fifty-three thousand dollars, and water was introduced from springs in the vicinity.

Work Shops

In 1869, the Superintendent was cheered by the completion of the first work shop, and soon eight mutes under the direction of a mute foreman began to make flour barrels, and in less than a year had sent out more than one thousand, and in 1873 4,054 barrels were made.

South Wino Began

The completed wing was not intended to accommodate more than sixty pupils and soon there was a demand for more room. During the year 1869 the foundation of the south wing was completed, and on the 10th of September 1873 the building was occupied by boys, the other wing being used for the girls. By the time the building was ready students were waiting to occupy.

Main Building Completed

In 1879 the design was completed by the finishing of the centre building. The whole edifice is thus described by the architect, Monroe Sheire: "The plan of the building is rectangular, and consists of a central portion one huudred feet north and south, and one hundred and eighty feet east and west, exclusive of piazzas, and two wings, one on the north, and the other on the south side, each of these being eighty by forty-five. This makes the extreme length two hundred and sixty feet, and the width one hundred and eighty feet The entire building is four stories above the basement."

The exterior walls are built of blue lime stone from this vicinity, and the style Franco Romanesque. Over the center is a graceful cupola, and the top of the same is one hundred and fifty feet above the ground.

The entire cost to the State of all the improvements was about $175,000, and the building will accommodate about two hundred pupils. The rooms are lighted by gas from the Faribault Gas Works.

Industrial Schools Magazine

In June, 1877, it was more than doubled in size, and changed its name to "The Mutes' Companion." Printed with good type, and filled with pleasant articles it still exists, and adds to the interest in the institution.

Education Op The Blind

In 1863 a law was passed by the legislature requiring blind children to be educate under the supervision of the Deaf and Dumb Institution. Early in July, 1866, a school for the blind was opened in a separate building, erected for the purpose, under the care of Miss H. N. Tacker. During the first term there were three pupils. In May, 1868, the blind pupils weae brought into the deaf and dumb institution, but the experiment of instructing these two classes together was not satisfactory, and in 1874 the blind were removed to the old Faribault House, which had been fitted up for their accommodation. In 1876 Prof. James J. Dow was made principal of the blind schooL

Half a mile south of the Deaf and Dumb Institution, a large, new brick building has been erected for the blind, by the side of the residence formerly occupied by Alexander Faribault

School Fob The Feeble Minded

From time to time, in his report to the Legislature, Superintendent Noyes alluded to the fact that some children appeared deaf and dumb because of their feeble mental development, and in 1879, the state appropriated $5,000 for a school for imbecile children.

The institution was started in July of that year by Dr. Henry M. Knight, now deceased, then Superintendent and founder of the Connecticut school of the same description, who was on a visit to Faribault. He superintended the school until the arrival, in September, of his son, Dr. George H. Knight, who had been trained under his father.

For the use of the school the Fairview House was rented, and fourteen feeble children were sent from the Insane Asylum at St. Peter. In eighteen months the number had increased to twenty - five.

The site of the new building for the school is about forty rods south of the Blind School. The dimensions are4ix80 feet, with a tower projection 20x18 feet. It is of limestone, and three stories above the basement, covered with an iron hip-roof, and cost about $26,000.

Superintendent J. L. Notes

The growth of the Minnesota institution for the education of the deaf and dumb and the blind, has been so symmetrical, and indicative of one moulding mind, that a sketch of the institution would be incomplete without some notice of the Superintendent, who has guided it for the last sixteen years.

On the 13th of June, 1827, Jonathan Lovejoy Noyes was born in Windham, Rockingham county, New Hampshire. At the age of fourteen years he was sent to Phillips Academy, Andover. Massachusetts, not only only one of the oldest, but among the best schools in the United States. At Andover he had the advantage of the instruction of the thorough Greek scholar, Dr. Samuel H. Taylor, the eminent author, Lyman H. Coleman, D. D., afterwards Professor of Latin in Lafayette College, Pennsylvania, and William H. Wells, whose English grammar has been used in many institutions.

After completing his preparatory studies, in 1848, he entered Yale College, and in four years received the diploma of Bachelor of Arts. After graduation he received an appointment in the

Pennsylvania Institution of the Deaf and Dumb, on Bond Street, Philadelphia, and found instructing deaf mutes was a pleasant occupation. After six years of important work in Philadelphia, he was employed two years in a similar institution at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and then received an appointment in the well known American Asylum so long presided over by Thomas H. Gallandet, at Hartford, Connecticut. While laboring here he was invited to take charge of the "Minnesota Institution for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb and the Blind," and in September, 1866, he arrived at Faribault. With wisdom and patience, gentleness and energy, and an unfaltering trust in a superintending Providence, he has there continued his work with the approbation of his fellow citizens, and the affection of the pupils of the institution.

"Resolved, That upon the retirement of Prof. J. L. Noyes from the superintendency of the departments of the blind and imbecile, the the board of Directors, of the Minnesota Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, and Blind and Idiots, and Imbeciles, desire to testify to his deep interest in these several departments; his efficient and timely services in this establishment; and his wise direction of their early progress, until they have become full-fledged and independent departments of our noble State charitable institutions.

"For his cordial and courteous co-operation with the directors in their work, and for his timely counsel and advice, never withheld when needed, the board, by this testimonial, render to him their hearty recognition and warm acknowledgement."

On the 21st of July, 1862, Professor Noyes married Eliza H. Wadsworth, of Hartford, Connecticut, a descendent of the Colonel Wadsworth, who in the old colony time, hid the charter of Connecticut in an oak, which for generations has been known in history as the "Charter Oak." They have but one child, a daughter.

Insane Hospital At St. Peteb

Until the year 1866, the insane of Minnesota were sent to the, Iowa Asylum for treatment, but in January of that year the Legislature passed an act appointing Wm. R Marshall, John M. Berry, Thomas Wilson, Charles McDiath, and S. J.R McMillan to select a proper place for the Minne- sota Hospital for the Insane. The vicinity of St Peter was chosen, the citizens presenting to the State two hnndred and ten acres one mile south of the city, and on the Minnesota River, directly opposite to Kasota,

In October, 1866, temporary buildings were erected, and the Trustees elected Samuel E. Shantz, of Utica, N. Y., as the Superintendent. A plan submitted by Samuel Sloan, a Philadelphia architect, consisting of a central building, with sections and wings for the accommodation of at least five hundred patients, in 1867, was adopted, and in 1876 the great structure was completed.

It is built of Kasota limestone, the walls lined with brick, and the roof covered with slates. The central building is four stories in height, surmounted with a fine cupola, and therein are the chapel and offices. Each wing is three stories high, with nine separate halls.

In January, 1880, in the old temporary buildings and in the Asylum proper there were six hundred and sixty patients. On the 15th of November, 1880, about half past eight in the evening, the Superintendent and assistants were shocked by the announcement that the north wing was on fire. It began in the northwest corner of the basement, and is supposed to have been kindled by a patient employed about the kitchen' who was not violent. The flames rapidly ascended to the different stories, through the holes for the hot air pipes, and the openings for the dumb waiters.

The wing at the time contained two hundred and seventy patients, and as they were liberated by their nurses and told to make their escape, exhibited various emotions. Some clapped their hands with glee, others trembled with fear. Many, barefooted and with bare heads, rushed for the neighboring hills and sat on the cold snow. A few remained inside. One patient was noticed in a window of the third story, with his knees drawn up to his chin, and his face in his hands, a cool and interested looker on, and with an expression of cynical contempt for the flames as they approached his seat. When a tongue of fire would shoot toward him, he would lower his head, and after it passed would resume his position with more than the indifference of a stoic. At last the brick work beneath him gave way with a loud crash, and as he was precipitated into the cauldron of fire soon to be burned to ashes, his maniacal laugh was heard above the roar of the flames.

The remains of eighteen patients were found in the ruins, and seven died in a few days after the fire, in consequence of injuries and exposure.

Insane Hospital At Rochester

In 1878, the Legislature enacted a law by which an inebriate asylum commenced at Rochester could be used for an Insane Asylum. With the appropriation, alterations and additions were made, Dr. J. E. Bowers elected Superintendent, and on the 1st of January, 1879, it was opened for patients.

State Reform School

During the year 1865, L V. D. Heard, Esq., a lawyer of Saint Paul, and at that time City Attorney sent a communication to one of the daily papers urging the importance of separating chi'd ren arrested for petty crimes, from the depraved adults found in the station house or county jail, and also called the attention of the City Council to the need for a Reform School.

The next Legislature, in 1866, under the influence created by the discussion passed a law creating a House of Refuge, and appropriated $5,000 for its use on condition that the city of Saint Paul would give the same amount.

In November, 1867, the managers purchased thirty acres with a stone farm house and barn thereon, for $10,000, situated in Rose township, in Saint Anthony near Snelling Avenue, in the western suburbs of Saint Paul.

In 1868 the House of Refuge was ready to receive wayward youths, and this year the Legislature changed the name to the Minnesota State Reform School, and accepted it as a state institution. The Rev. J. G. Rihelduffer D. DM who had for years boen pastor of one of the Saint Paul Presbyterian churches was elected superintendent.

Sketches Of Public Men

Legislature was made soon after of $15,000 for the rebuilding of the laundry and the erection of a work shop. This shop is 50x100 and three stories high. The boys besides receiving a good English education, are taught to be tailors, tinners, carpenters and gardeners. The sale of bouquets from the green house, of sleds and toys, and of tin ware has been one of the sources of revenue.

Doctor Rihelduffer continues as superintendent and by his judicious management has prepared many of the inmates to lead useful and honorable lives, after their discharge from the Institution.

State Normal School

By the influence of Lieut. Gov. Holcomb and others the first State Legislature in 1858 passed an Act by which three Normal schools might be erected, but made no proper provision for thensupport.

Winona Normal School

Dr. Ford, a graduate of Dartmouth college, and a respectable physician in Winona, with several residents of the same place secured to the amount of $5,512 subscriptions for the establishment of a Normal School at that point, and a small appropriation was secured in 1880 from the Legislature.

John Ogden, af Ohio, was elected Principal, and in September, 1860, the school was opened in a temporary building. Soon after the civil war began the school was suspended, and Mr. Ogden entered the army.

Tn 1864 the Legislature made an appropriation of $3,000, and and William F. Phelps, who had been in charge of the New Jersey Normal School at Trenton, was chosen principal. In 1865 the State appropriated $5,000 annually for the school and the citizens of Winona gave over $20,000 toward the securing of a site and the erection of a permanent edifice.

One of the best and most ornamental educational buildings in the Northwest was commenced and in September, 1869, was so far finished as to accommodate pupils. To complete it nearly $150,- 000 was given by the State.

Mankato Normal School

second Normal School, the Legislature give $5,000 for its support. George M. Gage was elected Principal and on the 1st of September, 1868 the school was opered, It occupied the basement of the Methodist church for a few weeks, and then moved into a room over a store at the corner of Front and Main streets. In April 1870, the State building was first occupied.

Prof. Gage resgned in June, 1872, and his successor was Miss J. A. Sears who remained one year. In July 1873, the Rev. D. C. John was elected principal, and in the spring of 1880, he retired.

The present Principal is Professor Edward Searing, formerly State Superintendent of Public Instruction in Wisconsin, a fine Latin scholar, and editor of an edition of Virgil.

St. Cloud Normal School

In 1869, the citizens of St. Cloud gave $5,000 for the establishment in that city of the third Normal School, and a building was fitted up for its use. The legislature in 1869, appropriated $3,000 for current expenses. In 1870, a new building was begun, the legislature having appropriated $10,000, and in 1873, $30,000; this building in 1875 was first occupied. In 1875, the Rev. D. L. Kiehle was elected Principal, Prof. Ira Moore, the first Principal having resigned. In 1881, Prof. Kiehle was appointed State Superintendent of Public Instruction, and Jerome Allen, late of New York, was elected his successor.