A HISTORY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF 
 BUFFALO 
 
 JULIAN PARK 
 
 1917 
 
A HISTORY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF 
 BUFFALO 
 
 BY JULIAN PARK / 
 
 1 / 
 
 ILLUSTRATED 
 
 BUFFALO 
 1917 
 
 (Reprinted from Volume XXII of the Publications 
 of the Buffalo Historical Society.) 
 
 n/ 
 
LH 70! 
 
 Copyright, 1917 
 by J 
 
 Julian Park 
 
 'CI, A 479 11 3 
 
 L 
 
 The University of Buffalo, through the Department of Arts and 
 Sciences, will without cost supply copies of this pamphlet to 
 public libraries, other colleges, and to individuals who may be 
 interested. 
 
 NOV 17 1917 
 
 / 
 
 yw> %s 
 
A HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF BUFFALO 1 
 
 I. The Beginnings. 
 
 In few instances are the initial steps which led to the 
 creation of great educational institutions fully known. In 
 many cases no record was ever made of them, their interest 
 and importance not being realized when the events occurred. 
 In the case of the most of Buffalo's historic institutions 
 records have fortunately been preserved or else the institu- 
 tions are not yet so old that they have lost either their 
 founders or the second generation of their founders, to 
 hand down personal reminiscences, made permanent when 
 their importance is understood. The Civil War years were 
 not so turbulent as to prevent or postpone the founding of 
 several of those institutions of which the city is proudest — 
 the Historical Society, the Fine Arts Academy, and the 
 Society of Natural Sciences. 
 
 Buffalo's University reaches back further than any of 
 these, and the movement to extend higher education 
 throughout the city had its inception ten years before the 
 University was actually created. Like its forerunner, the 
 present University is fortunate in bearing not the name 
 of any single great benefactor — for such, during its first 
 seventy years, it lacked — but of the city which it serves and 
 adorns; and in this respect it antedates many other insti- 
 
 1 Thanks are due to the following for criticisms and corrections of these pages: 
 Chancellor Charles P. Norton, Dean Willis G. Gregory, Dr. Charles G. Stockton, the 
 late Dr. James A. Gibson, Philip B. Goetz, and Charles E. Rhodes. The author, 
 however, takes responsibility for errors of omission and commission. 
 
4 A HISTORY OF TEE UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO 
 
 tutions which, though younger, have succeeded in hereto- 
 fore surpassing it in wealth — such as the universities of 
 Rochester, Syracuse, New York, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, 
 and universities which bear the names of other cities in this 
 vicinity. 
 
 In fact the University of Buffalo is rather an anomaly 
 among educational institutions. For nearly seventy years 
 it was a university in name only, a collection of professional 
 schools with little unifying influence. The wonder is that 
 these schools could have achieved their creditable reputa- 
 tion and accomplished such scholastic results as they have, 
 wholly without the aid of any endowment. No non-sectar- 
 ian university in the country, so far as is known, has been 
 so peculiarly situated. If this peculiarity connotes a poverty 
 of equipment, it is true only in comparison with other 
 wealthier institutions ; if it means a poverty of intellectual 
 resources, there is no possible foundation for such a theory. 
 In fact, the poverty of the institution has been a standing 
 challenge to the best intellects of the city to compensate by 
 their almost gratuitous service for the otherwise unenviable 
 and difficult position of their institution. The university be- 
 came theirs in a peculiar sense ; for never have men of such 
 attainments been so loyal under such discouraging condi- 
 tions. If this led in some few cases to a feeling of egotistic 
 indispensability, it also bred a sentiment of persistence and 
 energy and quiet determination not to allow a thing so 
 uniquely theirs to perish or even in the slightest to de- 
 teriorate. 
 
 The motive calling for the creation of each of the depart- 
 ments of the University has been in each case a desire on 
 the part of the professional men of the city to extend oppor- 
 tunities for training in their profession to young men and 
 women of the community. Professional pride was thus the 
 compelling factor in providing these forms of technical 
 education — pride in maintaining the best traditions of 
 
A HISTORY OF TEE VNIYEBSITY OF BUFFALO 5 
 
 their profession and handing them down intact to the next 
 generation and after that to generations of those yet to 
 <3ome. This pride was of the finest and most unselfish kind, 
 because in each case it entailed a large financial sacrifice 
 on the part of the teachers in these departments. 
 
 But underlying and permeating this desire to extend the 
 facilities for professional training has been the realization 
 that the technical departments would not have been truly 
 proficient without the unifying influence which only a de- 
 partment of liberal arts can give. The establishment of 
 professional departments without this solidifying force is 
 like putting up the superstructure before the foundation 
 of the building is made. It is clear — as Huxley, in an 
 address on medical education 2 , once showed — that the 
 university may best co-operate with the medical school by 
 making due provision for those branches of knowledge 
 which lie at the foundation of medicine. He might well 
 have extended this fundamental observation to include the 
 necessity for the university's making proper provision for 
 the study of those branches which lie at the foundation of 
 all professional teaching. And so it has been that the 
 teachers in our University's existing departments have 
 been, of all those most enthusiastic for the college of arts, 
 the leaders from the very beginning. 
 
 It has been hinted previously that the present institution 
 is not the first university that was contemplated for Buffalo. 
 The speculative craze of 1836 is a well-known episode not 
 only in the life of the city but in the history of the nation; 
 but for several reasons, Buffalo perhaps suffered more in 
 that disastrous year than most other cities of the country. 
 It was then the stepping-stone from East to West. The 
 Erie Canal, recently completed, brought goods and immi- 
 grants in large numbers. Guy H. Salisbury, in Volume IV 
 of the Buffalo Historical Society Publications, gives per- 
 
 2 '''Critiques and Addresses," 67. 
 
6 A HISTOBY OF THE UNIVEBSITY OF BUFFALO 
 
 haps as interesting and complete an account of what that 
 speculative craze meant to the city as can be found. He 
 does not fail to point out the vast designs for the benefit of 
 the city made possible, apparently by the quickly gotten 
 wealth and the sudden failure of these designs by the as 
 sudden loss of that wealth. Three of the more interesting 
 and picturesque projects which he mentions are the Perry 
 monument, which, on paper, towered 100 feet above the 
 pavement of what is now Shelton Square; the great Ex- 
 change, which, with a dome 220 feet high, was to occupy 
 the whole block of Clarendon Square opposite the churches 
 of Shelton Square; and lastly, the great Western Uni- 
 versity, or University of Western New York (the exact 
 designation not being clear), which progressed as far as, 
 if not, indeed, farther than the other ambitious projects, 
 since this institution actually received its charter from the 
 State Legislature. 
 
 Mr. Fillmore, in his address at the first Commencement 
 of the present University 3 , pointed out that during the 
 summer of that disastrous year books were opened and sub- 
 scriptions made for the Western University, endowing six 
 or seven professorships at $5,000 each 4 , and twelve or 
 fifteen thousand dollars were also subscribed to the general 
 fund. A building lot was even presented by one of the 
 city's wealthiest-men, Judge Walden, near the old barracks. 
 Although Mr. Fillmore does not exactly say so, it seems 
 clear that the name of College Street was bestowed upon 
 that thoroughfare because it was to mark the western 
 boundary of the proposed campus, its other borders being 
 North and Allen streets and Delaware Avenue. 
 
 There was nothing wrong with the vision of the men of 
 the '30s ; there was nothing wrong with their public spirit ; 
 there was nothing wrong even with their common sense. 
 
 3 Buffalo Historical Society "Publications," XI, 45. 
 
 4 Nowadays endowments of professorships require at least $70,000, and $90,000 
 is a more general minimum. 
 
A HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO 7 
 
 Nobody could foresee the tremendous crash; which never- 
 theless must have been inevitable, so much so that President 
 Van Buren even called Congress together in extra session 
 in order that, as he said, they might devise a means to save 
 the government itself from bankruptcy. 5 
 
 Mr. Salisbury asks, "Did no good grow out of all this 
 evil? There were, indeed, stately edifices built, innumer- 
 able stores, warehouses and 'mammouth' hotels erected, 
 canals dug, railroads projected, ships and steamboats put 
 afloat under the impulses of '36, which remained and were 
 of some use after. But what was gained by this precocity 
 of growth?" In Mr. Salisbury's view, looking at the pecun- 
 iary distress and stagnation of business which followed, 
 there was no gain, even remote, and the great university 
 project seemed to have died without hope of resurrection. 
 
 But not more than ten years after that sudden calamity 
 it was revived again, and this time permanently. One 
 reason for its revival was the advent during the '30s and 
 '40s of a number of men, mostly physicians, who, notwith- 
 standing Buffalo's subsequent eminence as a medical center, 
 have not yet been surpassed in fame and public regard. 
 Frank H. Hamilton, Austin Flint, James P. White, Thomas 
 M. Foote were among the physicians who first brought 
 prestige to the city, and they, with sympathetic laymen, 
 were the founders of the University of Buffalo, f It was 
 the physicians present at the first meeting who, after hot 
 debate, persuaded the other members of the group to 
 attempt not only a medical school, but a university with 
 powers as complete and diversified as those possessed by 
 any in the land. The departments specifically thought of 
 at first were, primarily, the medical, and then the academic, 
 
 ■nr , , ? a ?J lc of 1837 des °lated every hamlet and brought woe to every home. 
 Want and failure stalked the land. Mills were closed, mortgages foreclosed whole 
 towns swept off the map, fortunes vanished in a night. Prices became ridiculous, 
 wages were reduced to the starvation point, and profits were the substance of 
 reverie. No subsequent panic wrought such havoc with the great masses of our 
 people as did the crisis of 1837."— S. P. Orth, "Five American Politicians," p 157 
 
8 A EISTOEY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO 
 
 theological, and law departments. Fortunately, one of the 
 prime movers in the enterprise was at that time a member 
 of the State Assembly, and it was chiefly through the un- 
 wearied exertions of Nathan K. Hall that the charter, on 
 May 11, 1846, was granted to the first Council. Other and 
 more ancient universities have likewise been deficient in the 
 organization of these faculties without which, strictly 
 speaking, no university can have a clear title to the term. 
 The example which comes first to mind is Salerno, which, 
 though one of the most famous of medieval universities, 
 never established any other faculty than that of medicine. 
 Paris in its palmiest days had no faculty of law. And so 
 Buffalo, with only a medical faculty for forty years, his- 
 torically considered, is by no means a unique case, though 
 of a kind seldom met in modern times. 
 
 A number of years ago a dignitary from another State 
 once paid a visit to Yale College and introduced himself 
 as chancellor of a university whose name was new to his 
 host. "How large a faculty have you?" President Day 
 asked him. "Not any," was the answer. "Have you any 
 library or buildings?" "Not yet." "Any endowment?" 
 "None." "What have you?" the president persisted, and 
 the visitor brightened as he said, "We have a fine char- 
 ter. ' ' 6 And so, although for forty years the Medical De- 
 partment comprised all there was of the University, it was 
 known, not as the Buffalo Medical College, but as the Uni- 
 versity of Buffalo. Nevertheless, although it has possessed 
 full authorization, the institution has always been conserva- 
 tive in availing itself of the generous prerogatives conferred 
 upon it by the Legislature. Only in one or two cases have 
 academic honors been bestowed in departments of learning 
 not already organized. 
 
 6 D. C. Gilman, "The Launching of a University," 6. 
 
A HISTORY OF TEE UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO 9 
 
 The men and women who have been recipients of degrees 
 from this University number the surprising total of 5,825, 
 divided as follows : 
 
 DEGREES CONFERRED, 1846-1917 
 
 Doctor of Medicine 2,935, including 10 honorary 
 
 Graduate in Pharmacy 638, including 3 honorary 
 
 Bachelor of Pharmacy 353 
 
 Master of Pharmacy 26, including 1 honorary 
 
 Doctor of Pharmacy 6 
 
 Analytical Chemist 89 
 
 Pharmaceutical Chemist 3 
 
 Bachelor of Laws 710 
 
 Master of Laws 12 
 
 Doctor of Dental Surgery 1,043 
 
 Bachelor of Pedagogy 5 
 
 Master of Pedagogy 1 
 
 Doctor of Pedagogy 2 
 
 Doctor of Philosophy 1 
 
 Bachelor of Science 1 (honorary) 
 
 5,825 
 
 II. Men Who Made It. 
 Like many institutions of those days, the University was 
 first organized as a joint stock corporation and, indeed, 
 -continued as such until as recently as 1909, though there 
 is no record of dividends ever having been declared. 
 Naturally, however, the founders did not establish the cor- 
 poration with any idea in view of financial benefit for 
 themselves. The capital authorized was $100,000 and the 
 charter provided that $20,000 of stock should be subscribed 
 within three years, and ten per cent, paid in cash, although 
 the public-spirited physicians did not stop there. During 
 the next year and a half they secured subscriptions from 
 130 citizens, aggregating $12,000. With it they bought a 
 site on Main Street on the corner of Virginia, 100 feet by 
 200, and there erected the first building to be used for 
 
10 A HISTOBY OF THE UNIVEBSITY OF BUFFALO 
 
 higher education in Buffalo. The older residents will 
 easily recall this unique brown stone building of only two 
 and a half stories, with little spires at each corner, which 
 stood for so many years for all there was to the University 
 of Buffalo. It was dedicated on December 7, 1849. 
 
 It would be valuable, merely as a contrast between the 
 business and educational methods of those days and these, 
 to quote in full the charter of the University, but excerpts 
 must here suffice as evidence of the founders' intent. The 
 stockholders were to elect sixteen of their fellow-share- 
 holders as their first Council and it was provided that no 
 one religious sect should have a majority of the board. In 
 addition, each of the several faculties, as they were organ- 
 ized, was to appoint one member to represent it on the 
 Council, and the Mayor of the city was to be also an ex- 
 officio member. The appointment of all University officers 
 was to be made by the Council upon nomination from the 
 several faculties. It is incidentally an evidence of their 
 confidence in the faculties, that no nominations made to it 
 from any department has it ever refused to confirm. 
 
 Section VIII defines its academic powers thus: "The 
 University shall grant the students under its charge such 
 diplomas or honorary testimonials as are usually granted 
 by any university, college or seminary of learning in the 
 United States . . ." 
 
 The roll of the original Council shows without further 
 mention how admirably the undertaking was supported by 
 the most representative citizens. The office of Chancellor, 
 in those days even more than now an honorary position — 
 practically his only duty being to preside on the Com- 
 mencement stage — was given very naturally to Millard 
 Fillmore, who held it until his death in 1874, not resigning 
 it during his incumbency as President and consequent ab- 
 sence from the city. Judge George W. Clinton was presi- 
 dent of the Council until, upon his election as Regent of 
 
A HIS TO BY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO 11 
 
 the State University, he removed to Albany in 1856. A 
 tower of strength to the young institution, he never, in Mr. 
 Larned's words, 7 "in some fine and beautiful qualities of 
 genius and temper, had his peer among our people." 
 Joseph G. Masten, who succeeded Judge Clinton as mayor 
 of the city, was one of the original Council ; so was Elbridge 
 G. Spaulding, who acted a part of such importance in the 
 congressional and financial history of the Civil War. 
 George E-. Babcock, another of the founders, was character- 
 ized by Mr. Putnam as " a man who might easily be taken 
 as a Roman senator in the last days of republican Eome, 
 when none were for the party and all were for the State." 
 Very pleasant is the coincidence that on the site of Mr. 
 Babcock 's home should have been erected the building of 
 the Women's Educational and Industrial Union, which was 
 the first important gift presented to the University to aid 
 in the foundation of an Arts Department. 
 
 Orsamus H. Marshall, the second Chancellor, was also a 
 member of the original Council. A quiet, scholarly man, 
 disliking pretense and publicity, custodian of many estates 
 and adviser of a large clientage, Mr. Marshall is a figure 
 second only to Fillmore in the debt in which he placed 
 Buffalo's earliest institutions. The Historical Society and 
 the Grosvenor Library are notably the institutions to 
 which, as with the University, he was indispensable. 
 Nathan K. Hall rendered concrete services from the very 
 beginning, and later, as a Federal judge and Postmaster- 
 General in his friend Fillmore 's Cabinet, he became a figure 
 of national importance. James 0. Putnam, deprived by 
 his ill health of the brilliant career awaiting him at the 
 bar, has an honored name in the diplomatic history of the 
 nation as well as in the legislative annals of his own State. 
 Appointed by Lincoln consul at Havre, he subsequently 
 became, in Hayes 's administration, Minister to Belgium and 
 
 7 "History of Buffalo," 197. 
 
12 A HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO 
 
 during these periods, as at other times, the Council was 
 necessarily deprived of his service. As one of its original 
 members, the historical continuity of his membership, while 
 somewhat broken, none the less covers a long period, since 
 he resigned in 1902, being Chancellor at that time. William 
 A. Bird, surveyor of the boundary line between the United 
 States and Canada; Gaius B. Rich, a banker; Dr. Thomas 
 M. Foote, distinguished in literature as well as in medicine ; 
 Ira A. Blossom, Isaac Sherman, Albert H. Tracy — who like- 
 wise had a brilliant career in public life, State Senator and 
 Congressman, and who had, Mr. Larned says, 8 "few peers 
 among our people in sheer intellectual power"; James S. 
 Wadsworth, Treodotus Burwell, John D. Shepard, Hiram 
 A. Tucker, Orson Phelps and Dr. James P. White, the 
 delegate elected by the Medical Faculty, were the other 
 members of that remarkable group. 
 
 A complete roll of the Council from its beginning to the 
 present day presents a list of citizens of such varied attain- 
 ments that it is profitable here to give their names with the 
 dates of their incumbency, but as each of them was added 
 reference will be made to any particular facts justified by 
 his length or his degree of service.! Every name on this 
 list is an honored one in the city's annals and no more 
 adequate evidence of the importance, real or potential, of 
 the University to the city lean be suggested than by repro- 
 ducing this roster. 
 
 MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL, 1846-1917 
 
 Millard Fillmore 1846-1874, first Chancellor 
 
 George W. Clinton 1846-1856, President of the Council 
 
 Ira A. Blossom 1846-1857 
 
 Thomas M. Foote 1846-1851 
 
 Joseph G. Masten 1846-1856* 
 
 Isaac Sherman 1846-1857* 
 
 Gaius B. Rich 1846-1857 
 
 8 "History of Buffalo," 201. 
 * Exact dates uncertain. 
 
A HIS TOBY OF TEE UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO 13 
 
 William A. Bird 1846-1853* 
 
 George R. Babcoek 1846-1876 
 
 Nathan K. Hall 1846-1870 
 
 James S. Wadsworth 1846-1850 
 
 Theodotus Burwell 1846-1857 
 
 John D. Shepard 1846-1855 
 
 Hiram A. Tucker 1846-1849* 
 
 Orsamus H. Marshall 1846-1884, second Chancellor 
 
 Orson Phelps 1846-1856' 
 
 Elbridge G. Spaulding 1846-1897 
 
 James P. White 1846-1882, from Medical Faculty 
 
 James O. Putnam 1846-1862, 1877-1902, fourth Chancellor 
 
 Frank H. Hamilton 1850-1862 
 
 Austin Flint 1850-1862, Secretary 
 
 Jesse Ketchum 1850-1868 » 
 
 James Hollister 1850-1886; Secretary 
 
 Orlando Allen 1852-1877- 
 
 George C. White 1855-1860 
 
 Aaron D. Patchin 1855-1859 
 
 George Hadley 1856-1878, Secretary 
 
 Sanf ord B. Hunt 1857-1870 
 
 John Wilkeson 1857-1887 
 
 Albert H. Tracy 1857-1860 
 
 Henry W. Eogers 1858-1872 
 
 Thomas F. Rochester 1860-1887 
 
 Timothy T. Lockwood 1863-1870 
 
 George S. Hazard 1863-1903 
 
 George E. Hayes 1868-1882 
 
 Julius F. Miner. 1870-1883 
 
 Joseph Warren 1870-1876 
 
 James N. Matthews 1871-1886, Secretary 
 
 E. Carleton Sprague 1877-1895, third Chancellor 
 
 David Gray 1877-1886 
 
 James N. Scatcherd 1878-1885 
 
 Charles Cary 1879- 
 
 Sherman S. Eogers 1882-1898 
 
 Edwin T. Evans 1885-1906 
 
 George Gorham 1885-1905, sixth (acting) Chancellor 
 
 Frank M. Hollister 1886-1916, Secretary 
 
 Robert Keating 1886-1906 
 
 John O Graves 1886-1891 
 
 * Exact dates uncertain. 
 
14 A HISTOBY OF THE UNIVEBSITY OF BUFFALO 
 
 Josiah Jewett 1886-1891 
 
 Matthew D. Mann 1886-1912, from Medical Faculty 
 
 Frank P. Vandenbergh 1886-1890, from Pharmacy Faculty 
 
 Bichard K. Noye 1886-1890* 
 
 Koswell Park 1887-1914 
 
 Lawrence D. Eumsey 1887-1908 
 
 T. Guilford Smith 1887-1890 
 
 Wilson S. Bissell 1890-1903, fifth Chancellor 
 
 Edmund Hayes 1890-1901 
 
 John J. Albright 1890-1901 
 
 Willis G. Gregory 1890- , from Pharmacy Faculty 
 
 Spencer Clinton 1891-1898, from Law Faculty 
 
 William C. Barrett 1892-1903, from Dental Faculty 
 
 Bryant B. Glenny 1897-1898 from Teachers' College 
 
 George H. Lewis 1895-1898 
 
 Charles W. Goodyear 1898-1906 
 
 Adelbert Moot 1898-1912, from Law Faculty 
 
 William H. Hotchkiss 1899-1906 
 
 Worthington C. Miner 1901-1903 
 
 Henry B. Howland 1901- 
 
 George B. Snow 1903-1912, from Dental Faculty 
 
 Stephen M. Clement 1904-1906 
 
 Louis L. Babcock 1904- 
 
 John Lord O 'Brian 1904- 
 
 John B. Olmsted 1904- 
 
 Kobert E. Hefford 1904-1914 
 
 Charles P. Norton 1905- , seventh Chancellor 
 
 Loran L. Lewis, Jr. 1906- 
 
 Edward Michael 1906- 
 
 Carleton Sprague 1906-1915 
 
 Arthur D. Bissell 1906-1917 
 
 Edward C. Lufkin 1906-1908 
 
 William H. Gratwick 1908- 
 
 Andrew V. V. Eaymond 1908- 
 
 Herbert U. Williams 1912-1915, from Medical Faculty 
 
 Daniel H. Squire 1912- , from Dental Faculty 
 
 Carlos C. Alden 1912- , from Law Faculty 
 
 Philip Becker Goetz 1914- , Secretary, 1916- 
 
 Peter W. Van Peyma 1914-1917, from Medical Alumni 
 
 Thomas H. McKee 1915- , from Medical Faculty 
 
 Walter P. Cooke 1916- 
 
 * Exact dates uncertain. 
 
A HISTOBY OF THE UNIVEBSITY OF BUFFALO 15 
 
 III. Phases of Growth. 
 
 The year 1846 happened to mark the most important 
 single event in the history of American medicine, for it 
 was on October 16th of that year that there took place the 
 first demonstration of the possibility of alleviating pain 
 during surgical operations. Hence when on October 16, 
 1896, Dr. Roswell Park, professor of surgery, delivered at 
 the University an address commemorative of the event, ' d it 
 took on also the character of a memorial of the Unrv ersity 's 
 semi-centennial and linked the destiny of the Medical De- 
 partment with the progress of American medicine in a 
 na PPy an( ^- significant manner. 
 
 No time was lost by the Council in establishing the 
 Faculty of Medicine, which, on August 25, 1846, was done 
 by the appointment of the following professors: 
 
 Charles Brodhead Coventry, M. D., professor of physi- 
 ology and medical jurisprudence. 
 
 Charles Alfred Lee, M. D., professor of pathology and 
 materia medica. 
 
 James Webster, M. D., professor of general and special 
 anatomy. 
 
 James P. White, M. D., professor of obstetrics and 
 diseases of women and children. 
 
 Frank Hastings Hamilton, M. D., professor of principles 
 and practice of surgery and clinical surgery. 
 
 Austin Flint, M. D., professor of principles and practice 
 of medicine and clinical medicine. 
 
 George Hadley, M. D., professor of chemistry and phar- 
 macy. 
 
 Corydon La Ford, M. D., demonstrator of anatomy, and 
 librarian. 
 
 Drs. Coventry, Hadley, Webster, Lee and Hamilton also 
 held chairs in the Geneva Medical College, an institution 
 which had an honorable career for a number of years, but 
 
 9 Park, "The Evil Eye," 351-380. 
 
16 A EISTOBY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO 
 
 on account of its location in a small town could not success- 
 fully compete with schools in such centers of population as 
 Albany and Buffalo; and in 1872 the Geneva College be- 
 came the Medical Department of Syracuse University. It 
 had been established in 1834 by a faculty largely aug- 
 mented by the retiring professors of the defunct Fairfield 
 Medical School, chartered in 1812. 10 The sessions at 
 Geneva being held in the early part of the winter, the 
 majority of the Buffalo Faculty could not assume their 
 duties until later, so that for several years lecturers were 
 giving the same course twice in the same winter at different 
 institutions. Naturally the question of accommodating 
 students came next after the election of a Faculty, and for 
 the first few sessions, lacking a building of its own, the 
 College held its lectures in the old First Baptist Church at 
 the corner of Washington and Seneca streets. 
 
 In the words of Chancellor Fillmore at the first Com- 
 mencement, the building was "fitted up at considerable 
 expense for the purpose, and the first annual course of lec- 
 tures commenced by this distinguished body of professors 
 on the first Wednesday of February last, which term is 
 now about to close. The whole number of students attend- 
 ing has been 72, 17 of whom_will receive their diplomas 
 as Doctors of Medicine today.) These are the first fruits of 
 this literary and scientific vineyard, and I trust they are 
 only samples of a more abundant harvest that is to be 
 annually gathered hereafter. If at the beginning any 
 doubted the success of this enterprise, or thought the 
 attempt premature, enough has now been done to dispel 
 every doubt and allay every apprehensionJ For never 
 within our knowledge has any medical college opened with 
 so large a class of students and closed its first year under 
 such flattering auspices. ' ' n 
 
 10 Syracuse University Catalogue. 
 
 11 Buffalo Historical Society "Publications," XI, 47. 
 
From "Picture Book of Earlier Buffalo." 
 FIEST HOME OF THE MEDICAL COLLEGE 
 
 First Baptist Church, northeast corner of Washington and Seneca 
 Streets, where lectures were held during the first two sessions. 
 
A HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO 17 
 
 Mr. Fillmore's position regarding the financial status of 
 an institution of learning, while probably no different nor 
 on any higher plane than that of most men of his day, 
 seems to us of the present to be at least curious. Appar- 
 ently no endowment was thought of for the institution. 
 The idea seems to have been that it could go on per- 
 manently with no income other than students' fees. As 
 to the source of equipment, Mr. Fillmore seems to have 
 calmly forgotten that any very large equipment was neces- 
 sary, although he does not deny that ' ' some assistance may 
 be required to raise the requisite funds to buy the land, 
 and erect suitable buildings. But this accomplished," he 
 asks rather naively, "Why should, not an institution of 
 this kind sustain itself? If professors feel that their com- 
 pensation depends upon the number of students they in- 
 struct, they will endeavor to acquit themselves in such a 
 manner as to increase the number; and. if they are not 
 able to attract a sufficient number to afford an adequate 
 compensation, then I maintain that that is evidence of one 
 of two things; either the professor is incompetent and 
 should, therefore, quit his vocation, or is not wanted and 
 therefore should, not be employed. It resolves itself into 
 a want of capacity to instruct, or a want of pupils to be / 
 instructed. Neither of these can be remedied by State 
 bounty or testamentary endowments/1 The Medical De- 
 partment has thus far been continuing on the plan that 
 the fee from the students is the only reward for the pro- 
 fessor; and I am happy to add, with every prospect of 
 success." 12 
 
 He forgot this much, however: the possibility that in 
 their desire to increase the student enrollment and hence 
 their own compensation, the professors might let down the 
 bars of scholastic requirements and discipline and so lead 
 to speedy deterioration. Happily, the Medical Depart- 
 
 12 Ibid., 48. 
 
18 A HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO 
 
 inent, together with the other professional schools, has 
 never been confronted with this possibility and for no 
 other reason, of course, than the high-minded devotion of 
 their Faculties. 
 
 At the very beginning the same sort of argument for an 
 academic department which for the subsequent seventy 
 years was so persistently voiced was heard in no uncertain 
 terms from the Chancellor and in very much the same tones 
 to which the city has echoed ever since. The potency of the 
 arguments may be realized, together with their applica- 
 bility to the conditions of seventy years ago, as well as to 
 those of today, by quoting the closing paragraph of the 
 Chancellor's address of 1847 : 13 
 
 This department being thoroughly and rightly established, I hope 
 next to see the academic department organized, and at the earliest 
 possible moment; and why should we despair of this? The time has 
 come when such an institution is indispensable to the wants and honor 
 of our city. I appeal to every father who has a son to educate. Why 
 should he be compelled to send that son to some eastern village or 
 distant city to give him a liberal education? Can it be that this 
 proud Queen City of the Lakes, into whose lap is poured the commer- 
 cial wealth of eight states, cannot maintain a single college! Are 
 our crowded wharves and glutted warehouses mere mockeries oi" 
 wealth? No — our numerous and costly temples for religious wor- 
 ship not only attest our piety and devotion, but show what the enter- 
 prise and noble generosity of Buffalo can accomplish when its sympa- 
 thies and energies are enlisted in a good cause. Then let me appeal 
 to you on behalf of the University of Buffalo, your own darling 
 child, bearing your own name, and stretching out its arms for your 
 support. Will you see it perish, or will you step forward with true 
 paternal feelings, and minister to its wants, and raise it from despond- 
 ency to hope, from weakness to power, and from childhood to man- 
 hood? If you will, be assured that you will establish an institution 
 eminently useful to yourselves, which will become the pride and orna- 
 ment of our city, and for which you will receive the grateful thanks 
 and fervent blessings of unborn millions. 
 
 13 Ibid., 49. 
 

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A EISTOEY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO 19 
 
 Unfortunately, the first minute-book of the Council, con- 
 taining a record of the action taken by that body from 
 1846 to 1855, has been lost, so that practically the only 
 events occurring during those years which are of certain 
 knowledge are to be found in newspaper reports. The 
 Council held, for many years, only annual meetings, the 
 chief purport of which was to confer degrees upon the 
 graduating classes. 
 
 It would be interesting to know the details of the erec- 
 tion of the first college building, but there is an excellent 
 description of the building, together with the work of the 
 college at that time, in the Commercial Advertiser of Sep- 
 tember 18, 1849. The remarks that are there recorded 
 concerning the building indicate that it was excellently 
 adapted to the needs of medical education of those days, 
 and particular comment is made upon the dissecting room, 
 which, in spaciousness and adaptation to its objects, was 
 regarded as unsurpassed in the whole country. This, de- 
 spite the fact that the total cost of building and site prob- 
 ably did not equal the sum of $25,000. The location was a 
 favorable one, giving the College of those days something 
 of the facilities for clinical teaching which the present 
 college building enjoys. Adjacent to the building, on Pearl 
 Place, was the hospital of the Sisters of Charity, presenting 
 the best opportunities in the city for clinical instruction. 
 
 It is quite remarkable that the seven men who constituted 
 the original Faculty all remained in active occupancy of 
 their chairs for the first five years. Thus the plans and 
 the policy of the College were well crystallized and a foun- 
 dation laid for its continuance and progressive existence 
 for seventy years, during which time it has numbered 
 among its professors many of the men of whom American 
 medicine is proudest. The following list includes the 
 names, with years of access and exit, of those who have 
 held chairs in the permanent (or, as it was later called, the 
 
20 A HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO 
 
 executive) Faculty from 18-16 to 1915. In that year a far- 
 reaching reorganization of the entire teaching methods took 
 place, with many changes in the system of instruction and 
 administration. 14 It was accordingly a new era of the 
 College which began in that year (1915), although the 
 changes which took place were not so much in personnel as 
 in methods. 
 
 Access Exit 
 
 1846 James P. White, Obstetrics 1881 
 
 1846 George Hadley, Chemistry and Pharmacy 1851 ,* 
 
 1846 Charles B. Coventry, Physiology 1851 
 
 1846 Charles A. Lee, Materia Medica 1870 
 
 1846 James Webster, Anatomy 1851 
 
 1846 Frank H. Hamilton, Surgery 1860 
 
 1846 Austin Flint, Principles and Practice of Medicine 1859 
 
 1851 James Hadley, Chemistry and Toxicology 1878 
 
 1851 John C. Dalton, Physiology 1855 
 
 1851 Benjamin K. Palmer, Anatomy 1853 
 
 1852 Edward M. Moore, Surgery 1882 
 
 .1853 Thomas F. Rochester, Principles and Practice of Medicine. .1887 
 
 1857 Sanford B. Hunt, Anatomy 1858 
 
 1857 Theophilus Mack, Materia Medica 1860 
 
 1859 Sanford Eastman, Anatomy 1870 
 
 1859 Austin Flint, Jr., Physiology 1860 
 
 1860 Joshua R. Lothrop, Materia Medica 1864 
 
 1861 William H. Mason, Physiology 1886 
 
 1867 Julius F. Miner, Special Surgery 1882 
 
 1870 Milton G. Potter, Anatomy 1877 
 
 1870 S. M. Eastman, Materia Medica 1873 
 
 1873 E. V. Stoddard, Materia Medica 1888 
 
 1878 Charles A. Doremus, Chemistry and Toxicology 1881 
 
 1878 Charles Cary, Anatomy 1889 
 
 1882 Matthew D. Mann, Obstetrics 1912 
 
 1882 E. A. Witthaus, Chemistry and Toxicology 1889 
 
 1883 Roswell Park, Surgery 1914 
 
 1886 Julius Pohlman. Physiology 1889 
 
 1887 Charles G. Stockton, Principles and Practice of Medicine. . . 
 
 1889 Charles Cary, Materia Medica 1899' 
 
 14 See page 74. 
 
A HIS TOBY OF THE UNIVEBSITY OF BUFFALO 21 
 
 1889 Charles Cary, Clinical Medicine 1911 
 
 1890 John Parmenter, Anatomy 1904 
 
 1890 Herbert M. Hill, Chemistry and Toxicology 1910 
 
 1899 Eli H. Long, Materia Mediea and Therapeutics 1912 
 
 1900 Frederick C. Busch, Physiology 1912 
 
 1904 Herbert U. Williams, Bacteriology and Pathology 
 
 1905 James A. Gibson, Anatomy 1917 
 
 1910 Francis C. Goldsborough, Obstetrics 
 
 1912 DeWitt H. Sherman, Materia Mediea 
 
 1912 Frederick H. Pratt, Physiology 
 
 Of several of these the length of their incumbency has 
 been quite remarkable. Dr. White served for thirty-five 
 years ; Dr. Thomas F. Rochester for thirty-four ; Dr. Moore 
 for thirty; Dr. Park (who succeeded Dr. Moore) for thirty- 
 one : Dr. Cary was in the service of the College for thirty- 
 two years; Dr. Mann for twenty-eight years; Dr. Stockton 
 has occupied his chair for thirty years. 
 
 IV. Notable Achievements. 
 
 Academic history is, naturally, made without a great 
 deal of publicity; and so the record of an institution of 
 learning is very largely a record of routine work. I The 
 early years saw few, if any, additions to the FacuRy and 
 few important accessions to the Council. Before the meet- 
 ing of 1856, however, two men had been elected to the 
 Council and thus broadened their interest in popular educa- 
 tion to include an intelligent interest in the facilities for 
 higher training. These two men were Jesse Ketchum and 
 Orlando Allen. Probably no citizen of Buffalo, certainly 
 none of the earlier days, did more as a private citizen for 
 the city's schools than Mr. Ketchum, who crowned his life- 
 long interest by presenting most of the site for the present 
 splendid Normal School. Mr. Allen's term of membership 
 on the Council extended for about fifteen years, during 
 which time he rarely missed a meeting. 
 
 < 
 
22 A HISTORY OF TEE UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO 
 
 The Medical Department has been distinguished in 
 respect to its advanced methods of teaching in two im- 
 portant directions. As early as the fourth session Dr. 
 James P. White, for the first time in this country, intro- 
 duced clinical midwifery into the college curriculum. This 
 method had been previously established in Europe, but its 
 introduction in America caused very severe criticism. So 
 bitter and pointed an attack was made upon Dr. White in 
 the newspapers, as to lead to a suit for libel, the result of 
 which was the acquittal of the defendant ; but the trial 
 served to vindicate Dr. White and his method of teaching. 
 Dr. John C. Dalton, Jr., who was elected to the chair of 
 physiology in 1851, was the first physiologist in America 
 to employ the method of experiment on living animals in 
 his teaching. 
 
 Dr. Austin Flint, during his incumbency as professor of 
 medicine, made his noted observations upon typhoid fever. 
 His study of the epidemic in North Boston. N. Y., in 1843, 
 contributed greatly toward recognition of the nature, 
 source and means of conveyance of the infection of this 
 disease. Dr. Julius F. Miner, professor of special surgery, 
 in 1869 became noted through his advocacy of enucleation 
 of ovarian tumors, a method which has been universally 
 adopted. Of the other members of the Faculty Dr. Hamil- 
 ton achieved a national reputation as surgeon, teacher and 
 writer; Dr. Ford became one of the most noted anatomists 
 in the country, holding for many years, until his com- 
 paratively recent death at an old age, a professorship at 
 the University of Michigan; Lee, Webster, and Coventry 
 all helped to make the first Faculty a group distinguished 
 for intellect, one which reflected honor on the city which 
 called them. 
 
 As time went on these men came to be assisted by 
 younger practitioners whom they had trained, and the fact 
 that such physicians as M. B. Folwell, D. W. Harrington 
 
FACULTY OF MEDICINE, 1861 
 
 Dr. Hadley Dr. Rochester Dr. Mason 
 
 Dr. White Dr. Moore Dr. Eastman Dr. Lee 
 
A HIS TOBY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO 23 
 
 and William C. Phelps were members of the staff without 
 holding chairs on the permanent Faculty does not, of 
 course, free the historian from neglecting to mention their 
 teaching abilities or their aid to the young College. 
 
 In the matter of improving medical education, the Col- 
 lege has been in the front rank in enlarging its curriculum 
 and adding to its corps of teachers. It was one of the first 
 institutions to favor a separation of the teaching and 
 licensing authority. While the proposition failed of adop- 
 tion at the time, it placed the College upon record and it 
 remained for one of its alumni and teachers, Dr. H. R. 
 Hopkins, aided by Professor M. D. Mann and Dr. A. R. 
 Davidson, also an alumnus, to urge and secure in 1883 the 
 formulation of a bill by the Medical Society of the County 
 of Erie, which, after due consideration by the State Medical 
 Society, was presented to the Legislature and, after re- 
 peated defeats and amendments, finally became a law in 
 1890, creating licensing bodies that should be absolutely 
 separate and distinct from the teaching faculties. 
 
 Beginning with 1856, the Council meetings assumed more 
 importance and interest than the merely routine work of 
 their previous gatherings. In that year it suffered the 
 loss of Judge Clinton, his place being taken by Dr. George 
 Hadley. Mr. Marshall succeeded to the position of pres- 
 ident of the Council made vacant by Mr. Clinton's resig- 
 nation, which meant his taking the place of Mr. Fillmore 
 whenever the latter could not represent the University > 
 leading naturally to his election as Mr. Fillmore 's successor. 
 
 Several important changes took place in the Faculty, 
 Austin Flint being elected to a new chair, that of clinical 
 medicine and pathology, taking the place of Dr. Lee. Dr. 
 Edward M- Moore of Rochester also assumed the duties of 
 a new chair, being designated professor of surgical anatomy 
 and pathology. A third new chair was created by the 
 election of Dr. Sanford B. Hunt as professor of descriptive 
 
24 A HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO 
 
 anatomy and pathology. In February of the next year, 
 1857, Dr. Rochester began his first service as dean, with 
 Dr. Hadley as registrar of the College, a combination which 
 continued to lend strength and dignity until 1861, when Dr. 
 Sanford Eastman became dean. Meanwhile several changes 
 were occurring in the membership of the Council, the most 
 important of which was perhaps the death of Dr. Thomas 
 M. Foote and the election as his successor of Henry W. 
 Rogers, of the legal firm which has had perhaps more his- 
 torical continuity of weight and importance than any other 
 in Buffalo. This firm has also been bound up intimately 
 with the fortunes of the University, members of it serving 
 either on the Council or in the Faculty of the Law Depart- 
 ment. During the years when the firm name was Rogers, 
 Locke & Milburn, the junior partner helped to establish the 
 Buffalo Law School and taught there for many years, where 
 his name is held as high as a teacher as it is throughout 
 the country as a practitioner. In addition to Mr. Rogers 
 and John G. Milburn, Franklin D. Locke, while never 
 actively connected with the University, was on several occa- 
 sions of great service to it in a legal capacity. 
 
 The next important change in the Medical Faculty 
 occurred in 1859, when Dr. Hunt resigned his chair, which 
 was divided, Dr. Eastman being made professor of anatomy 
 and Dr. Austin Flint, Jr., professor of physiology. The 
 latter, however, served for only one year, joining his father 
 in New York, where the elder had already begun to build 
 the international fame which awaited him. During these 
 years the graduating classes had been of about the same 
 size, running generally from twenty to thirty men. As the 
 sessions became longer and the work more arduous, the 
 students naturally tended to become fewer, with a corre- 
 sponding increase in quality. 
 
 In 1855, fifteen degrees were conferred; in 1856, only 
 seven, two of which were honorary; in 1857, fourteen; in 
 
A EISTOBY OF THE UNIVEESITY OF BUFFALO 25 
 
 1858, nine; in 1859, twelve, beginning with which year the 
 graduating classes commenced a satisfactory and generally 
 consistent increase in numbers. The last honorary degree 
 of Doctor of Medicine was conferred in 1879 upon Charles 
 A. Doremus, who had entered the Faculty not as a practic- 
 ing physician but as professor of chemistry. The degree 
 of M. D., as an honorary distinction, has been but infre- 
 quently granted by Buffalo, as by all American universi- 
 ties, which have generally preferred to honor physicians 
 of prestige by giving them a degree which they did not 
 already possess, such as Doctor of Science or Doctor of 
 Laws. Yale honored Dr. Park with the LL. D. degree. 
 The same honor has been conferred on several present 
 members of the faculties, Charles B. "Wheeler having 
 received it from Williams and John Lord 'Brian from 
 Hobart. 
 
 V. Expanding Activities. 
 
 The first active effort to bring to a realization the fervid 
 argument of Millard Fillmore for the addition of an aca- 
 demic ' department seems not to have been begun until 
 1862, when two committees of the Council were appointed 
 to consider and report upon the creation of departments of 
 law and of liberal arts. Here is a further example of 
 Buffalo's refusal to allow the stress and strain of civil war 
 to interfere with projects for her intellectual advancement. 
 Evidently, however, though the war did not interfere with 
 the foundation of several institutions, it was decided that 
 the time was not propitious for the expansion of the Uni- 
 versity. The reports of these two committees apparently 
 were made orally, since there is no evidence of their having 
 been recorded; but the idea of University expansion was 
 in the air and received repeated impetus from then on. In 
 1868 the addition of a dental department was discussed 
 for the first time and the first step actually taken, since it 
 was determined to leave the organization of a college of 
 
26 A HISTORY OF TEE UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO 
 
 dentistry to the Medical Faculty, where it rested for sa 
 many years that it was thought to have sunk to its final 
 repose. 
 
 In 1867 Dr. Julius F. Miner was elected professor of 
 special surgery and three years later was made dean, sue-, 
 ceeding Dr. James Hadley, who had been promoted from 
 registrar to dean in 1867, but returned to his old position 
 in 1870. Dr. Miner served as dean until 1875, when Dr. 
 Milton G. Potter succeeded to the office. In 1877 Dr. 
 Thomas F. Rochester, who to his commanding personality 
 joined the sureness of diagnosis and the rare knowledge and 
 skill in practice which gave him a dominating position 
 among Buffalo's medical men, was again made dean of the- 
 Faculty as he had been dean of his profession since Dr. 
 White's death, serving until his decease in 1887. Dr. 
 Rochester belongs perhaps to the second generation of the 
 Faculty, the first comprising the founders, White, Flint, 
 Hamilton, Hadley, and the third, men like Park, Stockton 
 (still teaching), Gary, and Mann. Happily the fourth 
 "generation," worthy successors of their forerunners, are 
 actively teaching, and uphold and transmit intact the old 
 ideals. 
 
 Both James Hadley and Potter died in 1878, a loss 
 doubly severe, necessitating a partial reorganization of the 
 Faculty. After a short interval Dr. Hadley was succeeded 
 as secretary of the Faculty by Charles Gary, who thus 
 began, in 1879, a service in many capacities. The same 
 year he began his teaching as professor of anatomy, but in 
 1889 changed his chair to that of materia medica, adding 
 that of clinical medicine. In 1899 he gave up the chair 
 of materia medica but continued as professor of clinical 
 medicine until 1911, when he was made professor emeritus- 
 — a service in active teaching totalling thirty-two years. 
 The Council also elected him to membership in 1879, a con- 
 nection which he has ever since retained, and for many 
 
A HISTOBY OF THE UNIVEBSITY OF BUFFALO 27 
 
 years during the thirty- seven of his membership he has 
 been the senior member, the only one to note the expansion 
 of the University as each of the other five departments was 
 added. 
 
 Nothing in the University's charter had prevented the 
 entrance of women students, but no woman was graduated 
 until 1876, when the degree was conferred upon Dr. Mary 
 B. Moody, now of Los Angeles, California, who has retained 
 a lively interest in her alma mater despite the years and 
 the distance which separate her. 
 
 In 1877 the Council suffered several severe losses by 
 death ; but the places of those who died, George R. Babcock, 
 Orlando Allen, and Joseph Warren, were filled by three 
 men, two of whom, Messrs. Sprague and Putnam, subse- 
 quently became Chancellors of the University; and the 
 third was David Gray, whose fame Buffalo cherishes as 
 editor and poet. 
 
 During the two decades from 1870 to 1890 the scope and 
 method of medical education were so changed by the rapid 
 progress in medical science as to require extension of the 
 college course from two years of five months each to three 
 years of six months each. The birth and development of 
 the science of bacteriology, the need of more practical 
 training in pathology and chemistry, and of a more 
 accurate knowledge of anatomy and histology, all de- 
 manded largely increased facilities not only in material 
 equipment but in teaching. 
 
 During the eight years from 1882 to 1890 the governing 
 Faculty of the Medical Department was completely 
 changed, not one chair being occupied in 1890 by the in- 
 cumbent of nine years before. Six new men had been 
 called to Faculty positions and one had been transferred 
 to another chair. During this time also occurred an en- 
 largement of the teaching staff by the appointment of 
 adjunct, associate and clinical professors, with assistants 
 
28 A HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO 
 
 and instructors in the laboratory and recitation courses. 
 A Spring course was in operation during the years 1884 to 
 1893. It consisted of eight weeks of supplementary and 
 special instruction given largely by the members of the 
 adjunct Faculty. It was regarded as an excellent feature 
 but was superseded by lengthening the regular session to 
 seven months and shortly thereafter to nine months for 
 each of the four years. 
 
 The first of these changes in the teaching staff brought 
 Matthew D. Mann, M. A., M. D., into the Faculty as pro- 
 fessor of obstetrics, beginning a connection which, as pro- 
 fessor and later as dean, was to give the institution the 
 impress of an executive ability and a rapidly increasing 
 reputation as surgeon and author, which did not terminate 
 with his resignation in 1911, for he has continued as pro- 
 fessor emeritus. He became secretary of the Faculty in 
 1882 and was made dean in 1887. In 1882 another addi- 
 tion was made in giving the chair of chemistry to Rudolph 
 A. Witthaus, M. A., M. D., of New York, taking the place 
 of Dr. Doremus, who was called to New York. Dr. Witt- 
 haus died in 1916, having achieved a national reputation. 
 
 If the Faculty was strengthened by these two appoint- 
 ments it was immeasurably weakened by the death in 1882 
 of Dr. James P. White, the last of the founders, a tower of 
 strength for decades to his University and his city. His 
 place in the Council was taken by Sherman S. Rogers. In 
 the same year Dr. Rochester was made Vice- Chancellor of 
 the University, an office purely honorary on account of the 
 assiduity and devotion of Mr. Marshall. The next year the 
 chair of surgery was made vacant through the retirement 
 of that Nestor of surgeons and unequaled teacher, Edward 
 M. Moore, and the disability of his brilliant colleague, 
 Julius F. Miner. In the words of Dr. Stockton, 15 "to find 
 an adequate successor of these men started a canvass of 
 
 15 Park, "Selected Papers," p. XL 
 
KOSWELL PARK, M. D., M. A., LL. D. 
 Professor of Surgery, 1883-1914 
 
A HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO 29 
 
 America, for only one having the topmost qualifications 
 could hope to fill the gap. An appeal to Chicago by Dr. 
 Rochester brought the assurance from Professor Moses 
 Gunn that Roswell Park stood out as the one whose ability 
 would satisfy every need"; and so in June, 1883, he was 
 called from Rush Medical College to become professor of 
 surgery. "His advent in Buffalo was opportune; it was a 
 transitional period from old to new concepts in pathology 
 at the threshold of modern surgery. Together with Mann 
 he re-educated the local medical profession and advanced 
 immeasurably through his sound pathology, novel teaching, 
 operative skill and spreading fame, the reputation of the 
 Medical School." 
 
 By those outside the Faculty Dr. Park's appointment 
 was not greeted with particular satisfaction. The Buffalo 
 Medical Journal, which was founded in the same year as 
 the University by one of the founders of the latter, Austin 
 Flint, at this time was somewhat unfriendly to the Medical 
 Department, being termed the unofficial organ of the rival 
 institution, the Medical Department of Niagara University ; 
 while the so-called organ of the University of Buffalo was 
 the Medical Press of Western New York, edited by Dr. 
 Park with a staff consisting principally of members of the 
 Faculty. An editorial in the Buffalo Medical Journal for 
 August, 1883, states that "Professor Moore's resignation is 
 a loss to the profession of this city as well as to the College. 
 It is but fair to say of him that he is recognized as the 
 ablest professor of surgery in this country. . . . We 
 learn that Dr. Roswell Park of Chicago has been appointed 
 . . . in the place thus vacated. We fail to ascertain, 
 after repeated inquiries in surgical circles, that the new 
 appointee brings to this responsible position any extensive 
 experience or reputation." There was much more in this 
 strain, but it was not long before the "rival" journal recog- 
 nized in Dr. Park a man with whom it was hard to be an 
 
30 A HISTORY OF TEE UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO 
 
 enemy, but who, if antagonized, was an indomitable fighter. 
 Happily the Buffalo Medical Journal soon changed its atti- 
 tude toward the College, and for many years, especially 
 under the editorship of Dr. A. L. Benedict, has shown 
 most helpful friendliness. 
 
 In 1884 the University suffered the loss by death of its 
 Chancellor, Mr. Marshall, who for thirty-eight years, ten 
 of them as Chancellor, had been assiduous in his devotion. 
 He was succeeded by E. Carleton Sprague. With 1886 a 
 new era was ushered in, which may perhaps be summed up 
 by saying that that year marked the first real step toward 
 changing the institution from a medical school to a real 
 university. The Council had been rejuvenated and the 
 new blood added this year was contributed by such inter- 
 ested and enthusiastic men as Robert Keating, John C. 
 Graves, Josiah Jewett and Frank M. Hollister, the latter 
 of whom took his father's place and was promptly elected 
 secretary, retaining that position for thirty years, until his 
 death. 
 
 If, however, at the beginning of that year one had re- 
 marked that the University was about to expand and pros- 
 per as never before, he would have been derided as a false 
 prophet. There was even discouragement among those 
 responsible for the government of the University as it 
 then existed. This is shown by the fact that the visit of 
 the president of Cornell University, Charles K. Adams, as 
 the Commencement speaker suggested to some the desira- 
 bility of asking Cornell to take over the local medical 
 school as its department of medicine. The Buffalo Courier 
 on April 8, 1886, published an editorial, written by one of 
 of the Buffalo Faculty, in which among other things it 
 was remarked that "attention has already been called to 
 how much the Medical Faculty have done for Buffalo and 
 how little Buffalo has done for them. . . . We should 
 note with feelings of congratulation that Cornell has ab- 
 
A HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO 31 
 
 rsorbed that which Buffalo has failed to erect — its hypo- 
 thetical University — and has honored itself by "uniting 
 with itself a most meritorious professional school." This 
 does not mean, as it might seem to do, that the Medical 
 School no longer commanded the loyal support of its 
 Faculty. Pessimism existed only so far as University 
 expansion was concerned. The existence of the Medical 
 School was assured and the desire was to place it on a 
 firmer foundation by merging it with a university of large 
 endowment. The question of affiliating one or more of the 
 professional departments with Cornell came up later in 
 connection with the Law School, but both problems were 
 solved without their having reached a very definite stage 
 of negotiation. 
 
 It was at this same Commencement meeting of the Coun- 
 cil that a committee was appointed to investigate the feasi- 
 bility of creating a law department. This committee was 
 composed of Messrs. Sprague, Putnam, Gorham and Drs. 
 Mann and Cary from the Council, together with Messrs. 
 Ansley Wilcox and the late James F. Gluck from the Erie 
 County Bar. The report of this committee indicated that 
 for two reasons the project had best be postponed, the first 
 being the difficulty of finding a man of the proper legal 
 attainments who would give up the time necessary to 
 organize the school; and the second being the possibility, 
 though no longer the probability, of the creation by Cor- 
 nell of its law school in Buffalo. Curiously enough, how- 
 ever, this adverse decision did not prevent the establish- 
 ment in 1887, the same year in which this report was made 
 to the Council, of the Buffalo Law School, which imme- 
 diately became affiliated with Niagara University and re- 
 mained the law department of that institution until 1891, 
 when it became the Department of Law of the University 
 of Buffalo. 
 
32 A HISTORY OF TEE UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO 
 
 VI. Departmental Development. 
 The College of Pharmacy. 
 
 Conditions were more favorable for the addition of the 
 second department of the University, the College of Phar- 
 macy, and on March 8, 1886, the Council authorized this 
 addition with little debate or discussion. No college of 
 pharmacy was at that time in existence nearer to Buffalo 
 than Cincinnati and the pharmacists of the community had 
 long been insistent that the evident need for training in 
 this subject should be supplied in connection with the work 
 of the Medical School, j After Dr. F. P. Vandenbergh, 
 adjunct professor of chemistry in the Medical Department, 
 had, upon its invitation, addressed to the Council a memor- 
 ial upon the advisability of establishing the new depart- 
 ment, the Pharmaceutical Faculty was immediately created 
 with the following incumbents : R. A. Witthaus, M.A., M.D., 
 professor of pharmaceutical chemistry and toxicology; 
 E. V. Stoddard, M. A., M. D., professor of materia medica ; 
 Willis G. Gregory, M. D., Ph. G., professor of pharmacy 
 and director of the pharmaceutical laboratory ; D. S. Kelli- 
 cott, Ph. D., professor of microscopy ; F. P. Vandenbergh, 
 B. S., M. D., professor of general and analytical chemistry. 
 Professor Kellicott was chosen dean of the Faculty, being 
 succeeded after two years by Dr. Stoddard, and in 1890 by 
 Dr. Gregory, who is still [1917] dean and professor of 
 pharmacy. 
 
 Several Faculty changes occurred during the first five 
 years. After two years Professor Kellicott resigned his 
 chair, having been called to the Ohio State University, and 
 was succeeded by the late Ernest Wende, B. S., M. D. In 
 1889 Professor Stoddard and Professor Witthaus resigned 
 their positions and the instruction in chemistry was then 
 entirely given to the existing chair occupied by Professor 
 Vandenbergh. Dr. Stoddard was succeeded by Eli H. 
 Long, M. D., and at the same time the chair of pharmacog- 
 
A HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO 33 
 
 nosy was added with John R. Gray, M. D., as the incum- 
 bent. Dr. Gray retired in 1912, being succeeded by Frank 
 E. Lock, M. D., Phar. M., who served until 1916. In 1890 
 Professor Vandenbergh resigned the chair of chemistry and 
 was succeeded by Herbert M. Hill, Ph. D., now city chemist. 
 Albert P. Sy, Ph. D., succeeded Dr. Hill as head of the 
 chemistry department in both the Pharmacy and Medical 
 Schools in 1910. 
 
 The Faculty of Pharmacy has seen very few changes in 
 the thirty years of its existence. Dean Gregory has said 
 that during his connection with the College (beginning 
 with its establishment) he has been able to recall but one 
 or two instances where any procedure taken by the Faculty 
 has not been unanimously taken, indicating a unity of pur- 
 pose and harmony of action rare_in academic circles and 
 possible only in small bodies. I Laboratory teaching has 
 been a prominent feature in the work of the College from 
 the beginning, about half the instruction being of this prac- 
 tical nature. During the first five and one-half years the 
 sessions were held in the Medical Department's old build- 
 ing, but this structure soon became inadequate not only 
 for the Medical but for the Pharmacy Department, ' and 
 upon the completion of the High Street building, the Col- 
 lege of Pharmacy was therein given abundant facilities for 
 every branch of instruction. The first session opened Sep- 
 tember 20, 1886, with thirty-eight students enrolled. 
 Chancellor Sprague presided at the opening exercises,. 
 which were attended by the Mayor and many other digni- 
 taries, the address of the day being delivered by Clay W. 
 Holmes of Elmira, secretary of the State Pharmaceutical 
 Association. His address was on "The Nobility of Phar- 
 macy as a Profession," which proved to be an interesting 
 outline of pharmaceutical history, closing by drawing a 
 sharp distinction between the mere druggist and the 
 trained, scholarly pharmacist, for whom additional facili- 
 
 < 
 
 N 
 
34 A EISTOBY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO 
 
 ties were now available for the first time in this part of 
 x the country. 
 
 ,3 The new College, for the time being, was placed on the 
 same financial basis as the Medical School, Mr. Fillmore's 
 ideas on this point still being accepted — more because 
 there was in Buffalo no other practical basis to maintain a 
 college than because they were approved. This method did 
 not always work out to the benefit of the Faculty, as those 
 hostile to the institution were fond of alleging. As one 
 professor put it: "When there is any money left over, it 
 is divided among the Faculty ; when there is a deficit, that 
 is divided too. Last year (i. e., 1884-5) repairs and im- 
 provements costing $3,500 were made, which came from the 
 pockets of the seven men of the Executive Faculty." 
 
 The only degree conferred by the College up to 1897 was 
 that of Graduate in Pharmacy, but in 1895 a departure 
 was made by the establishment of an advanced course of 
 study which should lead to the degree of Master of Phar- 
 macy. This was designed for the benefit of students of 
 ability who desired to devote their whole time to study, 
 instead of combining college attendance with daily work 
 in a pharmacy. In addition to these two degrees that of 
 Pharmaceutical Chemist is conferred, also for post-graduate 
 work, of one year. 
 
 It was the Faculty of Pharmacy which first offered in- 
 struction in a course most of the subjects in which are 
 generally counted in other institutions towards the degree 
 of B. S., and hence in a way this Faculty anticipated the 
 establishment of the Arts Department. Necessarily, most 
 of the studies in the* Pharmacy Department (especially 
 those in the Ph. Gr. course, of only two years) are of a 
 special nature, fitting the student for the immediate prac- 
 tice of his profession, but in the three-year course leading 
 to the degree of Analytical Chemist, which was established 
 in 1906, the added year makes possible the inclusion of a 
 
A EISTOBY OF TEE UNIVEBSITY OF BUFFALO 35 
 
 number of subjects which broaden the student culturally. 
 French, German, geology, physics and others are the sub- 
 jects which, together with a large amount of the different 
 kinds of chemistry and allied courses, make possible some 
 comparison of this A. C. degree with the B. S. of other 
 scientific institutions. Training in professional schools is 
 not all narrow, just as more than half of the subjects pur- 
 sued at "West Point have no exclusive bearing on the 
 soldier's profession. 
 
 In 1916-17 the Faculty of Pharmacy was constituted as 
 follows: Willis G. Gregory, M. D., Ph. G., dean and pro- 
 fessor of pharmacy ; Albert P. Sy, M. S., Ph. D., professor 
 of chemistry ; Eli H. Long, M. D., professor of toxicology, 
 and recording secretary ; Richard F. Morgan, Ph. G., Phar. 
 D., professor of microscopy; Willis G. Hickman, professor 
 of pharmaceutical jurisprudence ; Asa B. Lemon, Phar. D., 
 professor of materia medica and instructor in the phar- 
 maceutical laboratory ; Lee W. Miller, Ph. G., instructor in 
 commercial pharmacy ; Ray M. Stanley, Ph. G., LL. B., in- 
 structor in commercial pharmacy ; Ernest G. Merritt, M. S., 
 instructor in physics. 
 
 The Analytical Chemistry Faculty in 1916-17 was as 
 follows : Willis G. Gregory, M. D., Ph. G., dean ; Albert P. 
 Sy, M.S., Ph.D., professor of chemistry and German; 
 Richard F. Morgan, Ph. G., Phar. D., professor of miner- 
 alogy and lithology ; W illiam V. Irons, Ph. D., assistant pro- 
 fessor of chemistry ; P. Frederick Piper, B. S., professor of 
 geology ; William F. Jacobs, M. D., professor of bacter- 
 iology ; Ernest G. Merritt, M. S., professor of physics ; 
 Alfred Rothmann, professor of French; A. H. Hopkins, 
 B. A., instructor in mechanical drawing. 
 
 As has been indicated, the first committee to report on 
 the feasibility of creating a department of liberal arts was 
 appointed by the Council in 1862. It was twenty-five years 
 later before the matter was again formally considered. In 
 
36 A HISTOBT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO 
 
 1859 the University charter had been amended to permit 
 the establishment of a preparatory department, "a school 
 for the academic instruction of young men preparatory to 
 a collegiate education, and to provide therein, or in its 
 academic department when founded, or both, for instruc- 
 tion in practical mechanical science, mining, engineering 
 and in the science of teaching." When the Council ap- 
 pointed a committee to consider whether or not it should 
 take advantage of this provision, the same committee was 
 directed to report on the more important creation of a col- 
 legiate department. The proposition before the committee 
 proved to be one to transfer a local commercial school of 
 good reputation and prospects into a department of liberal 
 arts under the University charter, and until endowment 
 was secured, to use the rooms and equipment of the school. 
 In December, 1888, the committee reported its findings, 
 without making any recommendations, and was delegated 
 to continue its investigation. Mr. Putnam seemed to voice 
 the opinions of the Council by saying that while profes- 
 sional schools might exist on students ' fees, he did not think 
 it practicable to establish a full fledged academic depart- 
 ment with no better prospects in view. The committee was 
 finally dissolved in March, 1889. 
 
 Department of Veterinary Medicine. 
 
 The next department of the University to be established 
 was one which, although formally organized, never carried 
 on any instruction and the Faculty named have all passed 
 away. The existing Faculties had appointed a committee 
 to report to the Council upon the creation of a depart- 
 ment of veterinary medicine and at a meeting in July, 
 1887, the committee submitted its recommendations. For 
 some years there was an independent veterinary school 
 in Buffalo which had lapsed, owing to financial difficulties, 
 but the interest remained and the veterinarians of the city 
 
A HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO 37 
 
 united to convince the Council of the demand for expert 
 training. The Faculty, as suggested in the petition, was 
 to consist of Drs. Park, Pohlman (who was named dean), 
 Stoddard, and Vandenbergh, with the assistance of prac- 
 ticing veterinarians and physicians. The Council confirmed 
 these nominations, but financial difficulties attending efforts 
 to secure subscriptions for a suitable building made neces- 
 sary the abandonment of the department. 
 
 At the same meeting, July 28, 1887, which created the 
 Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Dr. Park and Lawrence 
 D. Rumsey were elected to the Council, beginning a mem- 
 bership in that body of twenty-seven and twenty-one years 
 respectively. They took the places of the late Dr. Roches- 
 ter and David Gray. T. Guilford Smith was also elected 
 to succeed John Wilkeson. In the Medical Faculty the 
 Council confirmed the nomination of Charles G. Stock- 
 ton as professor of the theory and practice of medicine, 
 the chair filled so long by Dr. Rochester. Dr. Stockton 
 had been professor of materia medica and therapeutics 
 in Niagara University, one of the members of whose 
 Faculty, while congratulating the University on the change, 
 rather vitiated his felicitations by adding, ' ' The only regret 
 I have is that he has got into such bad company. ' ' 
 
 Dr. Stockton is now the senior in point of actual teaching 
 service in the Medical Faculty, to which his reputation and 
 ability as teacher and author are an invaluable asset. 
 
 The New Medical Building. 
 
 During all these years the work of the University was 
 rendered less effective than the quality of the teaching 
 could warrant, by the increasingly inadequate facilities of 
 the old building. The Virginia-street structure was in 
 1889 fifty years old. Built in days when medical instruc- 
 tion necessitated but a few months for satisfactory comple- 
 tion, it now accommodated not only medical students spend- 
 
38 A HISTOBY OF TEE UNIVEESITT OF BUFFALO 
 
 ing a three-year course in the building, but a rapidly grow- 
 ing number of pharmacy students as well. 
 
 Dr. Park brought the material needs of the College to 
 the attention of the public in a vivid way. Without osten- 
 tation he let it become known that he had received and 
 was considering an urgent and attractive invitation to 
 return to Chicago, there to occupy what Chicago friends 
 termed "the finest place in America today" — the chair of 
 surgery at Rush Medical College. There seemed but one 
 means of keeping him in Buffalo — by proving to him that 
 the public would appreciate his declination of the call to 
 the extent of erecting a new building for the University. 
 This implied condition put the issue squarely. From the 
 beginning the Council was enthusiastic. At the annual 
 meeting of 1889 Dr. Park, speaking for the Faculty, re- 
 minded the Councilors of recent gifts of from $500,000 to 
 $1,000,000 made to medical schools in other cities. The 
 Buffalo school, he knew, was as worthy as any of these and 
 its needs were greater. He suggested that the present 
 college property be sold and a new lot bought on which a 
 better and larger building might be erected • — a building 
 providing for the growth which he farsightedly prophesied. 
 He also spoke at some length of the devotion of the Faculty 
 and of the various claims of the College to a generous public 
 support. 
 
 Dr. Mann earnestly seconded Dr. Park's appeal. De- 
 scribing the cramped and inconvenient quarters at the 
 College, with the disheartening lack of facilities, he es- 
 pecially emphasized the need for greater accommodation 
 for clinical instruction. Vice-Chancellor Putnam, who pre- 
 sided, said that he considered the request laid before the 
 Council eminently just and proper and one to which a 
 liberal public should respond, and he desired to know 
 definitely whether the people of Buffalo cared seriously to 
 cultivate anything higher than its material interests. Mr. 
 
A HISTOEY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO 39 
 
 Keating moved that a committee of three be appointed to 
 report on the sale of the present grounds and the purchase 
 of a new lot, and Dr. Park, Mr. Gorham, and Mr. Keating 
 were appointed. 
 
 On the east side of Main Street, at what is now the cor- 
 ner of High Street, stood for many years the only dwelling 
 house now in existence with which Joseph Ellicott is 
 directly associated. In 1823 he had begun the erection of 
 this home with the idea of giving it on its completion to 
 his niece. He died, however, before it was completed and 
 it was inhabited for many years by Colonel Guy H. Good- 
 rich. The house originally stood in large grounds, cover- 
 ing the entire block between what are now High and Good- 
 rich streets, but in the course of time these grounds were 
 cut up into lots and sold, until the whole mansion was 
 hemmed in by modern dwellings, except on the High-street 
 side. The building was moved to Amherst Street in the 
 nineties and considerably enlarged. 16 This was the land 
 which the Council of the University decided to purchase 
 and utilize as the site for the new medical building. 
 
 The amount paid for the land was $22,275, probably a 
 fair figure in those days but certainly an excellent bargain 
 in view of the increased valuation of real estate since then. 
 There were many arguments in favor of this location, the 
 chief of which, of course, besides its central situation, was 
 its proximity to the Buffalo General Hospital, which has 
 always provided most of the clinical facilities of the Col- 
 lege. George Cary was the architect engaged for the new 
 building ; and the price named was not to exceed $125,000. 
 
 A college building used for many different purposes must 
 satisfy such varying requirements and tastes that a great 
 many men have to be consulted in order to avoid almost 
 unanimous criticism. Several meetings of the full Medical 
 Faculty, numbering at that time a total of over thirty, 
 
 16 Buffalo Historical Society "Publications," XVI, 313. 
 
40 A HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO 
 
 were held for the purpose of furnishing the building com- 
 mittee with the requirements of their respective depart- 
 ments, which data were then given to the architect. 
 
 An extensive description of this building, so familiar to 
 all Buffalonians and to the medical profession in this part 
 of the country, is here unnecessary, but the final architect's 
 plans called for a building with an irregular front of 215 
 feet, 98 feet on the west side and 78 feet on the east side, 
 occupying in all a surface of 12,000 square feet. The 
 greater part of the building is of fire-proof construction, 
 the rest of so-called slow-burning construction. The design 
 was to supply the building with rooms of varying char- 
 acter, and the main amphitheatre, which, on account of the 
 contributions of the graduates towards equipping and fur- 
 nishing it, was named Alumni Hall, has a seating capacity 
 of 400. Two other lecture-rooms have a slightly smaller 
 capacity, while other recitation and lecture rooms are of 
 varying size. The entire building contains no plaster, no 
 partitions other than brick, and the only wood employed is 
 oak. The money for the erection of the building and the 
 purchase of the lot was raised for the greater part by popu- 
 lar subscription, the only important single contribution 
 being a legacy of $20,000 from the late Honorable Jonathan 
 Scoville. Franklin D. Locke drew Mr. Scoville's will and 
 at the time urged him to make a bequest to the Medical 
 College, which was not then done. When he prepared a 
 codicil, however, he asked Mr. Locke to ascertain the exact 
 corporate name of the Medical College. He was answered 
 that it was the University of Buffalo. He replied by wire 
 that he wished the name of the "Medical College on Vir- 
 ginia Street." Mr. Locke wired in reply that it had been 
 given correctly and admitted that he was as surprised as 
 Mr. Scoville to learn that the Medical College was not an 
 independent institution. It took so many years for the 
 University idea to make headway over the idea of a cluster 
 
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A HISTOBY OF THE UNIFEBSITY OF BUFFALO 41 
 
 of independent schools. The old building and its site were 
 sold for $67,750 to the Buffalo Catholic Institute and this 
 money was devoted toward the erection of the new building. 
 
 The Department of Law. 
 
 The successful undertaking of the new building gave 
 added encouragement to those who believed that the Uni- 
 versity should be enlarged to meet the needs of as many 
 professions as would support an enlarged institution, and 
 within a few months of each other, Colleges of Law and 
 Dentistry were added. The Buffalo Law School, founded in 
 1887, had been affiliated for a time with Niagara University 
 but now desired to change its connection, and at a meeting 
 of the Faculty held on May 18, 1891, those present, Messrs. 
 Charles Daniels, dean and professor of constitutional law; 
 LeRoy Parker, vice-dean and professor of the law of con- 
 tracts and municipal law; George S. Wardwell, professor 
 of the law of torts ; Carl T. Chester, professor of the laws of 
 marriage and divorce and special proceedings; Charles 
 Beckwith, professor of equity jurisprudence; George Clin- 
 ton, professor of maritime law and admiralty; Tracy C. 
 Becker, professor of criminal law and procedure and med- 
 ical jurisprudence ; and Adelbert Moot, professor of the law 
 -of evidence, petitioned the Council to admit the Buffalo 
 Law School as a part of the University. The request was 
 granted without delay and Spencer Clinton was at the next 
 meeting elected to represent the Law Faculty in the Coun- 
 cil. The teachers who had previously served in the Buffalo 
 Law School were all confirmed in their former chairs as 
 the new professors of the Law Department and the Faculty 
 was finally constituted to include those who had signed the 
 request for affiliation (mentioned above) together with 
 Albion W. Tourgee, professor of legal ethics ; James Fraser 
 Gluck, professor of the law of corporations; John G. Mil- 
 burn, professor of the theory of law codes and codifica- 
 
42 A HISTORY OF TEE UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO 
 
 tions; Charles P. Norton, registrar and professor of the 
 law and practice of civil actions ; and E. Corning Townsend,. 
 secretary-treasurer and professor of the law of domestic 
 relations. 
 
 The organizers of the School believed that instruction in 
 law could best be given by lawyers who were engaged in 
 the active practice of their profession. Says Mr. Norton 
 in his history of the Buffalo Law School published in The 
 Green Bag, October, 1889 : ' ' The alliance between the 
 courts and the Bar on one hand and the School on the 
 other, was the closer because the School instructors were 
 chosen from the four hundred members of the judiciary 
 and Bar of Buffalo. The Law School was in fact the enter- 
 prise of the Buffalo Bar, in the interest of the more 
 thorough and effective training of its own future members. 
 Five judges who were holding courts almost daily became 
 members of its faculty. Attorneys who had won reputation 
 as specialists in various branches gladly gave their time and 
 their services to it. The members of the Bar who were not 
 actively engaged in the Law School offered places in their 
 offices and the benefit of an older lawyer's supervision of 
 studjr to every student who would come." In this respect 
 the Law Department occupied an unusual position among 
 the schools of the country, as the instruction thus secured 
 is eminently legal and above all, practical. The School so 
 organized and carried on continues to be impressed with the 
 character of its founders. 
 
 The first quarters, in 1887, of the Buffalo Law School 
 were located in the old Niagara University building on 
 Ellicott Street, behind the Public Library. During the 
 second year the work was carried on in the lecture rooms 
 of the Library. From the Library building, next to which 
 was then the courthouse with its splendid law library and 
 four courts of general jurisdiction, the School moved to the 
 southwest corner of Pearl and Church Streets. When the 
 
A HIS TOBY OF TEE UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO 43 
 
 Ellicott Square building was opened in 1896, the Depart- 
 ment, which had been steadily increasing* in size, was moved 
 to the ninth floor of that building, where it remained until 
 the end of the school year of 1913, when it was transferred 
 to the third and fourth floors of the former Third National 
 Bank building, thus still remaining in proximity to the City 
 and County Hall and the City Court building, which consti- 
 tute the laboratories of the law student. After all these 
 peregrinations, the School is finally making at this time 
 (1917) a concerted effort to find permanent quarters. The 
 nucleus of a building fund has been secured by subscription 
 among its alumni and the attorneys of the city and the 
 purchase of a location on Eagle Street directly opposite the 
 City Hall is being actively projected. The School moved 
 into the building in the fall of 1917. 
 
 In arranging the studies of the School and completing 
 the scheme of organization, the founders were singularly 
 fortunate in being guided by men of great practical sagacity 
 and unusual administrative skill. Foremost among them 
 was the Hon. Charles Daniels, IiL. D., for many years 
 judge of the Eighth Judicial District, who in spite of his 
 many judicial duties always made time for his class-room 
 work. This he permitted nothing to interrupt and even 
 used to adjourn court to hold lectures. Death removed the 
 honored dean in 1897. Pending the selection of a successor, 
 Mr. Moot until 1901 served as dean, he being the only mem- 
 ber of the original Faculty who still gives instruction. 
 Finally the services of Christopher G. Tiedeman, LL. D. r 
 were secured as dean and lecturer on elementary law, con- 
 stitutional law, negotiable instruments, and the law of real 
 property. He was a legal author of international reputa- 
 tion and his connection with the School promised greatly 
 for its future, but he was permitted to serve its interests- 
 for only two years, because of his untimely death, which 
 occurred in August, 1903. Again Mr. Moot became acting 
 
44 A HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO 
 
 dean and served until 1904, when Dr. Carlos C. Alden, for 
 many years a member of the Law Faculty of New York 
 University, and later counsel to Governor Hughes, was 
 appointed to the office, and he has served as head of the 
 Department since that time. The judgment of those re- 
 sponsible for his selection has been amply confirmed, for 
 he has had most noteworthy success as teacher and lecturer 
 as well as in practice. Under his administration the School 
 extended its course from two to three years. 
 
 Those who have filled the position of registrar have also 
 contributed very largely to the success of the School. 
 Charles P. Norton, now Chancellor, was the first to fill this 
 position, and his connection with the Department continued 
 for many years. E. Corning Townsend, Alfred L. Becker, 
 and George D. Crofts, who is the present incumbent, were 
 Mr. Norton's successors. Among his other services to the 
 School, Mr. Crofts has given much time and attention to 
 the building up and classification of the library, which has 
 become a very valuable one. Over $1,000 is spent each 
 year for its increase and maintenance, the money being 
 secured by a payment of $10 from each student. It was 
 purchased in the first instance by a fund given by thirty- 
 six of the most prominent lawyers and business men of the 
 city. 
 
 The Faculty in 1916-17 was composed of the following: 
 Carlos C. Alden, LL. M., J. D., dean, and lecturer on 
 elementary law, the law of property equity, practice and 
 pleading ; Hon. Adelbert Moot, LL. B., lecturer on the law 
 of evidence ; Hon. Charles B. Wheeler, B. A., LL. B., LL. D., 
 lecturer on the law of corporations ; Loran L. Lewis, M. A., 
 LL. B., lecturer on the law of liens ; Hon. John Lord 
 O 'Brian, B. A., LL. B., LL. D., lecturer on the law of insur- 
 ance ; Fred D. Corey, LL. B., lecturer on public service 
 corporations ; Hon. Clinton T. Horton, B. A., LL. B., lec- 
 turer on law of negotiable instruments; Hon. George B. 
 
WILLIAM C. BARRETT, D. D. S... M. D. 
 
 First Dean of the Dental College, 1892-1903 
 
A HISTORY OF TEE UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO 45 
 
 Burd, LL. B., lecturer on constitutional law. In addition 
 there are fifteen lecturers. 
 
 The College of Dentistry. 
 
 The addition of the Law Department preceded the crea- 
 tion of the Department of Dentistry by only a few months,, 
 and on May 30, 1892, on the motion of Dr. Park, who had 
 been active in the matter from the beginning, such a de- 
 partment was established with the following as the first 
 Faculty: William C. Barrett, Alfred P. Southwick, Her- 
 bert A. Birdsall, and Franklin B. Howard. These gentle- 
 men subsequently elected to their number George B. Snow. 
 A statement prepared by Chancellor Sprague explained 
 the steps leading up to this action, stating that for years 
 the University had had this step in contemplation in order 
 that its medical instruction might be complete in all its 
 branches. 
 
 With the completion of the new building on High Street 
 the obstacles preventing the addition of the Dental College 
 were removed, since the architect was especially instructed 
 to include space for such a school, and, continued the 
 Chancellor in his report to the Council, "The western wing 
 of the building will, therefore, be devoted to the wants of 
 a complete dental school." For the first session of the 
 Dental Department there were forty-six matriculates and 
 the graduating class numbered five. One change in the 
 permanent Faculty occurred early in the first session. Pro- 
 fessor H. A. Birdsall, the youngest member and a man of 
 great promise, died in December, 1892. He was succeeded 
 by Dr. Eli H. Long, who is still on the Faculty. The classes 
 grew very rapidly in size from year to year and the neces- 
 sity for an adequately equipped dental school in this region 
 was clearly demonstrated. The growth was regarded as 
 phenomenal. Beginning with a class of forty-six in the 
 first session, four years later saw a registration of 222, and 
 
46 A HIS TOBY OF THE UNIVEBSITY OF BUFFALO 
 
 ten years later the enrollment reached 261. Such a rapid 
 growth proved that the School must soon have a building 
 designed and furnished especially to meet its own needs. 
 Accordingly, plans were soon developed which led to the 
 erection of a three-story building on Goodrich Street, 
 adjoining the High-street property. This building, also 
 designed by George Gary, was erected in 1896 at a cost of 
 $36,000, and was first occupied during 1896-97, this being 
 the fifth session of the College. Even this building was 
 soon taxed to its capacity to accommodate the growing 
 School, so that it became necessary in 1902 to add a fourth 
 story. This done, the building stands today as one of the 
 first in the country in point of equipment and adaptation 
 to the needs of dental instruction. 
 
 It was recognized from the beginning that a large part 
 of the credit for the wise planning and efficient organiza- 
 tion, which constituted the foundation of the College's 
 success, was due to the first dean, Dr. Barrett, who died in 
 1903, having held the position of dean since the inception 
 of the College. Another distinct contribution to its early 
 success was the service rendered by Dr. Alfred P. South- 
 wick, who held the position of secretary and treasurer until 
 the time of his death, in 1898. Dr. Barrett was succeeded 
 as dean by Dr. George B. Snow, who served in that capacity 
 for nine years, a period which saw constant enlargement 
 and development. In 1912 Dr. Daniel H. Squire, a grad- 
 uate in the first class to receive degrees, who had served as 
 vice-dean during 1910 and 1911, became dean. The present 
 head, with his associates, has been markedly successful not 
 only in raising the scholastic standing of the College but 
 in inculcating such mutual cordiality between the Faculty 
 and students as to result in a very healthy growth of college 
 and university spirit. Indeed, the Dental College is often 
 the first to inaugurate and carry on the various projects 
 tending to bring the University before the public in an 
 
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A HI 8 TOBY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO 47 
 
 advantageous light, and to provide a natural outlet for the 
 display of undergraduate activities. 
 
 In ]914 the College sustained the loss, on account of 
 removal to New York, of Dr. Leuman M. "Waugh, who had 
 been very successful as professor of special pathology. 
 Columbia University made him a member of its first Dental 
 Faculty. The Governing Faculty of Dentistry in 1916-17 
 comprised : Eli H. Long, M. D., professor of materia medica 
 and therapeutics ; Daniel H. Squire, D. D. S., dean of the 
 Faculty and professor of operative dentistry; Charles K. 
 Buell, D. D. S., secretary-treasurer and professor of crown 
 and bridge work and dental ceramics; Abram Hoffman, 
 D. D. S., registrar and professor of prosthetic dentistry and 
 orthodontia. In addition there were five other professors, 
 fourteen lecturers, and a clinical staff of nineteen. 
 
 Beginning with the session of 1917-18 the course of 
 dental instruction was increased from three to four years. 
 
 Teachers' College. 
 
 Five departments of the University had now been author- 
 ized, each of which, with the exception of that of veterinary 
 medicine, was fully justifying the hope of its founders. 
 The success of the next addition should not be adjudged by 
 the length of time during which it was in existence. No 
 department of the University has had more loyal students 
 and graduates than the Teachers' College, and without 
 exception they have remained anxious for its revival. 
 
 The purpose of the new school was, of course, in no sense 
 to duplicate the work of the normal schools, particularly 
 the excellent work done by the Buffalo State Normal 
 School, but to continue and develop the work they so ably 
 begin. One of the important functions of the normal 
 schools is to engender a thirst for a more exhaustive study 
 •of pedagogy than they themselves can satisfy. The 
 Teachers' College was designed to meet the need thus 
 
48 A HISTORY OF TEE UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO 
 
 aroused, and the most important agency which it brought 
 to bear was the control of a practice school where the 
 theories propounded in the classroom received searching 
 laboratory tests of their worth. 
 
 In the year of the establishment of the College there was 
 but one other university in this country provided with a 
 well-equipped practice school. The school controlled by 
 the College, which has been known for many years as the 
 Franklin School, was and is well organized and fully 
 equipped. Dr. Frank M. McMurry added to his duties as 
 a member of the Pedagogical Faculty those of principal 
 of the Model School. In February, 1895, Dr. Stockton was 
 invited to explain to the Council the details of the pro- 
 posed School of Pedagogy, the result of which meeting was 
 to convince the Councilors of the desirability of adding 
 such a department. It was some months before the details 
 were finally worked out, but in April, 1895, the application 
 of those interested was formally presented by the late 
 Bryant B. Glenny and the petition granted, Mr. Glenny 
 being elected a member of the Council to represent the new 
 Department. William A. Rogers was chosen president of 
 the board of trustees ; William H. Gratwick, vice-president ; 
 William A. Douglas, secretary, and P. H. Grifirn, treasurer. 
 Much effort was expended on the careful consideration of 
 those who should form the first Faculty. That the choices 
 finally made were worthy is shown by the way in which 
 all of them, without exception, have subsequently distin- 
 guished themselves. Frank M. McMurry, Ph. D., came 
 from the University of Illinois to become dean and pro- 
 fessor of pedagogics. On leaving Buffalo he was called to 
 Teachers' College, Columbia University, where he has con- 
 tinued his remarkable career as one of the foremost edu- 
 cators in the country. Herbert Gardiner Lord, M. A., was 
 made professor of philosophy, and also was called later to 
 Columbia in the same capacity; in April, 1917, he was 
 
A HISTORY OF TEE UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO 49 
 
 made acting dean of Columbia College. Professor Lord 
 was one of the prime movers in the College, and its 
 success was very largely due to his enthusiasm, his per- 
 sonal charm, and his unusual ability as lecturer and teacher. 
 His mind Buffalonians found to be of the quality that eluci- 
 dates the most abstruse subjects in such a way that those 
 never before confronted by even the simplest problems of 
 philosophy could not but be attracted, and having been 
 attracted, led to pursue further and further the intricacies 
 of the subject. Michael V. O'Shea, who was called to be 
 professor of psychology and child study, has been, since 
 leaving Buffalo, the distinguished professor of education 
 at the University of Wisconsin. Woods Hutchinson, M. A., 
 M. D., was professor of science. The late Ida C. Bender, 
 M. D., was instructor in primary education; James W. 
 Putnam, M. D., professor of neurology in the Medical De- 
 partment, was lecturer on physiological psychology, and 
 Natalie Mankell, M. D., at present instructor in mechanical 
 therapeutics in the Medical Department, was instructor in 
 gymnastics. 
 
 For two years the Teachers' College was accommodated 
 in the lecture rooms of the Public Library. The last year 
 of its existence was spent in the Real Estate Exchange, and 
 it used during its three years the school building on Park 
 Street as the Model School. In the last year of the Col- 
 lege's existence Francis G. Blair, LL. D., became principal 
 of the Franklin School ; he is now State Superintendent of 
 Public Instruction in Illinois. 
 
 The hopes of the trustees and Faculty of the new College 
 were more than justified by the results achieved during its 
 lifetime. The attendance was much larger than had been 
 anticipated. The first year 94 students were enrolled; the 
 second year, 159, such a large proportion of whom were 
 graduates of colleges or normal schools as to show them to 
 be of enough maturity to allow a thorough study of eduea- 
 
50 A HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO 
 
 tional problems. The College granted only eight degrees 
 in all, five of which were that of Bachelor, one of Master, 
 and two of Doctor of Pedagogy. The curriculum of the 
 College embraced, more completely in the University than 
 at any other time up to 1913, many of the subjects taught 
 in a college of liberal arts ; hence the financial failure of the 
 enterprise brought grief not only to those interested in 
 pedagogical education, but to the faithful few who were 
 still working for the establishment of an arts department. 
 At a meeting of the Council on January 28, 1898, the 
 critical financial condition of the College was discussed, 
 Mr. Glenny stating that it could not continue beyond the 
 current year without permanent endowment. He men- 
 tioned the death of George Howard Lewis, a member of the 
 Council, as a serious blow to its projects. Professor Mc- 
 Murry agreed with Mr. Glenny that a permanent endow- 
 ment was indispensable, but the Council could foresee no 
 likelihood of such generosity on the part of any of its 
 friends, and so it reluctantly acquiesced in the judgment 
 of those responsible for the maintenance of the College, 
 and passed the motion that it be discontinued. Charles W. 
 Goodyear was elected a member of the Council to succeed 
 Mr. Lewis. 
 
 Gratwick Cancer Laboratory. 
 
 A second project even more important to the city than 
 the Teachers' College — because its usefulness was not con- 
 fined to the city — had only a little longer connection with 
 the University than the Teachers' College, but in its larger 
 life is still doing immeasurable good. That its work is 
 carried on with unassuming quietness and self-effacement 
 does not blind the public — whence its support comes — to 
 its merit. 
 
 In 1898, there was secured from the New York Legis- 
 lature the first appropriation ever made from public funds, 
 
A HISTOBY OF TEE UNIVEBSITY OF BUFFALO 51 
 
 either in this country or abroad, for the purpose of com- 
 bating the ravages of cancer. This money was appropriated 
 to the Medical Department of the University of Buffalo, 
 largely through the efforts of the late Dr. Roswell Park and 
 the late Edward H. Butler. Professor Park became direc- 
 tor of the Laboratory, with Dr. H. R. Gaylord as pathol- 
 ogist, G. H. A. Clowes, Ph. D., as biological chemist, and 
 Professor H. G. Matzinger as bacteriologist. For the first 
 three years the work was carried on in the College build- 
 ing, but in 1901, through the generosity of Mrs. W. H. 
 Gratwick and other friends of scientific research, the Grat- 
 wick Laboratory was erected — the first in the world built, 
 equipped, and intended for this purpose. Dr. Gaylord was 
 made director and the work considerably expanded. The 
 third stage was reached in 1911, when Dr. Park, with the 
 co-operation of Senators Hill, Loomis and Burd and of 
 Assemblyman LaReau, and with the constant aid of John 
 Lord 'Brian, Ansley Wilcox, and others, succeeded in 
 raising the laboratory to the dignity of a State institution. 
 A number of citizens contributed toward the purchase of 
 the property, which was donated to the State to be utilized 
 as the site for a hospital, adjoining the Gratwick Labora- 
 tory on High Street. The building represents an outlay 
 on the part of the State of $140,000, the land being valued 
 at $21,000. 17 
 
 The new hospital was dedicated on November 1, 1913, 
 with exercises held in Alumni Hall of the medical building. 
 Addresses were made by Dr. Park, chairman of the board 
 of trustees, Hon. Charles S. Fairchild, one of the trustees, 
 and Dr. James Ewing, professor of pathology at the Cor- 
 nell Medical School. 
 
 17 Buffalo Express, November 2, 1913. 
 
52 A HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO 
 
 Amalgamation with Niagara University. 
 
 The Medical Department of Niagara University has been 
 mentioned previously in this sketch, and the fact should 
 perhaps have been brought out that since 1883 the Uni- 
 versity of Buffalo had been stimulated to greater efforts in 
 its medical instruction by the active presence of another 
 school, including in its Faculty a considerable number of 
 the city's most prominent practitioners and ablest teachers. 
 In many ways indeed, particularly in its higher entrance 
 requirements, the school had pressed hard on the heels of 
 the older institution. The friendly rivalry was undoubtedly 
 as much of a help to both as of a detriment, but it grad- 
 ually came to be realized that there was an unnecessary 
 duplication of energy. Dr. Floyd S. Crego of the Niagara 
 Faculty and Dr. Stockton of the Buffalo Faculty were 
 those who conceived and helped most energetically to bring 
 about the union. In 1898, when the student enrollment at 
 Niagara was only 40, the time had come for amalgamation. 
 Most of the members of the Niagara Faculty were received 
 into the associate Faculty of the other, and among the 
 important accessions thus made were : the late Herman 
 Mynter, professor of clinical surgery, Earl P. Lothrop, 
 adjunct clinical professor of obstetrics ; Henry C. Buswell, 
 adjunct professor of principles and practice of medicine; 
 the late Eugene A. Smith, adjunct professor of clinical 
 surgery; W. Scott Renner, clinical professor of laryngology; 
 Floyd S. Crego, professor of neurology; Alfred E. Diehl, 
 adjunct clinical professor of dermatology; the late Carlton 
 C. Frederick, clinical professor of gynecology, and the late 
 Walter D. Greene, clinical professor of genito-urinary 
 diseases. Of the above, Doctors Buswell, Renner and Diehl 
 are still members of the Faculty. 
 
 This is perhaps an appropriate place to speak of the 
 growth of the Medical Alumni Association, with which 
 medical graduates of Niagara now become identified. The 
 
A HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO 53 
 
 constitution of the association specifies that all graduates 
 automatically become members at the time of graduation. 
 In January, 1875, under the leadership of the loyal younger 
 alumni, Edward N. Brush, '74; Alfred H. Briggs, '71; 
 Henry R. Hopkins, '67 ; and Peter W. Van Peyma, '72, the 
 association was formally organized and held its forty-second 
 annual meeting during the Commencement week of 1917. 
 Niagara University had conferred the M. D. degree on 137 
 of its graduates, most of whom have since 1898 been actively 
 identified with the University of Buffalo Alumni Associa- 
 tion. This spirit of harmony goes to show the Niagarans' 
 approval of the amalgamation, the chief advantage of which 
 was to place at the disposal of one school all of the avail- 
 able clinical material of the city. 
 
 VII. The Last Phase. 
 I. 
 With the year 1902 we enter upon a more detailed con- 
 sideration of the steps leading up to the operation of the 
 Department of Liberal Arts. The outstanding dates in 
 this concluding chapter of our story include 1902, which 
 saw the election as Chancellor of Wilson S. Bissell; 1904, 
 when a staff of lecturers was appointed to establish uni- 
 versity extension work by means of lectures in the subjects 
 in which they were proficient ; 1905, when Charles P. Nor- 
 ton was elected Vice-Chancellor, with the expectation that 
 he would give generously of his time and indefatigable 
 energy to arouse sentiment for an Arts Department ; 1909, 
 when this sentiment first crystallized into action by pur- 
 chasing a site for the Greater University; 1913, when a 
 very modest beginning of work in the arts and sciences was 
 actually made; 1915, when the courses tentatively estab- 
 lished were given a home of their own through the gener- 
 osity of the Women's Educational and Industrial Union, 
 which wisely conditioned its gift by necessitating the Uni- 
 
54 A HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO 
 
 versity's raising $100,000 as a first step towards endow- 
 ment; and lastly, 1916, when this condition was complied 
 with, with so much more added that it put the University 
 permanently upon a satisfactory financial foundation. 
 
 On October 10, 1902, Mr. Putnam resigned the office of 
 Chancellor, together with his membership in the Council 
 which he had held for so many years of devoted service, 
 and on April 25 of the next year he died. Wilson S. Bissell 
 was chosen his successor and George Gorham was made 
 Vice-Chancellor, but after he had held office for only a 
 year, Mr. Bissell 's untimely death at the age of 56 cut off 
 his masterful influence which promised so much in the 
 direction of University enlargement. As Postmaster Gen- 
 eral in Mr. Cleveland's second Cabinet, he had shown him- 
 self possessed of unusual abilities as executive and organ- 
 izer, and these he was preparing to bring to bear on the 
 problems confronting him in the University. Following 
 his death, Mr. Gorham served as acting Chancellor until 
 the election of Mr. Norton as Vice-Chancellor on April 10, 
 1905. 
 
 Those were years of alternate hope and disappointment, 
 years when the faithful few met constantly with such in- 
 difference as to have effectually disheartened any group 
 less devoted. And it was indifference, of course, much 
 more than actual opposition — though there was some of 
 that — which it was hardest to face. Old prejudices and 
 unreasonable suspicions were revived by those who, for 
 various motives, were working against university en- 
 largement. It was alleged that the Medical College — 
 which had for so long, like nearly all the others in this 
 country, been a proprietary school — was inefficient and 
 existed only for the sake of adding to the incomes of the 
 few men in the permanent Faculty. For many years much 
 was made of this point ; yet for years the American Medical 
 Association has ranked the school in Class A. No criticism 
 
CHAELES P. NORTON 
 
 Vice- (and acting) Chancellor, 1905 
 Chancellor, 1909 
 
A HISTOBY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO 55 
 
 is easier to make than that of educational institutions. The 
 foundation of such criticism need not rest on a very firm 
 substratum of fact for it to be taken up and added to by- 
 disgruntled former students and instructors, who contribute 
 their ' ' inside ' ' knowledge of conditions. Generally the im- 
 portance and number of this class are in inverse propor- 
 tion to the noise they make. The rest of the active oppo- 
 sition was supplied both by those who considered that the 
 city was sufficiently provided with educational facilities; 
 and to a lesser degree by those who considered that there 
 were already enough colleges in the country and in this 
 vicinity without the addition of still another, with resulting 
 duplication of energies. In this class were ranged a few 
 of the graduates of the older, wealthier universities quite 
 out of touch with the longing for higher opportunities 
 among Buffalo's high-school boys, who cannot afford to go 
 away to colleges, however near at hand they may be. Grad- 
 ually, however, these men came to realize that every large 
 city must have an opportunity of completely educating the 
 sons and daughters of its families at home. It is certainly 
 well for the American family to maintain an integrity as 
 complete as possible and covering as long a time as is exped- 
 ient. The sons and daughters go away from the early 
 hearthstone soon enough through the force of necessity. 
 
 Let us not be blind to the advantages which may accrue 
 to some students when thrown upon their own resources 
 away from home, but the universities will go henceforth 
 where the people and the pupils are to be found. The 
 people and the pupils are now, for better or for worse, in 
 the cities. Herein lies our weakness. Hundreds of students 
 are compelled to seek their college training away from 
 home. They leave their cities at their most impressionable 
 age of budding civic consciousness. The city loses touch 
 with the students whom it has fostered during ten or twelve 
 years. Absence from it for the next four years dulls the 
 
56 A HISTOEY OF TEE UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO 
 
 edge of city appreciation. "While the city is recalled for 
 some sentimental reason, its civic possibility and duty do 
 not loom large in the imagination and affection of the 
 student. Absence does not make the civic heart grow 
 fonder. The problems of his city do not constitute his 
 problems. These students have lost in that asset in which 
 most Buffalonians have never been over distinguished — 
 civic pride. From the years of eighteen to twenty-two the 
 civic appetite has not been whetted. 
 
 The second great argument used to convince the doubters 
 has been the Americanizing influence of Buffalo's Univer- 
 sity. To Buffalo, more than to many other American cities, 
 have come thousands of Germans, Italians, Poles, Russians, 
 Hungarians — all ready to be moulded to high and great 
 national ends, or debased to bad ones, according as there 
 develop the noble traits of these nations, or there remain 
 the bitter dregs of bad traits evolved in the struggle for 
 national existence. To rise to better things — as many 
 of them deserve — than the mere labor of their hands, 
 these foreigners need leaders of their own race. The Polish 
 and the Italian colonies of Buffalo, numbering respectively 
 about 90,000 and 40,000, offer a vast field for educational 
 work, especially along lines of medicine and hygiene. Much 
 sickness can be prevented by right living, and their phy- 
 sicians are the greatest factors in this educational work. 
 They have the confidence of their people. Knowing the 
 causes, they can best offer remedies. They are active not 
 only in their medical work, but are taking leading parts in 
 the social and intellectual life of their people. They are 
 best fitted to be, and are, their natural leaders. 
 
 Especially significant is the enrollment in the Arts De- 
 parentage. In 1915-16, 13% of the regular students were 
 partment of students either foreign-born or of foreign 
 Italian; 6% Polish. All of them with but two exceptions 
 stood among the first tenth of the student body in scholar- 
 
A HISTORY OF TEE UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO 57 
 
 ship. They have a definite purpose in coming to college, 
 from which none of the side issues of college life can deflect 
 them. To them classroom work is both vocation and avoca- 
 tion. Italians, especially, will form a large proportion of 
 the membership in the future Buffalo Chapter of Phi Beta 
 Kappa. 
 
 Thus, in brief, run some of the arguments used for ten 
 years — for it took that amount of time to debate the sub- 
 ject. To test the bridge and to see whether it was solid 
 enough to bear the weight of the heavy freight cars which 
 would some day be sent over it, a pilot-engine was first 
 dispatched. It made several trips, all highly successful, 
 which made it apparent that if the foundations were 
 strengthened the structure could bear considerably more 
 weight. In that sense, if in no other, the ensuing experi- 
 ment of the lectureships was valuable. 
 
 II. 
 
 The lectureships, naturally, were established to fill in 
 the gap until a full-fledged Arts College could be estab- 
 lished. They had their origin with a letter to Dr. Park 
 written March 12, 1904, by Professor James MeGiffert of 
 Troy, a friend of his, who offered to endow a chair of 
 English literature in the University provided the Council 
 named as its incumbent the Rev. F. Hyatt Smith, M. A. 
 Of the latter 's ability Mr. MeGriffert thought highly, so 
 much so that he proposed to establish the chair for Mr. 
 Smith by an annual payment, suggesting that he would 
 make the endowment permanent when the plan had proved 
 feasible. On September 12, 1904, the Council accepted the 
 offer and Mr. Smith was authorized immediately to begin 
 his lecture course. Originally a mere makeshift, designed 
 to preserve and crystallize the sentiment that was being 
 gradually aroused for an arts department, this professor- 
 ship, the first endowed chair in the University's history, no 
 
58 A HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO 
 
 doubt would have gone much beyond its original concep- 
 tion, so gratifying was the favor accorded it. The classes 
 met twice a week in the Y. M. C. A. building. Beginning 
 with an enrollment of 26, the registration soon reached 50. 
 The elasticity and informality of the methods used, coupled 
 with the fact that never before had teachers of the city 
 had an opportunity to secure college lectures of the kind, 
 account for their success. Extension lectures in other sub- 
 jects were soon added. Lewis Stockton gave a course on 
 government ; Harlow C. Curtiss, on American history ; and 
 Herbert P. Bissell, on German literature. The scholarly 
 attainments of such men as these were appreciated, and 
 their association with the University project gave impetus 
 to the campaign now set on foot as a direct result of their 
 successful courses. The committee in charge was empow- 
 ered to add to its number a group representing the local 
 alumni of various universities. From that step originated 
 the interest of a little group of University Club members 
 (Rev. Dr. A. V. V. Raymond, Principal Frank S. Fosdick, 
 Principal Daniel Upton, Richard H. Templeton, and Har- 
 vey D. Blakeslee, Jr.) who unostentatiously accomplished a 
 vast amount of preliminary work in anticipation of a city- 
 wide campaign. From that amalgamation also dates the 
 active co-operation of such men as the late J. N. Larned and 
 John Lord 'Brian, the latter of whom was elected to the 
 Council on May 3, 1904. On May 27, 1905, Mr. Larned, at a 
 meeting of the Associated College Alumni at the University 
 Club, delivered a notable address on "The University Ex- 
 tension Movement, ' ' which put the demand which he voiced 
 for a college of liberal arts on the highest plane — greater 
 than that of civic pride or of financial advantage — the 
 need of supplying an answer to his question: "Now, what 
 is there — aside from the moral strength that may be native 
 in him — what is there that will best protect a young man 
 from those narrowing and hardening tendencies in our 
 
A HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO 59 
 
 competitive organization of life? "What will do most to 
 withhold him from the sordid and selfish careers that make 
 useless and mischievous citizens? What will do most to 
 keep social and civic and patriotic and altruistic feeling 
 alive in him? Why, assuredly, it is a full-fed mind, left 
 with no leanness or scantness in its growth. Assuredly it 
 is an early armoring of the man with fine tastes, high 
 thoughts, large views — too fine, too high, too large to be 
 reconcilable with an ignoble course in life. That, as I con- 
 ceive it, is what liberal education — liberal culture — means 
 for our democracy. It holds the vitalizing leaven of an 
 influence which democracy can spare no more than it 
 can spare the elementary under-culture of its common 
 schools. ' ' 18 
 
 On this same high plane the college campaign was waged 
 for the next twelve years, with accumulating success as the 
 people came to realize (as the people always will if the 
 future of their sons and daughters is put up to them with- 
 out frills or side-issues) the truth of the educational situa- 
 tion outlined to them. All this time, lending concrete 
 expression to the campaign, the lectures in English litera- 
 ture continued to be well attended up to the last class, on 
 June 1, 1906. In May of that year the guarantor of the 
 endowment suffered a financial loss which necessitated the 
 abandonment of the project. 
 
 While this blow to their hopes was naturally severe, 
 those behind the movement did not let it discourage them 
 for long, and indeed it showed how general was the feeling 
 that had already been aroused. Stimulated by the fear 
 that what had been accomplished might be lost, several 
 groups of men and women came to the rescue in proportion 
 as their abilities and resources permitted. Some of the 
 professors in the Medical College, Drs. Gibson, Busch, 
 Bentz, and Hill, in lieu of a direct gift of money offered 
 
 18 Buffalo Historical Society "Publications," XIX, 87. 
 
60 A HISTOEY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO 
 
 their services as teachers in those branches which are 
 taught in a department of arts as well as of medicine. The 
 Buffalo City Federation of Women's Clubs showed its con- 
 fidence in the outcome of the campaign by pledging itself 
 to raise a scholarship of $2,000 for a college which did not 
 yet exist; and finally a group of teachers in the various 
 high schools offered their help in making an actual be- 
 ginning of the College, proposing to use temporary quar- 
 ters in the Y. M. C. A. building. They offered their serv- 
 ices as practically volunteer instructors, and it is interest- 
 ing to note that several of those who thus pledged their 
 help — Messrs. Goetz, Casassa, Rhodes, and Piper — subse- 
 quently became members of the College Faculty, while 
 still retaining their positions in their high schools. The 
 petition was signed by the following: F. Hyatt Smith, 
 chairman; P. Frederick Piper, secretary; Principal Fred- 
 erick A. Vogt ; Frederick C. Busch, M. D. ; Frank H. Coff- 
 ran; Jay E. Stagg; G. E. Fuhrmann; Charles E. Rhodes; 
 Philip B. Goetz; Principal Frank S. Fosdick; Herbert U. 
 Williams, M. D. ; Felix A. Casassa, and M. A. G. Meads. 
 
 This generous offer, however, did not meet with accept- 
 ance. It was felt that the future prospects were too un- 
 certain to permit the proposed committee to matriculate 
 students for a four-year course with no more adequate 
 accommodations in view than the old (not the present) 
 Y. M. C. A. building. But now dawned at last upon the 
 Council the prospect of being able to secure the site which 
 was the first necessity for the permanent existence of the 
 College of Arts and Sciences. In February, 1907, Vice- 
 Chancellor Norton reported the possibility of the removal 
 of the county almshouse into the country. He suggested 
 that no finer location could be secured which would ade- 
 quately allow for the future expansion of the University. 
 At first it was suggested that the University propose a 
 trade, that it should provide a farm which could be offered 
 
A HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO 61 
 
 to the Supervisors as a fair exchange. But no farm was 
 available for such a purpose: none of the University's 
 friends seemed to have a few hundred acres lying fallow, 
 and consideration was narrowed to sites either within or 
 very close to the city limits. 
 
 III. 
 
 The almshouse property is partly within and partly out- 
 side the city, but much the larger portion, about 92 out of 
 the 106 acres secured, was county property. Accordingly, 
 the Board of Supervisors was the first body consulted. 
 By this time the advocates of the Greater University had 
 united on the desirability of the almshouse site. At the 
 beginning there had been some who, favoring a site nearer 
 the heart of the city, mentioned park property near the 
 Albright Art Gallery and the prospective home of the 
 Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences. This site, with its 
 proximity to two great agencies of instruction and culture, 
 had the obvious advantage of correlating civic institutions, 
 but was deemed too small for all the buildings of a great 
 university. 
 
 The 106 acres, on which have stood for about sixty years 
 the county almshouse and its annexes, comprise the highest 
 ground in the city. From the top of the stone quarry 
 included in the site, one can view, out over the west, a 
 striking combination of city and country. The busy Ni- 
 agara Falls Boulevard joins Main Street where the Uni- 
 versity property begins, and beyond the city line, still 
 bounding the campus, Main Street becomes the Williams- 
 ville road. On the eastern side, the Bailey-avenue street- 
 cars also run to the city line, adding to the accessibility of 
 the site. There fewer houses have been built, and the 
 ground is uneven, but one of the natural features of the 
 campus is an attractive pond toward the eastern boundary, 
 fed by natural springs. 
 
62 A HISTOBY OF THE UNIVEBSITY OF BUFFALO 
 
 In deeding away such a property the Supervisors were 
 putting in trust a rich legacy. It was not altogether an 
 ordinary commercial transaction. Property thus situated 
 has been estimated by dealers, at the time of the sale, to 
 be worth between $2,000 and $3,000 an acre, so that the 
 University came into possession, for the sum of $54,300, 
 of land certainly worth between $200,000 and $300,000. 
 Seldom can elected officials afford to be philanthropists, but 
 it was purely a consideration of the purposes to which the 
 land was to be put that actuated the Supervisors in placing 
 it at that figure. The name of Asher B. Emery, chairman 
 of the Board, is signed to the deed, and it was fortunate 
 that one of the members of the University Club committee 
 on the Greater University, Mr. Blakeslee, should be also a 
 member of the Board. The preliminary payment, of 
 $5,000, on the purchase was made by a legacy from the 
 late E. Carleton Sprague, former Chancellor. The balance 
 of the price was raised altogether in small amounts, no 
 one subscription being over $1,000. While larger amounts 
 would not, probably, have been declined, the endeavor was 
 rather to impress the need of the proposed College on the 
 great mass of average, middle-class people for whose chil- 
 dren it was peculiarly designed. Impressively they reacted. 
 Numerous subscriptions of one dollar and even less testified 
 to the widespread interest. 
 
 The day when the requisite amount was reported to the 
 Council as having been all raised, marked a personal com- 
 pliment for Mr. Norton which his months of unremitting 
 labor for the purchase had richly earned him. At the Com- 
 mencement exercises of 1909, Adelbert Moot, the speaker 
 of the day, told of the Council meeting the same morning, 
 stating that those in attendance decided that one of their 
 number was in a condition calling for immediate operation. 
 ' ' Then and there Doctors Park, Mann, Cary, with the other 
 gentlemen assisting, removed from Mr. Norton the last 
 
A HISTOBY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO 63 
 
 lingering Vice he had and gave to the University Chancellor 
 Norton. ' ' To complete the triumph of the day, that morn- 
 ing came word that Governor Hughes had signed the bill 
 providing for cancellation of all the stock of the University. 
 At last the old bugbear which had been revamped so many 
 times to frighten would-be friends was effectually put to 
 sleep; at last it was possible legally to refute what had 
 been really fiction for many years — that the University 
 was a proprietary institution. 
 
 In the deed between the Supervisors and the University, 
 executed June 16, 1909, there is one clause which has acted 
 as a powerful incentive against undue delay: "If the 
 property herein conveyed has not been put to University 
 use within ten years of the date of the execution of this 
 deed, the County of Erie shall have the right to repurchase 
 the property aforesaid at the same price paid, with interest 
 at 5 per cent, from the date of such payment." If such a 
 calamity as the reversion of these 106 acres were allowed 
 to happen, it would probably mean a permanent end to the 
 Greater University, perhaps even of the University as it 
 was in 1909 ; — for it has become increasingly evident, as 
 larger and larger gifts have been made in this country for 
 endowment and research, that independent professional 
 schools can hardly exist without the advantages of a uni- 
 versity connection. As American medical schools become 
 fewer — but better — and their entrance requirements 
 stricter, only the fittest survive — whose students are pro- 
 vided for them in large part by those who have received 
 B. A. 's and B. S. 's from the same university. This has 
 been one of the greatest difficulties of the local Medical 
 College — especially after it had begun to require college 
 work for entrance; and that is why the Arts Department 
 was started, primarily as a feeder for the freshman medical 
 class. This is true to some extent of the other professional 
 schools of the University, so that it is not far out of the 
 
64 A HISTORY OF TEE UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO 
 
 way to say that the future of all the departments is in the 
 last analysis bound up with that of the Arts Department. 
 Probably it will be some years before the Medical College 
 will require a college degree for entrance — desirable in 
 most ways as that would be. Discussion of such a step 
 leads back to a consideration of the class of students in the 
 College, so many of whom cannot afford, even at home, to 
 spend four years in academic study in addition to five or 
 six in medical school and hospital. Even two often work 
 hardship. 
 
 Aside from that factor, however, there is the claim that, 
 especially in medicine, greater deftness in hand and brain 
 results from beginning special study at a younger age than 
 22. Then, too, the value of the Bachelor's degree varies 
 distinctly. A degree in itself signifies little in these days, 
 when America can "boast" of nearly a thousand degree- 
 giving institutions, and when there is quite as much differ- 
 ence in the value of a degree from different sources as in 
 the merits of the colleges themselves. Two years in Har- 
 vard may be almost the equivalent of a Bachelor's degree 
 in many a fresh-water college in states the Legislatures of 
 which have been liberal in granting charters. But surely, 
 whether two or four years are required, the very fact that 
 some college work is necessary vindicates, more certainly 
 than any other one thing can, the outstanding value of a 
 college education for the professional man: the disciplined 
 mind is the best tool for doing any work. 
 
 IV. 
 
 The problems confronting the men engaged in the effort 
 for higher education in Buffalo were new to most of them, 
 and new to the city. They had as yet won only the first 
 phase of the struggle. They had convinced enough citi- 
 zens of the need of a college for the college some day to 
 be built ; but what kind of an institution was it to be ? Not 
 
A HISTOBY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO 65 
 
 the question of whether it was to be old-fashioned or new, 
 whether vocational studies and shop-work were to pre- 
 dominate over the classics — for the modern university 
 must present a judicious combination; but whether suffi- 
 cient funds could be secured to enable it to continue as a 
 privately endowed institution, or whether the city should 
 not share the expense. The necessary two millions for 
 permanent endowment did not seem likely to be forthcom- 
 ing before 1919, and in any event it seemed reasonable 
 that the city whose name the University carries far 19 
 should be asked to pay part of the maintenance, for a 
 proper return. It was proposed that this return should 
 be in the nature of 300 scholarships. Such a petition was 
 presented to the Board of Aldermen in the spring of 1911. 
 The sum of only $75,000 annually was asked for, in 
 return for these scholarships. But the opponents of the 
 University gathered in large numbers. At the hearings 
 in the City Hall they heckled the University delegates, 
 ridiculing them when they could not immediately answer 
 every complicated question about maintenance and future 
 funds, asking them to produce evidence to back up their 
 confidence in the future of the College, demanding the 
 names of those who were expected to contribute toward the 
 endowment. "Worst of all, the religious issue was injected. 
 One alderman had heard dark hints that in the writings of 
 one of the University Faculty were statements scandalously 
 derogatory to the Catholic Church. Picking up gingerly 
 Dr. Park's "History of Medicine," and turning to the 
 page where he had been told that such ammunition awaited 
 the fuse, he thundered out this quotation, among others, 
 from the preface, omitting to include any context or con- 
 necting matter: "Only when students of science emanci- 
 pated themselves from the prejudices and superstitions of 
 
 19 There are Buffalo graduates practising in Egypt, Belgian Congo, China, Syria, 
 Japan, France, Hawaii, Porto Rico, besides in practically every State in the Union. 
 
66 A EISTOBY OF THE UNIVEBSITY OF BUFFALO 
 
 the theologians did medicine make more than perceptible 
 progress. ' ' 
 
 The second issue injected in order to becloud the situa- 
 tion was the question of municipal control. The original 
 contract had provided that the city should be represented 
 on the Council by the Mayor, Comptroller, and Corpora- 
 tion Counsel ; but inasmuch as it was to be only partially 
 a municipal institution, the University Council felt that 
 such a representation was proportionate to the financial 
 share of the city in the enterprise. If the city had desired 
 to take over the whole University, in such a way as Cin- 
 cinnati has done, there would have been, of course, no 
 objection to absolute city control. But when the University 
 Council objected to entire city control, on the reasonable 
 ground that the city would be only supplying a fraction 
 of the expense, the opposition saw a second effectual means 
 of killing the whole scheme. The fact that it was legally 
 impossible, both under the existing University charter and 
 by the enabling act of 1909, thus to turn over control to 
 the city, was ignored; the Council was a "bunch of high- 
 brows" who would trust no one else with the control of 
 the people's University. Some of the newspaper stories at 
 the time were more than undignified — they were positively 
 indecent in their misrepresentation. Many of the papers, 
 however, lent effective and intelligent support. 
 
 Such attacks it was inadvisable, if not impossible, to 
 refute. All the Council could do was to prepare a digni- 
 fied statement, on which they rested their case with all 
 open-minded citizens. After deprecating the religious 
 question which had arisen under a total — yet not, in all 
 cases, a wilful — misapprehension of their aims, the Coun- 
 cil dealt with the legal problem of city control, and con- 
 tinued : 
 
 There are also other compelling practical reasons why the Uni- 
 versity cannot be placed under city control. Your attention is respect- 
 
A HISTOBY OF THE UNIVEBSITY OF BUFFALO 67 
 
 fully called to the fact that the annual appropriation suggested in 
 the proposed contract is only a portion of the money which it will 
 be necessary to raise in order to help to equip and carry on the new 
 College. The University intends to use these funds so appropriated 
 solely for the purpose of obtaining as instructors a staff of scholars 
 and scientists of high rank. The contract will properly bind it so to 
 use such funds. For necessary buildings and their maintenance, addi- 
 tional instructors, and other purposes, a further sum, amounting to 
 from $500,000 to $1,000,000, must be ultimately raised by the Uni- 
 versity. This money must be obtained from donations to be made 
 from time to time by private citizens in Buffalo and elsewhere. Of 
 this amount $250,000 should be raised at once for buildings, if the 
 contract is made. The fact that a college could be said to be under 
 city control would militate against these donations. Private citizens 
 would view the College as a purely municipal institution, would feel 
 no personal interest in it or responsibility for it, and would expect 
 the city to support it adequately. It is a fact that citizens rarely 
 give money to city institutions. Rightly or wrongly, politics is often 
 thought to be a factor in the management of city institutions. Scien- 
 tists and scholars of the first rank will not give up work elsewhere 
 and come to an institution where they think politics may control ; and 
 the same consideration would deter its citizens from making their 
 donations. The citizens of Buffalo want a first-class college or none; 
 and the best interests of the city itself demand that the new College 
 be a dignified and efficient institution of learning, entirely removed 
 from the perils incident to municipal control. 
 
 This city cannot afford to wait longer for higher education, such as 
 all large and many smaller cities now enjoy. We have had very 
 decisive public declarations to that effect. If any official thinks 
 otherwise, let him openly and squarely oppose us upon this simple 
 issue, and not obscure it by insincere artifice or false issue injected to 
 oppose the establishment of this College upon any terms whatever. 
 
 In our desire to remove all objections made to the contract proposed 
 by us, we therefore respectfully make the following requests: 
 
 (1) That your honorable body now show by individual vote of 
 its members that it is willing to enter into a suitable form of con- 
 tract with the University for the purposes specified in the enabling 
 act. 
 
 (2) That after such action, you enter into a properly drawn 
 contract to be negotiated immediately, and to be satisfactory to 
 the Council of the University as well as to yourselves, and if 
 
68 A HISTOEY OF TEE UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO 
 
 deemed advisable that this contract so executed may be thereafter 
 
 submitted to a vote of the people for approval before it shall take 
 
 effect. 
 
 The present members of the University Council have no private 
 interests to exploit. The interests of the city can be protected by a 
 proper contract. We have been and are willing to agree that all 
 reasonable restrictions shall be put into the contract to guarantee the 
 proper and economical expenditure of any money to be paid by the 
 city in return for the free scholarships which the University agrees 
 to furnish. 
 
 If the present members of the Council, as citizens and taxpayers, 
 are not deemed representative of the community, they stand ready 
 to resign, so that their places may be filled by others to be chosen and 
 elected in the manner provided by the charter of the University. Our 
 only desire has been to place this city where it belongs in the matter 
 of education — to give to every young man and woman, Catholic or 
 Protestant, Jew or Gentile, an opportunity to obtain in Buffalo an 
 education that will fit them for life as well as any which today may 
 be obtained elsewhere by those who have the means to secure it. We 
 have inherited this trust from our predecessors, who were inspired by 
 the same ambition, and we will not cease in our efforts until we have 
 created such a college. 
 
 When the question of the city's willingness to enter into 
 a contract came to a vote in the Board of Aldermen, on 
 April 17, 1911, the proposed, or any other similar agree- 
 ment was voted down by fourteen to nine. The cause of 
 commission government received that day its first great 
 endorsement in Buffalo. Both candidates for Mayor in 
 the previous election had pledged their administration, if 
 elected, to do all in their power for the Greater University, 
 but the pledge seemed powerless against the reactionary 
 forces. 
 
 V. 
 
 Two years passed after this defeat, a time apparently 
 of general apathy toward the movement. Kecovery was 
 slow. Meantime the professional departments were exper- 
 iencing great increases in their enrollments. In 1913 the 
 freshman medical class consisted of 94. Important changes 
 
JAMES A. GIBSON, M. D. 
 
 Professor of Anatomy, 1905-1917 
 
 Secretary of the Medical Department from 1912. 
 
A HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO 69 
 
 were taking place in administration, bringing into the 
 Council three new deans. Dr. Alden as the member-elect 
 from the Law Faculty took the place of Mr. Moot, who 
 had received the high honor of election to the State Board 
 of Regents. Dr. Daniel H. Squire succeeded, as dental 
 dean, Dr. Snow, who shortly thereafter removed to Cali- 
 fornia, where he still keeps up a lively interest in the 
 College. Dr. Herbert U. Williams, professor of pathology, 
 succeeded Dr. Mann as dean of the Medical College, and 
 to him is due a- large share of the credit for the successful 
 inauguration, in the summer of 1913, of the courses in 
 arts and sciences. In the Medical Faculty Doctors Mann, 
 Long, and Busch resigned their chairs of obstetrics, materia 
 medica, and physiology respectively; and to succeed two 
 of them, teachers who had achieved reputations outside 
 Buffalo were called to the Faculty. Frederick H. Pratt, 
 M. A., M. D., of the Harvard Medical School, was made 
 professor of physiology, and Francis C. Goldsborough, 
 B. S., M. D., of Johns Hopkins University, became pro- 
 fessor of obstetrics. DeWitt H. Sherman, B. A., M. D., 
 was made professor of materia medica. The retirement 
 of Dr. Frederick C. Busch as professor of physiology was 
 necessitated by ill health, and his untimely death in 1914 
 was a grevious loss alike to the medical and teaching pro- 
 fessions. In 1910 Dr. James A. Gibson had been elected 
 professor of anatomy, continuing a connection of many 
 years, and he was made secretary and treasurer of the 
 College in 1912, succeeding Dr. Long. 19a In the Dental 
 Faculty Dr. R. H. Hofheinz, now of Rochester, had re- 
 signed the chair of operative dentistry, being made pro- 
 fessor emeritus. He was succeeded by Dr. Squire, dean 
 since 1912. At the same time Dr. Charles K. Buell began 
 his membership in the Faculty, being made professor of 
 crown and bridge work and dental ceramics. The only 
 important change in the Faculty of Pharmacy was the 
 
 19a. Dr. Gibson died on October 4, 1917. 
 
70 A HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO 
 
 election in 1913 of Dr. Eli H. Long as professor of toxi- 
 cology. In the Law School Hon. George B. Burd, Hon. 
 Clinton T. Horton, and Frederick D. Corey entered the 
 Faculty. 
 
 It has been previously remarked that the Medical Col- 
 lege has been for many years ranked in Class A by the 
 committee on medical education of the American Medical 
 Association. Naturally one of the conditions of remain- 
 ing in that class has been a readiness to advance not only 
 the requirements for a degree but more especially those 
 for entrance. From that august body — whose decrees 
 are to 100,000 doctors supreme law — now came the ruling 
 that medical schools must require at least one preliminary 
 college year, including certain stated subjects, in order 
 to be approved. So here, all ready-made, was the beginning 
 of the Arts Department. On June 18, 1913 — an historic 
 date when its consequences are considered — the Council 
 met to discuss how best it could meet the new situation. 
 The Councilors were careful to deprecate any thought of 
 founding a college, for which there were no more funds 
 in sight now than before, and so the new departure was 
 christened Courses in Arts and Sciences. But in the back- 
 ground of their minds must have been the idea that the 
 enterprise was not to be wholly in favor of only the 
 Medical College. If it was received favorably by the 
 public — despite the meager resources available, totally 
 inadequate for a college — it would certainly encourage 
 them to develop the courses, if that were possible at the 
 end of the year. Accordingly, in addition to the purely 
 pre-medical courses offered — English, French, German, 
 chemistry, biology, physics — others were advertised where- 
 by a complete freshman year's work could be obtained in 
 the course leading to the B. S. degree. Such additional 
 courses were mathematics and mechanical drawing. A 
 committee consisting of the three senior deans, Doctors 
 
A HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO 71 
 
 Williams, Gregory, and Alden, was appointed as a super- 
 visory body, which after a few months was changed to 
 included the fourth dean, Dr. Squire, and a member-elect, 
 Mr. Park, from the infant Faculty. For over a year this 
 committee held frequent meetings to decide on the nature 
 of the courses and the personnel of the Faculty, until it 
 was discharged in 1915, when the conduct of the new 
 Department was left entirely in the hands of its Faculty. 
 
 This first Faculty of Arts and Sciences consisted of the 
 following : chemistry, Albert P. Sy, Ph. D., and Walter 
 M. Ralph, B. Chem. ; physics, M. Smith Thomas, A. C, 
 and James Cadwell, B. A. ; biology, Lester B. Gary and 
 Rosa R. Weigand ; mathematics, Wilfred H. Sherk, M. A. ; 
 English, Philip B. Goetz, B. A. ; French, Felix A. Casassa 
 and Julian Park, M. A. ; German, Wilhelm Oncken ; Latin, 
 Peter Gow, Jr., B. A. John 0. McCall, B. A., D. D. S., of 
 the Dental Faculty, had been made secretary in charge of 
 the courses, continuing in February of 1914, when Mr. 
 Park succeeded him. 
 
 On September 22, 1913, the various departments of the 
 University began their work for the year, and for the first 
 time opening exercises were held by all the schools in 
 common. Interest naturally centered on the registration 
 in the arts courses. In presiding at the joint exercises, 
 Chancellor Norton reminded the Law alumni and students 
 that it was the twenty-fifth anniversay of the opening of 
 the Law School, which started its work in the Public 
 Library building just a quarter of a century ago to a day. 
 ' ' At that time, ' ' he said, " as a member of the Law Faculty 
 I faced an entering class of eight good men and true, a 
 tiny nucleus which has developed into one of the best 
 schools of the country, its needs having grown so that this 
 year it requires three times the space it had last session. 
 Today, as the head of a greatly enlarged and almost com- 
 plete University, I have the fortune to face an entering 
 
72 A HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO 
 
 class of no less than thirty-five, who are willing to try their 
 luck in our youngest department." 20 
 
 There were in addition twenty-six special students. Not 
 all of the thirty-five were pre-medical students. Six of 
 them entered the B. S. course, with the touching confi- 
 dence that Providence would provide the other three years, 
 or that, if they were transferred to other colleges, their 
 freshman year's work would be accredited. Strange to 
 say, it was. Cornell, Colgate, and even Harvard granted 
 the same privileges to students transferred from an utterly 
 unknown and untried institution as if they had come from 
 the oldest college in the land. Nothing could have been a 
 more welcome surprise than that kind of encouragement. It 
 came before the new courses had even been inspected by the 
 Regents. It was not until the second year was under way 
 that the State Department of Education approved even 
 the pre-medical year. In the fall of 1915 it approved the 
 entire freshman year as of standard college grade and 
 proposed to take similar action from year to year until the 
 full four-years' course was registered. In accordance with 
 this action, the sophomore year was accredited in the fall 
 of 3916. 
 
 It was obvious from the start, however, that not much 
 more than freshman subjects could be taught in the accom- 
 modations available. No money was at hand to hire rooms 
 outside of the University quarters as they then were. So 
 the office of the new "college" for some months consisted 
 of practically two desks in the librarian's room of the 
 medical building. For recitation rooms, both the medical 
 and dental buildings were requisitioned, but naturally the 
 needs of the arts classes were subordinated to the require- 
 ments of those departments. It became a common thing 
 for an instructor to find his class, which was scheduled for 
 a certain room, at the other end of the building. It was 
 
 20 Buffalo Express, September 23, 1913. 
 
A HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO 73 
 
 perfectly possible, before he got to know his students' 
 faces, for him to walk into a room full of supposedly arts 
 students, to find blank expressions when he began to ex- 
 pound French or mathematics, and to discover that they 
 were medical or pharmacy or dental students. 
 
 Before the end of its first year the Greater University 
 suffered the loss of one of its most earnest champions — one 
 eager to advance its fame not only in ways pertaining to 
 his own profession but everywhere that its service was 
 needed. The Council, meeting the day after Dr. Park's 
 death, February 16, 1914, adopted the following resolu- 
 tion: 
 
 By the sudden death of Boswell Park, M. D., M. A., LL. D-, the 
 University of Buffalo loses far more than can adequately be expressed 
 in the words of a brief, formal appreciation, such as this tribute 
 •of respect must be. It is not for us so much to measure Dr. Park's 
 high service in this community as a public-spirited citizen, as a 
 versatile yet profound toiler in scientific research, or as a writer 
 whose world-wide fame has conferred distinction upon the home of 
 his adoption, as to recognize and declare the great debt the University 
 of Buffalo owes him as its loyal and generous friend and as its 
 constant and tireless champion. He shared our vicissitudes and 
 aspirations for thirty years, and he lived to be able to say, as he 
 did to this Council twelve hours before his death, that he rejoiced in 
 the signs of an early consummation of the long-cherished hopes of 
 the University's steadfast friends. 
 
 The chair of surgery was not filled until 1917, when Dr. 
 Park's associate, Edgar R. McGuire, 1900, for several years 
 associate professor, was elected full professor. 
 
 Dr. Ernest Wende, also internationally known in scien- 
 tific circles, had died in 1911, and the University was 
 shortly to lose two other beloved members of its Faculty. 
 Dr. Nelson W. Wilson, '98, died in 1915, and Dr. Harry 
 Mead, '91, in 1917. Both these teachers, who were of about 
 the same age, had achieved much in their lifetime, but 
 much more was expected of them. 
 
74 A HISTOBY OF THE UNIFEBSITY OF BUFFALO 
 
 IV. 
 
 In the summer of 1915 the system of governing the 
 Medical College, practically the same as that which had 
 been in operation since the beginning, was completely 
 modified. Instead of an executive Faculty of few mem- 
 bers, with rather autocratic powers of nomination to the 
 general Faculty, the new organization vested the control 
 in two bodies, an administrative board of ten members, 
 nominated by the Faculty for appointment by the Council, 
 and a board of instruction of twelve, consisting of the 
 heads of the teaching departments or their delegates. A 
 number of standing committees, appointed by the Faculty, 
 has charge of various divisions of work. Voting power in 
 the Faculty is held by all teachers, with the exception of 
 instructors and assistants of less than five years' service. 21 
 
 This system of government, which has the support of the 
 entire Faculty, utilizes the best features of various other 
 institutions and incorporates a number of original ideas, 
 the credit for the greater part of which belongs to Pro- 
 fessor Pratt. The plan in general is designed to place 
 responsibility for the affairs of the College upon the 
 teaching staff, which delegates power to its administrative 
 bodies and through these to their officers. In the interest 
 of a compact University organization, ultimate decision 
 rests, however, with the Council as trustees. 
 
 The first administrative board under the new regime 
 was composed of : Thomas H. McKee, Herbert U. Williams, 
 Charles G. Stockton, Grover W. Wende, Francis C. Golds- 
 borough, DeWitt H. Sherman, James A. Gibson, Nelson G. 
 Russell, Frederick H. Pratt, and Arthur G. Bennett. The' 
 board is renewed every five years by two annual retire- 
 ments and elections. 
 
 21 By-laws and rules governing the Department of Medicine, published April, 
 1916. 
 
A HISTOBY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO 75 
 
 The first board of instruction consisted of: DeLancey 
 Kochester, associate professor of medicine, chairman; John 
 L. Butsch, assistant professor of pharmacology, secretary; 
 Herbert U. Williams, professor of pathology and bacteri- 
 ology; Albert P. Sy, professor of chemistry; James W. 
 Putnam, professor of neurology; W. Ward Plummer, 
 assistant professor of orthopedics; Grover W. Wende, pro- 
 fessor of dermatology; Arthur G. Bennett, assistant pro- 
 fessor of ophthalmology; James A. Gibson, professor of 
 anatomy; Charles A. Bentz, associate in embryology; 
 Frederick H. Pratt, professor of physiology; and Francis 
 C. Goldsborough, professor of obstetrics. 
 
 At the same time, Dr. Williams retired as dean in order 
 to devote more time to his teaching work, and his place 
 was taken by Dr. Thomas H. McKee, '98, who entered 
 thoroughly into the spirit of the new regime. In the 
 Dental Faculty Dr. Abram Hoffman was elected professor 
 of prosthetic dentistry, Dr. John 0. McCall, professor of 
 chemistry (transferred in 1917 to the professorship of oral 
 hygiene), and Dr. Thomas 0. Hicks, professor of histology 
 and embryology. 
 
 A significant addition to the Council membership also 
 took place. In November, 1914, the Arts Faculty, feeling 
 that there was no one member of the Council qualified by 
 intimate association to represent it as the other Facul- 
 ties were represented, petitioned for permission to elect a 
 delegate. The request was promptly and adequately an- 
 swered in the election of Philip Becker Goetz, who, how- 
 ever, became a member at large. This was because, if he 
 had come in as a member-elect from the Arts Faculty, 
 recognition might thereby have been extended as a College 
 — which for the time being the desire was to avoid. 
 
76 A HISTORY OF TEE .UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO 
 
 VII. 
 
 But the new enterprise was all unconsciously impress- 
 ing its needs upon the community. Some of those who 
 recognized its worth and realized the poverty of its re- 
 sources were members of an organization which for nearly 
 thirty years had done work for women of inestimable value 
 along educational and social lines. This work was carried on 
 in a substantial and handsome four-story building of brick 
 and stone at the corner of Delaware Avenue and Niagara 
 Square. There the Women's Educational and Industrial 
 Union, at first doing pioneer work, gradually saw its pur- 
 poses shared by other organizations with similar aims. The 
 efficiency of the Public Library, the Young Women's 
 Christian Association, the Legal Aid Bureau, and other 
 kindred bodies, together with the increased scope of the 
 Charity Organization Society, meant duplication of energy 
 if an organization with the Union's limited funds should 
 continue to do their work. First in the field in many of 
 these activities, the Women's Union saw itself gradually, 
 though still doing excellent work, pushed to one side by 
 wealthier societies, which owed their success, in some cases, 
 to their imitation of the Union's methods. At the last full 
 meeting of the Union, January 28, 1915, the practical side 
 of the matter was presented in spirited fashion by Mrs. 
 Henry S. Madden, who pointed out that any business which 
 was annually going deeper into debt furnished its own best 
 argument for discontinuing. She added that although this 
 failure was not prompting the gift of the building or 
 detracting from its altruistic spirit, the women must realize 
 that they had no right to appeal for funds for work which 
 was not being done. 
 
 The proposition of the gift was enthusiastically greeted. 
 Said one newspaper: "Let the example be followed by the 
 men of Buffalo, who need not be ashamed here to acknowl- 
 edge the leadership of public-spirited women who have so 
 
TOWNSEND HALL 
 
 Formerly the building of the Women 's Educational 
 and Industrial Union 
 
A HISTOBY OF THE UNIVEBSITY OF BUFFALO 7T 
 
 effectively pointed the way. May the new College of Arts 
 and Sciences be a fitting monument to Buffalo woman- 
 hood!" 22 
 
 Of the conditions of the gift the most important proved 
 to he a very fortunate proviso. It was, that within one 
 y ear — n or before February 22, 1916, the University was 
 to raise $100,000 for the endowment of a College of Arts 
 and Sciences. The University was further to assume the 
 current liabilities of the Union, no^ exceeding $6,000, and 
 was to maintain annually three free scholarships for 
 women. These scholarships are known as the Women's 
 Educational and Industrial Union scholarship, the Found- 
 ers' scholarship, and the Fiske scholarship of household 
 arts. The Union's building was to be known thereafter 
 as Townsend Hall, in honor of Mrs. George "W. Townsend, 
 founder and long-time president of the Union. If the 
 property on Niagara Square is ever sold, another building 
 for the same purpose must be erected and given the same 
 name. 
 
 University Day (February 22) of 1915 was celebrated 
 as if the gift was practically assured. The speaker of the 
 day was Dr. Charles F. Thwing, president of Western Re- 
 serve University, and Mrs. Adelbert Moot spoke in behalf 
 of the Union. Briefly sketching its history, she mentioned 
 those to whom its success was due, saying that the founder, 
 Mrs. Townsend, was the only one of the original group 
 now present. "Still inspired by a devout and absorbing 
 passion for progress, she leads the way toward this noble 
 co-operation between Union and University. Dear to us 
 is the past of the Women's Union, with all its cherished 
 memories, and equally dear to us shall be the future of the 
 College of Arts and Sciences. With this gift go all our 
 confidence and prayers that genuine, molding, humanizing 
 
 22 Buffalo Commercial, January 29, 1915. 
 
78 A HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO 
 
 culture will rise above the horizon and dignify the human 
 life of our city. ' ' 23 
 
 Visibly affected, but despite her age speaking in clear 
 tones which more than once rang out inspiringly, Mrs. 
 Townsend formally presented the building of the Union to 
 Chancellor Norton, saying as she concluded: "As I pass 
 this trust deed in behalf of the Women's Educational and 
 Industrial Union to the University of Buffalo, I would pay 
 grateful tribute to the three or four former presidents who 
 followed me (only one is absent today) — Mrs. Henry C. 
 Fiske, Mrs. Thomas B. Reading, Mrs. Adelbert Moot, and 
 Mrs. Henry Wertimer. I would emphasize the fact that 
 we are not giving up Union ideals — many of them have 
 been realized ; the Union has always stood for higher educa- 
 tion. ' ' 24 Mrs. Townsend lived long enough to see the Uni- 
 versity take permanent possession of the building named 
 for her ; then, in 1916, passed to her rest. 
 
 Some other gifts were announced on that memorable 
 occasion, which came as surprises. The Women's Investi- 
 gating Club contributed a scholarship for girls of the value 
 of $2,000, and Mrs. John Miller Horton announced the 
 donation of the Pascal Paoli Pratt scholarship, of a like 
 amount. 
 
 On March 15th the new Department (for the Council 
 had now formally given it that designation) moved to its 
 new quarters, and there was another celebration. This 
 time the auditorium in Townsend Hall, with a seating 
 capacity of 600, was used for the exercises, which brought 
 together a number of men prominent for their interest in 
 educational matters. The students taking work in the new 
 building now numbered in this, the second year of the 
 Department, ninety, who found that the building was 
 easily adapted to the activities of a college. This was on 
 
 23 Buffalo Express, February 23, 1915. 
 
 24 Ibid. 
 
A HIS TOBY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO 79 
 
 account of the largely educational work of the Union. The 
 classrooms are large and of varying sizes ; laboratories were 
 equipped, and a reference library begun in the Ripley 
 Memorial Library room. 
 
 From almost entirely a pre-medical course the Depart- 
 ment had already grown so as to include a number of sub- 
 jects of sophomore grade. Mr. Goetz had added a course 
 in Shakespeare, Mr. Sherk sophomore mathematics, and 
 Mr. Park, leaving the French altogether in Mr. Casassa's 
 hands, offered the first of a number of courses in history. 
 C. Lee Shilliday, M. S., joined the Faculty from Cornell as 
 instructor in biology. 
 
 For the third year the increased accommodations made 
 it possible to enlarge even further the scope of the work. 
 Additions to the Faculty included Susan F. Chase, Pd. D., 
 in psychology, and Francesco E. DiBartolo, B. A., in 
 Italian; while other subjects added were German literature, 
 hygiene, nature study, English poets of the nineteenth cen- 
 tury, United States and South American history, and 
 further advanced work in chemistry and mathematics. The 
 matriculation in September, 1915, showed a total of 205, 
 many of whom enrolled still without any definite assur- 
 ance that they could be granted a degree in arts or science 
 in due time. Most of the special students have been 
 teachers in the city's high or grade schools, who avail 
 themselves of this opportunity (which they never had 
 prior to the establishment of the College) to secure ad- 
 vanced work either in the subjects which they teach or for 
 its cultural advantage. It will be some years before many 
 of them will have been able to secure sufficient credits for 
 a degree, but the College has made every allowance for 
 these public-spirited teachers, who sacrifice much time, 
 money, and convenience to increase their usefulness to 
 the city and their own mental resources. The subjects 
 most popular with them are taught at hours when they can 
 
80 A HISTORY OF TEE UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO 
 
 attend, and they enroll in the same classes as the regular 
 students. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 To attempt any further detailed survey of the develop- 
 ment of the incipient College would occupy relatively 
 undue space. And yet its first four years, with which this 
 account closes, are as momentous as the first years of any 
 great educational movement. They lack, to be sure, the 
 romance of the origins of such a college as Williams — 
 whose founder was a military hero, dying in the midst of 
 victory and leaving all his property to perpetuate his name ; 
 and they lack the continual excitement of such a phenom- 
 enal growth as that of the University of Chicago, where, 
 inside of twenty-five years, "every year saw established a 
 new journal, a new department, a new college, or a new 
 school. " x It may well be repeated that no group of men 
 bent on conferring untold benefits upon their city ever met 
 with such discouragement. "Do not tie yourself up with 
 such a scheme," was the advice given to more than one 
 member of the Faculty. 
 
 But when their vindication came, it was complete. At 
 the time of the Women's Union gift the country had not 
 yet recovered from the first uncertainty caused by the great 
 war. War orders had not yet brought on the subsequent 
 wave of prosperity. So the raising, in 1915, of the $100,000 
 necessary for the permanent possession of Townsend Hall 
 seemed a formidable obstacle. Time wore on, and nothing 
 apparently was being done. University Day of next year 
 — the time limit allowed — was actually at hand before it 
 was known that the building was secured. But the actual 
 gifts then made and promised so far exceeded expectations 
 that many eyes grew dim, many hearts beat faster, and 
 even the frequent applause died down as the realization 
 
 25 T. W. Goodspeed, "History of the University of Chicago," p. 472. 
 
A HISTOBY OF THE UNIVEBSITY OF BUFFALO 81 
 
 of what such generosity would mean to the community 
 came home to those who had worked under so many dis- 
 couragements for such a culmination. Gifts aggregating 
 a greater total than have ever been given for educational 
 purposes in Buffalo were announced at the exercises of 
 February 22, 1916, by the Rev. Dr. Andrew V. V. Ray- 
 mond, in behalf of the Council. His report included a 
 reading of the following letter : 
 
 Buffalo, February 16, 1916. 
 
 Dear Dr. Eaymond: My children and myself are desirous of 
 creating some memorial in memory of my late husband, Seymour H- 
 Knox, and after careful consideration have concluded that the thing 
 of most vital interest to the City of Buffalo and its people is the 
 University of Buffalo, and we can think of no finer purpose in creat- 
 ing a memorial in memory of Mr. Knox than to be permitted to 
 assist in the upbuilding and development of an institution of learn- 
 ing such as the City of Buffalo should possess. 
 
 It is our desire to create an endowment fund for the University 
 of Buffalo to be known as the Seymour H. Knox Foundation, the 
 principal of which, together with other gifts which may from time 
 to time be made to the Foundation, shall be held intact and the 
 income used for the support and maintenance of a department of 
 liberal arts and sciences in the University of Buffalo. 
 
 In order that the University may take advantage of the generous 
 proposition of the Women's Educational and Industrial Union in 
 reference to their property on Niagara Square, I beg to inform you 
 that I am prepared, upon request from the University and upon satis- 
 factory assurance that the other conditions of the proposition of the 
 Women's Union have been complied with, and that the University of 
 Buffalo will receive said sum and devote the same to the purposes 
 herein set forth, to deposit to the credit of the University of Buffalo 
 the sum of one hundred thousand dollars, which sum, together with 
 any other gifts which may from time to time be added to it, shall be 
 known as the Seymour H. Knox Foundation, which sum or sums shall 
 be held intact and the income used for the purpose aforesaid. 
 
 It is my hope that the fund hereinabove created shall by gifts from 
 myself and my children amount ultimately to half a million dollars, 
 and it is my present purpose to make a gift of $50,000 each year for 
 the next three years and to provide in my will for a further gift of 
 
82 A HIS TOBY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO 
 
 $250,000 to said fund. Of course, I shall ask that proper provisions 
 be made governing the care and preservation of the property from 
 time to time constituting the Seymour H. Knox Foundation, and the 
 method of its investment and disposition. 
 
 With sincere thanks to you for presenting to us the opportunity 
 of assisting in the promotion of this splendid enterprise, believe me 
 
 Most sincerely yours, 
 
 Mrs. Seymour H. Knox. 
 
 In submitting this letter, Dr. Raymond said in part: 
 
 It is scarcely necessary for me to state that this ultimate gift of 
 half a million dollars for endowment assures the establishment of the 
 College, for it is by endowment only that a modern college is main- 
 tained; so that, whatever our College may become in the future, it 
 will always rest upon the foundation laid by this gift, and bearing 
 the name of Seymour H. Knox. This name, which has stood for 
 years in this community for a clean private life, strict integrity, 
 strength of character, and business ability amounting to genius, has 
 added to it today a distinction that wealth alone cannot confer — the 
 distinction and honor expressed by the words "public benefactor," 
 and so becomes a name that will always be honored in this city 
 of his residence and will live in the grateful regard of thousands 
 upon thousands who through generations to come will share in the 
 benefits made possible by this foundation. 
 
 But while endowment is doubtless the most imperative need of a 
 college and usually the most difficult thing to secure, there are other 
 needs which must be met before a college can be said to be fairly 
 established; and chief among these are buildings and equipment for 
 its work. An endowment cannot be diverted to these ends. Unless, 
 therefore, some adequate physical equipment can be provided our 
 College enterprise will be slow in developing. You see, therefore, the 
 necessity of providing for a building to be erected on the College site 
 within the limit of time fixed by the county, and consequently you 
 «an appreciate all that it means for me to announce, as I now do, 
 the gift of a quarter of a million dollars for the erection of the first 
 or central building, the key of the whole group of buildings that will 
 ultimately crown University Hill. This central building is to bear the 
 name of Edmund Hayes Hall. 
 
 This gift, however, carries with it a condition for which I think 
 the University will always be grateful; namely, that in addition to 
 
A HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO 83 
 
 it one million dollars be raised for the purposes of the College before 
 June 16, 1919. I am not informed whether or not the Seymour H. 
 Knox endowment fund may be counted toward this million dollars; 
 and really it does not matter, for now that this great enterprise which 
 has been talked about for so many years has been so splendidly begun, 
 we believe most confidently that the citizens of Buffalo will carry it 
 through to an equally splendid consummation. 
 
 The hour has struck. In this confident belief, the joint committee 
 of which I have spoken will soon begin a city-wide campaign for a 
 million dollars, of which one-half at least shall be for endowment. 
 With a million dollars of endowment and three-quarters of a million 
 in buildings and equipment, the year 1919 will mark the complete 
 establishment of the College of Arts and Sciences of the University 
 of Buffalo, that for all the future shall be the crowning glory of the 
 Queen City of the Lakes. But whatever the future may have in 
 store, nothing will ever dim the lustre of the three names we honor 
 today — Seymour H. Knox, Edmund Hayes, and the Women's Educa- 
 tional and Industrial Union. 
 
 It remains but to pick up some scattered threads — for 
 many factors which enter into the life of a university have 
 been, for the sake of continuity, neglected in the previous 
 pages. But college life and customs have been unfortun- 
 ately absent to a great extent from the University of 
 Buffalo. Most of the students live at home, and the pro- 
 fessional studies of all of them leave them little time for 
 extra-curriculum activities. Nevertheless, athletics have 
 sporadically appeared. From about 1896 up to 1903 the 
 University was creditably represented by a football eleven, 
 which encountered teams from some of the largest colleges 
 in the East and middle West. In the fall of 1915 athletics 
 were renewed, with increasing success until the spring of 
 1917, when the declaration of war forced a cancellation of 
 schedules. The University, like its sister institutions, is 
 well represented by young patriots in the Army, Navy, and 
 National Guard. Publications have included The Iris, 
 published annually from 1897 to 1907, and a monthly, The 
 University Bison, which began in March, 1913, and has 
 
84 A HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO 
 
 since prospered, being originally conducted partly to keep 
 the general public in touch with the Greater University 
 movement. Musical interests now comprise not only a glee 
 club but a band and an orchestra. The University branch 
 of the Young Men's Christian Association is busy enough to 
 warrant the services of a graduate secretary, giving most 
 of his time to the students. For some years this secretary 
 was Raymond F. Rope, who, however, in the summer of 
 1917 left Buffalo for China. 
 
 If it is not an imposing array of undergraduate activi- 
 ties, the explanation is — at least in part — creditable ; the 
 students come to work, and realize that they have frittered 
 away sufficient time already in the schools or colleges from 
 which they have come to the University. Each Depart- 
 ment has its fraternities, which not only solve the prob- 
 lem of a college home for the out-of-town students but 
 invariably have for their aims a desire to increase their 
 members' studiousness and mental resources in their own 
 profession. This may not be the most important purpose 
 of all of them, but at least it enters into their objects suffi- 
 ciently to win for the Buffalo fraternities respect as well 
 as tolerance. 
 
 For years, as was natural, the alumni confined what 
 interest they took in the University to their own depart- 
 ment. But the departmental alumni associations were all 
 active and attracted to their reunions a satisfactory num- 
 ber of the old students. This, while good in its way, was 
 narrowing; all these graduates received their degrees not 
 from a department but from the University. To secure the 
 interest and active co-operation of the alumni in the Uni- 
 versity as a whole was a task which, never having been 
 systematically attempted before 1915, called for the most 
 persistent energy on the part of those whose inspiration 
 was: ''The loyalty of the alumni to Alma Mater is the 
 greatest moral asset of the University." On February 22, 
 
A HIST0B1 OF TEE UNIVFBSIIY OF BUFFALO 85 
 
 1915, after much preliminary work the Federated Alumni 
 Association was founded, with every graduate ipso facto 
 an associate member. The members are the departmental 
 alumni societies, five in number, each of which elects three 
 members, the resulting fifteen forming the House of Dele- 
 gates- they in turn elect the officers of the association. It 
 is a workable form of organization, and treats every de- 
 partment equitably in rotation, the president being ipso 
 facto the president of each departmental association, tak- 
 ing them in the order of the founding of the department. 
 The association has held three well-attended dinners on 
 the evening of each University Day, and has been respon- 
 sible for the organization of district branch associations 
 wherever there are enough graduates to justify their exist- 
 ence In this way branch associations have been formed 
 for the Rochester district, the central and northern New 
 York district, the Chautauqua district, southern New York 
 and northern Pennsylvania, and Greater New York. Each 
 organization holds a meeting and dinner at different times 
 of the year, at which the local alumni are largely repre- 
 
 sented. *- . 
 
 He is indeed rash who in these days ventures to predict 
 the future in anything - least of all in education He 
 may prophesy the future of the professional school with 
 more certainty than that of the college of arts for the one 
 is a stepping-stone to a career more obviously than the 
 other. No college today has fully risen to the importance 
 or the privilege of its opportunity. No institution m the 
 land has a destiny richer in its potentiality than this four^ 
 year old college ; nocity in the Union is m greater need of 
 Its ministrations.! But in a community like Buffalo - 
 which, after all, is a new city, especially in the education 
 of its citizens -more and more people are, happily, coming 
 to realize that no city is great unless it rests , the > eye, feeds 
 the intellect, and leads its people out of the bondage of 
 
86 A HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO 
 
 the commonplace. Buffalo has agencies which do one or 
 another of these things, but to do all three it must be 
 blessed with the moral reservoir of higher education^ These 
 pages, then, miss the interpretation which it has been the 
 effort to give them if they have not furnished the back- 
 ground for such a high resolve. 
 
 APPENDIX I 
 
 BENEFACTORS OP THE UNIVERSITY.* 
 
 1882 James P. White, M. D., medical library, bequest. 
 1891 George N. Burwell, M. D., medical library, bequest. 
 1891 Mrs. Esther A. Glenny, $2,500, for the Burwell Library Fund. 
 1891 Jonathan Scoville, $20,000, bequest; used toward the cost of 
 the new medical building. 
 
 1896 Devillo W. Harrington, M. D., 71, $2,000, for the Harrington 
 
 Lectureship Fund, for lectures in the Medical College by 
 outside specialists. 
 
 1897 C. F. W. Boedecker, D. D. S., New York, museum of comparative 
 
 dental anatomy. 
 1897 E. Carleton Sprague, $5,000, bequest; used toward the purchase 
 of the North Main-street site. 
 
 1899 Elizabeth Gates, $5,000, bequest, to the Medical College. 
 
 1900 Mrs. William H. Gratwick, Sr., $25,000, for the Gratwick Cancer 
 
 Laboratory. 
 1902 Charles Van Bergen, M. D., a sum to furnish the physiological 
 
 and pharmacological laboratories in the medical building. 
 1905 George Gorham, $1,000, bequest, to the Medical College. 
 1909 Buffalo City Federation of Women's Clubs, $2 : 000, for the 
 
 Katherine Pratt Horton scholarship in the College of Arts. 
 
 1913 Charles A. Bing, M. D., '78, $500, bequest, to the Medical 
 
 College. 
 
 1914 Hamilton Ward, $2,000, for the maintenance of the College of 
 
 Arts. 
 
 1914 Boswell Park, M. D., medical library, bequest. 
 
 1915 Women's Educational and Industrial Union, gift of their 
 
 building. 
 
 * This list does not include most of the contributors (1) to the medical building 
 on High Street, (2) to the purchase of the North Main Street site, or (3) to the 
 library of the Law School. Space would not suffice to enumerate all these benefactors. 
 
A HISTORY OF TEE UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO 87 
 
 1915 Women's Investigating Club, $2,000, for a scholarship. 
 1915 Henry A. Richmond, $3,550, bequest, for the College of Arts. 
 1915 Irving M. Snow, M. D., '81, $2,000, for the Medical College. 
 
 1915 Mrs. John Miller Horton, $2,000, for the Pascal Paoli Pratt 
 
 scholarship in the College of Arts. 
 1916-1919 Mrs. Seymour H. Knox, Seymour H. Knox, Jr., and Mrs. 
 Frank H. Goodyear, $250,000, for the endowment of the 
 College of Arts. 
 
 1916 Edmund Hayes, $250,000 for the first building of the College of 
 
 Arts, conditional on the raising of $1,000,000. 
 
 1917 Clara A. March, M. D., '07, $2,000, as a loan fund for students 
 
 in the Colleges of Medicine and Chemistry. 
 1917 Women's Educational and Industrial Union, $3,000, to be known 
 as the Cora Bullymore Fund, for the purchase of books for 
 the library of the College of Arts. 
 
 APPENDIX II 
 
 STATISTICS OF THE UNIVERSITY, 1916-17 
 
 Alumni Number Years 
 
 Department Organized of Faculty Students in Course 
 
 Medicine 1875 107 206 4 
 
 Pharmacy 1889 13 120 2-3 
 
 Law 1914 24 147 3 
 
 Dentistry 1900 42 285 4 
 
 Analytical Chemistry 1914 12 57 3 
 
 Arts and Sciences 21 239 3 
 
 Totals 219 1,054 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 029 912 343 1