THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA AND OTHER HISTORIC SCHOOLS
The University of Pennsylvania, Thirty-fourth Street and Woodland Avenue, with a campus of one hundred and seventeen acres along the west bank of the Schuylkill River and equipment of seventy buildings; originated in the Charity School, organized, 1740, at Fourth and Arch Streets; made an academy through the interest of Benjamin Franklin, in 1749; chartered, “The College of Philadelphia,” with power to confer honorary and collegiate degrees, being the third oldest college in the United States; in 1799 was organized and chartered as “The University of the State of Pennsylvania,” making it the first institution in the United States designated a university; also the first to establish professional schools distinct from the college. The School of Medicine was added in 1765, and has always maintained the most advanced requirements and highest standards of scholarship for graduation; it was founded by Dr. John Morgan, who held the first medical professorship in America; he was physician in chief of the Continental Army, 1775-77. The first American University Professorship in Law was established here, 1790; James Wilson held the position; President Washington attended his lectures. In 1799, the University conferred on Washington the degree of LL.D., and later, in 1826, set apart his birthday as University Day, on which honorary degrees are conferred, with appropriate exercises. Nine sons of this University signed the Declaration of Independence; seven, the Constitution of the United States; twenty-one were members of the Continental Congress; nine, in the United States Senate; eight were Attorney-Generals of states or of the United States; six were Justices of the Supreme Court; seven, Governors of states; and many others were Officers in the Army and men in public life, who had received their education in the old building, Fourth and Arch Streets, before 1800.
In 1802 the University was moved to Ninth and Chestnut Streets, and occupied the presidential mansion, now site of the Post Office; in 1872, moved to the present site in West Philadelphia. In 1912, under the administration of Provost Edgar Fahs Smith, The University Extension Courses were formed, and the college made into three departments with a dean for each. The College, founded 1740, includes School of Arts; Summer School; College Courses for Teachers; Courses in Biology and Music. The Towne Scientific School, founded, 1875, includes, Architecture, Chemistry, Science, Technology, Mechanical, Electrical and Civil Engineering. Wharton School of Finance and Commerce, founded 1881, includes, School of Accounts and Finance in Philadelphia; and the Extension Schools of Finance and Accounts in Scranton and Wilkes-Barre.
Department of Music, through the unceasing and wise direction of Dr. Hugh A. Clarke, has graduated hundreds of students in music, after a four years’ course in Harmony, Counterpoint, Composition, and Orchestration. The degree of Bachelor of Music has been conferred on many who qualified to meet the requirements. The Graduate School was founded, 1882; courses lead to degrees of master of arts, and doctor of philosophy.
Other Departments are, the Law School, Thirty-fourth and Chestnut Streets; building dedicated University Day, 1900, architects, Cope & Stewardson, style similar to the English Renaissance as developed by Sir Christopher Wren; Indiana limestone and dull red brick; contains the Biddle Law Library, 55,000 volumes; The Black Memorial Collection of English Legal Engravings, most complete in America; several original documents by Benjamin Franklin, George Washington and other colonial men; many objects of historical interest to members of the bar; a fine collection of portraits include those of Algernon Sydney Biddle, by Cecilia Beaux; Charles Chauncey, by Henry Inman; Thomas McKean, LL.D., by Robert W. Vonnoh; Richard Coxe McMurtrie, LL.D., by William M. Chase; James Wilson, LL.D., by Albert Rosenthal, from a miniature; marble busts of Daniel Webster and Jeremiah Sullivan; tablets and memorials.
Laboratory of Chemistry, Thirty-fourth and Spruce Streets; dedicated, 1894; shows the broad projecting eaves of brick architecture in the Italian Renaissance; architects, Cope & Stewardson; it is one of the best equipped chemical laboratories in America. The Engineering building, Thirty-third and Locust Streets; dedicated, 1906; Georgian, dark brick with limestone trimmings, architects, Cope & Stewardson; houses the civil, electrical, and mechanical engineering departments; best equipped of its kind. In its collection of portraits is that of John Henry Towne, by William M. Hunt.
Laboratory of Hygiene, includes the Psychological Clinic; Department of physical education; and Franklin Field, Thirty-third and Spruce Streets, dedicated, 1895, seating capacity of the stadium about 62,000, was for many years scene of annual football between the United States Military and Naval Academies; gymnasium, facing Thirty-third Street, erected, 1903, English Collegiate, Gothic, dark red brick, with black headers laid in Flemish bond, terra cotta and Indiana limestone trimmings, floors and columns concrete; comprises Weightman Hall, exercising rooms, and a large swimming pool; architects, Frank Miles Day & Brother; in front on the terrace is statue of Benjamin Franklin at seventeen, as he first entered Philadelphia in 1732; sculptor, Dr. R. Tait McKenzie, pedestal designed by Professor Paul P. Cret. In the entrance is bronze tablet in relief, full figure portrait of Charles S. Bayne in baseball uniform, “1895 College,” sculptor, R. Tait McKenzie; also other memorials.
Department of Archæology, founded, 1889, by the late Provost William Pepper, M.D., LL.D., museum, Spruce Street, near Thirty-fourth Street, open free daily, 10.00 A.M. to 5.00 P.M.; Sunday 2.00 to 6.00 P.M. The treatment of this building and the courtyard, begun 1897, is among the most successful works of architecture in this country; it was inspired by the round, arched, brick architecture of Northern Italy, about twelfth century; details especially suggesting the old Church of San Stefano in Bologna; roof of Spanish tiles gives added charm; architects in coöperation, Wilson Eyre, Jr., Cope & Stewardson, Frank Miles Day & Brother. Has valuable collections illustrating the history of mankind; Egyptian, Cretan, Etruscan, and Babylonian antiquities, famous tablets from Nippur, and the Dillwyn-Parish collection of Græco-Roman papyri, among which are the oldest known fragments of the Gospel of St. Matthew. During 1916, the museum maintained four expeditions in the field: in Egypt, China, Siberia, and one on the Amazon, which will return with collections they have gathered. Among the portraits in the museum are, Mrs. William D. Frismuth, donor of collection of musical instruments, and Franklin Hamilton Cushing, ethnologist, both by Thomas Eakins; bronze statue of Dr. William Pepper, by Carl Bitter, is in the Italian garden; free public illustrated lectures are given Saturdays, 3.30 P.M., from November to March.
Library, founded, 1749, with volumes bearing accession dates of 1749, given by Benjamin Franklin; First Provost, William Smith; Louis XVI of France; and others, now contains about 450,000 volumes, and many special collections; present building dedicated, 1891, Thirty-fourth and Locust Streets, red brick, sandstone, and terra cotta, Furness, Evans & Company, architects; among the portraits here are Benjamin Franklin, LL.D., replica, by Thomas Gainsborough, R.A., of his original; William Wordsworth, poet, from life, by Henry Inman in 1844; Joseph G. Rosengarten, LL.D., by B. A. Osnis, and the entire class of 1811 minus one, in silhouette, cut at Peale’s Museum; here also is the famous orrery and large clock made by David Rittenhouse for this university.
Houston Hall, memorial to Henry Howard Houston, Jr., class of ’78, Spruce Street above Thirty-fourth. North Conshohocken and Indiana limestone; architect’s design of two students of the School of Architecture, developed by Frank Miles Day; was planned by Provost C. C. Harrison, to weld the cosmopolitan body of students into one democratic brotherhood, which has now become a world-wide movement in college life; contains trophy rooms, pool tables, and publication office of “Old Penn,” until 1918 the official weekly; courses of Free Public Lectures are given by members of the Faculty, and men from other American and foreign Universities; services by eminent ministers are conducted each Sunday morning. Among the many portraits in Houston Hall are, Henry Howard Houston, Jr., by Cecilia Beaux; David Rittenhouse, by Charles Willson Peale; Henry Reed, and Henry Vethake, both by Sully.
The University Hospital, Thirty-fourth and Spruce Streets; founded by the late Provost Dr. William Pepper, 1874, covers two city blocks; medical staff consists of more than one hundred and fifty physicians and one hundred nurses; the Surgical Building erected, 1914; Jacobean style, brick and limestone, architects, Brockie & Hastings, contains marble bust on pedestal of Dr. William Pepper, Provost, 1881-94; bronze mural tablet with portrait of late Dr. John H. Musser, sculptor, Dr. R. Tait McKenzie; and many bronze memorials. The Medical Laboratory, dedicated, 1904, on Hamilton Walk, English Collegiate, of Middle seventeenth century, hard burnt brick and buff Indiana limestone; architects, Cope & Stewardson; interior finished in white Italian marble; is one of the largest and best equipped in America. Contains nearly complete collection of oil portraits of staff of physicians from 1765, including painting of David Hayes Agnew, M.D., LL.D., at the close of a clinic in Medical Hall, all the subordinate figures in the group are likenesses, among them, Dr. J. William White, Dr. Joseph Leidy, Jr., and the artist, Thomas Eakins; Professor John Morgan, founder of the Medical School, after the original by Angelica Kauffman; Professor William Osler, LL.D., and De Forest Willard, by W. M. Chase; Professor Philip Syng Physick, first American to be elected member of Royal Academy, France, by Henry Inman, from life in 1836; Professor Benjamin Rush, by John Neagle; Dr. J. William White, by John S. Sargent; and bronze bust on pedestal of Dr. Joseph Leidy.
The Wistar Institute of Anatomy and Biology, Thirty-sixth Street and Woodland Avenue, founded, 1892, for extension of Wistar and Homer Museums; first university institute exclusively for research in anatomy and biology, buff brick and light terra cotta, fireproof, built, 1808, architects, George W. and W. D. Hewitt; in 1905 this institute became the clearing house for anatomy in America, and in 1906 was appointed Central United States Institute for Brain Investigation; the five principal independent anatomical journals of the United States are published here. Open to the public daily, except Sundays and holidays, 9.00 A.M. to 4.00 P.M., Saturdays, 9.00 A.M. to 12.00 M. Contains bronze bust, sculptor, Samuel Murray, 1890, of General Isaac J. Wistar, Sc.D., who gave the building and endowment; in bronze vase are his ashes; also in three bronze vases are the ashes of Joseph Leidy, M.D., LL.D., John Adams Ryder, Ph.D., and Professor Edward Drinker Cope. Opposite is The Architectural School, Thirty-sixth Street and Woodland Avenue, second only in importance and numbers to the Ecole des Beaux Arts, Paris: the esprit de corps of faculty and students is most pronounced; students and graduates, of late years, have won more competitive prizes, and scholarships, than those of all other American schools combined. The four years’ course leads to degree; special two years’ course, and summer six weeks’ course.
The Botanic Gardens, established, 1894, face Hamilton Walk, open to visitors from sunrise to sunset; greenhouses filled with rare plants from all the world; lily and lotus ponds are attractive feature of the campus. Open-air plays are given here. The Vivarium, established 1898, has fresh and salt water aquaria, first vivarium ever connected with any educational institution. Zoölogical Laboratory, on Hamilton Walk and Thirty-ninth Street, built, 1910; architects, Cope & Stewardson, hard burnt brick and Indiana limestone, English Collegiate, of middle seventeenth century; considered best working laboratory for its purpose in this country, contains many famous collections.
Veterinary Building and Hospital, Thirty-ninth Street and Woodland Avenue, constructed about a square courtyard; one of best equipped of its kind. Architects, Cope & Stewardson, English Collegiate, seventeenth century, hard burnt yellow brick and limestone trimmings, roof green slate, built, 1906-07.
School of Dentistry, “Thomas W. Evans Museum and Dental Institute,” Fortieth and Spruce Streets, Collegiate Gothic, time of Henry VIII, hard burnt red and black brick and Indiana limestone, built, 1914, architect, John T. Windrim; the grotesques ornamenting the band courses, while in the spirit of the Middle Ages, are modern in subject and caricature; most complete edifice in the world, devoted to the science of dentistry. Museum contains the priceless Evans collection, gifts from the nobility of Europe, portraits and busts of Dr. Evans.
Henry Phipps Institute for the study, prevention, and treatment of tuberculosis, founded, 1903, northeast corner of Seventh and Lombard Streets; facing Starr Garden Park, a civic center of the Playgrounds Commission; is colonial style, designed by Grosvenor Atterbury, New York, brick trimmed with white marble.
Flower Astronomical Observatory at Llanerch on West Chester Pike, architect, Edgar V. Seeler, 1895. Open to visitors every Thursday evening during collegiate year, 7.00 P.M. to 10.00 P.M.; is equipped with an 18 inch equatorial telescope, and other instruments of latest and most approved design.
Dormitory Houses, Jacobean, thirty in number, begun in 1895, suggest the Oxford and Cambridge colleges; carved grotesque bosses on main cornices are reminiscent of the Gothic period; they are amusing, and display an unusual amount of imagination; material, hard burnt yellow brick and Indiana limestone; architects, Cope & Stewardson; entrance through two gateways known as Memorial Tower, gift of the Alumni, dedicated in 1901, in memory of University of Pennsylvania men who served in the Spanish-American War, corner-stone was laid by General Miles, in 1900; and the Provosts’ Tower, named as memorial to the Provosts of the University of Pennsylvania, whose twelve names are carved on medallions, from William Smith to Charles Custis Harrison.
William Penn Charter School, 8 to 10 South Twelfth Street, was planned in 1684 at a meeting of the Provincial Council, Governor Penn presiding. In 1689, William Penn, writing from England to Thomas Lloyd, President of Council, instructed him to set up a “Public Grammar School in Philadelphia,” the school was incorporated in 1698, and George Keith engaged as head master, 1699. In 1701, William Penn, while on a visit to America, granted the school a charter from his own hand; on the same day he chartered the city itself. This school is the oldest existing chartered school in America; a second and more liberal charter was granted, 1708, and a third charter, under which the school is still conducted, 1711; the originals of all three of these charters are in the school’s possession. The school will be moved to Pinehurst, the Waln estate, twenty-two acres on School Lane near Wissahickon Avenue, Germantown, acquired by gift; field now used for their athletic sports, surface having been adapted for the purpose by the Newhall Engineering Company, Philadelphia, who made there a football oval; an eighteen foot quarter-mile track; and an eighteen foot 220 yard straightway; drainage of these tracks and oval is such, that in eight years, not one scheduled contest has been postponed on account of condition of the ground.
Central High School, Broad and Green Streets; established, 1836. In view of the increasing income and diminishing debt of the nation, the United States Congress in 1836 passed a law, authorizing the distribution of surplus revenue among the states, to be disposed of as their legislatures might enact; Pennsylvania devoted her share, over $70,000, to public education, and the controllers erected a high school in Philadelphia, which was completed, 1838, east side of Juniper Street, below Market Street. In 1853, the original building was sold; present structure occupied in 1900. Conferring of academic degrees dates from 1849. Memorial window to Edward T. Steel in assembly room.
Girard College, College and Corinthian Avenues, for the care and training of orphan boys; founded by Stephen Girard, a native of France, who at his death, in 1831, left his estate for this purpose. Main building, architect, Thomas Ustick Walter, architect of the Capitol at Washington, probably the finest architectural specimen in Philadelphia, modeled after a Greek temple, white marble, covers an area of 34,344 feet, exclusive of eleven marble steps by which it is approached on every side; a colonnade of 34 Corinthian columns aid in supporting the marble roof, each column 6 feet in diameter and 55 feet high, the diameter of corner columns being increased 1½ inches to overcome apparent reduction of size from their insulated position; bases 9 feet 3 inches in diameter, 3 feet 2 inches high, capitals 8 feet 6 inches high and 9 feet 4 inches wide; each shaft, as well as the bases, consists of a single piece, without vertical joints; at each end of the three story building is a vestibule, the ceilings of which are supported by eight columns, whose shafts are composed of a single stone; corner-stone was laid July 4, 1834, and the completed building transferred to the Board of Directors, 1847. In the first vestibule is white marble sarcophagus, with body of Stephen Girard, and his statue by Gevelot; the memorial room contains portrait of Girard, by J. R. Lambdin, copy from posthumous portrait by Bass Otis in Masonic Temple; interesting collection of furniture; pictures; china; silverware, and fine marble bust of Napoleon I, by Canova, presented to Girard by Joseph Bonaparte.
Present capacity, 1520 boys, admitted from six to ten years of age and graduated fourteen to sixteen years of age, preference of admission is given to those born within the old Philadelphia city limits, next in consideration those born in Pennsylvania, and third group, boys born in the cities of New York and New Orleans. There are several hundred on waiting list.
Equipment comprises ten white marble buildings for school and house purposes, chapel seating 1600, and other buildings, also plant for heat, light, and power, inclosed on forty acres with a ten-foot high stone wall. Endowment now about $29,000,000. Soldiers’ and sailors’ monument on campus, in memory of the graduates who served in the Civil War; sculptor, J. Massey Rhind. Clergymen are excluded by Girard’s will, “that the boys might be kept free from denominational controversies.” Bible has always had a foremost place in the teaching of the college; Chapel speakers are laymen of prominence in the professional and business world.