For the Online Record, Against the Day

[David Morris]

http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=8311

On December 20, 1859, the Washington territorial legislature approves
the first charter for an institution of higher educational in the
territory.  The charter is for Whitman Seminary, a coeducational
pre-collegiate academy, which is to be located at the mission site
where Marcus and Narcissa Whitman worked from 1836 until 1847, when
they were killed by a group of Cayuse Indians. The first classes are
not held until 1866, and the school begins in the city of Walla Walla
rather than at the nearby mission site.  After many years of struggle,
in 1882 Whitman College begins offering college curricula and the
school attracts more support and students.  During the twentieth
century Whitman College will emerge as a distinguished liberal arts
college.

A Memorial to the Whitmans

In 1859, after the land east of the Cascades was opened for
resettlement, Cushing Eells (1810-1893) visited the mission site of
his former colleagues Marcus and Narcissa Whitman.  The Whitmans,
responding to a call by tribal peoples for missionaries, established
their mission site, Waiilatpu, near present-day Walla Walla,
Washington, in 1836.  In 1847, they were killed by a group of Cayuse
Indians.  As Eells considered the fate of the Whitmans and the future
of the region, he resolved to establish a "monument" to the Whitmans
in the form of a high school for pioneer boys and girls.

With the support of other Congregational ministers, in 1859 Eells
obtained a charter for Whitman Seminary from the Washington
territorial government.  That same year, he acquired the Whitman
mission site from the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign
Missions.  Eells soon moved with his family to the former mission site
and began working to establish Whitman Seminary.  Eells donated more
than half of the site's land to the school, but local pressure and
resources provided a way for the school to open in the city of Walla
Walla.  In 1866, Walla Walla's wealthiest denizen, merchant Dorsey
Syng Baker (1823-1888), donated land near his home.  A wood-frame
building was quickly erected for the school and classes began later
that year, with a principal, two assistants, and 36 students.

>From Academy to College

Whitman Seminary opened with great ambitions and fanfare, but within a
year the school's first principal, local Congregational minister
Peasly B. Chamberlin, resigned.  Eells took over as principal for two
years but also resigned, claiming that he lacked the energy to
continue.  After Eells's resignation, the school was unable to retain
teachers and students, and it failed to remain open for each term.
Realizing that their school could not compete with local private and
public schools, Whitman's trustees thought the school might be able to
survive as the region's first college.

In 1882, Whitman trustees called Alexander J. Anderson (1832-1903),
the recently resigned president of the Territorial University (later
the University of Washington), to become the first president of
Whitman College.  With development support from the Congregational
American College and Education Society, Anderson was able to
successfully start Whitman College, a liberal arts college modeled on
such New England colleges as Williams.  A new charter for the school
was obtained in 1883.  In 1907, Whitman ended its relationship with
the Congregational Church and became an independent college.  In spite
of periodic financial struggles, Whitman College emerged as a premier
liberal arts college.

On Tue, Nov 25, 2008 at 8:32 AM, Dave Monroe <against.the.dave at gmail.com> wrote:
> Monday, November 24, 2008
> For the Online Record, Against the Day
>
> This must be recorded online: In 1869, Thomas Pynchon gave Myron Eells
> a specimen of Iceland Spar for Whitman Seminary.
>
> http://forkeepingtime.blogspot.com/2008/11/for-online-record-against-day.html
>