CHAPTER XIV.

LITERARY AND RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS FOR THE WEST.

Colleges;--Statistical Sketches of each Denomination;--Roman Catholics;--Field for effort, and progress made.

In giving a sketch of literary and religious institutions in the West, the very limited space remaining to be occupied in this work, compels me to throw together a few general facts only. The author has made some progress in collecting materials, and he designs to prepare another work soon, in which a variety of particulars and sketches will be given of the early history, progress of literary and religious institutions, colleges, seminaries, churches, Bible, Sunday school, education and other kindred societies in the Western Valley, with the present aspect of each denomination of Christians. The interest taken in the affairs of the West, and the anxiety evinced by the community for facts and particulars on those subjects, demand that they should be treated more in detail than the limits of this Guide will allow.

I. COLLEGES.

OHIO.--_Ohio University_, at Athens, was founded in 1802;--has an endowment of 46,030 acres of land, which yields $2,300 annually. A large and elegant edifice of brick was erected in 1817. The number of students about 90. _Miami University_, was founded in 1824, and is a flourishing institution at Oxford, Butler county, 37 miles from Cincinnati. It possesses the township of land in which it is situated, and from which it receives an income of about $5000. Number of students about 200. Patronized by Presbyterians. The _Cincinnati College_ was incorporated in 1819, continued to be sustained as a classical institution for some years, and then suspended operations. It has been revived and re-organized lately, and will probably be sustained. _Kenyon College_, at Gambier, Knox county, in a central part of the State, was established in 1828, through the efforts of Rev. Philander Chase, then bishop of the Ohio Diocess, who obtained about $30,000 in England to endow it. Its chief patrons were those excellent British noblemen, Lords Kenyon and Gambier. It is under Episcopal jurisdiction, and has a theological department, for the education of candidates for the ministry in the Episcopal church. It has about 150 students. _Western Reserve College_ is at Hudson. It was founded by Presbyterians and Congregationalists in 1826, and has 82 students in all its departments. _Franklin College_ is in New Athens, Harrison county, on the eastern side of the State, and has about 50 students. The _Granville Literary and Theological Institution_ originated under patronage of the Baptist denomination in 1831. It is designed to embrace four departments,--preparatory, English, collegiate, and theological. It is rapidly rising, and contains more than 100 students. _Oberlin Institute_ has been recently established in Lorain county, under the influence of "new measure" Presbyterians, with four departments, and has 276 students, as follows: In the theological department, 35; collegiate, 37; preparatory, 31; female, 73. The citizens of Cleveland have recently contributed to it $15,000, of which six persons gave $1000 each. The _Willibough Collegiate Institute_ is in the lake country of Ohio, and has been gotten up within a few years past. The _Marietta Collegiate Institute_ is said to be a flourishing and respectable institution, having a large number of students in various departments.

INDIANA.--_Indiana college_ is a State institution, established at Bloomington, and commenced operations in 1828. Present number of students not known. In 1832 the number exceeded 50.

_Hanover College_ is at South Hanover, six miles below the town of Madison, and near the Ohio river. It is a flourishing institution, with arrangements for manual labor, and is styled "South Hanover College and Indiana Theological Seminary." The number of students exceed 100. _Wabash College_, at Crawfordsville, has just commenced operations under auspicious circumstances. Under patronage of the Presbyterians.

ILLINOIS.--_Illinois College_, near Jacksonville, commenced as a preparatory school in 1830, and has made rapid progress. Large funds for its endowment have been recently provided in the Eastern States. The number of students about 80.

_Shurtleff College of Alton, Illinois_, was commenced under the efforts of Baptists at Alton in 1832, as a preparatory institution;--chartered as a college in February, 1835, and has been recently named in honor of a liberal patron, Dr. Benjamin Shurtleff, of Boston, Mass., who has presented the institution with $10,000. It has 60 students, and its prospects are encouraging. _McKendreean College_ has been chartered, a building erected, and a school commenced at Lebanon. It is connected with the Methodist Episcopal Church. Charters have been recently granted for other colleges in this State, and measures adopted to bring some of them into existence. The Rev. Philander Chase, whose persevering labors brought into existence and successful operation, Kenyon college in Ohio, and who is now bishop of Illinois, is at present in England, where, by recent advices, he has obtained $50,000 to invest in Illinois lands, and to establish a college for the interests of the Episcopal church.

MISSOURI.--The Roman Catholics have two institutions of a collegiate character, established in this State, _St. Mary's College_, in Perry county, was established by Bishop Du Bourg, in 1822. It has 6,000 volumes in the library. Including the _nunnery_, and school for females, a seminary for the education of _priests_, a preparatory, and a primary school, the number of teachers and students are about 300.

_St. Louis University_ was founded in 1829, and is conducted by the Fathers of the society of Jesuits. The edifice is 130 feet, by 40, of 4 stories, including the basement, and is situated on elevated and pleasant ground, on the confines of the city.

For the Protestants, the following institutions have been established. _Columbia College_, adjacent to Columbia, Boon county. The institution opened in 1835, under encouraging circumstances. _Marion College_ is in a delightful tract of country, a prairie region, in the western part of Michigan county,--and has between 80 and 100 students. It is connected with the Presbyterian interests. The project as developed by some of its founders, is an immense one, including English, scientific, classical, theological, medical, agricultural, and law departments,--all to be sustained by manual labor, and the proceeds of extensive farms. Doubtless, by prudent and persevering efforts, a respectable college may be brought into successful operation. A _college_ at St. Charles, has been founded, principally by the liberality of George Collier, a merchant of St. Louis, and two or three other gentlemen, and a classical and scientific school has been commenced.

ARKANSAS.--Efforts are making to establish a college by Presbyterian agency, at Cane Hill, in this newly formed State. Two or three collegiate institutions will soon be needed in this region.

KENTUCKY.--_Transylvania University_, at Lexington, is the oldest collegiate institution in the West. It was commenced, by a grant of 8,000 acres of land by the legislature of Virginia, in 1783, and was then called "Transylvania Seminary." The "Kentucky Academy" was founded in 1794, and both institutions were united and incorporated in 1798, under the present name. It has classical, medical, law, and preparatory departments,--and including each, from 300 to 400 students.

_Center College_, at Danville, was founded by the Presbyterian church, in 1818, for which the synod of Kentucky pledged $20,000. Number of students about 100. _Augusta College_ was founded in 1822, by the Ohio and Kentucky conferences of the Methodist Episcopal church. It adopted collegiate regulations in 1828. Number of students in the collegiate, academical and primary departments, about 200.

_Cumberland College_ was incorporated in 1824, and is established at Princeton, in the western part of the State. It is under the patronage and jurisdiction of the Cumberland Presbyterians. A farm, including a tract of 5,000 acres of land, with workshops, furnish facilities for manual labor. It has about 80 students.

_St. Joseph's College_ is a Roman Catholic institution, at Bardstown, with college buildings sufficient to accommodate 200 students, and valued at $60,000. It commenced with 4 students in 1820. In 1833 there were in the collegiate and preparatory departments, 120 students. The St. Thomas and St. Mary Seminaries are also under the charge of Roman Catholic priests, the one in Nelson county, four miles from Bardstown, and the other in Washington county.

A college was founded by the Baptists at Georgetown in 1830, but from untoward circumstances, is probably relinquished by the denomination.

TENNESSEE.--The _University of Nashville_ is a prominent institution. The laboratory is one of the finest in the United States, and the mineralogical cabinet, not exceeded, and this department, as well as every other in the college, is superintended with much talent. The number of students is about 100. _Greenville_, _Knoxville_ and _Washington_ colleges are in East Tennessee. _Jackson College_ is about to be removed from its present site, and located at Columbia. $25,000 have been subscribed for the purpose. A Presbyterian Theological Seminary is at Maryville.

MISSISSIPPI.--_Jefferson College_ is at Washington, s