CHAPTER XI.

SCIENTIFIC AND ART SCHOOLS.

THE MARYLAND INSTITUTE FOR THE PROMOTION OF THE MECHANIC ARTS (1825-1835; 1848-1894).

Maryland has done comparatively little for technical and scientific education until recent years; but the institution whose history is now to be considered has striven nobly for the promotion of these aims from its foundation, and Maryland is now doing as much in this line as any other State. In 1824 the Franklin Institute, of Philadelphia, the first institution of the kind in the country, was organized. The idea of establishing a similar institution in Baltimore entered the mind of the late John H. B. Latrobe, "then but little more than a stripling," and, being encouraged in the following out of this plan by Fielding Lucas, jr., and others, the first Maryland Institute was formed. An adver tisement appeared in the daily papers calling for those willing to cooperate in forming a mechanics' institute to meet in Concert Hall. A crowd of intelligent, appreciative, and willing people assembled, and an organization was made with William Stewart, president; George Warner and Fielding Lucas, jr., vice-presidents; John Mowton, recording secretary; Dr. William Howard, corresponding secretary; Samuel Hardin, treasurer, and a board of 24 managers.

On November 6, 1825, the institute held its first exhibition of articles of American manufacture in Concert Hall, on South Charles street, where a second one was held in 1827.

On January 10, 1826. the institute was incorporated by the legisla ture. The purpose of the institute was to disseminate "scientific infor mation, connected with the mechanic arts, among the manufacturers, mechanics, and artisans of the city and State, by the establishment of popular lectures upon appropriate subjects, the price of admission to which should be fixed so low as to be within the means of all. It was also proposed to hold exhibitions of the products of domestic industry aud to offer premiums for excellence in various branches. A cabinet of models, a drawing school, a collection of minerals, and a library were all commenced."1

There were but few places of amusement and the lectures at the Maryland Institute were extremely popular. The legislature voted $300

Lucas, Pictures of Baltimore, p. 196. In 1827 there were 150 students and 540 members of the institute, according to the directory of that year.

for its use and the subscriptions of the members amounted to about as much more.

The Athenæum building, on the corner of Lexington and St. Paul streets, became the home of the institute, and apartments were fitted up for it on the second floor. There was a lecture room, one for apparatus, another for preparation, and the library. Above the lecture room was the drawing school. The philosophical apparatus, for the time, was complete, having been selected by Dr. William Howard, and was made in Paris expressly for the institution. The chemical laboratory was "well arranged and afforded every facility to the professor of that department."

Natural Philosophy was taught at first by John D. Craig, later by J. T. Ducatel, chemistry at first by J. Revere, M. D., later by James B. Rogers, M. D., and drawing by Samuel Smith, "one of the best teachers in the country and an enthusiast in his calling."

But the success of the first institute was suddenly brought to a close through the destruction of the Athenæum by a fire, probably of incendiary origin, on the 7th of February, 1835. All the property of the institute there perished and the institution itself was given up for twelve years. At the time of its death it had 707 members.

Finally, in 1847, the project was revived by Mr. Benjamin S. Benson: To that gentleman, modest in his pretensions, yet great in the honored essentials of conception and execution, are we indebted for giving to the existing institute the first breath of animation and of conceiving the idea of constructing a hall to facilitate its noble purposes on the site of the upper Center Market.

On December 1, 1847, pursuant to a call signed by him and 69 others, a meeting was held in Washington Hall of all persons favorable to forming a mechanics' institute. Jesse Hunt was called to the chair and John H. B. Latrobe spoke "explanatory of the purposes for which the meeting had been convened." An "Association for the Encouragement of Literature and Arts" had recently been established and some wished to unite with that; but the desire to have a separate organization prevailed, and, eighty names having been enrolled, a committee was appointed to draft a constitution. This constitution was adopted on December 22; on the 12th of January, 1848, the officers and managers were elected, and their first meeting was on the 19th of the same month.

In October, 1848, the first exhibition took place at Washington Hall, at which there were 415 exhibitors, and the gross receipts amounted to $3,163. A second fair showed a slight increase in exhibitors and receipts, and in 1850 the exhibitors nearly doubled, being 951, and the gross receipts amounted to $5,604. The membership in the three years had increased to 610.

On February 15, 1850, the institute was incorporated by the legisla ture for thirty years, with Joshua Vansant as president. The objects of the first institute are largely repeated and the following added: To

offer "premiums or awards for excellence in those branches of national industry deemed worthy of encouragement and to examine new inventions submitted for that purpose." An interesting clause is "that the said corporation shall not issue any note, scrip, or bill of credit to circulate as currency." An amendment to this charter was adopted in January, 1852, allowing the institute "to establish a department of analytic and applied chemistry," "to graduate students in chemistry, and to grant diplomas to such as are worthy of the distinction."

On February 8, 1850, the legislature made an annual grant of $500 to the institute. At the January session of 1878 the charter was extended indefinitely, with but little change. The annuity thereby is fixed at $3,000, the president is to make an annual report to the gov ernor, and the institute is authorized to graduate and grant diplomas to students in its various schools. These are the chief changes.

On June 6, 1850, an ordinance was passed by the mayor and city council authorizing the erection of the present building on "Marsh Market Space, over the market house, between Baltimore and Second streets, provided the consent of the stall-owners could be obtained." The preamble of the ordinance stated that the building was to be "after the plan of Faneuil Hall in Boston," for the purpose of annual exhibi. tions of the Maryland Institute, and to supply a place for public meetings on general occasions. To this the city gave $15,000, on condition a like amount be raised by the citizens. The building cost about $105,000.

The first pile' for the new building was driven on January 13, 1851, and the corner stone was laid on March 13, on which occasion the Hon. S. Teackle Wallis delivered an oration. The work rapidly went on, and on October 20, 1851, the first exhibition there, the fourth in all, was given. It was opened by an address from the Hon. John P. Kennedy, and the exhibition was a great success, there being 2,041 exhibitors of goods. It was closed by an address from the president, the Hon. Joshua Vansant, and such exhibitions were annually held for many years, though they have been given up since 1878. Lecture courses were also given each winter for many years, at which men like Presi dent John Tyler, Henry Winter Davis, Governor Thomas Swann, President D. C. Gilman, and Lieut. Maury, of the National Observatory, addressed large and appreciative audiences. The hall of the institute has become historic. There, in 1851, a reception was given to Kossuth, and a year later both the Democratic and the Whig national conventions met within its walls. In 1856 the old-line Whig convention indorsed Fillmore there, and there in 1857 the reception to George Peabody was held, and the body of Dr. Kane, the Arctic explorer, lay there in state. In 1860 the first embassy from Japan to our country was received there, and there, too, met the bolting Democratic convention which nominated Breckinridge for the Presidency. In 1868 a

1 Scharf's Chronicles of Baltimore, p. 536.