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In its essential features of combining study and labor, and of uniting general and professional studies in its course, the college has remained virtually unchanged from the first. It has had a steady growth in number of students, in means of illustration and efficiency of instruction.

An act of Congress, approved July 2, 1862, donated to each State public lands to the amount of 30,000 acres for each of its Senators and Representatives in Congress, according to the census of 1860, for the endowment, support and maintenance of at least one college where the leading object should be, without excluding other scientific and classical studies, and including military tactics, to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts. The Legislature accepted this grant and bestowed it upon the Agricultural College. By its provisions the college has received 235,673.37 acres of land. These lands have been placed in market, and about 74,000 acres sold, yielding a fund of $237,174, the interest of which at seven per cent. is applied to the support of the college. The sale is under the direction of the Agricultural Land Grant Board, consisting of the Governor, Auditor General, Secretary of State, State Treasurer, Attorney General and Commissioner of the State Land Office.

The Agricultural College is three miles east of Lansing, comprising several fine buildings; and there are also very beautiful, substantial residences for the professors. There are also an extensive, well-filled green-house, a very large and well-equipped chemical laboratory, one of the most scientific apiaries in the United States, a general museum, a museum of mechanical inventions, another of vegetable products, extensive barns, piggeries, etc., etc., in fine trim for the purposes designed. The farm consists of 676 acres, of which about 300 are under cultivation in a systematic rotation of crops.

OTHER COLLEGES.

At Albion is a flourishing college under the control of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The grounds comprise about 15 acres. There are three college buildings, each three-stories high, having severally the dimensions of 46 by 80, 40 by 100, and 47 by 80 feet. The attendance in 1878 was 205. Tuition in the preparatory and collegiate studies is free. The faculty comprises nine members. The value of property about $85.000.

Adrian College was established by the Wesleyan Methodists in 1859, now under the control of the "Methodist Church." The grounds contain about 20 acres. There are four buildings, capable of accommodating about 225 students. Attendance in 1875 was 179; total number of graduates for previous years, 121; 10 professors and teachers are employed. Exclusive of the endowment fund ($80,000), the assets of the institution, including grounds, buildings, furniture, apparatus, musical instruments, outlying lands, etc., amount to more than $137,000.

Hope College, at Holland, is under the patronage of the Dutch Reformed Church. It was begun in 1851,and in connection with the ordinary branches of learning, it has a theological department. In 1877 it had 10 professors and teachers and 110 pupils. Up to 1875 there had graduated, in the preparatory department, begun in 1863, 95; in the academic, beginning in 1866, 53; and in the theological, beginning in 1869, 24. Value of real estate, $25,000; of other property, above incumbrance, about $10,000; the amount of endowment paid in is about $56,000.

Kalamazoo College, headed by Baptists, is situated on a five-acre lot of ground, and the property is valued at $35,000; investments, $88,000. There are six members of the faculty, and in 1878 there were 169 pupils.

Hillsdale College was established in 1855 by the Free Baptists. The "Michigan Central College," at Spring Arbor, was incorporated in 1845. It was kept in operation until it was merged into the present Hillsdale College. The site comprises 25 acres, beautifully situated on an eminence in the western part of the city of Hillsdale. The large and imposing building first erected was nearly destroyed by fire in 1874, and in its place five buildings of a more modern style have been erected. They are of brick, three stories with basement, arranged on three sides of a quadrangle. Their size is, respectively, 80 by 80, 48 by 72, 48 by 72, 80 by 60, 52 by 72, and they contain one-half more room than the original building. Ex-Lieut.-Gov. E. B. Fairfield was the first president. The present president is Rev. D. W. C. Durgin, D. D. Whole number of graduates up to 1878, 375; number of students. in all departments, 506; number of professors and instructors, 15; productive endowment, about $100,000; buildings and grounds, $80,000; library, 6,200 volumes.

Olivet College, in Eaton county, is a lively and thorough literary and fine-art institution, under the joint auspices of the Presbyterian and Congregational denominations. Value of buildings and grounds, about $85,000. Fourteen professors and teachers are employed, and the attendance in 1878 was 190, the sexes in about equal proportion. There are five departments, namely: the collegiate, preparatory, normal, music and art.

Battle Creek College, conducted by the Seventh-Day Adventists, was established in 1874, with four departments, 11 professors and teachers, and an attendance of 289. It is practically connected with a large health institution, where meat and medicines are eschewed. In 1878 there were 15 instructors and 478 students. Special attention is paid to hygiene and hygienic medication.

Grand Traverse College was opened at Benzonia in 1863, as the result of the efforts of Rev. Dr. J. B. Walker, a prominent divine of the Congregational Church. The friends of this institution have met with serious discouragements: their lands have not risen in value as anticipated and they have suffered a heavy loss from fire; but the college has been kept open to the present time, with

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HISTORY OF MICHIGAN.

an average of 70 pupils. The curriculum, however, has so far been only "preparatory." The land is valued at $25,000, and the buildings, etc., $6,000. The school has done a good work in qualifying teachers for the public schools.

Besides the foregoing colleges, there are the German-American Seminary in Detroit, a Catholic seminary at Monroe, the Michigan Female Seminary at Kalamazoo, the Military Academy at Orchard Lake, near Pontiac, and others.

CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS.

No State in the union takes better care of her poor than does Michigan. For a number of years past, especially under the administrations of Govs. Bagley and Croswell, extraordinary efforts have been made to improve and bring to perfection the appointments for the poor and dependent.

According to the report of the Board of State Commissioners for the general supervision of charitable, penal, pauper and reformatory institutions for 1876, the total number in poor-houses of the State was 5,282. For the five years preceding, the annual rate of increase was four times greater than the increase of population during that period; but that was an exceptionally "hard" time. The capacity of the public heart, however, was equal to the occasion, and took such measures as were effectual and almost beyond criticism for the care of the indigent.

At the head of the charity department of the State stands

THE STATE PUBLIC SCHOOL.

In the year 1870 a commission appointed by the Governor for that purpose, visited many of the poor-houses in the State, and found a large number of children in them under 16 years of age, indiscriminately associated with idiots, maniacs, prostitutes and vagrants. Their report recommended the classification of paupers, and especially, that children in the county houses, under 16 years, should be placed in a State school. The act establishing the school was passed in 1871, in conformity with the recommendation. As amended in 1873, it provides, in substance, that there shall be received as pupils in such school all neglected and dependent children that are over four and under 16 years of age, and that are in suitable condition of body or mind to receive instruction, especially those maintained in the county poor-houses, those who have been deserted by their parents, or are orphans, or whose parents have been convicted of crime. It is declared to be the object of the act to provide for such children temporary homes only, until homes can be procured for them in families. The plans comprehend the ultimate care of all children of the class described, and it is made unlawful to retain such children in poor-houses when there is room for them in the State Public School. Dependent orphans and half

orphans of deceased soldiers and sailors have the preference of admission should there be more applications than room. Provision is made for perserving a record of the parentage and history of each child.

The general supervision of the school is delegated to a Board of Control, consisting of three members, who are appointed by the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Senate. The Board appoints the superintendent, officers and teachers of the school. One officer is appointed to look up homes for the children, to apprentice them, and to keep a general oversight of them by visitation or correspondence. To complete the work of this institution, an agent is appointed in each county.

The internal government of this school is that known as the "family" and "congregate" combined, the families consisting of about 30 members each, and being under the care of "cottage managers," ladies whom the children call " aunties," and who are supposed to care for the children as mothers. Each child of suffi cient years is expected to work three hours every day; some work on the farm, some in the dining-room and kitchen, while others make shoes, braid straw hats, make their own clothing, work in the bakery, engine room, laundry, etc. They are required to attend school three to five hours a day, according to their ages, and the school hours are divided into sessions to accommodate the work.

The buildings, 10 in number, comprise a main building, eight cottages and a hospital, all of brick. The buildings are steam heated, lighted with gas and have good bathing facilities. There are 41 acres of land in connection with the school, and the total value of all the property is about $150,000, furnishing accommodations for 240 children.

STATE REFORM SCHOOL.

This was established at Lansing in 1855, in the northeastern portion of the city, as the "House of Correction for Juvenile Offenders," having about it many of the features of a prison. In 1859 the name was changed to "The State Reform School." The government and discipline have undergone many and radical changes until all the prison features have been removed except those that remain in the walls of the original structure, and which remain only as monuments of instructive history. No bolts, bars or guards are employed. The inmates are necessarily kept under the surveillance of officers, but the attempts at escape are much fewer than under the more rigid regime of former days. This school is for the detention, education and reformation of boys between the ages of eight and 16 years, who are convicted of light offenses.

The principal building is four-stories high, including basement, and has an extreme length of 246 feet, the center a depth of 48 feet, and the wings a depth of 33 feet each. Besides, there are two "family houses," where the more tractable and less vicious boys

form a kind of family, as distinguished from the congregate life of the institution proper. The boys are required to work a half a day and attend school a half a day. A farm of 328 acres belonging to the school furnishes work for many of the boys during the working season. Some are employed in making clothing and shoes for the inmates. The only shop-work now carried on is the cane-seating of chairs; formerly, cigars were manufactured here somewhat extensively. There is no contract labor, but all the work is done by the institution itself.

The number of inmates now averages about 200, and are taken care of by a superintendent and assistant, matron and assistant, two overseers and six teachers.

INSTITUTION FOR THE DEAF AND DUMB, AND THE BLIND.

This is located at Flint, 60 miles nearly northwest of Detroit. The act establishing it was passed in 1848, and the school was first opened in 1854, in a leased building. It is a school in common for deaf mutes and the blind, rather from motives of economy than from any relation which the two classes bear to one another. The buildings were commenced in 1853. The principal ones now are: front building, 43 by 72 feet, with east and west wings, each 28 by 60 feet; center building, 40 by 60, and east and west wings, each 50 by 70 feet; main school building, 52 by 54, with two wings, each 25 by 60 feet. All of these buildings are four stories high; center of the front building is five stories, including basement. There are also a boiler and engine house, barns, etc., etc. The total value of the buildings is estimated at $358,045, and of the 88 acres of land occupied, $17,570.

The number of inmates has increased from 94 in 1865 to 225 in 1875. Including the principal, there are 10 teachers employed in the deaf and dumb department, and four in the blind, besides the matron and her assistants. Tuition and board are free to all resident subjects of the State, and the trustees are authorized to assist indigent subjects in the way of clothing, etc., to the amount of $40 a year. An annual census of all deaf mutes and blind persons in the State is officially taken and reported to the overseers of the poor, who are to see that these unfortunate members of the human family are properly cared for.

ASYLUM FOR THE INSANE, AT KALAMAZOO.

This institution was established in 1848, and now consists of two departments, one for males and the other for females. The capacity of the former is 280 and of the latter 300 patients. In their general construction both buildings are arranged in accordance with the principles laid down by the Association of Medical Superintendents of American Institutions for the Insane. The buildings are of brick, with stone trimmings, and are very substantial, as well as

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