Matthew Vassar, Founder

Cross Taconic Parkway, up Jackson Road and a right turn onto Hosner Mountain Road. There is a silver ledge here ( shown on 1868 map) but it is not rich enough to be worked. On Henry Livingston's 1798 map of the Town of Fishkill this area is designated "Shuffle Hook." Why? No markers for next two miles. Elton Bailey and Son farms. 32-L There are many dirt, or root, cellars on Hosner Mountain in which the mountain families stored provisions against the winter months. One is to be seen here. Just beyond is a pile of rocks where once there was a tollgate. Turn right on Rushmore Road 100 yards to 33-R Entrance to Mr. and Mrs. Victor Nelson's property and the "Looking Rock." Mr. Nelson requests, "please drive slowly, low gear." 34-L Thomas Wright farm. Here he raised ten children early in the 19th century. Note dirt cellar on right. The Fishkill Plains Boy Scouts will direct parking just beyond the barn. Fresh cider from Mr. Morgenthau's orchards will be served at "Looking Rock," also cookies made by the Fishkill Plains Girl Scouts and EFHS members. When we leave "Looking Rock," we will return to Hosner Mountain Road and turn right. At Cherry Lane we turn left. Note the fields enclosed by stone walls. The many mountain farms through which we have passed must have looked this way before they reverted to woods. 35-L There are a number of small, old mountain farm houses along here but most of them have been modernized. This 200-year old dwelling has been marked because, with the exception of dormer windows, no major changes have been made. Many of the original shrubs are around the house, such as a moss rose, cinnamon rose and a Hiawatha rose. Owned by Miss Marie Hughes and Miss Gladys Sheridan since 1927. At fork (in road, keep straight ahead on Leetown Road, left again onto Route 52, and left down Stormville Mountain. 36-R Van Anden white oak. No one knows how old this tree is; it measures 19 1 /2 feet in circumference three feet above the ground. It was, no doubt, a healthy young tree when General George Washington and Sybil Luddington passed this way during the Revolutionary War, this being the main road between Fishkill and Fredericksburgh (now Patterson). Take the first black-topped road to the right into Stormville. 37-R Stormville Fire Company. Fire house built almost entirely by volunteers. Started 194-9, interior completed 1951. Stormville. The history of this town is long and interesting but the hour is growing late and only a small bit of its history can be told. Originally the area was homesteaded by great-grandsons of the immigrant Storm ancestor, Dirck Storm. Until fairly recently it was a busy place with a busy hotel, a two-story school, railroad station, blacksmith shop, cobbler's shop, a chapel, cooperage, a creamery, as well as the stores and postoffice we see today. Several original Storm homes are still to be seen, two marked. 38-R Wooley House. Local legend says that Mary, of Mary-had-a-LittleLamb fame, lived in this house, although it has been refuted. Too bad! It is a nice story. Raymond Storm, in Old Dirck's Book, 1949, says the poem was written by the great-grandaunt of a former resident of this house and that the aunt lived in New Hampshire. 39-R Homestead Farm. This property was bought from Madam Brett by Isaac Storm in 174-3. The original deed, signed by Madam Brett, hangs in the parlor. Isaac Storm built the house shortly after the property was acquired and, although some changes have been made, most of the original house remains. Ten generations of Storms have lived here. Residence of Mrs. Diana Adriana Tucker. 40-R Storm n Lake Farm. Built about the same time as the Homestead Farm. Renovated 1908-10. Childhood home of Raymond Storm, author of Old Dirck's

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Book, 1949. Now the home of Tremaine Jackson, also a descendant of Dirck Storm. Note the many locust trees. They are always found around the homes of the early Dutch settlers. And now the Pilgrimage ends. Pilgrims going north could rejoin Route 52 here, with a right turn, and take the next right (Carpenter Road) into Old Hopewell and the beautiful old Hopewell Reformed Church, then into Route 82. Or, you could take the second right, Route 376, and go through East Fishkill's largest town, Hopewell Junction, and Fishkill Plains. Thank you for coming. Come back soon!

BLUE DYING, The Subscriber informs the public, that he has spent a number of years in the states of New-York, Massachusetts and Connecticut, to obtain the art of dying Cloth, and is now ready to dye all kinds of colours; but particularly deep blue, both patent and English, being skilled in that much admired colour, and nothing will be refused for pay that can be eat, drank or burned — even Cash will be accepted. Benjamin Miner Poughkeepsie Journal, October 19, 1802

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MATTHEW VASSAR, FOUNDER*

On January 18, 1861, the New York State Legislature granted a charter to Vassar Female College in Poughkeepsie. With this act there was inaugurated a new chapter in the history of higher education in this country, education for women equal in kind and quality to that available for men in the great university colleges of Harvard, Yale and Princeton. To effect this a whole new institution was planned and built in one great operation, made all the more costly, difficult and prolonged by the hardships of the Civil War. Yet it opened its doors in the fall of 1865 a college complete in plant facilities the most modern of their day, in superb educational equipment from art collection to zoology laboratory, and in endowment sufficient to insure its future.

All of this was the work of one far-seeing philanthropically minded, dedicated individual, a resident and businessman of Poughkeepsie. In his life we can see mirrored the life of Poughkeepsie from 150 to 100 years ago and can catch the flavor of what it was like in those early days. * * *

Matthew Vassar was born in England April 29, 1792, on the family homestead at East Dereham, Parish of Tudenham, County of Norfolk. He was the fourth of five children born in England to James and Ann Vassar. (Sophia, 1782; Maria, 1787; John Guy, 1789; Matthew, 1792; Jemima, 1794). James Vassar was a successful Norfolk farmer and wool grower as his father and French emigrant grandfather (LeVasseur) had been before him.

Matthew's parents were Baptists and, in common with other late eighteenth century dissenters, so strongly felt the oppressions of the state church that in 1796 they decided to bring their family to the United States. "It was liberty of thought and speech which they sought, and not solely to better their condition, for with the exception of oppressive laws, they were very well off in old Norfolk." Thomas Vassar, James' bachelor brothei, accompanied them to this country.

Matthew was four years old at the time of the move to America, but he never forgot one experience of the voyage—"Sea sickness, the

An account prepared in observance of the one hundredth anniversary of Vassar College, the "magnificient enterprise" of Matthew Vassar, by Theodore Henry Erck, Ph.D., Professor of Classics on the Matthew Vassar, Jr. Chair, and Secretary of the College.

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waves breaking over the vessel, sweeping me from the companion-way to the Lardboard side of the Ship, loosing my new London bought Hat, and just escaping a watery grave."2 After seventy days' passage on the ship Criterion the Vassar family arrived at New York in October, 1796. New York at that time had a population of about 50,000. In later years Matthew Vassar recalled that they were greeted by New York's English residents who loaded them with gifts of fruit and hospitably provided them with rooms, notably with an English family named Withington, "a large Brewer in the upper part of the eastern bounds of the City."3

Matthew, his mother, brothers and sisters, including new brother Charles born in January, 1797, stayed in New York for the winter while his father and Uncle Thomas traveled during December 1796 and January 1797 to up-state New York as far as Utica searching for a desirable place to settle.

They returned discouraged early in 1797, having seen "nothing to fill their ideas of farmland or culture . . . dissattisfyed with the Country . . . about to re-embark to their native homes, but meeting with some English family going up the River to Po'keepsie . . . they were persuaded to wait, and finaly came with them, and ultimately purchased a farm lying on 'Wappingers Creek' now Manchester . . The property selected — about 150 acres — lay in the rich and beautiful creek valley about three miles east of Poughkeepsie.

Shortly after buying the farm in the early spring of 1797, James Vassar moved his family to Poughkeepsie, probably by packet sloop, then the only mode of travel on the river. There they occupied a temporary dwelling one mile east of the village of Poughkeepsie while their house was being built on the farm. When the farmhouse was finished, at the close of the summer of 1797, James and Ann moved into their new Dutchess County home with their six children and Thomas. The brothers were no doubt influenced in their final choice of the farm they selected by "its natural growth of a plant they loved full well — the hop vine, for at that period no respectable English farmer ever thought of doing without his own home-brewed ale."5 "To the eyes of the English settlers nothing was more pleasing than a score of saplings along the borders of their farm, draped with the spiral vines of the wild hop ( humu/us /upu/us), from whose clustering blossoms they might distill the lupuline for home-brewed ale, without which an English family would experience a real privation. But barley for the malt was lacking. It was not long a want; for when the farm-work was over in the Autumn, Thomas went to England for a

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supply of that grain and other cereals, and of good sheep. He brought back with him some fine seed rath, the most profitable kind of barley for brewing; and in the Summer of 1798, the first field of that grain ever seen in Dutchess County ripened and yielded bountifully on the Vassar farm." 6

In September 1798 the Vassar family once again rejoiced to have home-brewed ale in the house. "The fame of it soon spread abroad among thirsty neighbors. The thrifty family made it for sale; and it was not long before little Matthew and his mother might occasionally be seen on the road to Poughkeepsie, in the farm wagon, with a barrel of home-brewed ale, the freshest eggs, and the yellowest butter, for all of which an ever-ready market was found."7 "I was going with Mother to Town on a pleasant Satturday with waggon & horses to Market Butter, Eggs, and a Barrel of homebrewed Beer, when all of a sudden by the carelessness of the Driver was upset landing Mother and waggon contents in the ditch, no bones being Broken, gathered up the fragments adjusted Matters and pushed on to Po'."8

In the two years 1799-1800, as its good reputation spread, the demand for the "Vassar ale," as it was called, grew by leaps and bounds. No longer could the customers be supplied by the small home brew operation on the farm. In the year 1801 the brothers decided to quit farming; they sold their farm and moved to town. James began the business of brewing in the newly incorporated village of Poughkeepsie; Thomas went into brick manufacture.

James bought property on Main Street, just west of Washington Street, and built the area's first brewery. "On January 4th, 1803, he inserted an advertisement in the Political Barometer stating that he had completed his brewery and was ready to supply the people of Poughkeepsie with ale, etc."9 There he produced about fifteen gallons of ale daily, which he peddled through the streets to the farmers and neighbors. He did his own malting. Thus was started the Vassar brewing business in which Matthew was to malce his fortune.

In town the family lived for a time in two different houses near their Main Street brewing property and later occupied living quarters in their new brewery building until their Poughkeepsie residence was built. The family now numbered ten as Matthew's younger sister, Keziah, was born in 1799 and James, Jr., was born in 1801.

During the five years of his boyhood in Poughkeepsie, from the time he was nine until he was fourteen, Matthew continued his usual

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chores such as tending the family cows, and enjoyed playing with his friends, particularly "in the old Brewery Malt Kiln room, warming ourselves by the Kiln Fires."1° Meanwhile, he received practically no formal education. "Recollect going to Night School . . . to old Gabriel Ellison, had a fracas with him, because he struck me over the head with a round heavy Ruler, flooring me, how I got up and sent an ink Stand at his Yellow Breeches, besmeering his White Cotton Stockings to a pepper and Salt color. — — Left School under L. B. Van Kleecks Great Coat when School was dismissed at Noon. Quite a Rumpus was made by this event, complaints prefered to the family, how Father insisted my returning to School, how Mother interceeded for me and finally sent me to John Harbottles Night School . . . To sum it all up between my own temper, and Fathers severity & indifference to giving me an Education I got none — scarcely to read & write."11

James' brewing business was successful and he wished to make his two eldest sons his assistants. John Guy, who was almost three years older than Matthew, willingly helped his father from the beginning. But when Matthew was old enough at fifteen for his father to take him into the business, he rebelled and would have no part of it. His father thereupon arranged for Matthew to be apprenticed for seven years to a tanner in Poughkeepsie. "This was a business still more distasteful to the boy than brewing."12 "I told Mother that I would never be bound to such a trade, it was disgusting to me & would run away from home to avoid the contracts — I did so, and Started privately on my Journey and on Monday May 8th [1807] set off to seek my fortune with 6/ in my pockett, two corse East India Muslin Shirts, a pair of woolen Socks, Scow Skin Shoes, all tied up in a Cotton Bandana Handkerchief. This exit I say was unknown to Father, but my Mother being privy to it & seeing my determination fur'd and rather aided the plan, and on the Morning above stated accompanied me on foot 9 Miles on my Journey to Hamburgh Ferry — here we parted and never shall I forget that Memmoral day, both weptd tears abundantly . . . ." 13

Except for one brief visit home, Matthew Vassar did not see his family again for three years. During his absence he worked in a country store near Newburgh, first as a boy of all work, his job "to Measure Wood Weight Iron, measure Salt, &c in fact do all kinds of drudging even to taking care of the Old Gentleman's horse . . . Begining with Labour for a living . . . ."14 He quickly rose to the position of clerk and salesman because "he was quick, appreciative, learnt values quickly, was civil and obliging, and the customers liked

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to deal with him."I-5 He learned to keep the accounts and was earning a salary of $300 a year by the time he was seventeen. He then accepted a better-paying position as clerk with another merchant in the neighborhood. Between jobs he went to Poughkeepsie for a visit home, walking the fourteen miles each way.

In 1810, having reached the age of eighteen, Matthew Vassar returned home for good — with the experience of three years on his own behind him and $150 in savings as proof that he could earn his own living. Coming to terms with his father, he entered James Vassar's brewing business and began work as bookkeeper and collector.

During Matthew's absence his father's business had continued to grow. Indeed, it had prospered to such an extent that in 1809 he had built a new and larger brewery in Vassar Street. ". . . my Father . . . wanted me to take charge of his Books & attend to Collections of ales and Beers Moneys which at that time was quite considerable having all or most part of the River-towns-trade, from NewBurgh to Hudson, — How we Sold Chancellor Livington Red Hook Fall & Spring large Quantity of Ale & deliv'd it by Sloops, . . . my going to NewBurgh to collect Ale Moneys

For about a year after Matthew's return home all went well. Then, in May 1811, misfortune overtook the family when the brewery burnt down, uninsured. ". . . the fire was reported . . . in the Journal of Wednesday, 1VIay15 :

FIRE — About one o'clock on Saturday last the Brewery of Mess. Vassar in this village was discovered to be on fire. The alarm was immediately given and the citizens assembled with great alacrity. The buildings were already so completely enveloped in flames as to render in a measure unavailing the utmost exertions of the citizens to save them. A considerable quantity of ale and some other property was saved, but the buildings were entirely consumed. The loss is estimated at 13 or $14,000 . . . .17

A day later tragedy struck. John Guy, Matthew's elder brother, was suffocated by carbonic gases when he descended into one of the half-burned vats to salvage some hops. John Guy left his wife and two sons, Matthew, Jr., born 1809, and John Guy, born 1811. Their uncle Matthew brought the boys up and both later became greatly interested in M. Vassar & Co., and in Vassar College, as well as outstanding community benefactors on their own. "The Spring following while my Father was absent in New York May 10th 1811 his Brewery took fire & burt down and having no Insurance thereon this Calamity ruined him, besides which the loss was attended by the death of my Brother the Elder John Guy Vassar . . . whom the day after the fire

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lost his life by descending into a vat charged with Carbonic Acid Gass . . . ."18

James Vassar, totally ruined financially and grieving the loss of his son, gave up in despair and retired to a farm just north of Poughkeepsie where he spent the remaining twenty-nine years of his long life. Nineteen-year-old Matthew Vassar then made the decision which was to earn him fortune and fame. Undaunted by lack of cash, sufficient equipment and experience, he decided to make a new and independent start in the brewing business. His sister Maria's husband, George Booth, who was a successful woolen manufacturer, gave him a little needed capital as well as the temporary use of an empty dye-house where he set up the few kettles and tubs he had salvaged from the fire ruins. "Here the young man, not yet twenty years old, brewed ale, a barrel or two at a time, which he bottled and peddled through the village."19 "His apparatus was so limited, that he could only make a few barrels at a time and these he sold in small quantities, serving his customers personally. But what he made was thoroughly well made, and gave great satisfaction."2°

In less than a year Matthew's business was advertised under the firm name of "M. Vassar & Co." and had outgrown the limited quarters of the dye-house. Once again Matthew made a particularly imaginative decision and rented part of the basement of the "elegant" three-year-old county court house.21 There, in the fall of 1812, he opened an ale and oyster bar. He is said to have been the first to introduce oysters to Poughkeepsie.22 The oyster bar was opened on a small scale but its great novelty drew the customers immediately. ". . . it soon became the rendezvous of the lawyers, the politicians, and all the habitues of the court-house, transient travellers, and farmers who came to town took the opportunity to visit the 'new saloon'

Apparently Matthew was also adding to his income by supplying his customers with more than ale and oysters. The Republican Herald of June 17, 1812, carried an advertisement for M. Vassar & Co. listing for sale not only ale but stout, porter, cider and wines, Spanish Segars, crackers by the bbl., lime juice. In addition, Matthew apparently had a monopoly of the barley trade.24 His family had been first to introduce the grain in the Hudson Valley section of the country and his father once again raised it on the farm. After the grains had gone through the vat, Matthew sold them to farmers for feed.

In the period 1812-1813, "Poughkeepsie was growing; it was one of the most thriving towns on the Hudson; and as the population in-

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creased, Matthew Vassar's business extended. Still, it had only 3,000 inhabitants but, so far as appears, Mr. Vassar had no formidable rivals to compete with; the field was his own."25

After each day of brewing, selling and delivering, Matthew went in the evening to his oyster saloon and there personally served his growing clientele until midnight. This place of business "had grown from a plain 'oyster cellar' into quite a respectable 'clubhouse;' and occupied three rooms in the basement of the Court-house and one on the floor above. There judges and jurors, lawyers and clients, dined and supped during the sessions of the courts."26 By 1813, Matthew found his business so promising of further success that he married Catharine Valentine on March 7, the month before he became twentyone. "In the following summer . . . began the world, — that is the business world for myself by getting married and begining house-keeping, Renting part of a tenement at $40 per year, and was severely rebuked by my Father for my extravagance — $25 pr year was as much as he thot I ought to pay . .

In these early days of building his own business, Matthew found himself full of ideas for greatly furthering his profits. But to carry out his ideas he badly needed more capital. He "had now struggled on in business about two years, alone, unaided by influential or wealthy friends, and relying solely upon his own resources . . . for final success. It had often been a most severe struggle . . . Ambitious of excelling in whatever he undertook, he spared no pains or expense in the manufacture of his ale, but for want of capital to enlarge his facilities, it was made in quantity too limited to give him much profit. Capital was his great need, and in due time it came to help him."28 "Fortunately help came at the right time; a gentleman named Thomas Purser, who was somewhat of a connoisseur in ales, and had often enjoyed his mug in Vassar's saloon, proposed of his own accord to go into partnership with our young brewer. This was precisely what he needed, as Mr. Purser had capital, the only thing which Matthew Vassar lacked."2° "July 14, 1813, Thomas Purser and Matthew Vassar informed the public that they had entered into partnership 'and that they are now rebuilding the Brewery in this village . . which they intend to have in operation the ensuing Fall.' "3° Mr. Purser, a well-to-do Englishman, furnished $15,000 and, continuing under the firm-name M. Vassar and Co., they set about erecting an extensive brewery and malt house. The new brewery had "a capacity of 40 barrels. The building extended from Vassar to Bridge Streets on land now occupied by Vassar Institute."31

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The business really began at this time to be profitable, and Matthew "soon extricated the family from the unfortunate position to which the fire had reduced them."32 " The business at the club-rooms in the Court-house was abandoned by its founder, and his whole time and attention were given to the manufacture of ale. That vocation was successful . . . . " 33 The partnership with Purser "was the real foundation of the wholesale business, and was every way satisfactory while it continued; but Mr. Purser's health failing at the end of two years, he withdrew from the business . . . . " 34 "On June 10th, 1813, the Poughkeepsie papers contained a notice that he [Purser] had sold his interest to J. M. and N. Conklin, jun. The Vassar brewery was not yet making any fortunes, but it was on the road to prosperity."35

A man of many words when it came to college education for women, Matthew Vassar had little to say in his autobiography of his productive business years, summing them up in one sentence: ". . . but I will not pursue my narrative down any further, as most part of my life from this time till some 18 years ago [about 1847] was filled up with the ordinary buisness relations with its various phases, ups and downs."36 Matthew Vassar's life from 1815 to 1845 reveals a man who quietly and steadily built an ever more successful business but who also found time for increasing civic responsibilities and for promoting a variety of exciting new enterprises, all of which were important and necessary to the expansion of commerce and industry in the area.

By 1815, when Matthew was twenty-three, the Poughkeepsie newspapers were noting that the M. Vassar & Co. brewery, established less than four years, was on the road to prosperity. At this time Matthew's interest in and potential contributions to municipal affairs began to be evident to his fellow citizens. In 1819, at the age of twenty-seven, he was serving his first term on the Board of Trustees of the Village of Poughkeepsie. Five years later he was again elected and this time served for four continuous years as a village trustee, from 1824 through 1827. At thirty-two, the young brewer was one of the outstanding citizens of the community, invited to be present when Lafayette paid his memorable return visit to Poughkeepsie September 16, 1824. Among the guests seated at Lafayette's table at the welcoming breakfast was Matthew Vassar.

During this period he was also keenly interested in seeing that proper banking facilities were established to serve the community. The area's first bank charter was obtained April 12, 1825, for the Dutchess County Bank; organization took place on July 12 and among the directors was Matthew Vassar.37

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Between 1815 and 1837, "the river steamboat reached the highest point of its commercial usefulness, a fact which had much to do with the growth of Poughkeepsie . . . . March 30th, 1827, a Poughkeepsie Steamboat Company was incorporated [by fourteen men, among them Matthew Vassar] . . . but apparently they did not carry out their plans, for in 1835 the papers were advocating the establishment of a local company, and at a village meeting held December 2nd [a committee of seven men, including Matthew Vassar, was appointed] to see if they could not secure a line to the village. This must have been an effort for a fast passenger day line, for there were already towing barges . . . steamboats . . . regular lines of sloops in active freighting operation and passenger business."38 In 1829 Matthew Vassar, now thirty-eight and with eighteen years of experience as head of his brewery, found himself able to buy out his two partners, J. M. and N. Conklin, Jr. For three years, until 1832, he conducted the business alone, meanwhile continuing his outside activities on an ever-increasing scale. A letter written by Matthew Vassar on March 29, 1830, reveals his intense concern with the brewery business and also gives some clews to the scale of his company's operations. This communication to George P. Oakley strongly objected to the beer and ale gauging law about to be presented to the state legislature. This letter shows that M. Vassar and Co. made large shipments to all parts of the country, "to fartherest Southeran Ports in the United States," and owned about 10,000 casks — varying in capacity from ten to sixty-four gallons. At any given time about 3,000 of these casks were filled "at home" and ready for shipment; 3,000 were out in the market, filled and empty; and about 3,000 were empty on hand or on their way "home."

In 1829, the Safety Fund Act, which made New York bank notes the best in the country, was passed; and in 1830, the Poughkeepsie Bank was organized. Among the first directors, elected June 17, was Matthew Vassar. Later he became one of the first trustees of the Savings Bank which was chartered April 17, 1831, and began business in 1833. As the village grew, Mr. Vassar was one of the forwardlooking businessmen who took responsibility for civic improvements. Thus before the village began to require paved sidewalks, when many establishments were fronted by strips of gravel and mud, Matthew Vassar was one of nine property owners who agreed, in November 1830, to "engage to pave or flag the sidewalks before our said lots in such manner as the trustees of the village shall direct."39

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In 1832, when Matthew Vassar was forty years old, he took his nephews, Matthew, Jr., (at age 23) and John Guy (at age 21) , into his brewery business as partners. These young men were the sons of his deceased brother, John Guy. From the time Matthew acquired sole interest in the brewery, in 1829, the firm remained in the family and continued under the name of M. Vassar & Co.

One of the unusual and important enterprises in which Matthew Vassar took part was the organization of the Poughkeepsie Whaling Company. Strange as it may seem, whaling became one of the major mid-Hudson River industries during the 1830's; ". . . great ships were sent to sea from Poughkeepsie for whale oil . . . ; other towns equally remote from the ocean were doing the same thing."4° Matthew was among those named as organizers in the charter when the Poughkeepsie Whaling Company was incorporated April 20, 1832, "for the purpose of engaging in the whale fishery in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and elsewhere, and in the manufacture of oil and spermaceti candles."41 This whaling company had its ups and downs but, by 1835, "had two ships at sea and two in port refitting."

In spite of his brewing, banking, whaling and real estate interests, his church activities and civic service, Matthew Vassar found time during the period 1832 to 1837 to promote establishment of the Dutchess County Railroad. This proposed east-west railroad across the county was incorporated March 28, 1832, and Matthew Vassar was one of twelve men who gave their time and interest in the attempt to see the road built and in operation. Although the charter was renewed in 1836, the project was finally "put to sleep" by the general economic panic which followed in 1837.42

Another of Matthew Vassar's important contributions to his community was the advice and guidance he gave as a member of the village reservoir committee from 1833 to 1835. This group studied the expediency of "erecting a cistern or fountain sufficient to supply the village with water . . . and for the extinguishment of fires and leading the same over the village in pipes.43 The committee met with much difficulty over water rights but its efforts were finally successful. The reservoir was completed November 4, 1835, in time to be of great service during the great fire of 1836.

In 1834, Matthew Vassar for the fourth time was connected with the establishment of a new bank. When the Farmers and Manufacturers Bank, the second under the Safety Fund Act, was organized in May 1834, Matthew Vassar was elected to the first board of directors. By February 1835, he had become the bank president.

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By 1835, the village population of Poughkeepsie had reached 6,281. At the charter election of 1835, what was described as the "Moderate Improvement Party" offered candidates who ran against the "Ultra Improvement Party," with Edward C. Southwick and Matthew Vassar on both tickets.44 Elected with Southwick and one other "Moderate" and two "Ultras," Matthew Vassar was chosen president of the five-man board. He again served as a trustee of the village in 1836. Although the time he could devote to his brewing business was becoming much more limited, a letter written by Mr. Vassar on January 29, 1835, showed him to be working actively toward the development of a "Brewery Association," and making plans for the drafting of a constitution for such an association.

In the years immediately following upon their entrance into the business in 1832, Matthew's new partners, Matthew Vassar, Jr., and John Guy Vassar, proved themselves to be pushing, enterprising young men.45 By 1836, the Vassars found it necessary to build a larger brewing establishment. The site selected was 400 feet of river frontage at the Main Street landing, extending to Water Street. This location made for convenient water shipping to all points of the country, as well as "to the West Indies in return for sugar and rum."46 The water supply, so important to successful brewing came from an artesian well, 940 feet deep, on the premises. "The water from it is pure, and supplies all the purposes of the brewery." From the beginning, the riverfront brewery was supplied with all the best of "modern improvements in appliances and machinery, and is pronounced by those who claim to know, a model establishment in every particular."47

An interesting letter written in 1837 effectively describes the enlarged brewery and the Vassar ale:

The Brewery of Messrs. Vassar 8c Co. is now the largest establishment of the kind in the United States. The recent enlargement is of brick, 200 by 50 feet, three and four stories high, which, together with its fixtures, cost the proprietors, rising $40,000. It is calculated to turn out 50,000 barrels of ale per annum. The ale manufactured at this establishment is not surpassed by any in the country. It is used even in the city of Philadelphia, so famed for its excellent malt liquors.48

At this period, ". . . the concern did an immense export business, especially in supplying ale to the West Indies, and its own line of seagoing schooners was employed in the carrying. But the revolution in those islands put an end to this trade, . . . and the product [later was] . . . exclusively sold for domestic consumption."49 Matthew's twenty-five years of industry had been rewarded by outstanding success,

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"and the tide of prosperity kept rising."50 During the 1830's business grew to such an extent that it became necessary to operate in addition to the two breweries in Poughkeepsie, one in New York and another in Lansingburg. "The panic of 1837 followed a period of extraordinary real estate speculation throughout the country, stimulated by a great extension of credit from shaky banks. In Poughkeepsie, however, and in New York State generally the banks were able to weather the storm, though some of them had backed boomers to a dangerous extent."51 "Vassar brewery was making notwithstanding the hard times 20,000 barrels of ale worth $6 to $6.50 a barrel."52 "Matthew Vassar was one of the few men actively interested in the enterprises before 1837 who was not ruined by the panic. In fact, he was in a position to purchase at his own figures what others were compelled to part with, and a considerable part of his fortune was made by taking advantage of such opportunities. Though a hard-headed, shrewd bargainer, he was more than a mere money maker, and . . from the beginning of his prosperity became a liberal contributor to the Baptist Church and various local charitable enterprises."53 Some years before 1839, Mr. Vassar had "taken a deep interest in the secular or temporal affairs of the Baptist Church as one of the Bd Trustees & being an early advocate of erecting a new house of Worship I took an active part in raising by subscrition the necessary funds procuring Architecural plans &c, but the enterprise resulted in entailment of a debt (against the Society) by which I afterwards cancelled of some $25000 to $30,000 and subsequently gave to the Society by legal conveyance the whole property by Deed of the same, since followd from that date to the present time with a donation of 3 to $400 p Year . . ."54 "At ease in his circumstances, he made honorable efforts to remedy the defects of his early education. His father never learned to read and did not feel the necessity of giving his sons more than the mere rudiments of knowledge. Matthew Vassar now became a diligent reader, and was fond of conversing upon the usual topics of educated society . . . 55 He was president of the Poughkeepsie Lyceum of "Literature, Science, and Mechanic Arts."

By 1840, the Poughkeepsie village population had reached 7,710, more than double its size when young Matthew Vassar entered the brewing business, and by 1845, the town of Poughkeepsie reached a population of close to 12,000. During these years Mr. Vassar continued

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his various interests in new industrial enterprises. In March 1842, he became chairman of a committee of men active in planning for the development of a Hudson River Railroad. They feared that the proposed extension of the New York and Albany Railroad through eastern Dutchess County would divert the county trade from Poughkeepsie to the eastern county towns. By May of 1846, this committee had overcome strenous objections and obtained a charter. "The enemies of the road, however, succeeded in the incorporation of a requirement that $3,000,000 must be subscribed before March 1st, 1847, with 10 per cent, paid in . . . during the last week or two of February 1847 . . . . The $3,000,000 necessary to 'save the charter' of the Hudson River Railroad was subscribed, and Mr. Vassar was given much of the credit for starting the enterprise and for the final successful financing."56 "At a large and respectable meeting of the citizens of Poughkeepsie in favor of the speedy construction of the Hudson River Railroad, held at the Village Hall on . . . January 23rd (1847) Matthew Vassar, Esq., was chosen President."57 Trains were running from New York to Poughkeepsie by the end of 1849.

In 1845, Matthew Vassar, now fifty-three, decided to fulfill his long-time desire to visit England and the Continent, leaving his business to the management of his nephews. On Mr. Vassar's invitation, Cyrus Swan accompanied him and his wife on the Grand Tour. Mr. Swan, a man of liberal education and a pleasant companion, was later to take an active part in the building and organization of Vassar College. The party left New York in April 1845 in a sailing vessel, "one of the largest sailing packets of that time," which was twenty days in making the voyage.58

Guy's Hospital in London was the sight which most impressed Matthew Vassar in his ten months of travel in England, Germany, Switzerland, the Mediterranean and France.59 This large and celebrated hospital had been founded by a distant relative of the Vassars, Thomas Guy. As Matthew looked at the bronze statue of Thomas Guy in the hospital quadrangle, he read the words which were to be so decisive in affecting the activities of the rest of his life: THOMAS GUY,

SOLE FOUNDER OF THIS HOSPITAL

IN HIS LIFETIME

A. D. M DCC XXI.60

The three words which caught and held Matthew Vassar's attention were "In His Lifetime." It is possible that, having no

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children, he had begun "at a comparatively early age to consider plans for leaving most of his fortune to found some institution."61 Inspired by Thomas Guy's example, he resolved at least to begin the founding of some charitable or useful institution while he was still living.

For ten or more years following the Vassars' return from Europe early in 1846, Matthew found himself absorbed, to the point of excluding most other interests, in deciding how he could best dispose of his fortune during his lifetime so as to benefit mankind in an enduring way. At first, he seriously considered the possibility of founding a hospital in Poughkeepsie, similar to Guy's Hospital. ". . . now the great problem of his life became the particular form in which his vision of fame should take shape. Mr. Vassar was wisely determined to be his own executor and carry out himself whatever plans he should make. Many persons were eager to direct his philanthropic zeal and various schemes, particularly one of a city hospital, were urged."62

Matthew Vassar's niece, Lydia Booth, daughter of his sister Maria, was a teacher in Poughkeepsie of more than local reputation. Mr. Vassar bought and transferred to her use a large house with several acres of ground, and Miss Booth opened the Cottage Hill Seminary. During the period from 1846 to 1854, when Miss Booth died, Matthew took a real interest in her success, visited the school frequently, often talked with her about her ideas for the higher education of women. She first fostered in his mind the idea of founding a model school for young women "of a higher order than any then existing."63 "Seeing this Institution [Guy's Hospital] first suggested the idea of devoting a portion of my Estate to some Charitable purpose, and about this period took quite an interest in a Niece of mine Lydia Booth who was then engaged in a small way in the tuition of Children resulting in after years in the opening of a female Seminary in Po'keepsie . . . The force of circumstances brought me occasionaly in buisness entercourse with my Niece, which will account for the early direction of my mind for the enlarged Education of Women and the subsequent drift of enquiries in my conversation & correspondence with gentlemen Educators in this Country and a few in Europe

"64

". . . there is no doubt that it is to this lady's influence upon her uncle that Matthew Vassar finally determined to devote his fortune to that object. Still he did not hurry; he meant to take plenty of time for consideration and for consultation with those he deemed his wisest friends; and other objects of immediate public interest also occupied much of his time."66 After Lydia Booth's death, in 1854,

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Matthew Vassar sold Cottage Hill Seminary to Professor Milo P. Jewett. The two men came to know each other quite well through their association in the Baptist Church, and Dr. Jewett furthered Lydia Booth's suggestions, going so far as to urge Mr. Vassar to found a real college for women, "an institution that should be to their sex what Yale and Harvard are to their own."66

During these years of planning his great philanthropy, Matthew Vassar continued to direct the brewing business and to carry on other interests. In 1850, he brought into partnership his remaining brother, James, and his nephews Alfred R. Booth, Oliver H. Booth and J. V. Harbottle." From 1850 to 1852, Mr. Vassar served on a village committee to "establish a public cemetery near the town. Mr. Vassar was one of the most zealous promoters of the enterprise. He was chairman of a committee appointed at a public meeting to select suitable grounds for that purpose."" "After his return [from Europe], Mr. Vassar enjoyed his wealth in another way, by purchasing a farm of about fifty acres threequarters of a mile south of Poughkeepsie and laying it out as a beautiful estate. `Springside,' as it was called, became his delight and pride."" Mr. Vassar lived there for several summers.70

By 1856, the idea of founding a college for young women was beginning to take concrete form in Matthew Vassar's mind. "Several 'Ladies Collegiate Institutes' had already been founded in various parts of the country, and Mr. Vassar soon perceived that the time was ripe for something better."71- "Mr. Jewett reiterated to him that there was not an endowed college for young women in the world although there were 'plenty of female colleges so-called' with 'no libraries, cabinets, museums, apparatus worth mentioning . . . .' It was under the persistence and persuasiveness of Mr. Jewett that Mr. Vassar was convinced of the dignity and glory of the plan proposed."72 "Mr. Vassar was neither selfish nor egotistical, and was not anxious to reap all the glory of this intended achievement; he invited his two nephews, Matthew and Guy Vassar, to join him in this undertaking, but they declined; their time for this kind of work had not yet come."73 "These words of the Founder:

It occurred to me that woman, having received from her creator the same intellectual constitution as man, has the same right as man to intellectual culture and development. tell in phrase as direct and unadorned as Matthew Vassar's character

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itself, the foundation principle of this generous act. He wished to help humanity with the results of his sagacious labor. He was led to see a way of helping which very few had seen or had desired to see. He did not care to be popular; surely, if he had, he would have selected another cause. He had had no share in intellectual training himself, but he did not underrate its value."74 "If his gift had contributed to . . . practical domains, had he built the hospital he had at first contemplated, or founded some other institution meeting directly the wants of physical mankind, his project would have lifted him at once into praise and honor. But this unasked for and unpopular thing, this `Vassar's Folly,' as it was named, this could bring him no distinction, except in the eyes of the few who could see its large and remote bearings."75

Mr. Vassar "sought the advice of some of the leading educators of the country, and . . . an eminent school architect was asked to prepare plans for buildings to accommodate 400 pupils . . . in 1856 . . . but it was not until the spring of 1860 that Mr. Vassar finally determined to proceed with the work. Dr. Jewett sold the Cottage Hill property at the close of the summer term, that he might give his whole time to the plans for the proposed College."76 "Mr. Swan drafted the bill to be presented to the Legislature incorporating 'Vassar Female College.' The act of incorporation was passed at Albany on the 18th of January, 1861, and was signed by the governor in advance of all other bills. The above name was changed and improved by act of a subsequent Legislature in 1867, by omitting the word female. The institution became simply 'Vassar College.' " 77

After the Act of Vassar College Incorporation became a law, the first Board of Trustees was organized at a meeting on February 26, 1861. After a remarkable and dignified address to the newly organized board, XL% Vassar "formally transferred from his own custody to that of the Trustees, more than four hundred thousand dollars of his wealth . . . represented by bonds and mortgages, certificates of stock, and a deed of conveyance of two hundred acres of land for a College site and farm."78 "Ground was broken for the building on the 4th of June, 1861, by Mr. Vassar . . . . The work of raising this large building went on through the whole four years of the Civil War, and was opened for the reception of pupils in the fall of 1865. And thus, Matthew Vassar had the satisfaction like Guy, of London, of seeing his great work completed 'in his lifetime.' " 79

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Professor Jewett was the first elected President of Vassar College. "He retired from the Presidency before the fall of 1865, when the active life of the College began. But his interest in the new project, and his thorough belief in it were of great weight with Mr. Vassar, and were, beyond question, telling influences in its successful establishment."80 When the College opened in 1865 the new President was John Howard Raymond whose great ability and experience were largely responsible for the firm establishment of Matthew Vassar's cherished institution. Therefore, "Mr. Vassar, as ill health and years weighed upon him, resigned all direct control of college matters and while still living, entered into the reward of his labors, — the spontaneous devotion proffered to him by the early students of the college." "His unfaltering business sense did not fail him when the time came to relinquish the helm to other hands."81-

But Mr. Vassar still devoted the largest part of his time to college matters. Four years earlier, in 1862, the old brewery buildings he had built in 1814 were destroyed by fire, but the large riverfront plant erected in 1836 continued to be one of the largest producers in the country. Matthew Vassar continued as head of the concern until May 1866, when he sold his interests and released himself entirely from the business.82 "The principle on which he conducted his business was as simple as it was sound. It was to make the best beer in the market. From an early period, Albany and other towns in that part of New York were noted for the brewing of beer, most of which was sold under the familiar name of 'Albany Ale.' Vassar's brewery, for thirty years, supplied the country with a large quantity of the best of it, and he became at length one of the richest brewers in the region of the Upper Hudson."83 "He never had children. His wife was now dead [1863]. It was fitting as it was dramatic that his life should end at the scene of his great work. On June 23, 1868, he expired at the college while making his address to the trustees. In the last part of the speech, which had not been delivered, he had written words typical of his whole attitude towards the college: 'If we only follow on in the old beaten paths we will make no progress. We do no more than others have done before us. We are only copyists and not progressionists. My motto is progress., "84 "The great Vassar brewery after the death of Matthew Vassar, Jr., and John Guy Vassar, gradually lost its trade, partly owing to complications of ownership, and partly to Mr. Oliver H. Booth's interest in boat-building and other outside matters. About ten years

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