Dedication of Ingram Hall an earlier science building

December 18, 1900 2:27 p.m.

Based on historical documents, College Archivist

Andrew Prellwitz presents a fictionalized account of the dedication in 1900 of Ingram Hall, an earlier science building on the Ripon College campus.

Professor Charles Dwight Marsh rushed out of Middle College. The dedication ceremony for the new Ingram Science Hall was scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m. Snow had recently fallen on campus and the red vitrified brick building to the south of East College stood gloriously in contrast to the original cream-colored exteriors of East, Middle and West. An even greater contrast was that between Ingram and the white clapboard building to the west. That building, which served as the College’s chemistry laboratory, was called the Observatory and had been erected in 1877, just six years before Marsh had arrived on campus in 1883. In addition to serving as space for chemistry, the College had purchased a transit telescope and a chronograph from the Mitchell Observatory in Cincinnati and needed a location for these scientific instruments. There was no biological laboratory or even a biology professor on campus until Marsh.

Marsh walked quickly between East and the new science building on his way to the Congregational Church. He pulled open the door and hurried in to find a seat in a pew near the back next to his colleague, Professor Charles Chandler. Just as he was seated, the Rev. Pearse Pinch, an 1875 alumnus of the College, rose to give the invocation. In the front row of the church, nine men in dark suits and with white hair lowered their heads – the Trustees. Marsh, as the current dean of the College, was well-acquainted with all of them: Samuel M. Pedrick, Albert G.Farr, William H. Hatten, the Rev. Samuel T.Kidder, pastor of First Congregational Church, Orville J. Clark, George Field, Dr. Storrs Hall, D.D. Sutherland and, at the far right, Orrin Henry Ingram.

Ingram, with his full beard and broad shoulders, looked like he had spent his youth wrestling the pines of Wisconsin’s north woods. By the age of 27, Ingram had started his own saw mill in the Chippewa Valley and soon became president of several lumber companies. At the conclusion of the prayer, Ingram smiled at the Reverend and walked up the four steps to the lectern. “Good afternoon, Ladies and Gentlemen. A few years ago while President Rufus Flagg was spending a few weeks of summer vacation with me at my home in Rice Lake, he expressed his aspirations for creating something great for science at Ripon College. He, along with the esteemed science faculty — Marsh, Chandler and Clarissa Tucker Tracy – were very convincing in the necessity of a modern science building at Ripon College. And while I have provided funds for about half of the costs of construction, it has been a joy to see the community come together to support this collective dream.

“However … It has come to my attention that there is still a debt of $2,695.52 left on the accounts for the building. I will pay half of this debt if the other half is raised by my fellow Trustees.” A loud murmur fell over the assembled crowd. Hands from the first row were raised. Pledges from the other Trustees were announced and within two minutes the money to settle the debt was raised. The crowd applauded loudly. Then in a surprise, Ingram announced, “Thank you gentlemen! However, I will pay the remaining debt in full if the pledges you just made are dedicated to the equipment fund!” And again, the crowd applauded, this time thunderously. As the clapping subsided, Ingram continued. “Thank you! Thank you! It is now my honor to present these keys to the new science hall to President Flagg.” The audience clapped loudly and President Flagg walked up the steps to take the keys and to shake hands with Ingram. Ingram took his seat next to the other Trustees and Flagg.

“In connection with the formal acceptance of the keys on behalf of the Board of Trustees, it may not be improper for me to make a few remarks on certain spiritual gains which in some measure have come and in a vastly larger measure may come from the achievements of science …”

“... We give honor to God by whose favor we are permitted to possess this noble building. We honor those who have contributed of their means for its erection. Especially honor him who, though residing in a distant part of the state, has been the principal contributor. His presence today honors us. We are glad that this hall is to be known as Ingram Hall.”

Following his speech, President Flagg sat down in the audience and the afternoon’s festivities concluded with a speech by the guest of honor, Prof. John M. Coulter. Coulter was currently a professor of botany at the University of Chicago but he had also served as president of Lake Forest College and Indiana University and taught previously at Hanover College and Wabash College. Coulter rose to the podium and the crowd of faculty members, students, trustees and alumni silenced immediately.

“In the dedication of this new building to college education, it seems fitting to discuss some features of the American college in general and the significance of science in education in particular. The American college is exceedingly hard to define, for its two foundry lines …”

Marsh’s thoughts jumped back 17 years. At that point, the science department was hard to define. He had been hired to teach both chemistry and biology and worked alongside Chandler, who relinquished his duties in chemistry to focus on physics. Although the College had been reorganized only since 1863, he was the 12th professor in 20 years to teach either chemistry, physics or astronomy. Most of his predecessors left after a year or two. Only Tracy, who specialized in local botany, had outlasted them all and was still teaching. Upon arriving at Ripon, Marsh worked to quickly define the various sciences as they would be taught and added these descriptions to the catalog. The focus for biology in the early years was zoology. The College catalog in 1884 read:

Zoology: In the terms of the preparatory course, a few typical forms are dissected, drawings of the dissections being required, and classification of animals is studied from Packard’s Zoology. Some systematic work on insects is undertaken, and a classified collection is required of each student.

The term of the college course is mostly taken up with a detailed dissection of the cat. Occasional lectures are given on Comparative Anatomy and Physiology. The laboratory work occupies from eight to ten hours per week. The object of the course in Zoology is two-fold: to gain a knowledge of the structure and classification of animals, and to obtain that discipline in accurate, independent observation, which it is the peculiar province of the natural science studies to impart. Opportunity for practical systematic work upon the collections is given to such students as desire it and are qualified for it.

Laboratory work in those early days was somewhat rudimentary. It took some convincing of President Edward H. Merrell to allow Marsh some room in Middle College for the College’s first biology laboratory. The space eventually was outfitted with compound microscopes including a large Thoma microtome used for slicing specimens for examination. The laboratories in the new science hall would be a huge advancement from those early days. The biology department would be on the first floor, with chemistry and physics sharing the second. The third floor would house laboratories for all three disciplines. Marsh’s office also would be on the first floor along with the library and museum. Both the library and scientific collections had grown in recent years. Marsh had used his connections on the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey to acquire a set of Wisconsin minerals and fossils. Tracy constantly added many species of local plants to the herbarium. Her work, along with the 1,300 specimens donated from the collection of Jeremiah Walcott, made for an enviable collection.

Chandler, seated to Marsh’s left, shifted his weight and accidentally nudged Marsh. Marsh awoke from his thoughts. Coulter cleared his throat and continued with the speech.

“Colleges, until recently, were steeped in medieval precedent, and have clung with wonderful tenacity to primitive conceptions of culture. Their regeneration began with the introduction of the laboratory method and the recognition of individualism, and as a consequence they have become the centers of intellectual freedom. The mission of a college seems to be more a crusade against superstition than against ignorance. …”

‘Medieval and primitive is right!’ Marsh thought to himself. When Marsh arrived in 1883, President Merrell was on the warpath with the Rev. Stephen Newman. Newman was the pastor of the Congregational Church but was also a man of science. He was also on the Ripon faculty as a professor of mathematics and astronomy. As the story goes, Newman had planned to teach a class on natural history, which would have included a discussion of Darwin, but Merrell didn’t allow it. This and other antagonistic views with Merrell led Newman to resign from the College. He kept his position at the Congregational Church for a short time but eventually left Ripon in 1885 to become president of Howard University in Washington, D.C. Marsh must have kept his views on Darwin to himself until Merrell resigned in 1891.

After nearly 45 minutes of speaking, Coulter was finally wrapping up.

“The value of the university is not in proportion to the bigness but to its inspiration. The Good Spirit cares not for the size of the buildings or the length of its list of professors and students. It asks only, in the words of the reformer Hutten, if ‘Die Luft der Freiheit weht? —whether the winds of freedom are blowing.”

Coulter nodded his head gracefully as polite applause erupted from the audience. He walked over to the empty seat next to President Flagg and sat down. Flagg returned to the stage to announce that the audience was welcome to tour Ingram Hall at a reception that evening.

Ingram Hall served as Ripon College’s science building and later as a classroom building until 1969 when it was demolished. C. Dwight Marsh left Ripon College in 1903 to finish his Ph.D. at the University of Chicago. He went on to a successful career with the United States Department of Agriculture and became an expert in poisonous plants of the American West.

1 Ingram library

2 Upper campus, 19th century

3 Observatory

4 Ingram under construction, October 1899