was elected principal, and early in the following year appointed as agent of the board. Through her efforts and influence Eastern subscriptions to more than $14,000 were received. The charter bears date February 28th, 1855, and the building was begun in the summer of the same year. But owing to the want of proper material for the unusual class of structure, to want of ready money in the hands of the board, to an incorrect estimate of the cost of building, and, in connection with the delay thus caused, to the financial crisis of 1857, the institution was brought into embarrasments from which it could not recover; and in 1860, the property was sold under the hammer. Through the favor of the creditors and the liberality of Mrs. Patience C. Morrison, of Collinsville, Illinois, who donated six thousand dollars, the institution was freed from encumbrance. The board resumed control of the property in 1864. Respecting the need for such a school, the secretary of the board says that "there is not only no rival, but no similar institution within a distance of a hundred miles." The whole amount of donations are equal to some $35,000; and there is a small debt impending. More than 250 young ladies have received instruction in the institution. There are ample accommodations for fifty pupils. The school was suspended during last year, but has opened for the current year, though with a small attendance. Average total annual expenses per student, $220. The plan of instruction embraces a preparatory and higher department. STATISTICAL SUMMARY. Years occupied in regu'ar course of study.... Number of pupils pursuing a full course... Number of pupils pursuing a partial course.. Number of pupils in preparatory department. Whole number of graduates since organization of institution.. Number of professors and instructors.... Value of buildings, furniture and grounds.. Number of volumes in libraries..... Value of libraries.... .Last Monday in June Charge per annum for tuition in regular course, including board, etc... Date of annual commencement. MT. CARROLL SEMINARY. [Mt. Carroll, Carroll County. Founded 1853. MRS. FRANCES A. WOOD SHIMER, Principals. The charter under which this school was organized was granted in 1852, but the attempt to organize a school during that year, was unsuccessful. In May, 1853, two ladies, the present principals, graduates of the New York State Normal School, came to Mt. Carroll and opened a select school, beginning with eleven little girls. The success which attended this enterprise induced the corporators of Mt. Carroll Seminary to invite the ladies to organize under their charter, to which they consented. A building was erected in 1854. The trustees assumed the management of the school, and these ladies took positions as teachers, under salary. After six months of poor success, the trustees asked the ladies to relieve them of the responsibility. This they did, purchasing the entire property at its cost, $4,500. From that time, now fourteen years, these ladies have had the entire control and management of the institution. Numerous improvements and additions, of ground and buildings, have been made, from time to time, as the wants of the school required. No aid has been received from the public, except the donations of the paid stock on the purchase, amounting to about one thousand dollars, and the gift of five acres of ground worth five hundred dollars. And no agents have been employed to solicit funds or scholars. Until recently the school was opened to pupils of both sexes, and the results were entirely satisfactory, but now gentlemen are temporarily (for two years past) excluded, for want of room to accommodate all who wish to attend. In 1867, the Legislature granted a new charter, better adapted to the wants and character of the institution, than the old one. The number of lady students in attendance during the past year, has been over one hundred and fifty. The complete course of study requires five years. A teacher's course is arranged for those having teaching as a profession in view. Tuition free is furnished to one student from each township in the county, who enters this course. Pecu niary aid afforded to the worthy who are needy. Daughters of clergymen and missionaries, living or deceased, have a discount of one-third from all expenses, except for ornamental branches. Daughters of soldiers who have given their lives in the service of their country, will have tuition free in the entire English course. Manual labor furnished for students wishing to economize in their expenses. The principals being thoroughly educated "Normals," have made the teachers' department a specialty; and many of the public schools are enjoying the services of those who have been trained by them. During the year past there have been valuable accessions to the apparatus of the school. The cost of that provided for the illustration of the sciences of Physiology and Anatomy, was over thirteen hundred dollars. In evidence of the administrative skill and ability with which the institution has been conducted, I add the following extract from a leading paper of the State: "These seminary grounds (embracing twenty-five acres), which are truly an ornament to the city, have been made what they are by the ladies who are the founders, principals and proprietors of the institution. The entire work of building up an institution of learning, the high reputation of which is too widely known to need comment, has been upon their hands. All the improvements-repeated enlargements of the building to meet the constantly increasing wants of the school, enlarging the grounds, the horticultural improvements of the grounds-all have been projected, and plans drafted by and under the personal supervision of these ladies. With the exception of an unsuccessful experiment of six months with a board of trustees, in the early history of the school, no man's aid has been had to financier the enterprise or project improvements." For several years in the early history of the institution no regular course of study was adopted, hence the exhibit of graduates is small. Latin and Greek, besides French and German, and the usual ornamental branches are taught in the school. Vol. II.-83 Average of total annual expenses, per student, including board, etc.... 150 .Second Thursday in June. MAJOR'S FEMALE CCLLEGE. [Bloomington, McLean County. Founded 1856.] J. G. HESTER, A. M., Principal. This institution was built in the year 1856, by W. T. Major, and donated to the Christian Church in behalf of female education. It was used for several years merely as a private seminary. It is regularly chartered, with full authority to confer the degrees pertaining to institutions of learning. It has been under the control of the present principal since September, 1867. It possesses good apparatus and library. Two courses of study are open to the students, the scientific and the classical, and a preparatory department. The courses cover four years. Latin is studied to the extent of including Cæsar, Sallust, Cicero and Virgil; and Greek to include the Anabasis and the Iliad. Music, French and German, and the ornamental branches are taught, but it is the policy of the institution to cultivate the more solid branches. The college building is large and well located. The boarding department is under the immediate control of the principal and his wife. Whole number of graduates since organization of institution.... ... Number of professors and instructors.... Value of buildings, furniture and grounds.. Number of volumes in libraries..... Value of libraries...... Value of apparatus.... Charge per annum for tuition in regular course... 22 ALMIRA COLLEGE. [Greenville, Bond County. Founded 1957.] REV. J. B. WHITE, A. M., Principal. Almira College was incorporated Feb. 13, 1857; has had an average of one hundred and twenty-four female pupils and a competent corps of teachers. It has been in operation as a first class school, under the management of thirty trustees, a majority of them being Baptists. In the fall of 1867, the Baptist General Association of Illinois, through a committee appointed for the purpose, solicited "proposals for the location of a female college of which the majority of the trustees shall be of the Baptist denomination, and three of whom shall be appointed annually by that body." And in the spring of 1868 the committee of the association approved, accepted and adopted the proposal of the trustees of Almira College to "bring the control and future management of the institution into practical conformity to the wishes of the General Association." The main building is 144 by 44 feet, four stories high, built of brick; estimated worth $50,000. The college is intended exclusively for females. There is a regular collegiate course of study occupying four years, an English or normal department, and a preparatory department. The course embraces instruction in French, German and music, vocal and instrumental. Virgil and Horace are read in the Latin department, and the Anabasis and Testament in the Greek. Total number of pupils for the year 1867-8 is 141. |