The History of the University of Pennsylvania/Chapter XI

by George B. Wood

 

Chapter XI.

 

Removal of the School.—New University Edifice in Ninth Street.

 

Having given a brief account of the gentlemen who composed the faculty of arts, as it was constituted immediately after the union of the schools, and of their successors to the present time, we may now recur to what belongs, perhaps, more strictly to the history of the institution—the consideration, namely, of those various changes in its external and internal affairs which circumstances and a more mature experience have at different periods rendered necessary or advisable.

The first interesting event after the arrangements of the schools had been completed, was their removal from the academy in Fourth Street, to the more elegant and commodious building which they now occupy, and which was purchased by the trustees from the government of the state. As very erroneous impressions have been entertained by many of our citizens relative to the history of this edifice, we shall not perhaps be thought to transgress the limits proper to our subject, by relating briefly the circumstances which led to its erection, and those which afterwards occasioned its transfer. It is well known that in the year 1791, the Congress of the United States assembled in Philadelphia, in pursuance of a resolution of the previous session, by which the seat of government was transferred from New York to this place. It comported as well with the dignity as with the interest of Pennsylvania, that her metropolis, which had thus become, for a time, the political centre of the Union, should be rendered in every way an acceptable residence to those who represented the national authority. Provision was accordingly made, at the public expense, for the suitable accommodation of the two houses of Congress; and by an act of the legislature, passed on the 30th of September, 1791, a large sum of money was appropriated for the building of a mansion to serve as a residence for the president of the United States, so long as Philadelphia should continue to be the seat of the national councils. In pursuance of this act, a lot was purchased, situated on the west side of Ninth Street, and extending from Market to Chesnut Streets, on which a building was commenced, appropriate, in extent of plan and solidity of structure, to the purpose for which it was designed. At various periods of its progress, further appropriations became necessary; and by the time of its completion, in the spring of 1797, its cost had amounted to little short of one hundred thousand dollars.

Among the motives which originally led to its erection, there can be no doubt that affectionate gratitude to the great man who then filled the presidency, was mingled with considerations of general policy; but nothing of this kind was expressed in the letter of the act, the provisions of which had reference solely to the office of chief magistrate, not to the person of any particular individual. It was probably from a knowledge of the feelings which actuated the legislature, that the opinion became and has continued very prevalent in this city, that the building was not only expressly designed for the use of Washington, but was even offered to his acceptance, and declined from a sense of the propriety of maintaining, in the exercise of his high duties, an independence, free alike from the reality and the suspicion of bias. The fact, however, is, that it was not completed till after his retirement from public office, and therefore could not have been applied to his accommodation in his character of president. It was Mr. Adams to whom the offer was made, and by whom it was declined. Towards this gentleman, however, the warmth of attachment was neither so intense nor so widely diffused; and conditions were annexed to the offer, certainly not contemplated in the original intentions of the legislature, and hardly compatible, as it appears to me, with the honour and dignity of the commonwealth. The grounds upon which Mr. Adams felt himself bound to decline the favour, were the obligations of that article of the constitution which forbids the receipt by the president either from an individual state, or from the United States, of any other emolument than the yearly salary attached to his office.^[1]

As the purpose for which the house had been built was now frustrated, and no other use to which it could be profitably applied presented itself, it became necessary so to dispose of the premises as to reimburse, as far as possible, the expense incurred by the state in their purchase and improvement. By a law passed in March, 1800, they were directed to be sold at public auction; and in July of the same year they were purchased by the university, for the moderate sum of forty-one thousand six hundred and fifty dollars, less than half their original cost As the purchase money was to be paid by instalments, the trustees were enabled to meet the demands upon them by the disposal of stock, and the sale of a portion of the old college and adjoining premises. A part of this property in Fourth Street they were bound by the conditions of their title deeds to retain in their possession, for the maintenance of a charity school, and the accommodation of itinerant preachers.^[2] By letting on ground-rent those unoccupied lots of their new purchase which fronted on Market and Chesnut streets, they provided a permanent income, which has very materially lightened the pressure of the first cost upon their resources. Some alterations in the building necessary to fit it for the purposes to which it was now destined, were made immediately after it came into their hands; and a very extensive edifice has since been added for the use of the medical professors. The schools were not finally transferred to it till the spring of 1802.^[3]

1. The following is an extract from a note, dated March 3d, 1797, addressed by Governor Mifflin to the president elect. "In the year 1791, the legislature of Pennsylvania directed a house to be built for the accommodation of the president of the United States, and empowered the governor to lease the premises. As the building will be completed in the course of a few weeks, permit me to tender it for your accommodation, and to inform you, that, although I regret the necessity of making any stipulation on the subject, I shall consider the rent for which you might obtain any other suitable house in Philadelphia, (and which you will be pleased to mention,) as a sufficient compensation for the use of the one now offered." The reply of Mr. Adams was promptly conveyed. "The respect to the United States," says he in a note of the same date with the above, "intended by the legislature of Pennsylvania in building a house for the president, will, no doubt, be acknowledged by the Union as it ought to be. For your kind offer of it to me, in consequence of their authority, I pray you to accept my respectful thanks, and to present them to the legislature. But as I entertain great doubts, whether by a candid construction of the constitution of the United States, I am at liberty to accept it, without the intervention and authority of Congress, and there is not time for any application to them, I must pray you to apologize for me to the legislature for declining the offer." See Journal of the House of Representatives of the Pennsylvania Legislature.
2. A part of the old academy was sold to a society of methodists, for whom it long served as a place of worship. This portion has recently been taken down and replaced by a new church. The northern half of the building is still standing and in possession of the trustees.—January, 1834.
3. Since this account was written, the buildings alluded to have been taken down, and their place supplied by others, more symmetrical in their external appearance, and better adapted, in their internal arrangements, to the varied business of a great collegiate establishment. The new college hall was