Page:History of Delaware County (1856).djvu/441

 APPENDIX. 417 1836, with twenty-four trustees. The first building erected is of stone, eighty-six feet in length, forty in breadth, and four stories in height. It was opened under the care of Rev. Wm. Fraser, and two assistants, with 103 pupils. For some reason, though an able scholar, and an excellent man, he resigned his post in 1838, and was succeeded by Rev. Silas Fitch, Jr., who continued at the head of the school till May, 1846. The highest number of students, in any one year of his term of office, was 211. His successor was Rev. George Kerr, l.l.d., with 186 students, during the first year. Under his administration, which continues to the present time, the school has realized more than the most sanguine hopes of its founders. Selecting, for his associates in the department of instruction, college gradu- ates of high standing as scholars, and of peculiar aptness to teach, he soon placed the institution on higher ground than it ever occupied before. Two new and well arranged buildings have been erected, one for the especial accommodation of young ladies, with a boarding department, and the other for young men, with a spacious chapel on the lower floor, and with a large lecture room, and laboratory in the basement, to illustrate chemistry in its application to the arts, and to agriculture. Connected with the institution are several choice libraries, amounting already to nearly 2500 volumes, to which consider- able additions are made every year. The classical studies are conducted to any extent desired, receiving, as they deserve, a very earnest attention. The mathematical course is nearly equal in extent, and fully so in tliorougJiness, to that pursued in our best colleges. The greatest number of students, during any one year, and since Dr. Kerr has had the seminary in charge, is 414 ; and this is about the present number, with gratifying prospects of increase in the time to come. The aim of this institution, is to take higher ground than