Editor's note: This is the first in a three-part series looking at the presidents of Ohio University. The information in the story came from the Mahn Center for Archives in Alden Library.
When classes began at Ohio University in 1808, Jacob Lindley greeted the three students as their only instructor and the first president of OU.
As a member of the Board of Trustees in 1805, Lindley had been acquainted with the early development of Athens and the planning by co-founders Rufus Putnam and Manasseh Cutler for the university itself.
Lindley graduated from Princeton and was a Presbyterian minister. He continued serving as a trustee while in the president's office, which may have given him some salary input. In a yearly budget of $1,000, half went to Lindley's salary. He was the sole instructor until 1814, teaching rhetoric, math and moral philosophy.
Under Lindley, Cutler Hall was built and the first student graduated - Thomas Ewing in 1815. Although Lindley resigned in 1822, he remained a trustee until 1838.
James Irvine, hired in 1821, taught math for one year before becoming the university's second president. After serving two years, Irvine was given a health-excused leave of absence and never returned.
Former trustee Robert G. Wilson became the third president in 1824 and dedicated his time to teaching moral science, adding a department of English studies and securing state aid for a teacher's program. Wilson used his connections to attract more faculty and students to the university, including John Newton Templeton, the first black student, who lived and worked in the Wilson home while taking classes.
With more people and classes, Wilson also requested that new buildings be constructed. Wilson and McGuffey halls, then called East and West wings, were built, completing the early College Green. Wilson resigned in 1839 at the age of 71.
The university's fourth president had a history in education. Before coming to OU, William Holmes McGuffey worked at Miami University and Cincinnati College, where he taught philosophy and languages. He was famous for writing the McGuffey Eclectic Readers.
Although he worked to extend course offerings, he scared away many students with his strict discipline and rigorous academic schedule, which began with studies and prayers at 6 a.m.
McGuffey also worked to beautify the small campus by planting 17 elm trees, which became campus landmarks until they were replaced in the 1950s.
Despite his attempts to expand the university, money was scarce and he resigned in 1843 because of debt. The university closed as a result of the debt from 1845 to 1848 and taught only preparatory classes. When the university reopened, Alfred Ryors stepped in as the fifth president.
Under Ryors, a former math professor at Indiana State University, the school regained public confidence and continued to grow until Ryors returned to Indiana in 1852 to serve as their president.
When Solomon Howard came to OU he was the first non-Presbyterian president. Howard and the next three presidents were Methodist ministers. He announced the university was officially out of debt in 1858 and brought enrollment to a high of 192 students in the late 1850s before the Civil War broke out.
Under Howard's leadership, the university remained open and began offering science courses in addition to the classical themes already being taught. He also admitted OU's first female student, Margaret Boyd, in 1870. He resigned in 1872 because of bad health.
William Henry Scott, the only alumnus to serve as president, became OU's seventh president 10 years after graduating. Scott introduced a teacher-training course, placed emphasis on the classics and hired the first female faculty member, Cynthia Weld. He was granted $20,000 from the state and conducted OU's first fundraising campaign. He used the funding to repair buildings, construct a chapel and buy books for the new library housed in the Center Building, now Cutler Hall.
Scott left OU in 1883 to become president of Ohio State University after a failed attempt to make OU and Miami branch campuses of OSU.
17 Archives
Katie Primm
