Napoleon State University?

[Schadenfreude]

I was flipping through an old history book, and I stumbled upon a short biography of the guy who wrote the legislation that created Bowling Green and Kent State.

It was state Representative John Lowry -- who is honored with a building at Kent State named for him:



What I didn't know is that the guy was a Henry County Democrat -- which makes me wonder if he had Napoleon in mind as the site of the other new State Normal College.

Although the governor, Judson Harmon, was a Democrat, Republicans controlled the House and the Senate then (the leaders were from Ashtabula and Summit counties, respectively). I wonder if both Kent State and the commission to choose a site for what would become BGSU were concessions to get the bill passed.

(Obviously, I'm just speculating).

Does the Overman book on BGSU cover this much?

[transfer2BGSU]

He also has a hall named for him at BGSU - Lowry Hall is a part of Founders Quadrangle. The four halls are actually named after legislators that helped bring about the formation of Bowling Green Normal College - Harmon, Lowry, Mooney, and Treadway.

[Schadenfreude]

He also has a hall named for him at BGSU - Lowry Hall is a part of Founders Quadrangle. The four halls are actually named after legislators that helped bring about the formation of Bowling Green Normal College - Harmon, Lowry, Mooney, and Treadway.

DUH! Can't believe I forgot that -- but I was rarely ever in Founders during my time there.

Okay here are the "founders:"

Lowry Hall: John Lowry, a state legislator, sponsored the bill in the Ohio General Assembly that created Bowling Green Normal School (later Bowling Green State University).
Mooney Hall: Granville Mooney was the speaker of the Ohio House of
Representatives at the time the legislation was enacted.
Treadway Hall:Francis Treadway was president of the Ohio Senate at
the time the legislation was enacted.
Harmon Hall: Judson Harmon was governor of the state of Ohio when
the legislation was enacted and he signed it into law.

http://www.bgsu.edu/offices/mc/magazine ... itions.pdf

(page 6)

I can say this much more:

-- Harmon was a Democrat from Cincinnati. I believe he was an attorney who worked in President Cleveland's administration -- I think on antitrust issues. He was talked about as a presidential candidate himself, but is said to have lost the shot at the nomination when made a speech opposing initiatie and referrendum.
-- Mooney, a Republican, was a teacher from Austinburg, in Ashtabula County.
-- Treadway (and I got this wrong in my last post), was a Cleveland attorney. A Republican, he led the Senate in his role as lieutenant governor. (The law has changed; lieutenant governors no longer preside over the Senate).

[TG1996]

Does the Overman book on BGSU cover this much?

I'm not sure how much it covers the party side of the political decision to create BG and Kent St., but it does give A LOT of detail about the give-and-take that led to the creation, as well as the selection of officers, presidents, etc...

The first couple chapters are outstanding, full of "Oh, wow!" moments like the ones you've mentioned, and the rest of the book is quite interesting, though the "and then attendance jumped to X" numbers gets a little dry at times, but still interesting.

As for the Napoleon reference, I thought I mentioned it here before, maybe not... Napoleon was all about to get the college, but they put it in BG instead, because BG was a dry town at the time. My how things have changed...

And then one time, OSU accused BG of shaky teaching practices, and...

I'm surprised you don't have a copy Schad... but I highly recommend you try to hunt one down.

[Schadenfreude]

Here is Representative Lowry:

[TG1996]

I went back and read the appropriate chapter (or part of a chapter), and learned a few things...

I was right about there not being much of anything about Dem/Rep splits, etc., but there are plenty of names mentioned, so I'm sure you could dig through more of that somewhere else, if you've got that sort of political mind. (And I know you do! )

It didn't quite come down to Napoleon and BG, but the basic reason I gave earlier was right, Napoleon was a strong contender for everything you mentioned earlier, but they didn't like how many saloons were in the town, and that played a big part in them being eliminated from consideration. After that, or shortly after that, it was BG, Fremont and Van Wert, and Fremont was eliminated because the people at the Hayes Center wanted to get their hands in too much of the college, and the selection committee didn't like that. BG eventually won in a 3-2 vote over Van Wert, helped considerably by the central location in the region, a couple rail lines, and the whole "dry" thing played a role as well.

[Schadenfreude]

Does it say who was on the committee and maybe who appointed them?

What was the Hayes Center? Did that have to do with the former president?

[TG1996]

Does it say who was on the committee and maybe who appointed them?

What was the Hayes Center? Did that have to do with the former president?

Yeah, the Hayes Pres. Center in Fremont.

"For a time, Fremont seemed to be the favorite candidate. It offered the use of Spiegel Grove (former home of President Hayes) as part of the school campus and free use of the Hayes Memorial Library and Museum. This property could not be purchased by the state, and the commission found that the cost of purchasing adjacent property was prohibitive. The Hayes Memorial Commission insisted, if the Fremont offer were accepted, that it become the governing board for the new school or, at least, be represented on that board. These two conditions resulted in the elimination of Fremont, and the competition narrowed to Bowling Green and Van Wert."

****
Committee members were appointed by the Governor (Judson Harmon), and were all from central and southern Ohio to prevent bias in selecting the location.

They included:

W.H. Johnson of Granville (prof at Denison)
A.J. Catrow, Miamisburg (retired banker)
J.S. Hummell, Wilmington (newspaper man)
L.D. York, Portsmouth (retired businessman)
C.L. Martzolff, Athens (OU instructor)

[Falconfreak90]

Guys,

Very interesting stuff. What is this Overman book on BGSU? And where can I get a copy?

[TG1996]

Guys,

Very interesting stuff. What is this Overman book on BGSU? And where can I get a copy?

Might be hard to find a copy to own, but I'm pretty sure I've seen it available at various libraries. It's just called "The History of Bowling Green State University". I have that along with "The Falcon Soars" by Stu Givens.

Actually, check that. Amazon.com has three of them starting at $10.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0007D ... F8&s=books

[Falconfreak90]

Guys,

Very interesting stuff. What is this Overman book on BGSU? And where can I get a copy?

Might be hard to find a copy to own, but I'm pretty sure I've seen it available at various libraries. It's just called "The History of Bowling Green State University". I have that along with "The Falcon Soars" by Stu Givens.

Actually, check that. Amazon.com has three of them starting at $10.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0007D ... F8&s=books

Thanks Tony! Appreciate it.

[TG1996]

Sure thing, Freak!

Without giving away any secrets, did you ever read that PM I sent a few weeks back?

[Schadenfreude]

Does it say who was on the committee and maybe who appointed them?

What was the Hayes Center? Did that have to do with the former president?

Yeah, the Hayes Pres. Center in Fremont.

"For a time, Fremont seemed to be the favorite candidate. It offered the use of Spiegel Grove (former home of President Hayes) as part of the school campus and free use of the Hayes Memorial Library and Museum. This property could not be purchased by the state, and the commission found that the cost of purchasing adjacent property was prohibitive. The Hayes Memorial Commission insisted, if the Fremont offer were accepted, that it become the governing board for the new school or, at least, be represented on that board. These two conditions resulted in the elimination of Fremont, and the competition narrowed to Bowling Green and Van Wert."

****
Committee members were appointed by the Governor (Judson Harmon), and were all from central and southern Ohio to prevent bias in selecting the location.

They included:

W.H. Johnson of Granville (prof at Denison)
A.J. Catrow, Miamisburg (retired banker)
J.S. Hummell, Wilmington (newspaper man)
L.D. York, Portsmouth (retired businessman)
C.L. Martzolff, Athens (OU instructor)

It's hard to say 100 years later, but it looks like Governor Harmon was playing it straight. That doesn't sound like a group of people who went into this with a bias.

[TG1996]

It's hard to say 100 years later, but it looks like Governor Harmon was playing it straight. That doesn't sound like a group of people who went into this with a bias.

I'm assuming you're talking about political bias, I believe the bias they referred to in the book (and I did in my post) was geographic.

What was also interesting is how representatives from cities in the competition threw their support behind other cities once they were eliminated. After Napoleon was passed by their rep supported BG pretty heavily, as did Findlay and Toledo (who were eliminated by already having colleges in their city limits).