Originally this location had been fitted up as a lecture room for public lectures, and had been so used in the early days of the institute. Being afterwards little used for this purpose, it was converted into a gymnasium, but in this shape also soon ceased to be utilized to any adequate extent. When, therefore, on the extension of the institute course in the direction of applied mechanics, it became very desirable greatly to increase the workshop facilities of the institute, the trustees willingly accepted a proposition from President Morton to alter the gymnasium by building galleries, etc., and fit it up with steam engines, machine and other tools at his own expense. This was done at an outlay of about $10,500, and the new workshop was formally presented to the trustees by President Morton on the 14th of May, 1881. In 1882 another addition was made to the faculty of the institute by the appointment of Prof. A. Riesenberger, M. E., a graduate of the institute in 1876, as instructor in mechanical drawing. In 1883 a further addition was made to the faculty by the appointment of Prof. Clarence A. Carr, assistant engineer, United States Navy, as professor of marine engineering and instructor in mathematics; and also by the appointment of Prof. Wm. E. Geyer, Ph. D., as professor of applied electricity. In connection with this last appointment and to aid in the establishment of the new department of applied electricity, President Morton donated to the institution, for the purchase of new apparatus and other expenses, something over $3,500, which sufficed to carry on this department until the general resources of the institute were able to support it. Mr. Denton's title was also changed from instructor to professor at this time. On the 2d of September, 1885, the trustees lost by death Mr. Wm. W. Shippen, and some months afterwards elected President Morton to fill the vacancy thus occasioned. In 1886 two changes occurred in the personnel of the faculty: Prof. R. H. Thurston resigned the chair of mechanical engineering, and was succeeded by Prof. De Volson Wood, whose former chair of mathematics and mechanics was filled by the appointment thereto of Prof. J. Burkitt Webb, formerly of Cornell University. Professor Carr, being recalled by the Navy Department, also resigned his chair, and was replaced by Prof. William H. Bristol, M. E., a graduate of the institute in 1884, who was appointed instructor in mathematics. In 1887 the trustees decided to increase their number by electing an additional trustee from among the alumni of the institute, such alumarus trustee to be selected from two or more who should be nominated by the alumni association of the institute. In accordance with this plan, Mr. A. P. Trautwein, M. E., of the class of 1876, was duly elected a trustee October 12, 1887. During the summer and fall of 1887 and winter of 1888 a new building was erected at a cost of $50,000 for the accomodation of the high school, and it was occupied after the Easter holidays of 1888. During the summer of 1888 the wing formerly occupied by the high school was fitted up on its first and second floors as an electrical laboratory and lecture room respectively, and on its third floor as a mathematical laboratory and lecture room. Extensive changes were also made in other places of the building, such, for example, as those to increase its security against fire by the erection of four "party walls," iron-plated doors, and the like; also other alterations and additions such as the rearrangement of cases and tables in the library, the erection of a set of post-office boxes, etc. In 1887 other additions were made to the faculty by the appointment of Prof. Thomas B. Stillman, Ph. D., to the chair of analytical chemistry, and by the appointment of Prof. D. S. Jacobus, M. E., a graduate of the institute in 1884, as instructor in experimental mechanics and shopwork. In 1888 the titles of Messrs. Riesenberger, Bristol, and Jacobus were changed from "instructor" to "assistant professor." A new chair was also established under the title of engineering practice, and the sum of $10,000 was donated to the trustees by President Morton as a first installment toward the endowment of the same. Mr. Coleman Sellers, E. D., was elected to this chair, and delivered his first course of lectures during the fall of 1889. In 1892 President Morton placed in the hands of the trustees the sum of $20,000 as a further endowment of the chair of engineering practice, and in the same year the board of trustees was enlarged by the election of the following gentlemen: Mr. Andrew Carnegie, A. C. Humphreys, M. E., Charles Macdonald, C. E., Hon. A. T. McGill, Chancellor of New Jersey, and Mr. Edwin A. Stevens. In 1893 the number of alumni trustees was increased to three. During July and August of 1893 a new building was added to the institute structures, accommodating the dynamo machines and motors of the electrical department on its ground floor and giving a large class room and office for the department of languages on its second floor. The shop gallery was also converted into a complete second floor, in which were arranged a class room and offices for the department of applied mechanics and a wood working shop. These and other alterations rendered it possible to divide the classes into two sections, so as to double the efficient capacity of the institute. Prior to this, about 30 per cent of the well-prepared applicants had for some years been rejected for lack of accommodation. The development of the course of instruction at the institute during the quarter century of its existence may be appreciated, among other things, by a comparison of its list of trustees and faculty, as it appears in the catalogue for 1895, with that given at the opening of this sketch. |