prophetic vision of the future growth of Ohio and of the Episcopal Church in the West. He dreamed of an institution where young men would be soundly instructed in Christian principles and in the classics as well as the study of those sciences which were rapidly becoming so alluring to the American mind. He felt that such an institution should be remote from the temptation of cities and towns and should be surrounded with natural beauties, and he recommended to the Diocesan Convention to make haste slowly in choosing a permanent location. Many neighboring towns were offering sites and buildings and money in the hope of having the seminary established within their borders, but these offers were courteously declined because of the Bishop’s opposition to town influences upon the minds and lives of prospective students.
Pending the determination of a permanent location the Bishop started his school in Worthington in 1824. He had, previous to this, built a fine spacious house which is still standing, and this was the first home of Kenyon College. Around this mansion house he built four temporary structures of unhewn logs, one of which was the dining room adjacent to the kitchen of the main house; another contained a large room which served the double purpose of chapel and school room, the other two providing living quarters for students.
On the twenty-first of July, 1825, the Bishop held services in the village of Mt. Vernon, the county seat of Knox County. On the following day he took a ride in the company of Henry B. Curtis, a young lawyer, and several other gentlemen which proved to be one of the epochal events of his life. Their road lay through a beautiful valley following the little Kokosing River until halted by the abrupt ascent of what is now known as “College Hill.” Mr. Curtis pointed out to the Bishop the elevation to their right and the beauty of the surroundings and stated that at the top of the hill was a plain of considerable extent. The Bishop suggested to Mr. Curtis that they climb to the top of the hill to see how it looked. The slope was thickly set with an undergrowth of oak bushes interlaced with wild grapevines. About half way up they were compelled to dismount and proceed the rest of the way on foot, emerging on top of the hill almost where “Old Kenyon” now stands. Today a beautiful Celtic cross marks the exact location of the spot where the Bishop stood when he made his momentous choice. Writing of this at a later date, Mr. Curtis says: “The heavy timber that had once covered the crown of the hill had principally, many years before, been prostrated by a storm or otherwise destroyed so that, excepting a more stunted growth of bush than we had just come through, the place on top was comparatively open and free from obstruction to the view. Passing a little further northward the whole panorama
of the beautiful valleys lay at our feet, the undulating line and varying surfaces of the distant hills, eastward, southward and westward, with the windings of the river, all were brought into view and presented a scene and landscape of unsurpassed loveliness and beauty. It certainly so appeared to me then and so it seemed to strike our good Bishop. Standing upon the trunk of an old fallen oak and permitting his eye to pass around the horizon and take in the whole prospect, he expressed his delight and satisfaction in the brief but significant expression— Well, this will do.’ ”
Thus was chosen the location of the first church college and seminary to be erected in the United States beyond the boundaries of the original thirteen colonies. Later in the eighteen forties Bayard Taylor, in one of his books of travel, describes the view from the portico of Rosse Hall as being unsurpassed in pastoral loveliness by any view that he had ever seen.
Aside from his appreciation of educational values, Bishop Chase had also a keen feeling for the beauty of architecture. During his stay in England he had visited Oxford as well as many of the English cathedrals and churches and had caught” the underlying spirit of English Gothic. In his visits to Washington to secure Congressional aid for his institution he came into personal contact with the prominent men and women in the National Capital, among them Charles Bulfinch, who was at that time at work on his great dome, having completed the White House.
Determined that his western college should be inferior in beauty to none then standing in America, after he had secured the needed property and the money to begin his scheme, the Bishop would have none other than Bulfinch design his college building. Up to that time this great architect had been working in the classic style, but he must have imbibed from his talks with the Bishop some of the latter’s preference for Gothic architecture, for his original drawings, from which the first building was erected, so lovingly known to both alumni and students as “Old Kenyon,” call for a massive building with solid stone walls over four feet thick with a central spire and gables and pinnacles. The building is ruggedly simple, depending for its stately beauty wholly upon proportion. The design consists of a central pavilion with two wings. This central pavilion is divided into nine bays with pointed arches, the arcades being filled with three stories of windows; there is not an inch of ornament on the entire facade, but standing as it does at the south end of a walk a mile long and beautifully arched with magnificent trees, Old Kenyon presents a picture of simple dignity and beauty which is hard to describe. To every alumnus of the college who returns from time to time to visit his Alma Mater, the first sight of this majestic building gives an undescribable thrill.
Pending the determination of a permanent location the Bishop started his school in Worthington in 1824. He had, previous to this, built a fine spacious house which is still standing, and this was the first home of Kenyon College. Around this mansion house he built four temporary structures of unhewn logs, one of which was the dining room adjacent to the kitchen of the main house; another contained a large room which served the double purpose of chapel and school room, the other two providing living quarters for students.
On the twenty-first of July, 1825, the Bishop held services in the village of Mt. Vernon, the county seat of Knox County. On the following day he took a ride in the company of Henry B. Curtis, a young lawyer, and several other gentlemen which proved to be one of the epochal events of his life. Their road lay through a beautiful valley following the little Kokosing River until halted by the abrupt ascent of what is now known as “College Hill.” Mr. Curtis pointed out to the Bishop the elevation to their right and the beauty of the surroundings and stated that at the top of the hill was a plain of considerable extent. The Bishop suggested to Mr. Curtis that they climb to the top of the hill to see how it looked. The slope was thickly set with an undergrowth of oak bushes interlaced with wild grapevines. About half way up they were compelled to dismount and proceed the rest of the way on foot, emerging on top of the hill almost where “Old Kenyon” now stands. Today a beautiful Celtic cross marks the exact location of the spot where the Bishop stood when he made his momentous choice. Writing of this at a later date, Mr. Curtis says: “The heavy timber that had once covered the crown of the hill had principally, many years before, been prostrated by a storm or otherwise destroyed so that, excepting a more stunted growth of bush than we had just come through, the place on top was comparatively open and free from obstruction to the view. Passing a little further northward the whole panorama
of the beautiful valleys lay at our feet, the undulating line and varying surfaces of the distant hills, eastward, southward and westward, with the windings of the river, all were brought into view and presented a scene and landscape of unsurpassed loveliness and beauty. It certainly so appeared to me then and so it seemed to strike our good Bishop. Standing upon the trunk of an old fallen oak and permitting his eye to pass around the horizon and take in the whole prospect, he expressed his delight and satisfaction in the brief but significant expression— Well, this will do.’ ”
Thus was chosen the location of the first church college and seminary to be erected in the United States beyond the boundaries of the original thirteen colonies. Later in the eighteen forties Bayard Taylor, in one of his books of travel, describes the view from the portico of Rosse Hall as being unsurpassed in pastoral loveliness by any view that he had ever seen.
Aside from his appreciation of educational values, Bishop Chase had also a keen feeling for the beauty of architecture. During his stay in England he had visited Oxford as well as many of the English cathedrals and churches and had caught” the underlying spirit of English Gothic. In his visits to Washington to secure Congressional aid for his institution he came into personal contact with the prominent men and women in the National Capital, among them Charles Bulfinch, who was at that time at work on his great dome, having completed the White House.
Determined that his western college should be inferior in beauty to none then standing in America, after he had secured the needed property and the money to begin his scheme, the Bishop would have none other than Bulfinch design his college building. Up to that time this great architect had been working in the classic style, but he must have imbibed from his talks with the Bishop some of the latter’s preference for Gothic architecture, for his original drawings, from which the first building was erected, so lovingly known to both alumni and students as “Old Kenyon,” call for a massive building with solid stone walls over four feet thick with a central spire and gables and pinnacles. The building is ruggedly simple, depending for its stately beauty wholly upon proportion. The design consists of a central pavilion with two wings. This central pavilion is divided into nine bays with pointed arches, the arcades being filled with three stories of windows; there is not an inch of ornament on the entire facade, but standing as it does at the south end of a walk a mile long and beautifully arched with magnificent trees, Old Kenyon presents a picture of simple dignity and beauty which is hard to describe. To every alumnus of the college who returns from time to time to visit his Alma Mater, the first sight of this majestic building gives an undescribable thrill.