THE FIRST FACULTY

JOHN MILTON GREGORY

John M. Gregory, LL. D. (1822-1898) was a native of Rensselaer County, New York. He graduated, in 1846 at Union College, under the eloquent Dr. Nott, at the head of a class of ninety-three. He was bred to the law, but circumstances led him to devote himself to the work of public education.

In 1854 he became editor and publisher of the Michigan Journal of Education, which he continued to edit and publish for five years with marked success. . During these years his voice was frequently heard in educational gatherings and conventions and on the platform. In 1858, at the earnest demand of the leading educators of the state, he was nominated and elected to the office of superintendent of public instruction. Twice subsequently he was nominated by acclamation and re-elected by largely increased majorities. His work for the Michigan public school system was recognized and acknowledged by men of all parties. His numerous, eloquent and impressive public addresses aroused public attention, awakened and directed public sentiment, and gave to the cause of education an impulse which it long continued to feel.

In 1865, after six years of public service, he became president of Kalamazoo College. In 1867, the legislature of Illinois passed the law creating the Industrial University, and J. M. Gregory was called to undertake the arduous and difficult work of its organization. For more than thirteen years he remained at its head, and on the occasion of his resignation the faculty of the university said in their resolution: "We gladly acknowledge and greatly appreciate your eminent services rendered the University. In the original conception of the institution, in the plans for its development, you have worthily won the high honor of being foremost and chief. What the University has been in the past, what it is now, and what it will be in time to come, is very largely due to your wisdom, ability and zeal, and as a great and growing educational power in our land, it must forever

remain a grand monument to your memory." The board of trustees on the same occasion, said in their resolutions: "The Illinois Industrial University is and ever will be a monument to the name, fame and genius of Dr. Gregory.”

But his educational labors by no means constitute the whole of his public work. Six times he crossed the Atlantic for extended tours of observation or for important public services. As a United States commissioner, he visited the International Exhibition at Vienna in 1873, and that of Paris in 1878. In 1876 he served as one of the international judges in one of the most important departments of the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. He delivered lectures in most of the great cities of this country, and in Paris and London in the Old World, attracting large audiences. He was also a contributor to the press in essays, pamphlets, reports and other publications. He died in Washington, D. C., October 20, 1898, and was buried on the campus of the university of Illinois in the ground just west of the main university building.

GEORGE WASHINGTON ATHERTON

George W. Atherton (1837-1906) was elected a member of the first faculty in 1867 and was on the ground with Dr. Gregory for some weeks preceding the opening of the university in 1868. He was a native of Massachusetts and held both the Bachelor's and Master's degrees from Yale University. He resigned his position at the Illinois industrial university on January 1, 1869, to accept the professorship of political economy and constitutional law at Rutgers, N. J. From there he went in 1882 to be president of the Pennsylvania State College. He died in 1906 at State College, Pa. His career was a notable one but belongs rather to eastern states and institutions than to Illinois where he spent only a few months. His work nevertheless was of vital importance for he was aiding in laying the foundations.

THOMAS JONATHAN BURRILL

Thomas J. Burrill (1839-1916) came to the university of Illinois as instructor in algebra in April of 1868. He had gradu

ated from the State normal university at Normal in 1865 and had come to Urbana as superintendent of schools.

It was a fortunate day for the university and for the man himself when Burrill took a place upon its faculty. His significant intellectual powers were developing; the great and generous qualities of character which were his commanding gifts were offered a liberal field for exercise. Charles M. Moss, a professor in the classical department, says of these early years: "He taught most of the day, was horticulturist to the experiment station, planted with his own hands or saw to the planting of most of the trees on the campus, after he had laid it out for treatment, wrote reports, lectured here and there, served on innumerable committees, collected specimens up and down the state, and, lest some remnant of his time should be unoccupied, was charged by the board with the sale of a pair of mules, whose labors on the south farm showed that they were not so able to stand the strenuous life as he was. His professorship began at sunup and lasted indefinitely, and included everything that needed doing."

Burrill was compelled by the necessity of the university to give several years to administrative work. In 1878 he was made dean of the college of science. In 1879 he became acting regent and vice president while Gregory was in Europe. He also served in this position during the interregnum between the Gregory and Peabody administrations in 1880, and again from 1891 to 1894 between the Peabody and Draper terms. The three years from 1891 to 1894 proved him a man of genuine administrative capacity. Almost his first undertaking was to reorganize the troublesome military department in such thorough fashion that it has given no trouble since. During these years the graduate school, the summer session, the course in municipal and sanitary engineering were established. Burrill adopted a new fashion of dealing with the legislature. Instead of hesitatingly asking for as little money as the university could maintain itself upon, he courteously and forcibly requested enough for reasonable expansion. It was a wise policy as the later development of the university proved.

Although compelled to devote himself to administrative work during these years Burrill by no means neglected scientific