Vigo County Seminary

Description:	Drawing by Juliet A. Peddle, local architect and artist. Drawing of the Vigo County Seminary that stood on the site of the Indiana State Teachers College. Drawing made by Miss Juliet B. Peddle, Terre Haute artist and architect.The Old Seminary, in some books called the Vigo County Seminary and in others the Terre Haute Seminary, was on the site of the Administration Building of the Indiana State Teachers College.The state of Indiana was interested in the education of its young people from the beginning and quite early passed legislation providing for the establishment of schools. The above illustrated school was designed to be intermediate between the district school and the university-what we would call a high school today.The contracts were awarded for the construction of the building in 1844, but it was not until the winter of 1847 that it was completed and opened for classes.At the time this school was built none of the so-called public schools were free, but charged the students tuition. At a later date these fees were abolished.Educational facilities being so much more limited in the community then than now, this school occupied a very important place in the town. The faculty, too, were almost public characters. Uncle Benny Hays was perhaps the best known of these. He insisted that class work be prepared, and if it was not done, the unlucky student was likely to be sent over to his house to pick grapes or weed the garden for him. His unusual ideas on punishment did not prevent his being an excellent teacher.I have not been able to determine the exact date at which this school was razed, but it must have been in the late sixties, as the Indiana State Normal School with its Administration Building on the same site as the seminary was opened in January, 1870, and due allowance would have to be made for the time necessary to wreck the old building and construct the new one.The style of this building is quite characteristic of the architecture of the day. Greek revival lines which were the keynote of most of the architecture of the period from about 1820 up to 1850 or 60 are evident in the shape of the structure, the pediment and cornice, and the pilasters or flat columns, all being suggestive of the Greek temple which was the basis of the style.The old school had to make way for the expansion and development of the community, but the site is still dedicated to the education of youth, and the Old Seminary represented growth and higher ideals in its day so the Indiana State Teachers College is representing them today.
Origin:	01/01/2005
Contributor(s):	Peddle, Juliet, 1899-1979
Source:	http://indianamemory.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/rose/id/802
Collection:	Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Logan Library
Rights:	http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/
Copyright:	Copyright Undetermined
Subjects:	Architectural drawings Architecture Theological seminaries Educational facilities Schools Architecture Education Religion

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