Lapham Institute

Infobox School
name = Lapham Institute
city = North Scituate
state = RI
country = USA
coordinates = coord|41.834158|-71.583052|display=inline
affiliation = Rhode Island Association of Free Baptists
type = Private
campus = Rural/Suburban
established = 1839
closed = 1876Infobox_nrhp | name =Smithville Seminary
nrhp_type =

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caption = Smithville Seminary building in 2008
location= Scituate, Rhode Island
lat_degrees = 41
lat_minutes = 50
lat_seconds = 2
lat_direction = N
long_degrees = 71
long_minutes = 35
long_seconds = 0
long_direction = W
locmapin = Rhode Island
area =
built =1839
architect= Russell Warren (architect)
architecture= Greek Revival
added = March 29, 1978
governing_body = Private
refnum=78003446cite web|url=http://www.nr.nps.gov/|title=National Register Information System|date=2007-01-23|work=National Register of Historic Places|publisher=National Park Service] The Lapham Institute was a Freewill Baptist academy on Institute Lane in North Scituate, Rhode Island that closed in 1876. Originally the Smithville Seminary, established in 1839, it became the Lapham Institute in 1863.

Campus

The buildings on the knoll were built in 1839 comprised a large three-story central building with columns and two wings. The wings, with 33 rooms each, were separated by 20 feet from the main building and connected to it via two-story covered passageways. The central building housed classrooms, offices, staff apartments, and dining facilities, a library and reading room on the second floor, and a large room on the third floor which might serve as a chapel, while the other two buildings served as separate male and female dormitories. The two-mile-long Lake Moswansicut could be seen from the third-floor chapel. [James R. Cameron, "Eastern Nazarene College: The First 50 Years", Kansas City, Mo.: Nazarene Publishing House (1968), 35.]

After the close of Lapham, the campus became the site of the Pentecostal Collegiate Institute from 1902 to 1919 and, eventually, the Watchman Industrial School in 1923.

The Greek Revival buildings were designed by Russell Warren, the leading Greek Revival architect in New England in the 20th century, [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=wjZIkchWX5AC&printsec=frontcover&dq=%22watchman+industrial+school%22&source=gbs_summary_r&cad=0 Beth L. Savage and Carol D. Shull, "African American Historic Places", John Wiley and Sons (1995), 422.] ] and became part of the National Register of Historic Places in 1978cite web|url=http://www.nr.nps.gov/|title=National Register Information System|date=2007-01-23|work=National Register of Historic Places|publisher=National Park Service] The buildings were also renovated in the 1970s and converted into apartments known as Scituate Commons. [http://www.ric.edu/ric150/memories/archv14.html Rhode Island College Sesquicentennial] ]

History

Smithville Seminary was founded in 1839 by the Rhode Island Association of Free Baptists. At the time, the Free Baptists already had two academies, one in New Hampshire (the New Hampton Institute), the other in Maine (Parsonsfield Seminary), and Rhode Island desired to have one of their own. Reverend Hiram Brooks was asked to start the school, and raised $20,000, all of which he put toward buildings. [ [http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC03492362&id=ywHhZuxA7qoC&pg=PA66&lpg=PA71&dq=%22bates+college+%22class+of%22&as_brr=1#PPA66,M1 William Howe Tolman, "History of Higher Education in Rhode Island", (DC: Government Printing Office 1894), 66 (accessed on Google Book Search on July 11, 2008).] ] Sadly, the entire commitment of these monies to brick and mortar rather than an endowment fund may have caused financial difficulties for the institution, as it was unable to support itself through tuition revenue. [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=4Yu10EKM1wMC&pg=PA412&lpg=PA412&dq=lapham+institute&source=web&ots=16e6JS2ada&sig=Jl8cFQczzhNcMXSbMypL-rqOiKo&hl=en#PPA412,M1 Thomas B Stockwell, "A History of Public Education in Rhode Island, from 1636 to 1876", Providence Press Company (1876), 412] ]

The first principal was Rev. Hosea Quimby, who had come from the Maine academy to serve at Smithville. Quimby worked for the school, even buying the property when financial trouble struck, until in closed temporarily in 1854 with only 20 students (in 1845, it had an enrollment of over 300 representing 7 U.S. states). It was revived the next year when Quimby rented the property to a Samuel P. Coburn, who became principal, and enrollment again reached over 100 that year. [ [http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC03492362&id=ywHhZuxA7qoC&pg=PA66&lpg=PA71&dq=%22bates+college+%22class+of%22&as_brr=1#PPA66,M1 William Howe Tolman, "History of Higher Education in Rhode Island", (DC: Government Printing Office 1894), 66-69.] ] The property was sold to Reverend W. Colgrove in 1857, who operated it for another two years before it closed again, this time for three years. [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=4Yu10EKM1wMC&pg=PA412&lpg=PA412&dq=lapham+institute&source=web&ots=16e6JS2ada&sig=Jl8cFQczzhNcMXSbMypL-rqOiKo&hl=en#PPA412,M1 Thomas B Stockwell, "A History of Public Education in Rhode Island, from 1636 to 1876", Providence Press Company (1876), 413] ]

The school changed hands again and changed names in 1863 when a minister, a former professor at the school, returned in 1861 to find much of the campus dilapidated and in disrepair, with the Free Baptist Association unwilling or unable to help. Its benefactor would prove to be the Honorable Benedict Lapham, after whom the new Lapham Institute was named. [ [http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC03492362&id=ywHhZuxA7qoC&pg=PA66&lpg=PA71&dq=%22bates+college+%22class+of%22&as_brr=1#PPA66,M1 William Howe Tolman, "History of Higher Education in Rhode Island", (DC: Government Printing Office 1894), 69-70.] ]

The site of Henry Barnard’s first Rhode Island Teachers Institute in 1845, Lapham began giving normal instruction for teachers with public funding in 1867, but ceased in 1871 when the state's Education Commissioner re-established the Rhode Island Normal School and cut program funding for other institutions.

In addition to its connections to what would later become Rhode Island College, the school had connections to Bates College in Maine, another Free Baptist institution. [ [http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC03492362&id=ywHhZuxA7qoC&pg=PA66&lpg=PA71&dq=%22bates+college+%22class+of%22&as_brr=1#PPA66,M1 William Howe Tolman, "History of Higher Education in Rhode Island", (DC: Government Printing Office 1894), 70-71.] ] Lapham's first principal, Benjamin F. Hayes, was called to a professorship there, and his successor, Thomas L. Angell, was also called to a professorship at Bates after two years as principal. [ [http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC03492362&id=ywHhZuxA7qoC&pg=PA66&lpg=PA71&dq=%22bates+college+%22class+of%22&as_brr=1#PPA66,M1 William Howe Tolman, "History of Higher Education in Rhode Island", (DC: Government Printing Office 1894), 70-71.] ] George H. Ricker then took over as principal for seven years before being called to Hillsdale College in Michigan in 1874. His successor was A.G. Moulton, a trustee of Bates, who died just over a year after taking the position. He was followed as principal by W.S. Stockbridge, under whom the school finally closed in 1876. [ [http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC03492362&id=ywHhZuxA7qoC&pg=PA66&lpg=PA71&dq=%22bates+college+%22class+of%22&as_brr=1#PPA66,M1 William Howe Tolman, "History of Higher Education in Rhode Island", (DC: Government Printing Office 1894), 70-71.] ] William Winsor was the last benefactor of the Institute, and when no one replaced him, the school went bankrupt without an endowment to support it. [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=4Yu10EKM1wMC&pg=PA412&lpg=PA412&dq=lapham+institute&source=web&ots=16e6JS2ada&sig=Jl8cFQczzhNcMXSbMypL-rqOiKo&hl=en#PPA412,M1 Thomas B. Stockwell's "A History of Public Education in Rhode Island, from 1636 to 1876"] , published in 1876, claims on page 414 that, "The school is supported at the present time by the munificence of William Windsor, of Greenville, R.I., who stands instead of an endowment. Its facilities for thorough work, and for doing good, were never better than now. It has a full corps of teachers, a good library, chemical and physical apparatus, &c. The buildings are in excellent repair and its location is as healthy as can be found in New England." James R Cameron's "Eastern Nazarene College: The First 50 Years" published in 1968, says on page 34 that "The school finally failed for lack of a benefactor to succeed Mr. Winsor."]

Prominent alumni

*James Burrill Angell, President of the University of Michigan, University of Vermont
*Lewis Boss, astronomer, director of Dudley Observatory, Albany, NY
*Mary Latham Clark, author
*George Day, editor of the Morning Star
*Henry Howard, Governor of Rhode Island 1873-1875

References