Roswell Park was an American educator and Episcopal clergyman.
Background
Roswell Park was born on October 1, 1807 in Lebanon, New London County, Connecticut, United States. He was the son of Avery and Betsey (Meech) Park, and a descendant of Robert Parke, who came to Boston from England in 1630. His early childhood was spent in his native town, but when he was about twelve years of age his parents moved to Burlington, Otsego County, New York.
Education
After a period of preparatory study at the Oxford and Hamilton academies, Roswell Park matriculated at Hamilton College as a sophomore in 1826, but withdrew in 1827 upon receiving an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point. He graduated as highest ranking man in the class of 1831, and was commissioned brevet second lieutenant in the corps of engineers of the United States army. In the same summer, he passed the senior examinations at Union College, and received the degree of Bachelor of Arts.
Career
Roswell Park's first military duty was in connection with the construction of Fort Adams, at Newport, Rhode Island, 1831. Two years later he was transferred to Fort Warren, Boston, Massachussets In 1836 he took charge of the Delaware Breakwater. Deciding to seek a larger field for the expression of his ambitions and talents, he resigned from the army, September 30, 1836, and for the next six years served as professor of chemistry and natural philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania. While here he decided to enter the ministry of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and resigned his professorship in July 1842.
Removing to Burlington, Vermont, he prepared for holy orders under the guidance of Bishop George W. Doane. Admission to the diaconate was granted September 10, 1843, and he was ordained priest on May 28, 1844. In 1843 he was appointed rector of Christ Church at Pomfret, Connecticut. From 1845 to 1852, while fulfilling his pastoral duties, he conducted the Christ Church Hall preparatory school, and as its headmaster became well known throughout New England. Norwich University, in 1850, invited him to become president, but he declined. Late in the spring of 1852 he resigned from his charges in Pomfret and traveled in Europe for six months. Upon his return, he accepted an invitation to establish and become the first president of Racine College, at Racine, Wisconsin.
He opened the institution on November 1852, with a program which included scientific studies, leading to the Bachelor of Science degree, for those who did not wish to devote themselves exclusively to the usual classical course. Many innovations in administration and instruction were introduced by him. He strengthened the college substantially by uniting with it, in 1859, the St. John's School at Delafield, Wisconsin. His title was then changed to that of chancellor, the former headmaster of St. John's becoming warden. In the enlarged college, the scientific course was discontinued and the elective system established.
From 1856 to 1863 Park served, also, as rector of St. Luke's Church, in Racine. In the latter year, he withdrew from the college and the pulpit, and removed to Chicago, Illinois. Here he founded Immanuel Hall, a classical and scientific school, which he conducted as a private venture until his death. His published writings include Selections of Juvenile and Miscellaneous Poems (1836), a second edition of which appeared in 1856 under the title Jerusalem and Other Poems; A Sketch of the History and Topography of West Point and of the United States Military Academy (1840); Pantology: or a Systematic Survey of Human Knowledge (1841); Handbook for American Travelers in Europe (1853).
Roswell Park died on July 16, 1869.
Achievements
Membership
Roswell Park was an original member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and was affiliated with many other scientific and literary societies.
Personality
Roswell Park was not a man of genius, but had great powers of mind. He was inordinately ambitious of reputation, and possessed the most extraordinary faculty for absorbing, though not for applying, knowledge.
Connections
On December 28, 1836, Roswell Park was married to Mary Brewster, daughter of Benjamin Franklin and Mary Carter Brewster (Coolidge) Baldwin, of Woburn, Massachussets. On April 25 1860, after her death, he married, Eunice Elizabeth, daughter of Gardner and Elizabeth (Ward) Niles of Waukegan, Illinois.