Brief Biographies of Buildings
I. Wentworth and Thornton Halls
THIS IS THE FIRST of a series of briefstories on the general subject of: "How DidDartmouth Buildings Get Their Names?" Thehistorian of the College, Prof. Leon BurrRichardson '00, is author of the series whichbegins with this month's brief biographies ofGovernor Wentworth and John Thornton forwhom two of Dartmouth's oldest buildings arenamed. It will continue next month with ReedHall. Ed.
No ONE CAN QUESTION the fitness by which the names of two men, important in the founding of Dartmouth, are perpetuated in the second and third of the permanent buildings of the College.
Governor John Wentworth, 1735-1820, was a member of the leading family of provincial New Hampshire, son of the opulent merchant, Mark Hunking Wentworth, and nephew of Governor Benning Wentworth. A graduate of Harvard in the class of 1755, soon after he was sent to England as his father's business representative. Here he was warmly received in the highest circles of society, particularly by the associates of his kinsman, the powerful Whig peer, the Marquis of Rockingham. He received the degree of D.C.L. from Oxford and later the appointment of Governor of New Hampshire, in succession to his uncle, as well as the important post of Surveyor of His Majesty's Woods in America.
In Portsmouth he received with all sympathy the plea of Wheelock for land grants in New Hampshire for the Indian School and the award of a royal charter for the projected college. Negotiations went forward steadily, despite certain points of friction due to denominational differences. No question exists that Wentworth would gladly have given the institution an Episcopal direction, inadmissable to Wheelock, but the spirit of compromise generally and finally prevailed. No doubt the denomina- tional liberality of the charter, remarkable for the times, was due to this necessity to give and take. Dartmouth might well have been named Wentworth College, as Wheelock instructed his agent in Portsmouth that, although he preferred the name Dartmouth College, it might be christened for the Governor, if such action would facilitate the negotiations. This form of concession was not found to be necessary.
Wentworth was one of the original trustees of the new institution, he was interested in all that pertained to the College, and active in its service. Thrice he made laborious journeys from Portsmouth to attend Commencement, upon one of these occasions presenting Wheelock with the silver punch bowl which has come down to each succeeding President. He did his best to interest important persons in southern New Hampshire in the new institution. He made frequent appeals to the provincial Assembly for land grants and other forms of support. He was concerned with the daily affairs of the institution and in frequent correspondence with Wheelock concerning even small details in its management. Driven from Portsmouth in 1775 by the Revolution, he never returned to New Hampshire, although later he served for many years as Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia, and died in Halifax in 1820. His kindly interest in the College, as evidenced by occasional letters, continued in these later years.
John Thornton, 1720-1790, of Clapham, England, was a merchant in the Russian trade. His income was large and an astonishing portion of it was devoted to charity. He was an important member of the evangelical branch of the English Church, a follower of Whitefield, an associate of the Earl of Dartmouth, the Countess of Huntingdon, the poet Cowper, etc., and a member of that group later known as the Clapham sect. Becoming interested in Occom and Whitaker on their expedition to England for the collection of funds for the Indian School, he subscribed £100 to the fund (one of two donations of that amount, the largest received save the contribution of £soo from King George) and, upon the organization of the English Trust, became its treasurer.
He was in frequent correspondence with Wheelock, sympathetic with his difficulties, and made personal gifts to the American minister which were not only generous in amount, but extremely timely. Thus he supplied funds to pay the debts of Wheelock upon the departure of the latter from his Lebanon, Conn., parish; he furnished means to build the President's "mansion house" in Hanover (the frame of which survives in the present Howe Library), and he supplied an "English chariot," which, it may be inferred, added to presidential prestige. He also made contributions to the support of Occom, when the Indian had fallen into financial difficulties. Even after the exhaustion of the English fund and the outbreak of the Revolution his interest led him to appeal to Lord Dartmouth that the College should not be imperiled by military operations in America.
Thornton and Wentworth Halls were erected in 1828. They were paid for by an appropriation from the proceeds of a subscription of $30,000 (the actual receipts of which were about $25,000) instituted by President Tyler and completed by President Lord. The architect was Ammi B. Young and the work was supervised by Professor William Chamberlain, who, it is said, died as a result of overwork, due to the addition of this responsibility to his other activities. The cost cannot be ascertained exactly as only the total amount spent for building and reconstruction, $16,207, appears in the College accounts, and a portion of this total was spent in the installation of a chapel in the center of Dartmouth Hall. Later, through lack of care, the buildings became very dilapidated, and students were reluctant to room in them because the rooms were "dark, cold, dirty and infested with bugs." In the course of time, more attention being given to the upkeep of College plant, the buildings were not so much objected to for dormitory purposes, while certain recitations were conducted on the lower floors of each. More recently (in 1912 for Wentworth, in 1924 for Thornton) each building has had its interior completely reconstructed, with careful preservation of exterior walls and general appearance. Thus, at a cost of $106,000 for the two, the structures now serve as adequate recitation halls.
