Brief Biographies of Buildings
V. Bissell Hall
The series of brief accounts of thenames and families and careers that areback of the selection of names of Dartmouth buildings is continued this monthwith the fifth of Prof. L. B. Richardson'shighly readable and historically valuedstories. Dartmouth's not unimportant sharein the beginnings of the great Americanoil industry are described belozu, in connection with a brief summary of the careerof the donor of Bissell Hall. Wheeler Hallwill be the subject next month.—ED.
GEORGE HENRY BISSELL was born in Hanover on November 8, 1821. After attending Kimball Union Academy and Norwich University he entered Dartmouth College, being registered in his first three years from Hartford, Vt., and in his last year from Hanover. He was graduated in 1845. A young man of much enterprise, his career for some years after graduation was varied. For a brief period he was professor of Classics in Norwich University, then he served in Washington as correspondent for the Richmond Whig. After a short stay in Cuba he settled in New Orleans, where he was successively principal of the high school, superintendent of schools, and a member of the editorial staff of the New Orleans Delta. During this period he studied law, receiving the degree of LL.B. from Jefferson College (La.) in 1851. Finding that the climate of the south was injuring his health, he came to New York City in 1853, was admitted to the New York bar, and formed a law partnership with J. G. Eveleth.
While on a visit to Hanover in 1854 Mr. Bissell was shown a sample of "rock oil" by Dr. Dixi Crosby. This oil had been brought to Dartmouth by Dr. Francis B. Brewer, Class of 1843, and was the product of a flowing oil spring on Cherry Run Creek, near Titusville, Pa., on land owned by a lumber firm of which Dr. Brewer's father was a principal owner. The oil had been examined in the Dartmouth laboratory by Dr. Oliver Payson Hubbard, who pronounced that it had possibilities as an illuminant. Mr. Bissell became interested in those possibilities and sent Albert H. Crosby, 1848, (son of Dr. Dixi) to Pennsylvania to investigate the region. The resulting report was so encouraging that Mr. Bissell's partner, Mr. Eveleth, went to Titusville and purchased for $5000 (in the firm account) 105 acres containing the "oil spring," together with the oil rights to 1100 additional acres. The Pennsylvania Oil Company was organized with a nominal capital of 1500,000 under the presidency of Mr. Bissell. This was the first corporation to be established for the production of petroleum.
Up to this time there had been a small use of "mineral oil" for medicinal purposes, with an even slighter application, in the crude form, as an illuminant and lubricant. In 1855 the first careful analysis of the substance was made by Professor Benjamin Silliman of Yale, who pointed out the feasibility of separating various fractions by distillation, and who forecast in detail most of the larger uses of the products thus obtained. Mr. Bissell and his partner by this time were financially overextended, at times they could meet their personal bills only with difficulty, and were not even able to obtain Professor Silliman's report, for lack of means of payment, for some months. As a result their ownership in the Seneca Oil Company, formed to take over the oil leases on a royalty basis, became very small. That ownership came eventually into the hands of New Haven capitalists.
Up to this time the source of the oil had been from flowing springs, the production of which was relatively small. It was Mr. Bissell who conceived the idea of boring for oil deposits, probably deriving this conception from wells driven in West Virginia and elsewhere for bringing to the surface saturated salt solutions. The theory was put into practice for the Seneca Oil Company by E. L. Drake, whose efforts in this direction were received in the oil region with ribald amusement. However, after a year's effort, he brought into successful operation in 1859 the first flowing oil well. This was the beginning of the enormous petroleum industry of today.
Neither Mr. Bissell, nor anyone else having to do with production, accumulated great wealth from the oil industry. That was reserved for the refiners, under the leadership of John D. Rockefeller. But he continued through life to interest himself in speculative dealings with oil lands, attaining thereby a modest fortune. He died in New York in 1884.
GYMNASIUM FOR DARTMOUTH
In July, 1865, the Trustees received from Mr. Bissell a communication offering to build and equip for the College a gymnasium, under the following conditions: (1) that the building should be erected with the least possible delay and on a definite site (not then owned by the College); (2) that it should be built of granite on a plan to be approved by the donor; (3) that the cost should not exceed $15,000.
The offer was received with enthusiasm. Plans were prepared by Joseph B. Richards of Boston for a structure 90 by 47 feet, two stories high, with six bowling alleys on the lower floor, and a gymnasium on the floor above. It is said that Mr. Bissell insisted on the alleys in remembrance of disciplinary troubles into which he had fallen as an undergraduate because of his indulgence in this sinful sport. Fortunately it turned out to be impractical to build of granite, nor could the cost be limited to the amount fixed by the donor. He, however, was complaisant and met without demur the en- larged expenditure for building and equipment, amounting in all to $23,750. The structure was ready for use in 1867. In the language of the day it was spoken of as a "magnificent structure." At present it would hardly be termed that, but it is well built and its architecture is not so incongruous with the College as a whole as is true of most of the buildings erected in that period.
At the time the gymnasium was a novel feature of the college equipment. Bissen Hall was one of the first, and probably the most elaborate, of those additions to the material facilities of American colleges. Intercollegiate sport, in its modern sense, was as yet undreamed of, and the use of the building was mainly for gymnastic exercises, required of all. At first the innovation was received with favor by the undergraduates and the "resident medical professor" was enthusiastic concerning the improvement of student health resulting therefrom. As the novelty wore off, however, neglect or avoidance of compulsory gymnastics became, then as now, a principal-undergraduate ambition. In 1877 a movement was set under way to convert the building into a much needed library and art gallery (the erection of other gymnastic facilities being a part of the plan), and Mr. Bissell's consent was gained to the transfer, but eventually the plan fell through. For many years the alumni luncheon at Commencement was held in the gymnasium, and the building also served for dances and as a hall for dramatic productions, lectures, etc.
With the advent of intercollegiate athletics certain modifications were madethe bowling alleys were torn out and locker rooms and baths installed on the first floor, while a running track was suspended from the ceiling of the gymnasium room. Athletic facilities were further extended by the erection of a large wooden baseball cage on the present site of South Massachusetts, and by locker and bathing facilities in the grandstand of the new athletic field. So long as the number of undergraduates was limited to 300-400 the building served its purpose, but when these numbers were quadrupled it became pitifully inadequate. That situation was relieved in 1910 by the construction of the Alumni Gymnasium. Bissell Hall was then remodeled at an expense of fao.ooo for the use of the Thayer School of Civil Engineering, which occupied the structure until the erection of the Cummings Memorial, in recent years. Since that time it has been converted into a shop, in which, as an extracurricular activity, competent advice and adequate facilities being supplied, undergraduates may employ their leisure in the construction of such articles of wood or metal as their tastes may dictate.
