Richmond, the county seat of Madison county, in the midst of a beautiful and productive portion of the bluegrass region of Kentucky, was selected for its location.

JUDGE WILLIAM H. McBRAYER, son of Andrew McBrayer, was born near Lawrenceburg, December 10, 1821, of pioneer ancestry. He received an English education in the schools of the day and vicinity; began business as a merchant, in 1840, and continued it successfully for thirty years, establishing at home and abroad a character for business integrity and discretion of the highest order. Consenting to be a candidate, he was elected judge of Anderson county in 1851, and to the State Senate in 1856. Judge McBrayer has long been a leading member of the Presbyterian Church, and a liberal promoter of its important enterprises, and has given special interest toward the success of Central University. He is also a prominent member of the Masonic fraternity. Of a fine person and address, a genial and social disposition, and possessed of cultured intelligence, he ranks among the solid men of influence of Kentucky.

Here, on Tuesday, September 22, 1874, the university opened its first session in a large and commodious building, that had just been erected in the center of the spacious grounds, commanding a view of the country for many miles, and of the mountains nearly or quite to the Tennessee and Virginia lines.

Rev. R. L. Breck was the first chancellor, and was supported by an able

board, conspicuous in which, for his interest and zeal, was the lamented S. P. Walters, of Richmond. In the struggles of the Presbyterian Church, Dr. Breck was an early leader. Of strong convictions, of unwavering courage, and devoted to the interests of Church and State, he was ever ready to contend for what he deemed the truth and right. The best energies of his life were given to Central University, and to him, while in this service, was its founding mainly due. Life, health, and personal considerations were sacrificed in its interests. Failing health necessitated his resignation as chancellor and seeking its resto

ration in the milder climate of California. Dr. Breck is a son of Hon. Daniel Breck, whose wife was a daughter of General Levi Todd, and was born at Richmond, May 8, 1827. He graduated at Centre College, and studied theology at Alleghany and Princeton. His ministry was in Kentucky, Macon (Georgia), and New Albany, until the war; since 1865, at Richmond, Kentucky, and in California.

Three of the four colleges contemplated under the charter opened at this time.

Notwithstanding the favorable auspices under which the university was inaugurated, it soon began to ride the waves of financial trouble. Difficulty was experienced in collecting the subscriptions. The chancellor, Dr. Breck, resigned his important post. Dr. Pratt also resigned the presidency of the College of Letters. The College of Law suspended for want of proper support. The situation was critical, and many of the friends of the university

PRESIDENT JAMES V. LOGAN, D. D., was born in Fayette county, July 11, 1835; graduated at Centre College, June, 1854; licensed to preach in 1859, and graduated at Danville Theological Seminary in 1860; located and ordained pastor of the church at Harrodsburg, 1860, continuing until 1868, when he assumed editorial control of the Free Christian Commonwealth, at Louisville, until it was consolidated with the Christian Observer in 1869; in 1873 was elected to the chair of metaphysics in Central University, and to that of ethics in 1879; in 1880, the board of curators elected him president of the faculty. Dr. Logan was one of the prime movers in the founding of this institution, and contributed the handsome sum of ten thousand dollars to its endowment. In the very important and responsible positions of honorable trust confided to his care, as pastor, editor, instructor, and presiding officer, he has shown marked ability and skill, varied with the art of adaptation to every demand and emergency. With a mind at once acute and comprehensive, and at the same time eminently practical, he is most successful in imparting knowledge to his stu dents, while ever seeking to train them to think and investigate for themselves rather than to drill them in an artificial dialectic. The success of the university attests the efficiency of his administration.

became timorous as to its power to survive. Just then the attention of the alumni association and of the synod was called to Rev. L. H. Blanton, of Paris, Kentucky, a comparatively young man, but of ripe scholarship and rare executive ability, and already recognized as one of the foremost educators of the State. He was called to the chancellorship, and Rev. J. V. Logan, D. D., synod's professor of ethics, was promoted to the vacant presidency; and while Dr. Logan presided with admirable judgment over the

THE FACULTIES AT PRESENT.

college, Dr. Blanton, the new chancellor, threw himself with all the energy of his nature into the work of consolidating and broadening the financial basis of the institution. His wise methods and cheerful words soon restored the fullest confidence in the future of the university. Generous contributions to the endowment again began to flow in, and the institution has gone steadily forward, increasing every year in patronage, lifting higher every year the standard of instruction and scholarship, until now it stands fully abreast of any similar institution in the country, and justly regarded as one of the chief ornaments of the Commonwealth.

REV. LINDSEY H. BLANTON.

547

Lindsey Hughes Blanton, D. D., was born in Cumberland county, Virginia, July 29, 1832, and graduated at Hampden Sidney College; also at Danville Theological Seminary in Kentucky. His services have been with the Presbyterian church at Versailles, at Salem, Virginia, and as chaplain in the Confederate army. In 1868, he was called to the pastorate of the Paris church, Kentucky, which was greatly increased and strengthened under his ministry. His works here and at Versailles attest his zeal and efficiency in the cause of religion and education, and led to his selection as chancellor of Central University in 1880.

The number of students in attendance upon its various schools for the last scholastic year was two hundred and thirty-nine, representing sixteen Its faculties of instruction, in the colleges at present in operation,

are as follows:

L. H. Blanton, D. D., yet remains chancellor. The Faculty of the College of Philosophy, Letters, and Science is ably composed of J. V. Logan, D. D., president, and Synod's Professor of Ethics and of Evidences and Psychology, Logic, and English; L. G. Barbour, M. A., D. D., Professor of Pure and Applied Mathematics and Astronomy; W. N. Wilson, M. A., of Greek and French; James Lewis Howe, Ph. D., F. C. S., of Chemistry, Physics, and Geology; J. T. Akers, Ph. D., of Latin and English; A. Wilkes Smith, D. D. S., Lecturer on Physiology; C. A. Leonard, M. A., Adjunct Professor of Languages and Commercial Science; W. N. Ewing, B. A., Adjunct Professor of Mathematics and German; and Robert Tate Irvin, B. A., Adjunct Professor of English.

The Faculty of the College of Law, now located and in operation at Louisville, is complete, with William Chenault, LL. D., Professor of Law of Real Property and Criminal Law; Rosel Weisinger, LL. B., of Equity Jurisprudence and Mercantile Law; Emmett Field, LL. B., of Pleading, Evidence, and Law of Contracts.