{"id":2462,"date":"2021-11-23T13:27:44","date_gmt":"2021-11-23T17:27:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/125\/?p=2462"},"modified":"2022-01-19T10:22:56","modified_gmt":"2022-01-19T14:22:56","slug":"eliza-smith-hall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/125\/eliza-smith-hall\/","title":{"rendered":"Eliza Smith hall"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Eliza
Eliza Foster Smith<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

A philanthropic couple from New England who prospered from America\u2019s Industrial Revolution extended a helping hand to the University of Maryland Eastern in its early days when the school was known as Princess Anne Academy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harriet and Dexter Smith of Springfield, Mass. made a donation that was used at what was then a prep school for Blacks under the superivision of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The Smiths\u2019 gift was given in memory of their deceased daughter, Eliza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baltimore\u2019s Morgan College’s 1893 catalog noting that a new dormitory would be ready for occupancy at its upstart branch campus on Maryland’s lower Eastern Shore by the summer of that year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis will furnish ample and beautiful accommodations for the girl students \u2026 and will perpetuate the grateful memory of Eliza F. Smith for generations to come,\u201d reads a message attributed to F.J. Wagner, Morgan\u2019s president.1<\/sup><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In November 1893, a Westminster, Md. newspaper reported on the dedication of \u201cEliza F. Smith Dormitory,\u201d and credited \u201cDexter Smith and wife (of) Springfield, Mass.\u201d as benefactors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe progress of this institution,\u201d the article reads, \u201chas been marked and substantial from the day it was founded, in the fall of 1886.\u201d2<\/sup><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"News<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The dormitory stood approximately 20 yards from \u201cOlney,\u201d an early American manor house that served as the academy\u2019s cornerstone in its early years. According to campus lore, a portrait of the Smiths\u2019 only child hung inside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As enrollment grew, an annex to Smith hall was built around 1915. The newly enlarged housing complex often times was called “DelCon” in deference to the Methodist Episcopal Church\u2019s Del<\/strong>aware Con<\/strong>ference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the mid-20th<\/sup>\u00a0century, stick-built residence halls were being replaced by brick counterparts. On Sunday morning, Feb. 1, 1959, an estimated 375 local firefighters — many of them volunteers — assembled on campus for a training exercise; the\u00a0Eliza Smith \u2013 DelCon<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0complex was the object of a controlled-burning.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A brief article and photos appeared in the following afternoon\u2019s newspaper published in nearby Salisbury, which reported that \u201cit took over five hours for the complete destruction of the building.\u201d3<\/sup><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The demolition also was memorialized by education professor T. Waldo Kiah, who penned a bittersweet essay for the 1959 yearbook in which he, too, refers to the generosity of \u201cMr. Dexter Smith of Springfield, Massachusetts.\u201d4<\/sup><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A family plot in a Springfield cemetery is the final resting place for Eliza Foster Smith, who died May 4, 1891 \u2013 two weeks shy of her 30th<\/sup>\u00a0birthday. Her parents are buried nearby. Eliza\u2019s father Dexter, an inventor who held at least four patents, did not live to see his memorial gift fulfill its intent; he died Dec. 4, 1892 at age 58.5<\/sup><\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Smith<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Also interred in that same cemetery is Eliza\u2019s paternal grandfather, Horace Smith, whose philanthropy supported the growth of Methodism in Springfield.6<\/sup><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 1880 federal census shows Harriet, Dexter and Eliza Smith lived in Springfield\u2019s \u201cWard 6.\u201d That same document lists Dexter Smith\u2019s occupation as \u201cgunsmith,\u201d a profession he shared with his father, the co-founder of firearms\u2019 manufacturer Smith & Wesson headquartered in Springfield, Mass.\u00a0 {Horace Smith sold his interest in the business in 1874 to partner Daniel Wesson and retired<\/em>.}<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A widower with no direct heirs, Horace Smith died in January 1893 six weeks after his son, Dexter. Executors of the elder Smith\u2019s estate dispersed donations to his favorite charities and causes, which included the local library in Springfield, the Y.M.C.A. and a hospital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also among Horace Smith\u2019s beneficiaries were Tuskegee College in Alabama, which received $10,000, as well as \u201cthe school conducted by L.W. Brooks\u201d in Prince William County, Va., which received $3,000. Both were founded to educate African-Americans.7<\/sup><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

1 – Morgan College catalog, 1893-94, pg. 6 <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2 \u2013 Nov. 4, 1893, Democratic Advocate newspaper, Westminster, Md.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

3 \u2013 Feb. 2, 1959, School Building Burned Intentionally, The Salisbury Times, pg. 1<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

4 \u2013 T. Waldo Kiah essay, 1959 Hawk yearbook, pg. 78<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

5 \u2013 Springfield, Mass., city cemetery online registry with headstone images.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

6 \u2013 The King\u2019s Handbook of Springfield, Mass. pg. 180<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

7 \u2013 Jan.19, 1893, Half a Million for Charity; the Bequests of Horace Smith, The Springfield Daily Republican<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A philanthropic couple from New England who prospered from America\u2019s Industrial Revolution extended a helping hand to the University of Maryland Eastern in its early days when the school was known as Princess Anne Academy. Harriet and Dexter Smith of Springfield, Mass. made a donation that was used at what was then a prep school…Read more Eliza Smith hall<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1955,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-2462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archive"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/125\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/125\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/125\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/125\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/125\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2462"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/125\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2462\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/125\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/125\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/125\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/125\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2462"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/125\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=2462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}