Seventy Years Of The Worcester Polytechnic Institute: Page 48

and for no other: viz., in trust to invest said sum safely and productively as a separate fund, and to expend in maintaining said fund at the full value of $50,000 so much of the income thereof as may be necessary, and to expend the residue of the income in paying the expenses of the instruction which this Institute is established to provide.

In his original letter of gift, Mr. Boynton had stated that it was his design to establish a supplementary fund for use in purchasing books and apparatus. In a communication to the trustees dated May 3, 1866, he directed that the income on the original gift of $100,000 from May 1, 1865, to the date of the opening of the school should be invested in a separate fund, to be known as the Library and Apparatus Fund. This fund amounted to $27,438.

The appeal in Stephen Salisbury's letter of gift for donations from other citizens fell on deaf ears. At a later date there existed an undercurrent of feeling, sometimes frankly expressed, that "this is Salisbury's school, and he can afford to support it." Never was a generous patron more unjustly treated. Up to the time of the opening of the school, only two other donations were received, one of $1,000 from a kindly manufacturer of Upton, William Knowlton, and a bequest of $500 from E. W. Fletcher of Whitinsville, both of which were used for the purchase of equipment.

So, with invested funds of less than $200,000, two buildings but partially equipped, and a faculty of three men and a woman the Worcester County Free Institute of Industrial Science was ready to open its doors on November 10, 1868. In September, advertisements of the school had appeared in a large number of papers, and circulars describing the course and admission requirements had been sent to prospective students. It was specified that applicants must have covered the work of district schools, have reached the age of at least fourteen, and must make formal application to the secretary of the trustees. Tuition would be free to residents of Worcester County, $60 a year to others. Examinations in arithmetic, geography, and United States history had been given at the

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Last Modified: Fri Jul 30 11:15:25 EDT 1999