He had experienced many difficulties and hindrances in his business on
account of not having had instruction in the fundamental principles of
mechanics and chemistry. He thought a school might be established in
connection with the Mechanics' Association for giving such
instruction, and that funds for the purpose could be easily procured
among the prosperous mechanics and manufacturers of Worcester. At his
request I drew up a plan for such a school, which was submitted to
President Sears of Brown University, formerly secretary of the Board
of Education of this state and, I believe, to some other
gentlemen. The subject was proposed to individuals in the city, who
looked upon it favorably. But before anything effectual was done, a
financial crisis occurred that rendered the procuring of money for the
undertaking hopeless, and the project was suspended.
Ichabod Washburn was not only the leading industrialist of the
community, but one of its greatest benefactors. He was a deeply
religious man, who practiced the Golden Rule as few wealthy men have
learned to practice it. He was descended from a long line of sturdy
and distinguished ancestors, but the early death of his mariner father
left his family penniless. At nine, he was doing chores and learning
to stitch harness, attending school in the winter term. Five years
later he was working in a cotton mill. From the age of sixteen until
he was twenty he was a blacksmith's apprentice, receiving twelve weeks
of schooling a year.
Mr. Washburn came to Worcester in 1819, and during the succeeding
fifteen years built a reputation as a manufacturer, concentrating
eventually on wire. By 1865 the I. Washburn & Moen Iron Works (Philip
L. Moen was his son-in-law) had become one of the great industries of
the country, later to become the nucleus of the American Steel & Wire
Company.
Although the normal opportunities for an education had been denied
him, Ichabod Washburn was an educated and a cultured gentleman. He
worked overtime at the blacksmith's anvil to earn money for pew rent
and for studies at Leicester Academy. He also read and studied
patiently in the hours that others used for rest and recreation. In
his more prosperous years he gave freely to any enterprise designed to
promote education, relieve suffering, or improve public welfare.
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