Oneida Institute
Other names | Oneida Institute of Science and Industry Whitestown Seminary |
|---|---|
| Active | 1827–1843 |
Religious affiliation | Presbyterian |
| President | George Washington Gale (1827–1833) Beriah Green (1833–1843) |
| Location | , , USA 43°07′10″N 75°17′10″W / 43.1195793°N 75.2861673°W |
| Campus | 114 acres (46 ha) |
The Oneida Institute (/oʊˈnaɪdə/ oh-NYE-də) was a short-lived Presbyterian school in Whitesboro, New York, United States, that was a national leader in the emerging abolitionist movement. Existing from 1827 to 1843, the school was radical and the first that accepted both Black and White students in the United States. According to Earnest Elmo Calkins, Oneida was "the seed of Lane Seminary, Western Reserve College, Oberlin and Knox colleges.": 37
The Oneida Institute was founded in 1827 by George Washington Gale as the Oneida Institute of Science and Industry.: 32 His former teacher (in the Addison County Grammar School, Middlebury, Vermont, 1807–1808) John Frost,: 38 now a Presbyterian minister in Whitesboro with Harriet Lavinia (Gold) Frost his wife — daughter of Thomas Ruggles Gold, — who was the primary partner in setting up the institute, bringing her considerable wealth to the enterprise. They raised $20,000, a significant part of which was from the philanthropist and abolitionist brothers Arthur and Lewis Tappan;: 42 Arthur had helped various "western" institutions, to the extent of tens of thousands of dollars, "but his favorite among them was Oneida Institute".: 38 (In the early 19th century, Utica was western, the gateway to western New York.) With this they bought 115 acres of land: 207 and began construction of the buildings. The institute occupied "more than 100 acres (40 ha) bordered by Main Street and the Mohawk River and by Ellis and Ablett Avenues in Whitesboro village."
The first student movement in the country, the Lane Rebels, began at Oneida. A contingent of about 24, with an acknowledged leader (Theodore Dwight Weld), left Oneida for Lane and then, more publicly, soon left Lane for Oberlin. Oneida's first president, Gale, founded Knox Manual Labor Institute, later Knox College, in Galesburg, Illinois. Oneida hired its second president, Beriah Green, from Oberlin's competitor in northeast Ohio, Western Reserve College. All of these institutions and people are very much linked to the explosively emerging topic of the abolition of slavery.