U I Pres Charles Schaeffer
1843-1898

By Bob Hibbs  
 

A vigorous and tireless man with more the physical appearance a football guard than an intellect, the University of Iowa’s seventh president, Charles Schaeffer, played a pivotal role in creating in the midst of Iowa City the institution of higher learning that exists today.

An eight-inch handlebar mustache served as his trademark.

Although virtually inconceivable today, he convinced the Iowa legislature and governor to impose a state-wide property tax to support construction of UI buildings. Although seemingly small at one-tenth of a mill, it represented a breakthrough in UI funding during the decade it existed.

It helped fund Schaeffer’s campus plan which envisioned the Pentacrest Campus as it exists today.

Equally inconceivable, the Iowa City council was convinced to give UI half of all its park land, represented in the entire block south of United Methodist and St. Mary’s Catholic churches. The site is now occupied by Van Allen Hall and a biology annex along Iowa Avenue.

The only other city park at the time was College Green, the central block-square park still in use today.

Equally inconceivable, the Iowa City council was convinced to give UI half of all its park land, represented in the entire block south of United Methodist and St. Mary’s Catholic churches. The site is now occupied by Van Allen Hall and a biology annex along Iowa Avenue.

The only other city park at the time was College Green, the central block-square park still in use today.

It is probable the council had little legal framework for such a gift, but became highly motivated by talk among legislators of moving the university to a more central location in the state. The community’s strongly favorable impression of Schaeffer made the gift politically feasible.

Schaeffer advocated student athletics as an important element of a “fit body, fit mind” philosophy, and as a method of connecting with alumni located away from Iowa City. An early result was the first “Y” west of the Mississippi, named Close Hall after is principal benefactor, opened in 1890 at Iowa Avenue and Dubuque Street.

It was the first major university structure financed privately and available for sporting events, although its use encompassed far more than sports.

Another result was purchase of ground for Athletic Park along the east bank of the Iowa River where the first major UI athletics complex was created featuring baseball and football fields, and later an adjacent men’s gym which still later featured an indoor swimming pool addition.

Schaeffer’s personable nature won him friends at all turns. He ran his own errands; he wrote letters and drafted his speeches in longhand. He traveled the state regularly and extensively, meeting with alumni, legislators and friends of the university, winning new friends and influencing opinion.

Locally, he and wife Evelyn, who became a well-known author, regularly held social events in their large still-existing house located in the southeast quadrant of the College-Johnson streets intersection across from College Green park. The UI President’s House which serves that function today was built a decade after Schaeffer’s death.

Schaeffer was born in 1843 at Harrisburg, Penn., where his father was a third-generation minister of German heritage. As a middle name, he was given his mother’s family name, Ashmead, a family which traced its immigration to America to the company of William Penn in 1682.

He was educated thoroughly, first at the Germantown Academy attended by his father and grandfather, then at Penn, Harvard, Gottingen (Germany, receiving a PhD), and in Berlin and Paris. He was cited for gallantry during the Civil War.

Schaeffer joined the faculty of Cornell at age 26, spending the next 18 years there, becoming head of the chemistry department in 1871, and later faculty dean, before coming to Iowa City.

Schaeffer’s sudden death in 1898 at age 55 shocked the local, state and alumni communities since virtually everyone expected his leadership for another decade. Among his last major ceremonial acts was groundbreaking for a new home for the Collegiate Department, now known as the College of Liberal Arts.

It is entirely fitting that the building now bears his name, Schaeffer Hall, and anchors his completed plan for the central Pentacrest Campus.

Next Saturday: Samuel Kirkwood, the local man and Iowa governor.

Bob Hibbs collects local postcards and researches history related to them. 

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