Eliphalet Nott
Fourth president of Union College, August 1804 - January 29, 1866
An attempt to summarize Eliphalet Nott’s life and influence in this short space is not possible. Only a fraction of his achievements can be touch upon here; for further reading on Nott, begin with Codman Hislop’s Eliphalet Nott.
Born on June 25, 1773 on a farm in Ashford, Connecticut, Nott’s early education was at the feet of his mother and older brother Samuel. At the age of twenty-one, he persuaded Rhode Island College (later named Brown University) to allow him to take the exit examinations required of seniors for a baccalaureate degree. He passed without difficulty; however, there existed a rule stipulating that he could not be awarded a BA degree without ever having taken any formal course work at the college. The faculty circumvented this rule by awarding him a Master of Arts degree.
After additional study, Nott was licensed to preach in 1796. After traveling parts of Connecticut and New York, Nott settled in Cherry Valley, NY where he became pastor of its only Presbyterian church and principal of its only academy.
During his travels, Nott met and befriended John Blair Smith, the president of Union College. Smith was impressed by the young man and encouraged him to consider pastorship at the First Presbyterian Church of Albany. In 1798 at the age of twenty-five, Nott accepted the invitation and moved his family to Albany. By 1800 Nott had become a trustee of the College and in 1804 was asked to become the fourth president of the nascent college.
Much of Nott’s early success can be attributed to his creative investment strategies. Nott proposed a lottery to help the struggling college become financially solvent. After persuading the trustees to agree, Nott successfully lobbied the Legislature to institute a lottery that would directly benefit Union College.
With the money earned from the lottery, Nott purchased 250 acres of land on the outskirts of the city, designating it as the future college campus. Nott employed a peripatetic French architect named Joseph Ramee to design a campus that would rival those of other well established colleges at the time, such as Harvard, Yale, Rhode Island (Brown), Queens (Rutgers) and Princeton. Ramee conceived a campus where dormitories, classrooms and open space would surround a round, domed building at its center. To this day, the overall design of the campus remains true to Ramee’s plans.
During his presidency, Nott transformed the curriculum of Union College to include a new, parallel course of study founded in science. This was a radical departure from the traditional "classic course" of study still offered at Union and exclusively at other colleges during this time. The new "scientific course" of study - which emphasized mathematics, natural history and sciences - caused much consternation among Nott’s peers at other institutions. The popularity and merits of this practical curriculum eventually won acceptance.
Active beyond the walls of Union College during his presidency, Nott also served as president of the Rensselaer Institute of Troy (later Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) from 1829-1845 – a position that carried a salary of one dollar a year. Without any formal scientific study, Nott began designing more efficient heating stoves. As an inventor, Nott acquired thirty patents for his contributions to the heating industry, most notably for the Nott stove. Nott establish the H. Nott and Co. (also known as "The Union Furnace") to manufacture his stoves. A portion of the money generated from the sale of his stoves found its way back to the College in the Nott Trust Fund.
After sixty-two years as president of the College, Nott died on January 29, 1866. His contributions to and influences upon the College can hardly be measured here; but it is, perhaps, fitting that the center piece of Ramee’s plans for the campus – the round, domed building at the symbolic center of campus - be named after him.
Condensed from Wayne Somers, compiler and editor, Encyclopedia of Union College History (Schenectady: Union College Press, 2003), page 654.
Image courtesy of Union College, Schaffer Library Special Collections and Archives, Photograph Collection