56 
Denison University Presidents 
college brought within the limits of the town. President Hall 
was an eastern man, but had never taken a college degree. He 
was a man of solid qualities, however, and well fitted for the 
service which the college required during the ten years of his 
presidency. The Civil War had badly broken down the attend- 
ance during the last two years of his term, but the money which 
he had been instrumental in raising and the change of site from 
the farm to the hill in the north side of the village were import- 
ant steps toward insuring the permanence of the institution. 
Dr. Hall was succeeded by the Rev. Samson Talbot, a grad- 
uate of Denison in the class of 1851. Though he had not been 
engaged in educational work. President Talbot immediately de- 
veloped unusual force as a teacher. He had a wide range of 
intellectual interests and was an independent thinker, making 
a profound impression on the students who sat under his teach- 
ing. On the material side he saw at once that the college could 
not take its proper place among the growing educational institu- 
tions of the country except by means of an enlarged and better 
paid faculty. He at once set himself at the task of raising an 
endowment fund, and with a success really remarkable, for the 
time. With most American colleges fifty years ago, the raising 
of $100,000 was an achievement equal to five times that amount 
today. After President Talbot’s endowment campaign there was 
no longer any room for doubt as to the permanence of Denison. 
But his enthusiasm and his deep sense of duty had led him to 
labor beyond the limit of his physical endurance, and a swiftly 
fatal break in health came in 1873. Morally, intellectually and 
materially he had been a builder of great power. 
For an interval of two years the executive duties of the 
college were performed by Professor Fletcher 0. Marsh, as Act- 
ing President, and then the Rev. E. Benjamin Andrews, a grad- 
uate of Brown in the class of 1870, was called to the position. 
Although President Andrews remained in Denison only four 
years, his vigorous personality made a deep impression on the 
college and the community. He was followed by the Rev. Alfred 
Owen, D.D., of eastern birth, and educated in Waterville College 
(now Colby). During Dr. Owen’s administration, which closed 
in 1886, the productive endowment was increased by nearly fifty 
percent and additions were made to the teaching force. He was 
succeeded after an interval of six months by the Rev, Galusha 
