JOHN HUNTINGTON’S LEGACY
THE DEDICATION OF HIS TRUSTEES
For over a hundred years, faithful trustees kept John Huntington’s wishes alive and fulfilled his legacy to educate promising students in Cleveland. He understood that for a community to thrive and industry to grow, education had to advance, and curriculum had to meet the needs of the workforce. His original mission to create a Polytechnic School was realized in full at the 1918 opening of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Institute, which operated for 35 years and graduated some 60,000 students in various technical and vocational fields. This legacy was the origin of the mission of the Fund today, The John Huntington Fund for Education.
In March of 1889, several prominent men were invited to act as Trustees of The John Huntington Benevolent Trust which would father the descendant trusts that funded, among other worthy charitable causes, the start of the Cleveland Museum of Art and The John Huntington Polytechnic Institute. These men were many of the founding fathers of turn of the century Cleveland: Edwin R. Perkins, John V. Painter, Samuel E. Williamson, Charles W. Bingham, John H. Lowman, Henry C. Ranney and James D. Cleveland. It proved to be great foresight and fortuity that John Huntington chose to engage such honorable forward-thinkers, as he was to pass away before his major legacies could be built.
ART & SCIENCE
These original trustees carried forth growing the Trusts and plans to build both the Art Museum and the Polytechnic School. Their successors included, among others, Samuel Mather, Philip Mather, William G. Mather, John L. Severance, Severance Milliken, John Huntington Hord (a grandson of John Huntington), William B. Sanders, Harold T. Clark, Lewis B. Williams, Ellwood H. Fisher, A. Dean Perry, and Claude F. Turben. This strong legacy continues today with prominent Clevelanders who sit on our active Board of Trustees.
While the original Benevolent Trust seeded the framework of his charitable focus, it was the major charitable gifts made by his will dated June 1, 1889, and upon his death on January 10, 1893, that provided the financial origin of The John Huntington Fund for Education. Item five of his will created a provision to create a trust to be known as The John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust. He named the same seven men who were Trustees of the Benevolent Trust and two more, his wife Mariett Leek Huntington and George H. Worthington.
During the thirty-five years of its existence, the institute offered over 160 courses and in it’s last year had an enrollment of over 1,500 students. In the late 1940s, post-World War II saw a shift in higher education as more non-traditional and greater numbers of students entered post-secondary schools. The industrial economy also changed the need for more technical and scientific curriculum in colleges and universities. As a result, it was decided in 1953 to close the Polytechnic Institute as the educational landscape had evolved.
LEGACY THROUGH SCHOLARSHIPS
Starting in 1953, guided by dedicated Trustees, the John Huntington Fund for Education made scholarship grants to residents of Cuyahoga County enrolled in colleges of their choice. This program grew rapidly and by 1970, the Fund had dispersed scholarships to over 700 students. Ever since, the Fund has been making grants to educational institutions for Cuyahoga County scholars who are pursuing scientific, vocational, or technical education. It is also authorized to give funds to such organizations for the development of curricula and programs in these fields and “remedial education for the deserving disadvantaged residents of Cuyahoga County seeking these types of education, and research in connection therewith.”
As one of the trustees of the changing 1970s wrote, these trusts and trustees’ actions, “shows that the combination of Mr. Huntington’s generosity and planning, the thought given to carrying out his ideas while keeping the benefits current, by many of Cleveland’s leaders in industry, banking and law… all effectively implementing Mr. Huntington’s purposes, modified to fit current needs – is a truly remarkable and praiseworthy accomplishment.”
Around the same time as John Huntington’s death, two other Cleveland men, Horace Kelley and H.B. Hurlbut, also left provisions in their will to create an art museum. When it came time to start the construction of the art museum in 1913, the Kelley and Huntington trusts were the more sizable and their trustees created “The Cleveland Museum of Art Corporation”. With land donated by J.H. Wade for this purpose, construction began in 1913 and the museum opened its doors in 1918. The Art & Polytechnic Trust bore 70% of the cost of construction with the Horace Kelley Art Foundation paying 30%. The Huntington Art & Polytechnic Trust was the largest contributor to the museum until the death of Leonard Hanna, Jr. in 1957.
Some original direction from The Art and Polytechnic Trust reads, “for the purpose of establishing and maintaining in the city of Cleveland, Ohio, a Gallery and Museum of Art for the promotion and cultivation of art and also the organization of a free evening Polytechnic School for the promotion of scientific education, for the benefit of deserving persons of said city who are unable to acquire a collegiate education (should be established)”. In the same year that CMA opened its doors in 1918, The John Huntington Polytechnic Institute began its teaching program operating under the direction of the Trustees. The founding dean from 1918 – 1930, was Henry Turner Bailey who also served as dean of the Cleveland School of Art, now known as The Cleveland Institute of Art. Bailey wrote many books about the pedagogy of art and industrial drawing. Alfred Mewett, a sculptor, historian, and Dean of CIA, was the only other Dean of the Polytechnic Institute from 1930 to the school's closing in 1953.
WHO WAS JOHN HUNTINGTON?
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Born in Preston, Lancashire, England on March 18, 1832, John Huntington at the young age of 22 years old came to Cleveland, Ohio with his wife and first child. He left England to find his fortune after being blackballed as a leader in a textile strike. In America, he took the first job he could find, as a Laborer. He was the son of Hugh Huntington, a man of more than ordinary standing back in England as one of the founders of the Trinity School in Preston. This background formed his interest and belief in education as the foundation of a strong community.
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Soon after his arrival in Cleveland, he engaged in a roofing business and then as a producer of asphalt. The discovery of petroleum in Titusville, Pennsylvania aroused his interest as the product was so far superior to the whale oils then used for lighting. A few years after this discovery, he joined the firm of Clark, Payne and Company, an early crude oil refinery. His curiosity and interest in learning, created the foundation for his great inventive talents. He had numerous patents for methods of improving the refining processes, designs for furnaces and the manufacture of oil barrels. In large part because of John Huntington, Clark, Payne and Company became the largest oil refinery in the region.
He had other business interests including a large holding in Cleveland Stone Company and a fleet of ships. Clark, Payne and Company became one of the companies that formed the original Standard Oil Company. The 500 shares of Standard Oil that John Huntington received for his share in the merger made him a wealthy man.
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John Huntington believed in giving back to his community. One year before joining Clark, Payne before he was a wealthy man, he became a member of Cleveland’s City Council. He served in this public leadership guiding the direction of our community until 1875. One of his greatest contributions as Councilman was his foresight to oppose a bridge over the Cuyahoga River which would have blocked navigation and led the resolution to create the Superior Viaduct. He served on the committee to supervise its construction. His interest in engineering and vision of the future of the city steered his passion to advocate as a Councilman to pave the streets, build sewers and construct street lighting.
John Huntington’s interest in charity started early in 1869 as part of a group that started the training home for delinquent girls known as the Convent of the Good Shepard. Just a year later he assisted the Little Sisters of the Poor to establish a home for impoverished elderly people of all religions. This home is still in existence now on Richmond Road.
Just five years prior to his unexpected death, he established a trust and set aside a percentage of his estate to establish an Art Museum and a Polytechnic Institute. Seeing the needs of his adopted city, he wanted to provide for an educational institution that would fill a gap in his community’s educational needs. This was the origins of the John Huntington Polytechnic Institute. To enroll for tuition-free training, students had to be employed in one of the applied arts or an industrial occupation, show financial need, have references from employers and live in Cleveland. In this manner, it was returning the benefits back to the community. John Huntington was researching Polytechnic schools in England when he took ill and died on January 10, 1893, before his 61st birthday.
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Even though he did not live to see the school that bore his name into fruition, the benevolent trustees grew The John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust and opened the school in 1918. The school offered tuition-free evening classes and graduated thousands of students in over 160 technical and scientific subjects for over thirty-five years. It was decided in 1953 to close the Polytechnic Institute as the educational landscape had evolved to include many scientific and technology majors at Colleges and Universities.
At the time of closing, the school had an enrollment of over 1,500 students. The proceeds were added to the original Trust to create The John Huntington Fund for Education and proposed to provide financial aid in the form of scholarship grants to students. Since 1975, the fund has given scholarships to students of more than $75,000,000.
