Image of Denver's Haish Manual Training School

The back cover of the 1889-90 NWU catalog | Courtesy of the Nebraska Wesleyan University Archives, Cochrane-Woods Library

"The above cut represents the building erected at Denver through the munificence of Mr. Jacob Haish, of DeKalb, Illinois, for the Haish Manual Training School of Denver University. Bishop Warren has secured from Mr. Haish an agreement to erect and endow a department for the Nebraska Wesleyan University, on similar terms as originally given to Denver University. One-half of the gross receipts from the sale of the Haish barb wire in the state of Nebraska is to be devoted to this department, until the sum of fifty thousand dollars has been secured. Thus the department of Technology, originally projected by the University, and published in the Prospectus, has been lifted from the realm of struggle into that of security, and was inaugurated formally by Bishop Warren, at Lincoln, June 18, 1889. For further particulars address the Chancellor.

Friends of the University will adopt as their motto: 'No fence but barb wire; no barb wire but Haish.'"

Haish Manual Training School - Lincoln, NE

A drawing of the Lincoln Haish Manual Training School, as seen in the Nebraska Wesleyan Catalog 1891-92.

The Haish Manual Training School was built in Lincoln, Nebraska, after a monetary donation from Jacob Haish, much like the training school he donated in Denver, Colorado.

The purpose of these schools was to teach students hands-on education, such as iron work, wood carving and foundry, typewriting and more. Money for a building was to be raised through barbed wire sales, with one half of gross receipts going toward the building until $50,000 was raised.

The Somonauk Reveille newspaper in Illinois called the idea "A good big advertising scheme for Mr. Haish, as all the Wesleyan ministers, church people and students will preach and talk Haish wire until the required sum has been raised."

And did they ever talk....

Advertisement for Haish's barbed wire plan in Lincoln, NE, as seen in the Nebraska Wesleyan Catalog 1891-92.

From an advertisement of Haish's plan: 
"Haish Barb Wire! Is a Perfect Wire. An Economical Wire. The Best! And at prices that compete with the World. Our boys have invented a COLLEGE YELL! 'You Try 'Er, You Buy 'Er, Haish Wire! Haish Wire!

This is uttered under fifty pounds pressure and on tiptoe. If there is no Agent in your town write to Mr. Jacob Haish, DeKalb, Illinois. Tell your Hardware Man what Mr. Haish has done for Colorado and Nebraska Methodists. We put a Barb Wire Cane in the Corner Store, and we are going to put a Barb Wire Lightning Rod on the MANUAL TRAINING BUILDING, and we want Nebraska Methodists FENCED IN with Barb Wire!"

Jacob Haish's successful donation was documented in the Nebraska Wesleyan University catalog for the school year 1891-92, which can be viewed on Google Books.

A listing of the faculty of the Haish Mechanical Institute, as published in the Nebraska Wesleyan Catalog 1891-92.

From the catalog:

"Mr. Jacob Haish of DeKalb, Ill., whose munificence erected the Haish Manual Training School of Denver University, agreed to erect and endow a similar one for the Nebraska Wesleyan University and on the same terms. One half the gross receipts from the sale of barb wire was to be devoted to this department until the sum of $50,000 was secured. ... Mr. Haish has exceeded his promise, both in the matter of time and the amount to be expended. Wire sales were not up to the measure of a building, but he authorized us to go ahead. ... It is the finest Manual Training building in the United States."

Semester pricing per the Nebraska Wesleyan Catalog 1891-92.

While the school was enjoyed for a few years, unfortunately, on January 29, 1894, an arsonist set fire to the building. It was never rebuilt. Below is a photo of the damage.

"Ruins of the Haish building" | Photo from the Nebraska Wesleyan University Archives, Cochrane-Woods Library

Thank you to Martha A. Tanner, M.S.L.I.S., Ph.D, head of research services and archives/asst. professor at the Cochrane-Woods Library at Nebraska Wesleyan University, for her assistance with this post.

Haish Manual Training School - Denver

"Haish Manuel Training School - University of Denver." I purchased this photograph from eBay. The largest sign reads "HAISH MANUAL TRAINING SCHOOL." The sign above the door reads "UNIVERSITY OF DENVER." Another sign reads "UNIVERSITY BUSINESS COLLEGE." | Courtesy of Jessi Haish LaRue

The Haish Manual Training School was built in Denver, Colorado, after a monetary donation from Jacob Haish.

According to this article, "the main building for the manual school was built at a cost of $25,000, the gift of Mr. Jacob Haish of De Kalb, Illinois ... Mr. Haish attended the commencement at Denver University last spring and was so well pleased with the school that he told Bishop Warren that he would give the university $15,000 for the medical department if that would be sufficient to build upon the vacant ground adjoining the manual training school ... It is built of brick and is three stories high with a basement. This makes a total gift of $40,000 by Mr. Haish to the university."

I reached out to the Special Collections and Archives department of the University of Denver to learn more, and they generously provided the below information and photographs of the building:

The school, which was located at the intersection of 14th Street and Arapahoe Street in downtown Denver, was only open from 1885-1892, and it was a high school for the first couple of years, they said. The building itself was later demolished in 1963.

As I've researched, there have been varying dates and purposes for the building. According to the Archives department's website, the school was located at 1025 14th Street in Denver, and the cornerstone was laid on July 13, 1887. 

"Building served multiple functions for the University of Denver, including residence of the Haish Manual Training School, University Business College, Dental College Infirmary, and Denver College of Pharmacy," according to the website.

The below photos, provided by the researchers at the University of Denver, are believed to be from a time after it was the "Haish Manual Training School." 

Students at the Haish Manual Training School building sit in windows and wave at the photographer. | Courtesy of Special Collections and Archives, University of Denver

Haish Manual Training School building in Denver. | Courtesy of Special Collections and Archives, University of Denver

Another great image of this building can be seen by clicking here.

But why Denver? Local historian Steve Bigolin believes Haish either sold a lot of his wire in Colorado, or that he wanted to expand his business prosperity to the West.

The Archives department also provided "a class listing likely from the late 1880s or early 1890s." The PDF can be viewed below.


Thank you so much to the University of Denver's Special Collections and Archives group for providing us with this wonderful information and imagery.

Mr. Haish's Liberal Gift

Undated article provided by the Northern Illinois University Archives, courtesy of Western History Research Center:

Mr. Haish's Liberal Gift
---
A $15,000 Building for the Denver Medical College
---
Just Completed and Delivered to the University -- A Prosperous Educational Institution.

Professor J.C. Shattuck, who has had in charge the construction of the addition that has been built to the Haish Manual Training School of Denver University, has completed the same and turned it over to the university. The main building for the manual school was built at a cost of $25,000, the gift of Mr. Jacob Haish of De Kalb, Illinois. It is 40x73 and three stories high and has a basement. Mr. Haish attended the commencement at Denver University last spring and was so well pleased with the school that he told Bishop Warren that he would give the university $15,000 for the medical department if that would be sufficient to build upon the vacant ground adjoining the manual training school. The offer was accepted and Professor Shattuck, then Dean of the university, drew on Mr. Haish for the amount and began the erection of the new addition.

TOTAL GIFT OF $40,000
It is built of brick and is three stories high with a basement. This makes a total gift of $40,000 by Mr. Haish to the university.

In the basement is the gymnasium, which is one of the finest and best furnished in the West.

In the first story is the medical lecture room. This is in the front room and in the rear is the pharmaceutical department. 

On the second floor in the front room is the Dental College, in the rear of which is a part of the rooms used by the Commercial College.

On the third floor is the amphitheater of the Medical College. Here lectures are also given, but the regular dissecting rooms are not connected with this building. In the rear of this amphitheater is a reception room for the professors and the medical laboratory.

A GREAT HELP.
This new building is a great help to the medical, dental and commercial colleges of the University, all of which have a large attendance and no university in the West affords such excellent facilities as these three departments of the University. The fact that a non-resident should be so liberal to education in the West makes this gift all the more appreciated. All the departments of the University and the collegiate also are now in a prosperous condition and Denver now stands in the front ranks of Western colleges.

Jacob Haish reflects on his donations

Jacob Haish | Photo courtesy of Joiner History Room

The article below was printed in the Dec. 5, 1885, edition of the Sycamore True Republican:

"That was a grandly liberal gift of yours --- that $50,000 to the Denver Orphan Asylum," --- we said to Mr. Haish of DeKalb.

"No, I don't know as it was. I have made more liberal gifts." 

"Ah! When?"

"Thirty years ago, when they were building the first church at DeKalb, I subscribed $30, and worked it out by day's work. That was more liberal than this. Then I gave what I hadn't got; now I give what I have, and can give it without troubling me. Why; how much did you ever give away at once?"

"Well, let's see; I gave $140 toward a church and lot."

"Ah, then, I venture to say you were three times as liberal as I was. I shall have to give again to be as liberal as some of my townspeople who give their tens and twenties. And I mean to do it. Wife and I have been thinking this long time that it is better to dispose of our property during our life-time while we can see some good of it than to wait for our successors to quarrel over it."

Perhaps we err in publishing this fragment of a private conversation, but there is something so noble about his unselfish view of the right use of his property that we could not refrain.

Thanks to the Joiner History Room for sharing this article.