E. R. Bosworth
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Counsel in considering objects or causes worthy of his munificence, he had in 1841 founded Williston Seminary. The corner-stone was laid June 17 of that year, the building opened for pupils on December 2 following. The first principal, Rev. Luther Wright, a native of the town and a graduate of Yale College in 1822, had been much in counsel and in sympathy with Mr. Williston in considering the advisability of establishing the Seminary, and of establishing it in Easthampton. The latter was fearful that it might not be attended in numbers, the former confident that it would be; while both were desirous of making it a school of high order — one which should "promote the interest of academical education in Western Massachusetts."
In equipment, one man supplemented the other. Mr. Williston endowed the school with $50,000. Mr. Wright brought to is such fitness in culture and experience as helped to launch it as a success from its very inception, and it at once became popular. When furnishing the first building, Mr. Williston remarked to Mr. Wright: "Now, if you think we shall ever have a hundred pupils here, I will place a hundred chairs in the schoolroom." Mr. Wright thought they might expect that many, and the chairs were put in.
Ninety pupils registered the first term, both sexes being represented, and the first catalog recorded 191 names. The number increased rapidly, and in 1846, 542 were registered. The attendance continued large for some years, until high schools were established, supplying facilities that only academies and seminaries had before afforded, and in 1864 the Seminary became a school for boys only.
The first Seminary building was of wood, and on March 4, 1857, it was entirely destroyed by fire. On that same afternoon, while the building was burning, Mr. Williston was about the grounds, looking up carpenters and engaging brick and lumber to rebuild; and without delay the present South Hall was erected on the side of the one burned. Previously to this, however, Middle hall had been built. Just as it was completed, and ten days before it was to be dedicated, during the night of December 23, the roof of the main building was blown entirely off by a high wind, and fell a mass of ruins upon the Seminary groups. Professor Tyler recorded that the next morning, on his way over from Amherst to attend a trustee's meeting at the Seminary, he met Mr. Williston driving into Northampton to contract for replacing the roof. This amply equipped gymnasium, an attractive feature of the institution,
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