By Jody Record, Media Relations
November 15, 2006
ED Note: Ezekiel Dimond, John Conant, Charles Parsons. Who where these men with buildings named after them? During the next several weeks, Campus Journal, with the help of UNH archives, will take a look at the men behind the names.
When Ezekiel Webster Dimond died of a brain tumor on Jan. 6, 1876, he was owed $4,075 from the New Hampshire College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts. The first—and at one time, the only—professor at the Hanover school had used his own money to pay the college’s bills.
And, it was later learned, during the entire previous year, the New Hampshire native had not taken one dollar of his salary.
No wonder the UNH library bears his name.
Dimond was committed to education. He was a professor at the Oread Institute in Worcester, Massachusetts, when trustees decided he would become the first professor at the college that would eventually become the University of New Hampshire.
When he arrived in Hanover, there were very few books, equally little equipment and no students and no curriculum. What’s more, there were no buildings in which to hold classes once students could be found. Dimond was starting from scratch.
But that didn’t deter the Middlebury College graduate. He sent 2,000 flyers around the state and, come September, 10 men had registered for fall classes. It was 1868. Dimond, professor of general and applied chemistry, had his first students.
Thomas R. Crosby, an instructor of animal and vegetable physiology, taught part-time. Professors from nearby Dartmouth College were hired for $2 an hour to help broaden subject offerings.
Referred to by some as the “inspiring genius” of the college, Dimond next set out to create a campus. He successfully lobbied the Legislature for money and then drew up plans for a four-story building.
Construction on Culver Hall, named for benefactor David Culver, was started in 1870.
Determined to provide students with an experimental farm, Dimond used funds from the budget to buy 25 acres of land. When it became clear that parcel wasn’t big enough to satisfy the school’s needs, he bought a 135-acre farm with his own money. The college had use of the land for free until they could finally repay their professor.
The architect, business manager, construction supervisor, farm manager and lobbyist also built a plant to make gas out of crude oil. The gas was used to light Culver Hall.
At the time of Dimond’s death, enrollment had increased from 11 to 29. Areas of study included algebra, astronomy, botany, bookkeeping, chemistry, entomology, geology, geometry, zoology, natural philosophy, physiology, meteorology, political economy, surveying and trigonometry.
Dimond was 40 years old.