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Charles M. Knight
(1896-1897)
Dr. Charles M. Knight was born in Dummerston, Vermont on February 1, 1848. He graduated from Westbrook Seminary in Deering, Maine in 1868 and received an A.B. and M.A. from Tufts College in 1873 and 1878, respectively. In 1874, Knight took post graduate work at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1897, Buchtel College conferred upon him the honorary degree of doctor of science.
Knight left college temporarily during 1869-1870 to assist his brother-in-law, Col. Hal Greenwood, in the construction of the Kansas-Pacific Railroad. He came to Akron in 1875 to serve as Professor of Natural Sciences at Buchtel College. In 1883 he was placed in charge of the Department of Physical Science and remained in that position until 1907. He then became Professor of Chemistry until 1913 when he retired after 38 years of teaching and was named Professor Emeritus of The University of Akron.
Knight served as Acting President of Buchtel College from 1896 to 1897. He provided steady leadership during a difficult time in the institution’s history when enrollment was down 20 percent and so few students were on campus that most fraternal organizations and athletic teams ceased operations.
Once a permanent president was hired Knight became the first Dean of the Faculty, serving from 1902 until 1913. In 1909 he started a course in rubber chemistry, the first established in any American college, and in that year the Knight Chemical Laboratory was named in his honor. He was the author of a monograph on the chemistry of rubber and also wrote articles on sanitary science.
Knight was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Zeta Psi, and Phi Sigma Alpha fraternities, the University Club, the Chemistry Club (honorary), and the American Chemical Society. He also held a fellowship in the American Academy of Science. In 1882, Knight married May A. Acomb of Tidioute, Pennsylvania. They had three children. Dr. Knight died on July 3, 1941 at the age of 93 at his winter home in Miami, Florida. He was buried at Mount Peace Cemetery in Akron.
“I am sure the old Buchtel graduates must rejoice in the notable success of the new University of Akron. We of the old days bring greetings to the new and larger usefulness of the newer institution.”
– Charles M. Knight
From the Charles M. Knight Family Papers in Archival Services of University Libraries
This letter was written by Dr. Charles M. Knight during his first semester at Buchtel College to his friend and fraternity brother Frank C. Hawes. In the letter Knight talks about the young College and the daunting task before him as the first professor of natural science. “Buchtel is not running down,” he writes, “She is young and has much to learn, but she’s bound to become a college, indeed, and is now growing faster than did Tufts at her age.”
From the Charles M. Knight Family Papers in Archival Services of University Libraries
Dr. Charles M. Knight married May Acomb of Tidioute, Pennsylvania, in 1882. They were married by then Buchtel College President and fellow Universalist Orello Cone. The couple had three children: Maurice A. Knight, Helen Lillian (Iradell) Knight, and Hal Greenwood Knight. Maurice Knight would graduate from Buchtel College in 1906 and go on to make a name for himself in the clay pottery and stoneware business.
From the Charles M. Knight Family Papers in Archival Services of University Libraries
This page from Knight’s diary recounts his early days as President, including the first day of classes. Knight never believed he could be the permanent President, although many encouraged him to apply. As Dean Albert I. Spanton wrote in “Fifty Years of Buchtel”: “Dr. C.M. Knight, the scholar and the gentleman . . . would have made an excellent president could he have won his own consent.” This is evident in this diary entry when he simply and modestly states “Opening of Fall term. I served as President. . . .”
From The University of Akron Photographs Collection in Archival Services of University Libraries
In 1909, Dr. Charles M. Knight convinced the faculty, the president, and the Board of Buchtel College to support a program in the distinctive area of rubber chemistry. Later that year, a new chemistry building opened and was named in Knight’s honor. It contained a special rubber chemistry laboratory and mixing and preparation room. The building was later converted into the Education Building and was eventually referred to as Old Knight Hall, It was razed in the early 1960s to make way for the new Business-Law Building, now known as Leigh Hall.
From The University of Akron Photographs Collection in Archival Services of University Libraries
Dr. Knight taught the world’s first rubber chemistry course, in 1909. This eventually led to the creation of the Institute for Rubber Research and the College of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering, which is recognized as one of the world’s best. He also introduced laboratory work to the college and built its first science lab.
From the Charles M. Knight Family Papers in Archival Services of University Libraries
Dr. Charles M. Knight retired from The University of Akron by announcing his retirement at the Board of Trustees Meeting on April 14, 1913, after 38 years of service to the College. Two months earlier, the Trustees conferred upon him the designation of Professor Emeritus of Natural Sciences and Dean Emeritus of the Faculty. As the newspaper article noted, the retirement of Knight was “a severe blow to Buchtel College” and “Buchtel College loses one of its foremost leaders.” Hezzleton E. Simmons, graduate of Buchtel College, assistant to Dr. Knight in the chemical laboratories, and future president of the University, became Knight’s successor as Professor of Chemistry.
From The University of Akron President’s Office Records in Archival Services of University Libraries
In this letter from Dr. Knight to Susie Chamberlain Cole, first graduate of Buchtel College, Knight reminiscences about his time at Buchtel College in honor of the University’s 50th anniversary and the preparation of Dean Albert I. Spanton’s book “Fifty Years of Buchtel.” In the letter Knight recalls coming to Buchtel College in 1875 and setting up the first chemistry laboratory in the basement of the Main College Building (now known as Old Buchtel Hall).
From The University of Akron President’s Office Records in Archival Services of University Libraries
This letter from W.P. Putnam, a chemist at the Detroit Testing Laboratory and former student of Knight’s (Buchtel College Class of 1893), wishes him well on his 90th birthday and recounts the days in Knight’s chemistry class in the basement laboratory in Old Buchtel Hall. He also recounts Knight’s ingenuity in creating a laboratory with meager resources and for has passion for teaching.
From The University of Akron President’s Office Records in Archival Services of University Libraries
In this letter to the alumni of Buchtel College and The University of Akron, Dr. Charles M. Knight thanks them for their well wishes on the occasion of his 90th birthday and recalls his years at the College. As he writes, “I sometimes think that the vision of the eager, interested faces, as you sat before me in the classroom or . . . in laboratory work is a more precious . . . delightful memory that I shall always keep.”
From the Charles M. Knight Family Papers in Archival Services of University Libraries
Dr. Charles M. Knight died on July 3, 1941 at the age of 93 at his winter home in Miami, Florida. He was active until he became sick two weeks before his death. Dr. Lee McCollester, friend of Dr. Knight’s, a Boston Universalist Minister, and son of Buchtel College’s first president Sullivan H. McCollester, officiated at the funeral. As his obituary states, “Dr. Knight was regarded as one of the best informed men in the United States on chemical engineering and research projects” and “achieved eminence in the comparatively modern science of chemistry.”
From The University of Akron Photographs Collection in Archival Services of University Libraries
In 1951 a new chemistry building was dedicated and opened and named in honor of Dr. Knight, the second building on the campus to bear his name. New Knight Hall, which included this fully equipped modern chemistry lab, was home to the Institute of Rubber Research. This building was renamed George W. Crouse Hall in 1978 after the Akron business leader, trustee, and benefactor of Buchtel College.
From The University of Akron Artifacts Collection in Archival Services of University Libraries
This scale model was used as a study for the full-scale statue of Dr. Knight that now resides on The University of Akron campus next to the Goodyear Polymer Building. The statue was installed in 1996 to honor the University’s first lay president, the College’s first professor of natural science, and the teacher of the world’s first course in rubber chemistry.
“Justly, temperately, wisely, he [Dr. Charles M. Knight] performed the routine and sometimes irksome duties of the presidential office, and gave them up to his successor without regret.”
– Dean Albert I. Spanton