College, the Presbyterian College has made its impression upon the world, not by its famous graduates, but by the thoroughness of its instruction and by the number of earnest, thoughtful students who have left it to make homes better, to serve public interests in the schoolroom or church, or as missionaries to spread the good news of the kingdom throughout the earth.
At one time there was a flourishing academy for boys conducted under the auspices of the Congregational Church of Granville; but this name of academy is not preserved in Doane Academy, the preparatory school of Denison University, whose benefactor was William Howard Doane of Cincinnati, the well-known writer of Sunday school music.
For nearly seventy years Granville has been known as a college town. Thousands of difference individuals have gained education here, and this fact has widened its influence, until no one can rightly estimate its contribution to the life of the United States.
The old Granville in Massachusetts is largely owned by aliens now. The "old families" have few representatives, the Irish and later the Danes having come in to buy the farms once tilled by a race of commonwealth builders. The old church has lost its prestige, as newer faiths have gained in numbers and the influence of their adherents. If all of the old should pass away, however, the history of Granville, Massachusetts, is secure in the influences which have radiated from it and especially in the life of its child, Granville Ohio.
For this is a New England village in the West, a place of broad, shady streets lined with pleasant homes, a place of culture and refinement, where students come and go, where character is developed and destiny is shaped. One may trace the boundaries of the "green," now bisected by streets and quarters by church homes, or, turning aside a few rods from the centre of life, may find himself in a quaint and quiet city of two thousand dead, one of the most interesting burying grounds in Ohio, where curious epitaph and lofty sentiment mark stones which bear the names of honored New England families, tell of college life in famous New England institutions, or describe achievement of those who followed the flag of the Revolution of the War of 1812. New England is stamped all over this old burying ground, and when the stranger goes back to the main street, sees the well-equipped college buildings, the church edifices of unusual excellence, the commodious public school, learns that the municipality owns the electric light plant as well as a splendid system of water works, and gains some knowledge of the high tone of the community for morality and general education, he is impressed with he fact that this is an exceptional locality. When its history of nearly a century is made known to him, he understands and appreciates anew what the West owes to New England, and realizes to some extend the far-reaching influence of some little town, located it may be far from railroads, upon the summit of a Massachusetts hill.
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