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Born
in the Berkshire Hills of
Massachusetts in 1843, Russell
H. Conwell was born into country
poverty. His father was a devout
man who ran a station on the
Underground Railway. Among the
many slaves who passed though
were Frederick Douglass and John
Brown. Russell H. Conwell
enlisted in the Union Army
during the Civil War and served
for two years. He earned his law
degree and then revisited the
Civil War battlefields to write
reports for the New England
newspapers.
At 27, his work as a journalist
afforded him the opportunity to
ride in a camel caravan in
Mesopotamia. Conwell was awed by
the local legend about a Persian
farmer, who was tempted by the
stories of immense wealth and
sold his land to search for
diamonds. He died in poverty far
from home, and the man who
purchased his land discovered
diamonds there. This story
inspired Conwell’s famous “Acres
of Diamonds” speech.
“My best-known lecture, Acres of
Diamonds, was a mere accidental
address, at first given before a
reunion of my old comrades of
the Forty- sixth Massachusetts
Regiment, which served in the
Civil War and in which I was
captain. I had no thought of
giving the address again.” By
1925, he had delivered the
lecture more than 6,000 times.
For the text of Conwell's
speeches see:
http://www.library.temple.edu/speccoll/tem.htm
Conwell entered the ministry in
1879. In 1882, Conwell became
the pastor of Grace Baptist
Church in Philadelphia, where he
served for 43 years. In 1884, a
young man approached Conwell for
help to prepare for the
ministry. Conwell offered to
teach the young man and his
friends one night a week. In ten
years, the student body had
grown from seven to forty-two
hundred students. The newly
named Temple College was issued
a charter in 1888, and Conwell
was elected President. He
continued to serve his college
and community until his death. |
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At
Broad and West Berks Street (now
called Berks Mall), The Baptist
Temple, a Temple University and
Pennsylvania historical
landmark, was completed in the
1891, three years before Broad
Street's cobblestones were paved
over. Accommodating over four
thousand people, the building
served as a combination church,
meeting hall and community
center. The building was the
vision of the Grace Baptist
Church and Pastor Conwell. Its
funding began with the donation
of fifty-seven cents by a
terminally ill little girl. The
Temple was certified as a
historical building in 1984.
Some extraordinary features of
the church included the
auditorium, the organ, the
stained glass windows,
especially the big Rose window,
the high balcony, and the pulpit
with a heart carved of olivewood
from the Garden of Gethsemane.
President Truman dedicated the
Chapel of the Four Chaplains in
1951 to honor the chaplains who
gave their lifejackets to save
others on the Dorchester,
torpedoed off the coast of
Greenland in World War II. The
Temple is currently undergoing a
multi-million dollar renovation
and will be re-dedicated in 2009
as a state-of-the-art 1500 seat
performance and lecture facility
incorporating all of the
historical details of the
original building.
Built in 1893, College Hall was
the original classroom building
for Temple College. Containing
 35 classrooms and a lecture hall
called the Forum, College Hall
was the home of the University's
library until 1936 when Sullivan
Memorial Library was opened. Conwell had requested that
church members donate a book to
help stock the library. The
newly formed School of Commerce
was begun in 1918 on the third
floor. In 1986, The Philadelphia
Historical Commission approved
the historic certification of
College Hall. Sullivan Hall, as
the new library, was dedicated
in 1936. The ceremony was
attended by President F. D.
Roosevelt.
In 1922, Conwell officiated at
the ground breaking for a new
six-story building, and as his
custom, auctioned of the shovels
of dirt. The college had grown
to 8,000 students and 400
faculty. When Conwell passed
away at the age of 82 in 1925,
the building was re-named
Conwell Hall.
Reverend Conwell's purpose was
to make quality education
available to all capable people,
especially those who
circumstances required that they
work while attending school.
Russell Conwell's grave is in
the Founder's Garden of the main
campus of Temple University.
Today, less than 100 feet from
Rev. Conwell’s final resting
place stands the Conwell Inn. |
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 In
1965, an Act of the Legislature
designated Temple University a
state-related institution in the
Pennsylvania Commonwealth System
of Higher Education.
Today Temple University is home
to 35,000 students across five
regional campuses, including the
Main Campus, the Health Sciences
Campus, and Center City Campus
in Philadelphia; Temple
University at Ambler; and Tyler
School of Art in Elkins Park
(The university is currently
building a new Tyler School of
Art on the main campus and will
close the Elkins Park facility
in the Fall of 2009). The
University also has an education
center in Harrisburg, and
international campuses in Tokyo,
Japan, and Rome, Italy. Temple
also offers educational programs
in the People's Republic of
China, Israel, Greece, Great
Britain, and France.
Since 1966, Paley Library has
served as the main university
library and was named for Samuel Paley, a Philadelphia cigar
manufacturer and philanthropist.
Samuel was born in Russia and
immigrated to this country.
Paley Library has four levels
and sits on 20,000 square feet
of land. The Libraries of Temple
University are a network of
services and resources, which
support the educational and
research needs of the
University. The Libraries
contain 2.5 million volumes. The
Paley Library also houses the
Conwellana-Templana Collection
of historical documents from
Reverend Conwell, the university
and the neighboring community. |
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Temple
University is a comprehensive
public research university with
30,000 students. It has a
distinguished faculty in 16
schools and colleges, including
schools of Law, Medicine,
Podiatry, and Dentistry, and a
renowned Health Sciences Center.
With the University of
Pittsburgh and Penn State
University, Temple is one of
three public research
universities in Pennsylvania.
Temple University is in the top
50 universities in the United
States, and one of the largest
providers of professionals to
the Philadelphia community.
Despite its roots stemming from
the Grace Baptist Church, Temple
has always been a non-sectarian
institution. Its mission has
been to reach the working
classes of any religious or
cultural background. President
Conwell chose the owl to
represent the hard working
students who attended evening
classes. It remains the school’s
mascot. |
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Temple University is an oasis
within the city, a tree-filled
sanctuary of education and
social interaction. Beautiful
ivy-covered Gothic buildings mix
with state of the art modern
additions and each of our guest
room windows offer a different
and unique view of campus and
campus life.
The Liacouras Center, located
across the street from the
Conwell Inn, is the home of
Temple's basketball and
gymnastics teams, as well as
concerts, drama, athletic and
commencement events. The Esther
Boyer Theater at the Liacouras
Center is a theater for smaller
events.
The Campanile, or bell tower, in
front of the Library is the
highest point on campus. The
five bells ring chimes every
quarter hour, and the big bell
rings on the hour. The gypsum
rocks, encased in the base of
the tower, are from the farm of
the Persian farmer.
Park Mall was formerly student
housing in row houses in what is
now the center of campus. The
tree lined mall has been renamed Liacouras Walk and is home to
the Conwell Inn and new retail &
specialty shops. |
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From
rented rooms, a single nurse,
and a single patient in 1891,
grew what developed into the
Samaritan Hospital, founded in
1892 by Reverend Conwell. In
1929, Samaritan Hospital was
renamed Temple University
Hospital. Temple University
School of Medicine opened its
doors to students in 1901, as
the first coeducational medical
college in Pennsylvania. It was
begun as a night and weekend
teaching endeavor to accommodate
working people. Classes were
held in College Hall and
clinical instruction was given
at the Samaritan Hospital.
Temple medical school formed its
first formal affiliation in 1928
with the Jewish Hospital of
Philadelphia (Albert Einstein
Medical Center). |
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1331 West Berks Street
Philadelphia, PA 19122
General
215-235-6200
Fax
215-235-6235
Toll Free
888-379-9737
Email
info@conwellinn.com
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