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Ichabod Washburn (1798–1868) was a church deacon and industrialist from Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. His financial endowments led to the naming of Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas and the foundation of Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, Massachusetts. Washburn became an apprentice in a Leicester, Massachusetts blacksmith shop at the age of sixteen. He attended Leicester Academy with his distant relative Emory Washburn (later Governor of Massachusetts) and Stephen Salisbury II, both of whom would many years later help in the founding of Worcester Polytechnic Institute.〔(WPI's Founding Fathers: Ichabod Washburn )〕 By 1865, Washburn was co-proprietor (with his son-in-law Philip Moen) of Washburn and Moen Manufacturing Company, the world's largest wire mill. The company manufactured piano wire, crinoline and supports for hoop skirts, wire for fences and other similar products.〔 ==Worcester Polytechnic Institute== Washburn was interested in setting up a vocational school for mechanics and wrote:
Along with John Boynton, another prominent Worcester industrialist, he founded the Worcester County Free Institute of Industrial Science in 1865. Its name was later changed to Worcester Polytechnic Institute. The collaboration between Boynton, who wanted to teach science, and Washburn, who wanted to teach vocational skills, led to the university's philosophy of "theory and practice."〔〔(WPI's Founding Fathers: John Boynton )〕 Washburn suffered a paralyzing stroke in February 1868 and died on December 31 of that year, only a month after the Institute opened and before the completion of the shop building. Boynton died before the first class entered in 1868. Their contributions to WPI in its infancy are memorialized by Boynton Hall and Washburn Shops, the first two buildings on the campus.〔〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Ichabod Washburn」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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