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Information about Williamson Free School Of Mechanical Trades

The Williamson Free School of Mechanical Trades is a men's junior trade college located in Media, Pennsylvania, 14 miles away from both Philadelphia and Wilmington, Delaware. It was founded on December 1, 1888 and is not affiliated with any religious organization, although it does subscribe to a "Judeo-Christian" belief system.

Williamson is the only trade college in the United States of America that gives all students full scholarships to cover tuition, textbooks, and room and board. The school uses their endowment to cover two-thirds of their student costs each year, with the rest coming from private fundraising. The college and its students do not accept federal financial aid.

Programs of study are offered in carpentry, masonry, horticulture, landscaping, turf management, machine tools, painting, and power plant technology. Upon graduation, students receive Associate's degrees in their chosen fields, unless they opt for a lesser diploma in carpentry or masonry. The term of study at the college is three years.

The majority of Williamson 250 students come from the region of Southeastern Pennsylvania, which the school considers to be its preferred area to draw from when selecting new students. Approximately 95 new students are offered admission to the college each year. To be eligible for admission, students must be unmarried and no more than 20 years pf age.

All students are required to live on-campus in supervised dormitories, attend a daily chapel service, and follow a dress code. Students must also participate in at least one official student activity each year; choices include team sports, the student newspaper, and student government.

The Williamson athletics teams, which compete in the National Junior College Athletic Association, are known as the Mechanics.

Williamson is accredited by the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges of Technology.

The Williamson School sports teams, known as the Mechanics, compete in the National Junior College Athletic Association Division III for Football, Cross Country, Basketball, Ice Hockey, Wrestling, Soccer, Lacrosse and Baseball.

A Brief History of the Williamson School

On December 1, 1888, Isaiah Vansant Williamson, a Philadelphia merchant and philanthropist, founded The Williamson Free School of Mechanical Trades. His purpose in founding the School was to provide financially disadvantaged young men with the opportunity to become productive and respected members of society. In his own words, “It was seeing boys, ragged and barefooted, lounging on the streets, growing up with no education, no idea of usefulness, that caused me to think of founding a school where every boy could be taught some trade free of expense.”

I. V. Williamson was born in 1803 in Fallsington, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, to a Quaker family whose ancestors came to America before William Penn. As a boy, Williamson worked as an apprentice in a country store, saving enough money to open his own dry goods store in Philadelphia. For a number of years, he ran the store and several subsequent businesses quite successfully, enabling him to retire in 1838 with a small fortune. Adopting the custom of wealthy young men at that time, he traveled throughout Europe for a couple years.

Upon his return, Williamson began a plan for investing his money and by 1880 had become one of the wealthiest men in Philadelphia. As his wealth grew he turned to philanthropy, giving away much of his fortune. A self-effacing man, he anonymously gave large sums to favorite charities, hospitals, colleges, and homes for children. The founding of The Williamson Free School with a two million dollar endowment was one of his last charitable acts before he died in 1889.

Upon founding the School, he directed through a deed of trust that the Quaker ideals of hard work, honesty, religious faith, and modest lifestyle be instilled in the students. In his own words, he said that “in this country every able-bodied, healthy young man who has learned a good mechanical trade, and is truthful, honest, frugal, temperate, and industrious, is certain to succeed in life, and to become a useful and respected member of society.” Although some of the original rules have since been adapted to the times, the School remains dedicated to the values upon which it was founded.

The School's History

The 220-acre campus, located in Middletown Township, Delaware County, PA, was purchased in 1889. Frank Furness, one of the most prominent architects of the day, was employed to design the buildings. The School opened in 1891 and it offered three-year programs in bricklaying, carpentry, machine shop, and pattern-making. With the first graduation in 1894, the School became a significant pioneer in America’s vocational education movement.

In 1957, when a fire destroyed all but one of the shop buildings, it looked like Williamson might be forced to close, but the School was saved when the Board of Trustees entered into agreement with the Trustees of the Rodman Wanamaker estate, creating The John Wanamaker Free School of Artisans, now an integral part of Williamson. The agreement funded the construction of four new shop buildings and a general education building, and provided an endowment that covered an increase in the number of scholarships offered.

Until 1961, students were of high school age and the School’s curriculum emphasized the trades. However, due to the rise of secondary education and the significant advances of technology, the Williamson Board of Trustees decided to convert the School to a post-secondary institution. Programs were upgraded and in 1972 the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania granted the School the authority to award the Associate in Specialized Technology Degree. Williamson now offers Craftsman Diplomas in Carpentry and Masonry and Associate in Specialized Technology Degrees in Construction Technology (with an emphasis on carpentry or masonry); Horticulture, Landscaping and Turf Management; Machine Tool Technology; Paint and Coatings Technology; and Power Plant Technology.

Begun in the 19th century, Williamson still provides a free, quality trade and technical education to qualified young men and continues to upgrade its programs to meet the current challenges of advancing technology.

References

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In the United States, a junior college (informally, a juco) is a two-year post-secondary school whose main purpose is to provide academic, vocational and professional education.
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A vocational school, providing vocational education and also as referred to as a trade school or career college, and school is operated for the express purpose of giving its students the skills needed to perform a certain job or jobs.
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Borough of Media
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Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

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Nickname(s): Keystone State, Quaker State,
Coal State, Oil State
Motto(s): Virtue, Liberty and Independence

Capital Harrisburg
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1 mile =
SI units
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US customary / Imperial units
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Nickname: "City of Brotherly Love", "The City that Loves you Back", "Cradle of Liberty", "The Quaker City", "The Birthplace of America", "Philly".
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City of Wilmington
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State of Delaware

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Nickname(s): The First State, The Small Wonder, Blue Hen State
Motto(s): Liberty and Independence

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December 1 is the 1st day of the year (2nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 0 days remaining.

Events

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8th century - 9th century - 10th century
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Judeo-Christian (or Judaeo-Christian, sometimes written as Judæo-Christian) is a term used to describe the body of concepts and values which are thought to be held in common by Judaism and Christianity, and typically considered (sometimes along with classical
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scholarship is an award of access to an institution, or a financial aid award for an individual student scholar, for the purpose of furthering their education. Scholarships are awarded based on a range of criteria which usually reflect the values and purposes of the donor or
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Tuition means instruction, teaching or a fee charged for educational instruction especially at a formal institution of learning or by a private tutor usually in the form of one-to-one tuition.
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A textbook is a manual of instruction or a standard book in any branch of study. They are produced according to the demand of the educational institutions. Textbooks are usually published by one of the four major publishing companies.
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A financial endowment is a transfer of money or property donated to an institution, with the stipulation that it be invested, and the remain intact. This allows for the donation to have a much greater impact over a long period of time than if it were spent all at once.
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Fundraising is the process of soliciting and gathering money or other gifts in-kind, by requesting donations from individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies.
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Student financial aid refers to funding intended to help students pay educational expenses including tuition and fees, room and board, books and supplies, etc. for education at a college, university, or private school.
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A carpenter is a skilled craftsman who performs carpentry - a wide range of woodworking that includes constructing buildings, furniture, and other objects out of wood. The work generally involves significant manual labor and work outdoors, particularly in rough carpentry.
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Masonry is the building of structures from individual units laid in and bound together by mortar (though the word "masonry" sometimes means the stones, rather than the act or art of building, particularly in the expression "falling masonry" used in reports of fires and earthquakes).
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Horticulture (Latin: hortus (garden) + cultura (culture)) is the culture or growing of garden plants. Horticulture as classically defined is the subdivision of agriculture dealing in gardening, in contrast to agronomy, which deals with field crops and the
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Landscaping refers to any activity that modifies the visible features of an area of land, including but not limited to:
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Sod is turf and the part of the soil beneath it held together by the roots, or a piece of this material. Sod is grown on sod or turf farms. Most sod is grown locally to avoid long transport and drying out of the product.
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A machine tool is a powered mechanical device, typically used to fabricate metal components of machines by machining, which is the selective removal of metal. The term machine tool
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Painting, meant literally, is the practice of applying color to a surface (support) such as paper, canvas, wood, glass, lacquer or concrete. However, when used in an artistic sense, the term "painting" means the use of this activity in combination with drawing, composition and
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A power station (also referred to as generating station or power plant) is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power.[1][2][3]

Power plant
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An associate degree is an academic degree awarded by community colleges, junior colleges, business colleges and some bachelors degree-granting colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study usually lasting
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diploma (from Greek δίπλωµα diploma) is a certificate or deed issued by an educational institution, such as a university, that testifies that the recipient has successfully completed a particular course of study, or confers an academic degree.
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chapel is a holy place or area of worship, sometimes small and attached to a larger institution such as a large church, a college, a hospital, a palace, a prison or a cemetery, sometimes large and unattached to another building.
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