President Clippinger’s Squirrels by Alan Borer
The arrival of autumn brings a set of colors, and textures that bring back memories. When I was in grade school (and never you mind how long ago that was), our teacher posted cutout pictures displaying seasonal themes. September was too early for the inevitable jack-o-lanterns, so we were treated to fall scenes: colored leaves, corn shocks, and squirrels, each with an acorn and a goofy grin. Westerville has some squirrel stories in its history; here is one dating to 1914.
Walter Clippinger president of Otterbein University from 1909 to 1939, had a squirrel problem. He was a busy man, constantly fundraising, teaching, fundraising, scouting for new students, and fundraising. In 1914, he saw the need to spend a bit of the money on a campus enhancement. On January 12, he wrote a letter to Westerville mayor J. H. Larimore, which began:
At some expense, we are purchasing a number of fine squirrels and giving them a home on our college campus. Mr. Harris tells me that you kindly volunteered to ask for the passing of an ordinance for their protection….[i]
The Otterbein campus in 1914 was far more compact than today. Although we may applaud President Clippinger’s efforts at wildlife conservation, several questions could be raised. Did the squirrels stay on campus, or did they immediately disperse to the countryside? How did “Prexy” Clippinger decide whether a squirrel was “fine?” And just where would Clippinger find squirrels for purchase?
That question, at least, can be answered. In the basement of the Courtright Memorial Library, in a large ledger labeled “Cash Accounts,” in the “Disbursements” column, I located a payment made on January 9, 1914 to one William J. Mekenson, above which is the word “Squirrels.” I was lucky in the sense that I found the entry in the first volume I opened, and my luck held in that most entries were not labeled as to the item being purchased. Otterbein paid $20.00 (in 1914 dollars) for the ‘fine’ squirrels.[ii]
But who was William Mekenson? Surely some Blendon Township farmer, or possibly a landowner no further away than Delaware County. So it was with considerable surprise that I learned that Mr. Mekenson lived in Yardley, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, 500 miles from Westerville and on the outskirts of Philadelphia. Mr. Mekenson, a native of Canada, was indeed a purveyor of live animals. The 1910 Census listed him as a “naturalist,” but that may have been a euphemism. Mekenson had “one of the most unusual farms in the country.” Later in life he specialized in birds, but before World War 1 he dealt in all kinds of odd livestock. “One reason that might have caused him to cut down on the other animals was the time the monkeys got loose.” Allegedly, 100 monkeys made a run for it.[iii]
I have no idea how President Clippinger found out that a Pennsylvanian had squirrels for sale. Clippinger was a native of that state, and may have heard about Mekenson that way. Clippinger and Mekenson hay have met at Mount Aetna, a church camp in Berks
County, a county west of Bucks County. Clippinger vacationed there many summers. I also do not know, but wish I did, how the squirrels traveled to Westerville (by train?). The squirrels arrived in Westerville on January 14. The next day, the Public Opinion announced their arrival:
Five pairs of gray squirrels arrived Wednesday morning to be turned loose on the college campus . . . Small houses for the pets have been erected in some of the trees.[iv]
A nice touch, these squirrels, enlivening the campus. Then the same article announced a dark coda:
The red squirrels which were formerly found on the campus have been killed so that these [gray squirrels] just received could be safely distributed over the campus.[v]
It seems tragic (to me) that naturally occurring American red squirrels were killed off to make room for a “fine” squirrel. I do not blame Walter Clippinger; his area of expertise was education, not biology. Humans have a regrettable tendency to tinker with the natural order. Sparrows are not native to North America, nor are starlings, rats, or the house mouse. Actually, Clippinger did not need to get rid of the red squirrel. In a generation, the grey squirrel, which is larger and omnivorous compared to the red, would have probably replaced the red squirrel anyway.
We all know that squirrels are among the most common and numerous of Westerville creatures. Just this morning I watched two grey squirrels and one albino/white squirrel dashing up and down a pine tree in our yard. It is hard to determine which animals have the “right” to belong to a given place, and which are “suitable.” In the meantime, watch your neighborhood trees. They may harbor the descendants of the President’s “fine squirrels.
- Alan Borer
[i] Walter Clippinger to J. H. Larimore, January 12, 1914. Presidents’ Papers, Otterbein University Archives. No record of an ordinance regarding squirrels from 1914 can be found,
[ii] Otterbein University. University Archives. Cash Accounts, 1910-1915, p. 143.
[iii] "United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MG3Q-MQ4 : accessed 1 October 2017), Wm J Mackenson, Lower Makefield, Bucks, Pennsylvania, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 27, sheet 6B, family 113, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1982), roll 1320; FHL microfilm 1,375,333. ; “Yardley Has Unique Farm In Its Midst,” Bristol (PA) Daily Courier, June 10, 1954.
[iv] Westerville Public Opinion, January 15, 1914.
[v] Ibid.
https://www.mass.gov/service-details/learn-about-squirrels