army officer, professor, Episcopal clergyman, educator, author, b. Lebanon, Conn. He graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point (1831), was commissioned a 2nd lieutenant, and in the summer of 1831 passed the senior examinations at Union College, Schenectady, N.Y., and received a B.A. degree. From 1831 to 1836 he served in the Army Corps of Engineers. Resigning his commission in 1836, he graduated from Union College (A.M., 1836), and from 1836 to 1842 was professor of chemistry at the Univ. of Pennsylvania. In 1842 he began to study for the Episcopal ministry, was ordained a deacon in 1843, and priest in 1844. He was rector of Christ Church, Pomfret, Conn. (1843-1852), and principal of the Christ Church preparatory school in Pomfret (1845-1852). In 1852 he became interested in attempts to organize an Episcopal college in Racine, Wis., resigned his post at Pomfret, and after several months of travel in Europe, moved to Racine in the fall of 1852 to become first president of Racine College. Park served in this capacity until 1859, when the college was united with St. John's Hall (Delafield, Wis.), at which time he relinquished the presidency to James DeKoven (q.v.). He continued to serve as chancellor of the college and professor of chemistry until 1863, and from 1856 to 1863 was also rector of St. Luke's Church in Racine. Moving to Chicago in 1863, Park established Immanuel Hall, a scientific and classical academy, and headed this school until his death. He was the author of Pantology, or a Systematic Survey of Human Knowledge (1841), A Handbook for American Travellers (1853), and The Classification of Human Knowledge (1855), as well as several other books and poems. Dict. Amer. Biog.; F. S. Parks, Genealogy of the Parke Families of Conn. (Washington, 1906); Wis. Mag. Hist., 35; WPA MS.

The Wisconsin Historical Society has manuscripts related to this topic. See the catalog description of the Roswell Park Poem for details.

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[Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin biography]