arch foe of the New Deal and President Roosevelt, Snell served for 46 years on Clarkson's
Board of Trustees, for 35 of which he served as its president. Even though he retired as Board
president in 1945, he continued to serve on it until his death.
A generous friend to the College, he gave $150,000 to the College Endowment and
Expansion Campaign for Clarkson to obtain the former building housing the Potsdam State
Crane School, a building which the College named in his honor, and then left the College an
additional $100,00 in his will. Earlier, he had given $40,000 to the College for the completion
of the athletic field that now bears his name.
Born in Colton, he graduated from Potsdam Normal School, and then from Amherst in
1894. He received an honorary Doctor of Laws from Amherst in 1921, and an honorary Doctor
of Science from Clarkson in 1943. He was instrumental in developing the Raquette River Paper
Company of Potsdam, and owned and operated a sawmill in Canton. He developed the Snell
Power Company in 19ll, which drew on power generated at a hydroelectric plant on the
Raquette River at Higley Falls. He served as president and manager of the Phoenix Cheese
Company of New York City from 1917 until 1925.
Active in politics, he served as a member of the House of Representatives from 1915
until 1939, representing the 31st district of New York. For eight years when the Republicans
were in power, he served as chairman of the House Rules Committee; for eight years (1931-38)
he was minority leader of the House while the Democrats were in power, and he was Chairman
of the Republican National Conventions in 1932 and 1936. A fighter all his life, he had
differences with the White House regardless of its occupant, and was known all over
Washington as "Hard Boiled Snell." Because he had introduced the first bill to authorize the St.
Lawrence Seaway, Mr. Lewis Castle, administrator of the Seaway Development Corporation,
announced in 1958, that with White House approval:
In naming the Wiley-Dondero Canal, and the Eisenhower and Snell Locks, the
nation is honoring our president who signed the Seaway Act, the legislator who
sponsored it as well as the legislator who introduced the original bill 41 years ago.
Clarkson Family History.
The Clarkson Family of Potsdam, a 30-page booklet written by
Marguerite Gurley Chapman, was published, detailing the genealogy of the Clarkson family. It
also includes a brief summary of the early history of Northern New York as it relates to the
family, a section on Holcroft House and the names of its residents until Clarkson College took
it over, the role of the Clarkson family in the Episcopal Church, and a biography of Thomas
S. Clarkson and the memorials to him.
Statistics.
Fall enrollment was 1,488 and tuition climbed to $1,000 per year.
New Hockey Coach.
Leonard Ceglarski was appointed as coach of hockey and assistant
professor. He succeeded William P. Harrison who had resigned his coaching duties earlier in
the year to accept a one-year National Science Foundation Faculty Fellowship at Purdue.
Ceglarski compiled a fine record both as hockey coach and player. An All-American
skater, he earned three letters each in hockey and baseball at Boston College. He played left
wing on the Boston College hockey teams which played in the National Collegiate Athletic
Association championships in 1948 and 1949. The 1949 team won the tourney by defeating
Dartmouth 4-3 when Ceglarski scored the third goal which gave BC the National
Championship. Following his graduation with a bachelor of science degree, Ceglarski became
