Henry Cowles Smith

        One of the first teachers on the faculty of Plainfield College was the son of the college president,  A. A. Smith.  Young Cowles became an assistant teacher of Latin and Greek at Grand River Institute.  At the age of eighteen he joined the faculty of Greensburg Seminary, teaching their until he resigned to enter Oberlin College in 1860.

        He graduated from Oberlin in 1862 and was appointed professor of Vocal and Instrumental Music at Plainfield.  The following year he returned to marry Mary H. Dreisbach on July 30, 1863.

        In the spring of 1868, Smith resigned to enter Goldbeck's Conservatory of Music in Chicago.  In 1869 he was called back to Plainfield to fill the vacancy left by Mr. Leas.  He was actively involved with the college until his retirement in 1922 at the age of 82.

        He was described as having a keen sense of humor.  Although he was a religious man, his main interests were music and the classics, and he lacked the crusading zeal that his father possessed.

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