New Albany -- Its Population -- Book Stores -- Seminaries of Learning -- and General Health of the City

This city contains a larger population than any other in Indiana; and we have little doubt but that the annual business done here is treble that of any other point in the State. But our intention in this article is to notice more particularly the great and growing interest manifested by our population in education and seminaries of learning, deferring noticing other important interests until some future time. With a population of over ten thousand, we have three large book establishments, which have increased their business more than three fold the past year. These houses are doing a large business and are in a flourishing condition. We have here the Western Presbyterian Theological Seminary, richly endowed. No institution of the kind in the great west is in a more flourishing condition. Then there is Anderson's Collegiate Institute and Female Seminary, situated in a delightful part of the city. These two seminaries of learning are not excelled in the country for able and competent teachers in every department or branch of instruction, and their popularity is unrivaled. Besides these, there is the Methodist Female Seminary, under the control of the Southern Indiana Conference, which is destined to be one of the first and best institutions of learning in this great valley. Then we have a City Seminary, with a large fine edifice, and ample means to enable the trustees to secure competent teachers. This, we learn, they have already done; and that this noble institution, which is handsomely endowed, was opened for female and male scholars on the second Monday of this month. In addition to all these flourishing colleges and seminaries of learning, we have two large city District Schools, with two of the finest public common school edifices in the State. In each of these schools there is two departments--one for male and the other for female scholars. These schools have been established, and the buildings erected, by a tax levied upon real and personal estate within the corporate limits of the city. There are several private and select schools in the city, which reflect credit upon the citizens of New Albany, for the deep interest manifested in education. With this brief notice of the seminaries of learning in our city, we should add several Literary Societies, Reading Rooms, Lyceums, &c., all of which add greatly to the means of education, and are deserving much more attention than is usually bestowed upon them. With the advantages of easily obtaining a thorough education, New Albany can also boast of being one of the most healthy points on the river, or in the Western country. And the expenses of tuition, boarding, and other necessary outlays, are much less here than many other places where even the same advantages cannot be obtained, and as reasonable as can be found in the West.