Near the Cross

William Howard Doane was a manufacturer, inventor, hymn writer, choral director, church leader and philanthropist. He composed over 2,000 church hymns. More than seventy patents are credited to him for innovations in woodworking machinery. His philanthropy led to the renaming of the Granville Academy, as the Doane Academy, a boys' and girls' private preparatory school associated with Denison University in Granville, Ohio, where he was a major benefactor.