USA > Indiana > A history of the North Indiana Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, from its organization in 1844 to the present > Part 14
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The collegiate institute, which had been organized in 1851 for the education of men, although having a special act of incorporation, was little more than an adjunct of the Fort Wayne Female College. It was therefore thought best by the friends of both institu- tions to unite them under one management and form a single institution. This was effected October 10, 1855, and the joint institution became known as Fort Wayne College.
For several years the college was seriously embar- rassed with debt to the extent that the college build- ings and grounds were exposed to public sale. To be exact, debts against the trustees amounted to $8,000. The Conference recommended that as many members of the Conference as felt able to do so pay the college the sum of $3.33 for three successive years. Accord- ingly, within the next few years the college was relieved of its indebtedness. Of the $10,000, $2,000 was paid
9 Minutes North Indiana Conference, 1852, 8.
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by the resident trustees of Fort Wayne, and the North- west Indiana Conference pledged $3,155. The North Indiana Conference then proposed to raise $2,100, leaving the remainder to be raised by R. D. Robinson, the financial agent. The trustees recommended that this amount be equally divided between the districts. By the conference year of 1858 the debt was reduced to $2,000, and with the reduction of the debt much work was done toward improving the buildings.
The Conference which met at Wabash, Indiana, in 1863, owing to decline in attendance, determined to make the institution a first-class college for young ladies and to discontinue the department for young men. This did not materially decrease the enrollment; however, the next year both men and women were allowed to attend the college.
The government of the school was at all times mild but firm. When the president was asked how he main- tained such good discipline when he had so many stu- dents with whom to deal, he replied that their stand- ard at all times was to strive to do right, founded upon the Golden Rule. "If any offense is committed it is my invariable practice to ask, 'Was it right?' No act of any student can be regarded rightly an offense unless measured by the standard of the Golden Rule. By keeping before the students as a standard of action the simple text of right or wrong, a deep feeling of personal responsibility can be cultivated."10
In 1866 the ladies of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Fort Wayne met at the Fort Wayne Col- lege hall April 24, effecting a preliminary organiza- tion of a centenary association. On motion it was resolved that the money raised by this association be applied to the endowment of a chair in Fort Wayne College and all funds, after paying current expenses, should be appropriated to the Fort Wayne College. Any
10 Western Christian Advocate, 1861, p. 3.
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lady paying one dollar could become a member, and was entitled to have her name preserved in the archives of the college.11 The financial conditions of this year were reported as being better than at any time since the laying of the cornerstone. President R. D. Robin- son offered his resignation in 1866; however, it was not accepted, and he was requested to withdraw his name, which he did, and the bishop was asked to re- appoint him. The same year plans were also taken up to make arrangements to repaint and refit the col- lege buildings and apartments. The college was closed for a few months while the repairs were being made.
D. P. Hartman was appointed financial agent. In making the canvass of his district he was asked this question by a donor of the institution, "Will you tell me why our seminaries and colleges want money more and more?" "Yes, sir," said Mr. Hartman; "you see, it is because they are living and growing. The dead ask for no more. You stop spending money for your dead child when you put him in his coffin, but the liv- ing child-you find every day some new thing you want for him." Hartman was one of the most suc- cessful financial agents Fort Wayne College ever had. In addition to raising money for the improvement of buildings and ground, valuable philosophical apparatus was installed, and the library increased to 1,600 vol- umes. This year was also marked by a deep religious interest by the students. Many were converted and brought into the church. Many of the students took to the work of the ministry and prepared themselves to go at the bidding of the church.
Rev. J. B. Robinson was president from 1869-1871. However, in 1871 he offered his resignation, which was accepted. Professor L. Beers was elected acting presi- dent for one year. At the joint meeting of the board
11 Ibid, 1866, 178.
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of trustees the next March Rev. R. D. Robinson was elected president.
Owing to the lack of a permanent endowment the financial basis was never secure. The centenary dona- tions were largely surrendered scholarships, canceled debts and town lots, whose full estimate could never be realized.12 Old scholarships were presented in the last two years to the number of forty-one. Twenty- two were canceled by use and the remainder had an average life of two years, so that in 1873 the debt was about $7,000.13 The next year, however, saw this debt greatly reduced, $3,000 being pledged by the min- isters of the Conference.
In 1878 the primary department was discontinued and enrollment was limited to those who were pre- pared for regular classes. In June of the same year (1878) W. F. Yocum was inaugurated as president. He had attainments of high grade, together with years of experience in educational work in the church. Under President Yocum an art department was estab- lished and a normal14 of ten weeks was started, which later proved a great success in preparing teachers for their winter work. An interesting feature in connec- tion with this work was the fact students were allowed under the supervision of an employed teacher to take charge of some of the classes themselves, which proved to be a very successful arrangement.
One of the most popular departments was the busi- ness department. Not only on account of the excellent opportunities offered by such a course, but also because of the efficient instruction. The course was extended to include the whole school year, and attention was given to commercial law and everything necessary to make a practical business man. Ornamental penman-
12 Minutes, 1871, 42. Report of Committee on Education.
13 Ibid, 1873, 45.
14 Ibid, 1878, 28.
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ship was also offered; besides this, a department of German was opened, under the direction of J. I. Shearer, a native German, and an attendant upon the Chautauqua School of Language, with especial atten- tion to colloquial exercises.
The work of President Yocum did much to raise the college to a commanding position among the edu- cational institutions of the state. Under his direction it became worthy of the patronage of Methodists in the Conference. The enrollment and also the number of graduates reached their highest point in the history of the school during this administration. In 1882 there were nine academic graduates, and two from the normal department. The advanced department of the business college was separated from the Fort Wayne College during this year, but the graduates received their degrees from the college. The college buildings were not large enough to accommodate all the students by fifty.
In 1888 President Yocum resigned and his resig- nation was very reluctantly accepted. The trustees elected H. N. Herrick, pastor of the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Fort Wayne, to fill his place. The total enrollment at the beginning of the year was three hundred and the graduating class numbered eighteen.
However, with the progress along these lines, the debt also increased. The bonded debt was $10,000, due in fifteen months, and additional debts amounting to $5,000. At the Conference which met at Wabash in 1888 the following resolutions were passed :
First-That $1,000 be estimated and equally distributed by the presiding elders to the various charges, to be raised and paid to the trustees as the educational collection for the ensuing cou- ference year.
Second-That in our judgment the interest of education as they are affected by DePauw University and Fort Wayne College would be best conserved by incorporating said Fort Wayne Col-
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lege as a part of DePauw University, under the same manage- ment.
Third-That a committee of three be appointed to confer with the authorities of both institutions in reference to adjust- ments that may be necessary to such consolidation, and to pro- vide any plan by means of which the consolidation of these two institutions may be secured, and that W. S. Birch, T. Stabler and R. D. Robinson be said committee.
Nothing, however, came of this suggestion.
At the Conference session of 1890, which met at Muncie, the committee on education gave the condition of Fort Wayne College a very careful and prolonged consideration, and brought in a long report, stating that the institution had had a struggle for existence for many years, and that the environments for the suc- cess of the college had always been adverse and beyond the control of the Conference. The indebtedness had now reached $20,000 and there was a very general feeling in the Conference that the college property should be sold, and that a new location should be found for the college. The committee made seven recom- mendations, as follows :
1. That the Trustees sell the College property and after paying the debts use the remainder for the erection of a build- ing on the new location.
2. That the Trustees be empowered to turn over to a new Board of Trustees all surplus notes and apparatus, etc., which the said Trustees may now possess.
3. The third resolution provided for a commission consisting of W. S. Birch, E. F. Hasty, C. U. Wade, C. E. Bacon, W. D. Parr, D. C. Woolpert. H. N. Herrick, C. W. Lynch and M. H. Mendenhall, to take full charge of the changing of the location of the College. The commission were asked to invite overtures from the towns in the conference for the locating of the College, stating that at least 25 acres would be necessary for a campus. The commission were also requested to consult the educational authorities of the Church in regard to the location. The insti- tution was to open as an academy, and a financial agent was to be employed.
4. It was recommended that College classes continue at Fort Wayne only until the end of that year.
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The fourth and fifth recommendations had to do with the appointment of trustees and visitors for Fort Wayne College, while the seventh provided for the rais- ing of $1,000 in the Conference to be used by the com- mission on the change of location.15
Before the meeting of the next Conference a propo- sition from Taylor University, an institution at Up- land, Indiana, established by the Local Preachers' Asso- ciation of the Methodist Episcopal Church, to take over the property and assume all the indebtedness of Fort Wayne College, was accepted by the trustees after con- ferring with the commission appointed a year previous. The commission also made a special report in refer- ence to the establishment of a new Conference institu- tion to take the place of Fort Wayne College, but no further report appears, and the matter was wisely dropped.16
Taylor University, though located within the bounds of the North Indiana Conference, has never had any official relation to the Conference, though the Conference from time to time has taken notice of the institution and has recommended it to the patronage of Methodists withi nthe bounds of the Conference.
WHITEWATER FEMALE COLLEGE, AND THE INDIANA FEMALE COLLEGE.
The North Indiana Conference in its early years was interested in several other educational enterprises, among the most important being Whitewater College, located at Centerville, with a branch at Richmond, and the Indiana Female College at Indianapolis. The pub- lic school system of Indiana, for the first fifty years of its history, was very poorly organized, although the constitution of 1816 provided for an ambitious system
15 Minutes, 1890, 65, 66.
16 Ibid, 1891, 62, 63.
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of schools, "ascending in regular gradation from town- ship schools to a State University." But this was a dead letter, and in reality there was no system and very few public schools in Indiana before the Civil War.18 As a consequence of this condition, many pri- vate institutions sprang up in various parts of the state. The old county seminaries19 which had been provided for in the first constitution (1816), did not make provision for the education of girls, but after 1840 much more attention was given to female education, and a number of "female" seminaries and colleges sprang up, many of them under the direction of the church. Between 1840 and 1851 at least fourteen female seminaries were organized in the state.20
Whitewater Female College and Academy was in- corporated in 1848, under the direction of trustees chosen by the North Indiana Conference. It was to give efficient instruction to young ladies in all branches of scientific and classical education, with certain orna- mental branches also.21 In 1851 the charter of the institution was so amended as to allow young men as well as young ladies to attend, and at the conference of 1852 the institution was reported in a flourishing condition, entirely free from financial embarrass- ment.22 In 1849 the conference visitors attended the examinations, and reported that in addition to the usual branches studied, the young ladies were instruct- ed in the legal rights of women, and domestic economy. They were also taught "their relation to men, and to civil and social society."23
18 Esarey, History of Indiana, 289, 290.
19 Wakefield, County Seminaries in Indiana ( Indiana Maga- zine of Hist., Vol. XI., No. 2, 148-161). 20 Ibid, 160.
21 Western Christian Advocate, 1849, 27.
22 Minutes, 1852, 7, 8.
23 Western Christian Advocate, 1849, 153.
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The first president of Whitewater College was T. H. Lynch, a graduate of Transylvania University.24 He held this post but one year, and was succeeded by S. J. Gillet, presiding elder of Centerville district. In 1850 Cyrus Nutt was elected president, which post he held until 1855. Under his direction the institution prospered, and the student body increased from 140 to over 300. In 1856 the institution was leased to three gentlemen for a period of five years, on condition that its efficiency and usefulness were to be maintained, and that its charter was not to be violated. Under this new management the conference continued to elect trustees and visitors, just as they had previously done. In 1850 the Indiana Conference had been invited to share the management of the institution, as was also the Southeastern Indiana Conference some years later. There are annual reports of Whitewater College to be found in the conference minutes, under the general report on education, up until 1864, but after that no further mention is made of the institution.25
An institution similar to the Whitewater Female College was the Indianapolis Female Collegiate Insti- tute, which was opened in that city in 1843.26 Another such school was the Indiana Female College, also in In- dianapolis, which was organized in 1850 under the presidency of Rev. T. H. Lynch. This school was un- der the patronage of the North Indiana conference until about 1867, though the conference only appointed visitors and not trustees.
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY.
At the conference session of 1855 the committee on education reported that the charter of Northwestern
24 Holliday, Indiana Methodism, 290-295.
25 Minutes, 1852, 7; 1853, 11; 1854, 16; 1855, 32; 1856, 24; 1857, 27-28; 1858, 24, etc.
26 Western Christian Advocate, 1844, 47.
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University, just then being organized, entitled the North Indiana conference to share in the management of that institution, and the president of the board of trustees had invited the conference to elect four trus- tees. Accordingly a resolution favoring the enterprise was passed, and four trustees were apopinted, as fol- lows, S. C. Cooper, S. Brenton, C. Nutt and Bishop Ames.27 The conference continued to appoint trustees until 1864, after which no further reports upon North- western University are found in the minutes.
MARION AND FARMERS' ACADEMIES.
At the session of the conference in 1858 a request was made that a new institution located at Marion and known as Simpson College, be received under the pat- ronage of the conference, with the understanding that the conference assume no financial responsibility.28 The conference for some reason objected to the name Simpson College, and agreed to accept the institution, provided the name should be changed to Marion Acad- emy. The connection of the conference to this acad- emy, however, seems to have been short lived, for no further mention is made of it in the report of the Com- mittee on Education after 1860.
In 1860 the conference received still another request to take an academy under its patronage. A school of academy grade, known as Farmer's Academy had been founded at Portland in 1855, and some years later it was purchased by some members of the Methodist Church at Portland.29 These new owners requested the North Indiana conference to take the school under its patronage, though they did not ask the conference to assume any financial obligation. The conference ac- cordingly accepted the proposition of the owners, and
27 Minutes, 1855, 32, 33. 28 Ibid, 1858, 25, 26. 29 Ibid, 1860, 31.
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two visitors to the institution, were appointed, though this arrangement evidently lasted but a few years.
INDIANA ASBURY UNIVERSITY.
Although the North Indiana conference had many and various educational interests, especially during the early period of its history yet Indiana Asbury, the eldest daughter among Methodist educational institu- tions in Indiana, continued to hold the chief interest of the conference, and all through the years generally stood first in the report of the conference committee on education. In 1852 the committee reports that As- bury "is at length established on a firm foundation, and sustained by the quadruple influence of the four sister conferences of Indiana ; . and still nourished and cherished by God's heavenly grace, Asbury shall stand upon Putnam's heights, and send forth the streams of sanctified learning- throughout the length and breadth of our land."03 The report of the commit- tee in 1853 speak in highest terms of the condition of the University, and they mention the establishment of a law department, and a Biblical department, and the election of Dr. Nast, editor of the Christian Apologist as the professor of German. In each of these yearly reports the appointment of trustees and visitors is also recommended.
In 1848 Matthew Simpson, the first president of Indiana Asbury, was elected editor of the Western Christian Advocate, and the trustees elected Edward R. Ames as his successor. Dr. Ames, however, declined the position, and during 1849 Professor Larrabee was the acting president.31 In 1849 Rev. Lucian W. Berry was elected the second president of the University, and served five years, resigning in 1854. During his ad-
30 CÍinutes, 1852, 7.
31 Brown, History of DePauw Uni., 23; also Western Chris- tian Advocate, 1848, 97.
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ministration the law school mentioned above was es- tablished, which continued until 1863, during which period it sent out fifty-four graduates.32 On the resig- nation of President Berry, Rev. Daniel Curry, a grad- uate of Wesleyan University, was elected as his succes- sor. Dr. Curry's administration lasted but three years, and although he was an able educator, and had as his associates on the faculty a group of well-trained men, his administration was not successful, and he became involved and embarrassed and finally resigned.33 The trustees then elected Judge David McDonald as presi- dent, and Rev. Cyrus Nutt as vice-president. Judge McDonald declined to accept the position, and the trus- tees the next June elected Rev. Thomas Bowman the third president of the University.
The administration of Dr. Bowman was the longest up to that time, lasting fourteen years, and in many re- spects the connection between the North Indiana con- ference and Asbury University became more vital dur- ing this period, largely due to the fact that Dr. Bow- man became a member of the North Indiana conference in 1865. When Dr. Bowman became president of the University he transferred to the Southeast Indiana conference, but in 1853 Moores Hill College had been established in that conference, and naturally they were more interested in the success of their own institution than in Indiana Asbury University.
In 1862 we find the conference inviting the faculty to travel through the conference, during vacation, to present the claims of the University,34 and in 1864 they "recommend our cherished university to the confidence
32 Ibid, 24, 25.
33 Holliday, Indiana Methodism, 303. During Dr. Curry's administration a student rebellion occurred, which finally result- ed in the suspension of a large number of students. (Putnam Republican Banner, Vol. IV., Nos. 45-48.) Quoted in Brown, Hist. of DePauw, 25-28.
34 Minutes, 1862, 34.
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of the people."35 In their report to the conference of 1865 a resolution was presented asking each preacher in the conference to deliver a sermon on the subject of education some time during the year, and take up a collection for the University, and they also recommend the holding of an educational convention in Indianapo- lis, in May of that year, which shall be attended by both ministers and laymen, while the last resolution wel- comes Dr. Bowman to membership in the conference, and promises to aid him in promoting the interests of the university.36
At the session of the conference in 1866 elaborate plans were laid to celebrate the centenary of American Methodism, and the raising cf a centenary offering. The committee proposed to raise $160,000, a large per- centage of which was to be given for educational pur- poses, and of this amount Indiana Asbury was to re- ceive $84,000. The amount actually collected, however, fell far short of the sum proposed, and Asbury received only $14,195.37 In the year 1867 brief extracts from the university treasurer's report were printed in the minutes, which were as follows :
Endowments, loaned on mortgage, personal and col-
lateral security, on an average of 914 per cent.
interest $15,744.45
In U. S. 7-30 Bonds. 5,000.00
Bonds of Indiana Central R. R. at 10 per cent. 14,000.00
$64,744.95
Value of grounds and buildings.
$27,000.00
Value of lands in Starke and St. Joseph counties. 7,800.00
$99,544.95
35 Ibid, 1864, 31.
36 Ibid, 1865, 32, 33. 37 Ibid, 1867, 29, 30.
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In this year the educational committee of the con- ference also recommended the election of George Mil- burn of Mishawaka as a trustee.
The next year (1868) the conference resolved to "en- courage our people to contribute liberally towards erecting new buildings," and they pledged themselves "to raise . . . a sum of money sufficient . to endow a chair in the Indiana Asbury University, said sum" to be about $16,000, and they promise to raise public collections for that purpose until the endowment is completed. The next two years the conference re- affirmed their action in reference to the endowment. The conference committee on education in 187038 an- nounced a gift of $25,000 to the university, by R. Stock- well, Esq., of Lafayette, and they also rejoice in a gracious revival at the university, in which sixty stu- dents were converted. In the minutes for 1871 an extended report of the university is given, including a summary of the number of graduates up to that time and their occupations. There had been 31 commence- ments and 423 graduates ; 327 collegiate, 56 law and 40 medical. At that time there were 389 alumni, 47 of whom were ministers; 3 missionaries ; 10 college presi- dents; 20 professors; 59 physicians; 129 lawyers, and 121 in other callings. In 1870 there were 254 students in the college and 90 in the preparatory department. "In this year with only seven members of the faculty and an income of $8,800 besides the janitor's fees, As- bury provided 344 students with educational facilities, while Indiana State University, during the same year,
38 Between 1869 and 1880 the following gifts were received by the University-1869, $25,000 from Robt. Stockwell; $27,000 in 1872 by the same donor, and in 1873 he gave still another $25,000; Gen. Joseph Orr contributed $5,000 in 1877; John R. Goodwin $10,000 in 1880; Dr. George Manners, $10,000 in 1879, and $15,000 a few years later; in 1883, Robert McKim gave $11,000 for the erection of the observatory. (Brown. History of DePauw, 41.)
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