USA > Kansas > A standard history of Kansas and Kansans, Volume II > Part 50
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On October 19, 1891, ground was broken for the faculty building. It extends north and south and has a frontage of 238 feet. Occupation took place in July, 1893. It is of red brick, with a roof of galvanized iron shingles. A tower 133 feet in height, for telescopic observation, rises at the north end. In 1898 a gymnasium was begun, but this was a frame structure and at present serves merely for indoor basketball and hand-ball.
As a corps of nuns from the convent of Mount Saint Scholastica, Atchison, are in charge of the kitchen, a dwelling was erected for their exclusive use.
With the acquisition of additional property, the desirability of a more convenient location for both students and professors was urged. Before long it was resolved to transfer the entire institution, albeit gradually, to higher ground. Accordingly, in 1907, architects were engaged to draw up and submit plans of an entire college plant, to consist of a series of buildings, of the Tudor-Gothic style, enclosing a quadrangle, and over- looking the Missouri River and all Atchison.
On the highest point but one in the vicinity of Atchison an orchard and vineyard were cleared away and the foundation was laid of the principal structure of the proposed group, the administration building. It extends east and west, a distance of 184 feet and its wings measure each seventy-nine feet in length.
A strip of wooded land comprising ten acres, bounded on the west by property belonging to Mr. C. W. Symns, and on the south by the college grounds, was donated to St. Benedict's by Atchison's "Committee of Forty" in 1907. A knoll about 11/2 acres in extent and separating the eastern end of Mount Street from the college land was also purchased in 1908 from various parties.
While now known as "College Park," the gift of the "Committee of Forty" was chosen as a site for the heating-plant. The fountain in front of the main entrance was donated by T. M. Walker, of Atchison. An Italian marble figure of St. Benedict occupies a niche of forty feet
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above the entrance. It is the gift of Mr. Henry Nordhus, Sr., of Seneca, Kansas.
Bordering on Riley Street, which is the next south of Mound, is a vacant lot among several, on which a spring has never ceased to bubble forth, and which, as far back as memory goes, has furnished more than enough water to supply the neighborhood. This lot and spring was sold to the college in 1909 by Mr. B. P. Brown. The water is pumped by gas engines to a height of 180 feet into the supply-tank mentioned above, which has a capacity of 40,000 gallons, whence it is distributed to the various buildings and hydrants. In the same year a new system of sewers was laid. Flower beds adorn the terraces and the proposed double walkway leading to the new college buildings. More attention, however, has been directed to the planting of trees, such as the maple. elm, oak, hackberry, ash, and many varieties of evergreen. A genera- tion and more of tree planting and tending has made the entire premises a veritable garden, where trees and shrubbery shade and border spacious walks and are admired by visitors.
The main walk between the upper and the lower buildings is electri- cally lighted. From it paths branch off to the playgrounds and to the four baseball diamonds and numerous tennis-courts and hand-ball alleys. The main athletic field is encircled by a quarter-mile oval, which is a cinder track lined by a cement drain. Play-rooms are equipped with billiard tables and gymnastic appliances. Intercollegiate games have never been encouraged because of their tendency to detract from study. The faculty numbers twenty-five; the mean attendance of students is 260. The curriculum of the college embraces preparatory, high school and col- legiate courses, and a business and commercial training. There are two libraries-one in the administration building of 5,000 volumes and another of 36,000 housed in the faculty building.
In December, 1891, a college magazine, bearing the title, "Abbey Student," made its appearance. The alumni were organized in 1898. W. P. Waggener, of Atchison, is now president. Among graduates who are in the service of the church are the bishops of three dioceses; the Rt. Rev. J. Cunningham, D. D., of Concordia; the Rt. Rev. T. F. Lillis, D. D., of Kansas City, Missouri; and the Rt. Rev. J. H. Tihen, D. D., of Lincoln, Nebraska. Permanent free scholarships have been founded from time to time, and are enjoyed by a number of the students. Medals and awards are the gifts, as a rule, of former students. While St. Benedict's does not solicit the patronage of non-Catholics, there is not a school-year without its representation in the student body of other creeds. Such are exempted from the study of religious doctrine, but for the sake of order and uniformity are not excused from chapel exercises.
MIDLAND COLLEGE
The early Lutheran settlers in Kansas and Nebraska felt deeply the need of a suitable educational institution, to raise up an efficient ministry
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for the local churches, and to provide adequate facilities for the proper training of their children.
In response to this demand, the General Synod, in session at Omaha in 1887, resolved to establish a college at once in the rich and growing region west of the Mississippi. To secure the institution, Atchison offered the following inducements: Fifty thousand dollars in cash, thirty acres of ground for a site, half interest in the sale of 500 acres of land, and 200 students the first year. This generous offer was accepted, and work begun in rented rooms September 15, 1887. The main building having finally been completed, the college was moved to its own beautiful and commodions quarters in the spring of 1889.
Instruction has gone on steadily since that time. Thousands of young men and women have passed through the college halls, partaking of its atmosphere and training. Many of the most influential ministers and laymen of the western Lutheran territory are Midland graduates. Twenty-five per cent of the alumni are in the ministry; 27 per cent are teaching; 22 per cent are in business, and the remainder are suc- cessfully practising law, medicine and engineering.
The college is controlled by a board of trustees, composed of twenty- nine men, chosen as follows: four by the board itself, from citizens of Atchison ; six from the Kansas, English Nebraska, and German Nebraska Synods, respectively; two each from the Rocky Mountain and Iowa Synods; and three from the Alumni Association. The president of the college is ex officio an advisory member. Such being the constitution of the board, Midland must forever remain under the control of the Lutheran Church, but with proper checks and balances.
The Theological Seminary, with separate grounds, buildings and faculty, was established in 1895; and a few years later a German course was added. At first organized as a separate institution, the seminary is now a department of the college, under the direction of its president and board of trustees.
The buildings and grounds of Midland are valued at $150,000. The endowment so far gathered is only $85,000, but a vigorous campaign, now being carried on, is adding much to that snm.
The institution is maintained by interest from endowment, students' fees, direct gifts from friends of Christian education, and a liberal annual subsidy from the Lutheran Board of Education.
ST. MARY'S COLLEGE
In the year 1837 a band of Pottawatomie Indians, numbering about 150, set up their wigwams on the banks of the Osage River, Linn County, Kansas. They had migrated from Indiana, and some of them had been baptized by the Revs. Stephen Badin and Deseille. In the same year two Jesuit missionaries, Fathers Felix L. Verreydt and Christian Hoecken, were living among the Kickapoos near Fort Leavenworth. Towards the close of 1837 these missionaries received an invitation from Nesfwawke, the chief of the little body of Pottawatomies, to come and
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teach them religion. Father Hoecken responded all the more gladly because the labors of the Fathers had proved fruitless with the Kicka- poos. In Jannary, 1838, in the middle of winter, the journey was undertaken, and, after eight days of hardship, the missionary arrived at Pottawatomie Creek. This was the first visit of Father Hoecken to the Pottawatomies, and it lasted only two weeks, but to it St. Mary's College can trace its existence.
In March, 1838, the Pottawatomies, who had not settled definitely at Pottawatomie Creek, but had only been exploring the country for a suit- able site, removed to Sugar Creek, a tributary of the Osage River. The site selected was the same as that on which Centreville now stands. Here almost immediately the Indians built a small church, in which services were held regularly during the remainder of Lent and until the end of 1840, when, owing to their steady increase in numbers through migra- tion, a larger church had to be erected.
Sometime in 1839 a school had been erected. It was not opened until 1840, however, and was maintained only for a time. In the first part of July, 1841, the pioneer band of Religious of the Sacred Heart arrived at the Mission, and on the 15th day of July a school for girls was constructed and placed under their care. A new school for boys was built towards the end of this same year, 1841, which began to be regularly frequented from the commencement of 1842. The Jesuit Fathers more especially connected with this beginning of the St. Mary's Mission, as it was afterwards called, were besides the missionaries men- tioned above, Rev. P. J. Verhaegen, S. J., the Superior of the Jesuits in Missouri, and Father H. Aelen, S. J., the first assistant of Father Chris- tian Hoecken. And on the 29th of August, 1841, Father Felix L. Ver- reydt and Brothers A. Mazella and George Miles were added to the number of the workmen in this primitive religious field.
On the 17th of June, 1846, the Government signed a contract pur- chasing the Indian lands on Sugar Creek, and gave the Indians a reser- vation along the banks of the Kansas (or Kaw) River, extending west- ward from what is at present the City of Topeka fifty miles on both sides of the Kansas River. Meanwhile the work of evangelizing the Indians, not only the Pottawatomies, but all the various tribes that were flocking westward at the instance of the United States Government-the Miamis, the Osages, the Peorias, the Piankeshaws-was going on uninterruptedly, the Sugar Creek mission being in a manner the center of operation for the religious men and women who were devoting their lives to the labor.
In the early part of November, 1847, an expedition of Indians accom- panied by Father Verreydt, S. J., started out to explore the land assigned them on the Kansas River, with the object of selecting a site for settlement ; and not earlier than November 11, 1847, the Fathers and religious moved to the new location. On June 20, 1848, the north side of the Kansas River was definitely settled upon as the new site of the mission buildings, and on September the 7th Father Verreydt, S. J .. together with the Ladies of the Sacred Heart, crossed to the new build- ings on the north side of the river. In this transfer and sale of the
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Indian lands no provision had been made for the Fathers and the re- ligious by the Government. The Indians, however, contributed $1,700, and from other sources also some money had been gathered to continue the missionary work begun. On November 11th, however, the mission- aries learned that an arrangement had been made between the St. Louis University and the civil Government to erect a school at the St. Mary's Mission. Still the work of education had already begun, for we find that in the winter of 1848 five new boarding scholars were received at the mission. This, then, was the beginning of what we now know as St. Mary's College at St. Mary's, Kansas; and since that winter towards the end of the first half of the last century the work of instruction has never been interrupted. In November, 1849, the roof was put on the first church at St. Mary's Mission, and this church was placed under the tutelage of the Immaculate Conception.
On the 24th of May, 1851, the Rev. J. B. Miege, S. J., having been raised to the dignity of Vicar Apostolic over the country inhabited by the Indians lying between the Rockies and what might be called the western boundary of civilization, arrived at St. Mary's Mission in com- pany of Father Paul Ponziglione, S. J., and a lay brother, to make the humble mission church his Pro-Cathedral.
It seems no more than just that we should mention the fact that Father Christian Hoecken, S. J., who may justly be called the founder of St. Mary's, died in this year, a victim of pestilence and martyr to charity.
Bishop Miege resided at St. Mary's until 1855, when he established himself at Leavenworth. The charter of St. Mary's College was obtained on the 24th of December in the year of grace 1869.
It had been decided in St. Louis by the Provincial of Missouri, Rev- erend Father Coosemans, S. J., and his council, that a boarding college should be founded at St. Mary's, and the first news of the plan was definitely brought to the community on May 12, 1869, by the Rev. Joseph Keller, S. J., secretary of the Provincial, and orders were given to have a plan for a college building prepared. Very little time was lost; the charter was obtained, as we said, and a college seal designed and en- graved, bearing the legend, "Virtuti et Scientiae," encompassing an image of the rising sun. Furthermore, the foundations of what is now known as the Old College were laid on the 31st of May, 1870. There was to be a stone basement and a superstructure of brick 4 stories high and 80 feet long. This building was to be one-fifth of the entire plan and was to form the central part of the completed design. At this early date St. Mary's College possessed upward of 1,334 acres of land; there were 150 boarders and 20 day scholars, 4 Fathers, 1 Scholastic, and 12 lay Brothers at the institution at that time. The Indians, however, were vanishing slowly but surely. The Fathers at the mission were anxious to follow, but were forbidden again and again to do so by the Provincials, their superiors. During the years 1872 to 1877 the Catholic and more civilized Indians continued to sell their lands and depart north-
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ward, and, being left to themselves, very many fell an easy prey to their racial vices.
On two separate occasions, in 1872-73 and 1873-74, the mission estab- lishment was visited by fire. In each case the old buildings erected in the early Indian times were destroyed. On the 12th of August, 1877, Father Maurice Gailland, S. J., who has been the authority for almost all the events of this sketch since 1850, died. During all these years his name was most closely connected with St. Mary's Mission.
In February, 1879, the Jesuit College which had been opened since 1871, was destroyed by fire, but its classes were interrupted for but a few days, as the Ladies of the Sacred Heart Convent relinquished their building to the Jesuit Fathers and transferred their academy to a build- ing in town. The convent was afterward purchased by the college.
Father Aloysius G. Van der Eerden, S. J., who died in 1905, was rector of the college at the time of the fire. The first of the four sections of the present faculty building was the Van der Eerden structure.
On the 29th of December, 1880, fire destroyed what was then known as the New Church. It was situated almost directly in front of the present Junior Building, across the railroad track, on the south side of Bertrand Avenue. The cornerstone of this church was laid on the 2d of August, 1875, and it had been dedicated on the 14th of February, 1876.
In the beginning of the scholastic year 1881-82 Father Charles Cop- pens, S. J., was rector of St. Mary's. The cornerstone of the present parish church in the Town of St. Mary's was laid on the 21st of July, 1881, and the structure was dedicated on the 2d of April, 1882. This same year the parishioners bought a house next to the new church for the Sisters of Charity, who were teaching the children in the parochial school.
The low stone structure between the Faculty and the Van der Eerden buildings was begun in February, 1884, and was completed in September of the same year (1884). It was once known as "The Flats," and con- tained on its upper and second floors the Philosophers' rooms, and below them the kitchen and scullery. Originally the upper floor was a dormi- tory for the small boys.
Rev. D. M. McErlane, S. J., was proclaimed rector of St. Mary's July 24, 1884, and during the year, among other improvements made, was the erection of the reservoir on the hill, and the mills by which to pump the water.
In the late '80s the old log Indian Church, which had done duty too as Bishop Miege's Pro-Cathedral, was leveled to the ground. Those interested may still notice a slight elevation in the greensward directly in front of the Junior Building, down near the railroad track, but inside the college grounds. In 1886-87 the three-story stone building which at the present day contains the Students' Dormitory, Senior Reading-room, and the Science rooms, together with the stairway and some small apart- ments, was built. In the course of 1887-88 what was until recently the Senior Gymnasium, was built. On the 29th of April, 1888, Father Henry
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J. Votel, S. J., was installed as rector. In the year 1888-89, the Dial, the St. Mary's College paper was established.
During the rectorship of Father Votel all the elegant pressed brick buildings, that stand out so prominently at St. Mary's, were planned and completed. First came the infirmary, begun August 28, 1889, and finished by the 28th of March, 1890.
In the course of the year 1889-90 the sidewalks around the infirmary and in front of the Faculty and class-room buildings were laid. The grand stand on the campus was first put up and the gymnasium in the senior division was improved. A dynamo was set up, and for the first time two are lights shed their brilliancy over the College Quadrangle. It was at this time, too, that the statue of the Guardian Angel was placed in the niche in which it still stands.
In 1890-91 the incandescent electric lamps were first put up in the Senior and Junior study halls, and a private telephone was run from the college to the railroad depot in town. The present pumping station in the field southward across the railroad track was planned and completed.
The first foundations for the present Junior Building were laid November 21, 1890; by June, 1891, the walls were completed to the roof.
All the large constructions that go to make up St. Mary's College are furnished with three-inch iron stand pipes and a line of hose to match on each floor, in case of fire. These pipes are situated at convenient points and are always filled with water, as they are in direct connection with both the reservoir and the pumping station.
On February 11, 1894, Father Edward Higgins, S. J., was proclaimed rector. During his term of office, extending from the date just mentioned to the Christmas of 1897, many things were done to beautify the grounds about the college; the lake was completed and filled with water; trees were planted; the old houses used for the workmen, which had become a blemish, were torn down; walks and drives were laid out; special attention was given to lawn and flower-beds; the pedestal and statue of St. Joseph, between the Recitation Hall and the Junior Building, was placed in position, etc.
In June, 1896, the S. M. C. Alumni Association was formed. Father James McCabe, S. J., was installed as rector on the 29th of December, 1897.
Under date of July 4, 1898, there is a remark in the annals of the college to the effect that work had begun on the north building, known as the MeCabe Building. It was ready for occupancy on the 28th of December of that year. In 1899 the natatorium was enlarged to a little more than twice its former size.
The college suffered considerable damage because of the flood of 1903. The first steps toward the building of the beautiful chapel known as the Immaculata were taken by the members of the Senior and Junior sodali- ties in 1906, and the structure was impressively dedicated in May, 1909.
On February 10, 1907, Rev. Father Aloysius A. Breen, S. J., was appointed rector of the college.
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The corner stone of "Loyola Hall," as it is called, was laid on May 1, 1907, and the construction was hurried from that time, so that it was possible to throw the hall open to occupancy in October of the same year. The annex to Loyola Hall was built two years later, an addition was made to the Senior Refectory and other structural expansions took place.
The first laymen's retreat was begun on July 24, 1909, and in the fall of the same year work was commenced on the new gymnasium, which was completed in June, 1910. The gymnasium also contains a large auditorium with stage settings. Sunday, February 26, 1911, was made memorable by the visit to St. Mary's, and the grand reception of Arch- bishop Diomede Falconio, then papal delegate to the United States. Among various improvements made about this time was the addition of a wing to Loyola Hall.
During the past few years St. Mary's College has broadened in its activities and increased in strength, both as an educational institute and a student body. It now has an attendance of about 400 pupils. The system of education in force is substantially the one in use in all the colleges of the Society of Jesus throughout the world. The prime pur- pose is not to fit the student for some special employment or profession, but to give him a general, vigorous and rounded development. The classics of Rome and Greece are special subjects of study. Generally speaking, the courses of instruction embraces High School, English and Collegiate departments. The study of the modern languages is optional. Those who do not desire to pursue a regular classical training are offered the English course, which embraces commercial education, also philosophy, chemistry and physics, civics, history and mathematics. The institution has a faculty of sixty-five, distributed as follows: Collegiate department, 20; High School, 29; English-Commercial, 16.
THE FRIENDS UNIVERSITY
Friends University, at Wichita, Kansas, was the outcome of a long- cherished desire on the part of Kansas Yearly Meeting of Friends to have within its limits an institution of collegiate rank. This desire was stimulated and strengthened by the rise of a number of academies which created a new demand for such an institution. As early as 1875 the matter began to be agitated in the Yearly Meeting and the agitation was continued from time to time, till the desire was finally realized.
The main building was erected in the days of the "Wichita Boom," at a cost of $225,000. It was dedicated as a memorial to President Garfield and was opened as Garfield University in 1887. There is a fine memorial slab of granite at the right of the main entrance. This build- ing is a massive structure of brick and stone, covering three-quarters of an acre of ground and is said to be the largest school building under one roof in the United States. A considerable part of the interior is still unfinished. When entirely completed it will accommodate 900 or 1,000 students.
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The Christian Church, under whose auspices the work was begun and prosecuted for a time, because of the financial depression following "the boom," was able to maintain the institution for only five years. Then the property stood idle until it fell into the hands of Friends. This came about in the following manner :
James M. Davis, a Friend and former student of Penn College, had accumulated a considerable fortune handling stereoscopes and stereo- scopie views. In this enterprise he employed a large number of young men, thus enabling them to secure a college education. In this way he hecame intensely interested in higher education of the Christian type and conceived the idea of founding a college himself. And when he discovered that the property of Garfield University could be purchased at a much reduced price, he at once bought it. The purchase included besides the main building a campus of 15 acres, 2 dormitories and about 600 house lots in various parts of the city. All this he offered as a gift to Kansas Yearly Meeting, on condition that they should maintain a school for six consecutive years and within this time raise an endow- ment fund of $50,000. These conditions were met and a clear deed to the property given before the expiration of the six years.
Under the new name of Friends University the institution was opened in the fall of 1898 with a faculty of 6 professors and fewer than 50 students. The enrollment, however, reached a little over 100 before the end of the year. During the following year 185 were registered, but only 33 of these were of college rank. Since that time there has been a steady growth, particularly in the collegiate department. In the year 1914-15 the total enrollment was 398, of whom 273 were of collegiate rank. Because of the fact that in practically every town, large and small alike, good high schools have been established, in the not distant future the preparatory department will be discontinued, though some sub- freshmen work will no doubt continue to be offered for several years to come.
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