USA > Kansas > A standard history of Kansas and Kansans, Volume II > Part 51
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During the five years while the Christian Church maintained the school, and for some time under the administration of Friends, only the north wing was finished, the museum room on the fourth floor being used at that time as the chapel room and auditorium. From time to time, however, new rooms have been finished, a fine stairway put in in the center of the building, and numerous other improvements made. The present chapel room on the main floor seats about 400. The main audi- torium on the floor above, still unfinished, is said to have a seating capacity of 3,000.
The first class to be graduated and the smallest was in 1901. In this there were nine members. The largest class, graduated in 1915, had thirty-four members.
Friends University is managed by a board of fifteen directors, appointed by the Yearly Meeting. They have ably and economically handled the funds and, seconded by the untiring energies and good management of President Edmund Stanley, the institution has had an unusual growth. In the seventeen years of its history it has grown from
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40 students to 400; from 6 professors to 18, and from no endowment fund to one of $250,000.
For a number of years the college has been fully aceredited by the State University, so that a student can at any time take his grades there and receive full eredit for them, and a graduate is placed on the same footing at the state institution as one of their own graduates and can take up graduate work there on the same terms as one of them. Recently Friends University has been placed on the list of colleges approved by the North Central Association. This puts it on a par with the best insti- tutions of the middle West.
In naming the institution it seems unfortunate that the word uni- versity should have been used, since it is somewhat misleading. Of course it is not in any sense a university. It was hoped, however, and confidently believed by the founder, that it would in the not distant future become such in fact, and it was his desire that it should bear the name from the start, thinking it would be an incentive to unremitting effort to realize the hope.
Approximately, 250 graduates have already gone out to serve as ministers, missionaries, teachers, physicians, lawyers, business men, farm- ers, and in various other eallings and the membership of the student body is drawn from a wide territory.
It is the policy of the management of Friends University to maintain a strong Biblieal department in which the young men and women, not only of their denomination, but others, may fit themselves to become Christian workers and defenders of Christianity. In this large field there is an imperative need for work of this kind; while the Biblical department does not assume to give a complete theological course, it does feel a deep concern that it may not fail adequately to meet the demand which the situation brings, and it is quite clear that this cannot be done without plaeing more than ordinary emphasis upon Biblical work and offering somewhat extended courses along these lines. Strong Young Men's Christian Association organizations are maintained. In connection with these several Bible study classes are conducted and weekly meetings are held by both associations.
BETHEL COLLEGE
Bethel College is the result of the interest in higher religious educa- tion as it was found among the first Mennonite settlers in Kansas who had come mainly from Russia, Germany and Ohio. All of these elements felt the absence of their own school. On November 15, 1877, a number of school men and ministers met at the home of Rev. H. Richert in the Alexanderwohl settlement north of Newton, Kansas, to discuss the possi- bilities of establishing a school. Rev. William Ewert, Sr., was chosen chairman of the meeting, and Rev. David Goerz, secretary. Among the resolutions passed to be presented to the Kansas Conference, were the following: To establish a central school ; that both German and English should be taught; teachers for distriet and parochial schools were to be
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trained there; the years from seven to fourteen were advised as the age for elementary schools. A school fund was to be created.
The discontinuance of the school in Wadsworth, Ohio, in 1878, made the need of a Mennonite school more acute, but the project did not result in school work until 1882. On September 13th of that year a school with twenty-one students, and H. H. Ewert as teacher was opened in the southern part of the Alexanderwohl settlement. It was soon discovered that a town would be a more favorable location for such a school than the country. In Halstead, Kansas, a group of men offered the Conference the free use of the necessary buildings if the school were located there. This offer was accepted. In the fall of 1883 the school was opened at Halstead with thirty-seven students. H. H. Ewert, now Prof. Ewert of Gretna, Manitoba, and Peter Galle, now Judge Galle of McPherson, Kansas, were employed as the first teachers. The same year the Con- ference permitted coeducation, and in 1887 sanctioned the formation of a corporation to build and maintain a college at Newton. In 1888 the corner stone was laid, but on account of the financially stringent times the building could not be completed until 1893. The school at Newton was formally opened on September 20, 1893, and Prof. C. H. Wedel, who had served as principal of the Halstead School the last years of its existence was put at the head of the teaching force.
For a number of years the work done was mostly of an academy grade. In the fall of 1911 a full four years' college course was started. In January, 1916, the State Board of Education of Kansas placed Bethel College on the list of accredited colleges. This taking up of the college work does not mean, however, that the academy work has been aban- doned, in fact, the academy students still outnumber the college students, the enrollment up to the present for this year being 135 in the academy and 72 in the college. The student body is drawn from a territory stretching from Pennsylvania to California and from Texas to Saskat- chewan, and represents forty-five Mennonite congregations and five denominations outside.
The present faculty of the school is composed of twenty-one persons. Five of these, however, give only part time to the school. The prop- erty valuation of the school is as follows: Plant, $103,300; permanent funds, $105,353; making a total of $208,653.
WASHIBURN COLLEGE
The story of the founding of Washburn College centers in Peter Mac Vicar, Harvey Dwight Rice and Colonel John Ritchie. Many other men gave their time, labor, and the little money they had to Washburn, but on these three men especially, fell the task of directing and leading the work.
Harvey D. Rice was born November 8, 1821, at Charlemont, Massa- chusetts. His father was a typical well-to-do New Englander, a farmer, storekeeper, and mill owner. New England was church-going and devout, and in this religious atmosphere Harvey Rice passed his boy-
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hood days and reached his majority. In 1846, he married Miss Savina Barnes Tuttle. The next ten years were quiet, happy and prosperous and were destined to be the last period of quiet he would know for many years. During this time Mr. Rice became personally acquainted with many men and women of distinction, among them John Hooker, whose wife was the sister of Henry Ward Beecher. It was from this Mr. Hooker that Mr. Rice secured the loan of the first thousand dollars, which began the payment on the present college site.
Meanwhile, in Kansas all was turmoil, and when Topeka was not yet two years old, John Ritchie, William Bowker, Deacon Farnesworth, Harrison Hannahs, Harry Rice, Sherman Bodwell and Lewis Bodwell met and determined to build a house of worship. A foundation for the Free Congregational Church was begun in the fall of 1857. Mr. Rice furnished the lime, Mr. Ritchie attended to the quarrying of the stone. The Rev. Lewis Bodwell was general superintendent, and Mrs. Scales's old ox team hauled large cottonwood and oak logs cut by Sherman Bodwell, from the creek. The first sermon was preached in it on the first Sunday in January, 1861, by the Rev. Peter MaeVicar, who had come to Topeka during the previous October.
In 1856, men began asking each other how a Christian college might be planted. The Congregationalists looked to their association. Alto- gether there were but twelve churches and probably not more than 120 communicants of this denomination in the whole territory. At the Congregational Association held in Manhattan, October, 1857, the project was brought up. The decision of the site was, for some time, in the balance between Lawrence and Topeka, but the day was finally carried in favor of the capital city. The beginning of Washburn Campus dates from 1859, and the charter was granted to Lincoln College February 6, 1865.
Since the site selected for the college was "so far out," a temporary plan was adopted and, as is always the case, after the beginning was once made, things moved more rapidly. It was decided to erect a stone building for immediate use on the corner of Tenth and Jackson streets. The college was to be called "Lincoln College" as a token of Topeka's respect and love for the President. But Topeka contractors had no faith in the new undertaking and refused to bid for the work. Harvey Rice, not to be stopped by any obstacle, proposed that he be given the contract at $7,000. The proposal was accepted and the building was thus constructed. United States soldiers from Maine to Massachusetts, then stationed in Topeka, dug the trenches. School opened in the new building on January 3, 1866, and we have Harrison Hannahs to thank that its doors were opened to young women as well as to young men. Between thirty and forty students were in attendance. These were all in the preparatory department. The next year there were two college students and sixty-five others. In 1868 Addison P. Davis was given his diploma, the first student to be graduated. In the last part of this year Lincoln College became Washburn College. There were several Lincoln Colleges in the country and so when Deacon Ichabod Washburn of
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Worcester, Massachusetts, gave $25,000, the name of the college was changed to Washburn in honor of the donor.
The next year the Rev. H. Q. Butterfield was elected president, and was succeeded in 1871 by the Rev. Peter MacVicar. Doctor MacVicar was of Scotch ancestry and was born June 15, 1829, at St. George, New Brunswick, Canada. In the fall of 1860, he accepted the call of the pastorate of the First Congregational Church of Topeka. Doctor Mac- Vicar immediately set about to erect a building on the campus, and by 1872, $31,500 had been raised for its construction. The Academy building and site were sold to the city for $15,000, and by December, 1872, the new building was enclosed.
The northeast corner of the quarter section was chosen for the campus. It was plowed, and around it was planted an Osage hedge outside of which was built a high board fence. Four hundred and fifty trees were set out. By 1874 Science Hall was ready for occupancy. The few young ladies who boarded at the school had rooms in the basement. The boys had rooms in the second story and the members of the faculty occupied the floor between. On the first floor also were recitation rooms, the library and at the west end, the chapel. These were discouraging years for the president and trustees. In June, 1877, the vested funds of the college were reported to be a little over $45,000. But in the spring of 1878, the situation beeame more encouraging.
In 1877 there were only thirteen students attending Washburn Col- lege, in 1878, twenty. In 1879 Professor Stearns raised $3,000 in the City of Hartford, and Hartford Cottage was built as a dormitory for the girls. Before this time the girls who were not rooming in Science Hall made the trip to and from town in a hack. The evolution in the method of reaching the college from down town was "slow but sure." All transportation was first by hack. In 1884 the street railway was extended to the college and a "horse car" drawn by mules made nine trips a day out to the college. A few years later the electric line was put in. Later South Cottage was built, but burned to the ground in December, 1890. By January, 1883, Whitin Hall was ready as a cottage for the boys. In 1886 Holbrook was occupied. In this same year Boswell Memorial was completed. Prior to this, the books of the college were kept in Science Hall. They were not arranged in order, and while Professor Lovewell had made a list of them, there was no catalogue and no periodicals were subseribed for. When the books were moved to Boswell, which served as the library for nineteen years, they were classified and catalogued by Professor Whittemore, who was Washburn's librarian for twelve years after this.
The years following 1887 were years of rapid growth and change for the college. In 1889 the contract for the chapel was let. In 1890 it was occupied and was dedicated the afternoon of the baccalaureate Sunday. It was at this time that so many huudred trees were planted on the campus. In 1880, the trustees had purchased a tract of 135 aeres north of the college site. This was divided into building lots and sold, the investment proving to be a splendid one for the college.
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The endowment fund had now increased to over $100,000.
The remainder of Doctor MacVicar's administration was a trying period for both president and trustees, and in 1895 he was compelled to give up his active work. George M. Herrick was Washburn's third president. During his presidency a large yearly deficit in the college funds was stopped, facilities of instruction were greatly improved, and the number of students increased. The endowment fund also increased and there was a noticeable growth of college spirit. At President Herrick's resignation, the Rev. Norman Plass of Williamstown, Massa- chusetts, was called to the presideney of the college. To Doctor Plass, Washburn is indebted for the observatory building, the president's residence, the heating plant, Carnegie Library, engineering shop, law school and dispensary. On May 13, 1902, the Executive Committee honored themselves and the college by passing a resolution re-naming the chapel after Doctor MacVicar and "Old Science" after Harvey Rice. This tribute was most gratefully received by these workers who had given so much of themselves to Washburn. Ex-President Peter Mac- Vicar died June 9, 1903, and IIarvey Dwight Rice, June 11. The spring of 1903 was a most depressing time, for it was near commencement time that the memorable flood was at its height. The schools were closed and many of the Washburn boys were at the front in the rescue work.
Dr. Frank Knight Sanders, formerly dean of Yale University School, assumed the presidency upon Doetor Plass's resignation in 1908, and held the position for about six years. He resigned in the spring of 1914.
For two years it had been known that when a sum of $75,000 for endowment had been raised, the college was to receive $35,000 more for a gymnasium. In the year 1908 that condition was more than fulfilled. For some time the donor of the gift was unknown, and the students spoke of him as the "gym man." At last, against his inten- tions, it became known that the "gym man" was Mr. Jonathan Thomas of Topeka. The building is a memorial to his son, Charles B. Thomas, who was at one time a student at Washburn. The gymnasium was dedicated in 1909.
In 1915 Doctor Sanders was sueceeded by Dr. D. L. MeEachron, who was made the acting president. In 1916 Doctor MeEachron was sue- ceeded by Dr. Parley Paul Womer, who was elected president and who is the present incumbent.
ENTERPRISE NORMAL ACADEMY
Some of the prominent citizens of Enterprise proposed in the spring of 1896 to the West German Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church that the conference aceept their offer of the Enterprise Normal Academy building and the seventy acres adjoining it on condition that the conference maintain a prosperous school for six years and raise an endowment fund of $10,000 to $15,000. These conditions were met and the trustees hold a deed to the property now estimated to be worth not less than $60,000.
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The West German Conference convened at Sedalia, Missouri, August 27, 1896, and accepted the proposition. School opened on the 6th day of October of that year.
In the summer of 1908 the ladies' dormitory was completed. It was named the Elizabeth Hoffman Memorial, in whose honor C. Hoffman had given such a substantial endowment gift.
The music hall was completed in the late winter of 1913 and the men's dormitory in the fall of 1913.
The main building is built of white stone, 60 by 70 feet, three stories high. There are also a music hall embracing accommodations for do- mestie art and manual training departments, and ladies' and men's dormitories. A museum, which occupies a part of the library, is a feature of Music Hall. The faculty of Enterprise Normal Academy comprises Prof. D. L. Katterjohn, the principal, and six assistants. There are about 150 pupils in the regular normal, commercial and musical courses and the summer class.
ST. FRANCIS HOSPITAL, TOPEKA
The Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth have been doing a noble work since the arrival of their first mother superior (formerly Sister Xavier, Ann Ross) in 1858. Her father was a Methodist minister. One of the noteworthy institutions founded and managed by the Sisters is St. Francis Hospital of Topeka. It was opened in 1907, corner of Sixth avenue and Garfield street. St. Francis is a general hospital, but has a special maternity department and a training school for nurses. Its mother superior is known to the church as Sister Felicitas. She is a daughter of John McCarthy, the Topeka pioneer, and spent twenty-five years in the West, engaged in hospital work, before being placed at the head of St. Francis Hospital.
McPHERSON COLLEGE, MCPHERSON, KANSAS
(Owned and Controlled by the Church of the Brethren)
The first attempt to establish a seminary by the Church of the Brethren was made in 1861 by S. Z. Sharp. The same year Elder James Quinter attempted an academy at New Vienna, Ohio. In 1872 there was an attempt to start a school in Western Pennsylvania. It was not until 1876 that the Brumbaughs promoted what is now Juniata College at Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. It began with three students in a room twelve by fourteen. Prof. Jacob Zook was its first president. Educa- tional sentiment now grew rapidly. Mount Morris College, Illinois, was founded in 1879; Bridgewater College, Virginia, in 1880, and McPherson College in 1887.
Today the church has ten colleges and seminaries with over 2,500 students and properties and endowments amounting to $2,000,000; and this is a denomination of less than 100,000 communicants.
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The pioneer college work met with strong opposition and required large vision and great faith and sacrifice. On the 21st day of July, 1887, F. B. Webster, H. B. Kelly, A. Bass, C. August Heggelund, O. Heggelund, Eric Leksell and E. F. Clarke applied for a charter under the title: "The McPherson College Building Association." The charter states that the purpose for which the corporation is formed is to secure the location of a college in or near the City of McPherson, Kansas, and to provide for the erection of suitable college buildings. On May 31, 1889, the charter was amended to reduce the number of trustees to three, said trustees to consist of E. C. Heggelund, C. August Heggelund, and A. Bass. April 25, 1890, the charter was amended so as to empower the association to maintain a college, and on the following July 25th the charter was amended "so as to have five directors," who must be mem- bers of the German Baptist Brethren Church, now the Church of the Brethren. The names of said directors were Elder Daniel Vaniman, A. W. Vaniman, J. H. Peck, J. L. Kuns, F. J. Bradly. August 1, 1890, the McPherson College Building Association accepted all the liabilities and resources of the McPherson College and Industrial Insti- tute Association.
The organization of McPherson College was the result of a growing educational movement in the Brethren Church which recognized the need of such an institution west of the Mississippi River. A committee, appointed by an educational meeting at the Annual Conference, held at Ottawa, in June, 1887, located and organized the MePherson College and Industrial Institute. And McPherson citizens, July 21, 1887, organized the McPherson College Building Association. The function of the latter was to build and equip college buildings which were to be turned over to the former association, which was to conduct a college in the same. The funds for the erection and equipment of college build- ings were to be derived from the sale of certain lots. The officers of the McPherson College and Industrial Institute Association were S. Z. Sharp, president; M. M. Eshelman, secretary ; George Studebaker, busi- ness manager.
In the fall of 1888 the dormitory had been completed and September the 5th the first term opened with S. Z. Sharp president. Two hundred and one students were enrolled during the year. By June 17, 1889, the McPherson College Building Association had completed and furnished the dormitory, had laid the foundation of the main building, had passed between $80,000 and $110,000 through its treasury, had assets to the amount of about $40,000, and liabilities amounting to about $25,000. At that time the McPherson College and Industrial Institute Associa- tion was dissolved and Daniel Vaniman, A. W. Vaniman and J. H. Peck, J. L. Kuns and F. H. Bradly became the directors of the McPher- son College Building Association, and attempted the conduct and devel- opment of the college.
The burden assumed by the new management was a great one. At first they were successful, but when in 1893-95 the financial crisis came the attendance was reduced from over 300 in 1891-92 to less than 200
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in 1894-95 and still less in 1895-96. The burden became too heavy, and the business management and faculty reorganized.
The trustees now leased the buildings for three years to five members of the faculty : C. E. Arnold, H. J. Harnly, E. Frantz, A. C. Wieand and S. B. Fahnestock, who elected C. E. Arnold president. The situation was anything but encouraging. There were two large mortgages besides other debts, but under the leadership of these gentlemen the friends of education rallied nobly; in a short time the last cent of indebtedness had been canceled, and in the fall of 1897 a third story and a permanent roof were put on the main building. Since that time the progress of the college has been steady, and now the institution occupies six fine buildings thoroughly furnished for comfort and the best work.
On February 12, 1898, the MePherson College Building Association was reorganized and named MePherson College. The new charter states the purpose of the corporation to be more fully to develop and maintain facilities for the attainment of higher Christian education in harmony with the principles of the Church of the Brethren as defined by her Annual Conference. There were five trustees, all of whom must be members of the Church of the Brethren. The board of trustees were perpetuated by a vote of such persons as had donated $100 or more either in money or property and held a certificate to that effeet.
In June, 1902, MePherson College met an irreparable loss in the death of Pres. C. E. Arnold at the early age of thirty-six years. The following brethren have served as trustees up to time of recognition : M. M. Eshelman, G. G. Lehmer, G. E. Studebaker, F. H. Bradly, J. H. Bosserman, J. H. Peek, J. P. Vaniman, H. J. Harnly, D. Vaniman, A. W. Vaniman, J. L. Kuns, Samuel Miller, Henry Brunaker, F. A. Vaniman, Jacob Whitmore, D. P. Hutchinson, Noah Kuns, E. Frantz, S. B. Fahne- stock, Chas. Miller, L. H. Butler, J. J. Yoder, J. Edwin Jones, W. A. Kinzie, C. J. Lichty, A. L. Boyd, F. S. Baker, I. D. Gibble, J. R. Pitzer.
The following elders have served as advisory board: Enoch Eby, J. D. Trostle, John Forney, B. B. Whitmer, John Wise, C. M. Yearout, S. W. Fitzwater, C. S. Holsinger, Thos. Winey, Wm. Johnson, M. Keller, A. F. Miller, A. D. Sollenberger, U. Shiek, G. Mannon, A. C. Daggett, Wm. Davis, and J. S. Mohler.
Upon the death of President Arnold, Prof. E. Frantz was elected to the presidency and served until forced to resign on account of a nervous breakdown in 1910. During the year 1910-11 Prof. S. J. Miller was acting president. Dr. J. A. Clement was elected president in 1911 and resigned after two years. Dr. H. J. Harnly served as acting president during the school year 1913-14. During this year a reorganization was accomplished and Dr. D. W. Kurtz of the First Church of the Brethren of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was called to the presidency.
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