USA > Nebraska > Lancaster County > Lincoln > Lincoln, the capital city and Lancaster County, Nebraska, Volume I > Part 28
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The Graduate College of the University was organized in 1886. On February 14. 1908, the regents changed the Department of Education into the Teachers' College, which action was confirmed by the Legislature of 1909. The College of Engineering was organized by the Legislature of 1909 and at the same time the Industrial College was abolished. The School of Pharmacy was organized in 1908. The School of Fine Arts was reorganized in July, 1912 as a part of the College of Arts and Sciences. The School of Commerce was created by the regents in May. 1913. This school comprises courses intended to give the student a thorough business education.
The College of Agriculture was established by an act of the Legislature of 1909. A farm of 320 acres three miles cast of Lincoln was secured for experi- mental purposes and to illustrate the correct methods of farm practice. Horti- culture, animal husbandry, entomology, agricultural botany and experimental agronomy are among the branches taught here. Commodious buildings are erected on this farm for the use of the different departments. The farm is connected with the city of Lincoln by electric railway.
The first chancellor of the University of Nebraska was A. R. Benton. He was selected by the regents on January 6, 1870. He was succeeded by Edmund B.
UNION COLLEGE (SEVENTH DAY ADVENTIST) COLLEGE VIEW
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Fairfield. In 1883 Irving J. Manatt was appointed chancellor and served until January 1, 1889, when he retired. Prof. Charles E. Bessey was acting chancellor until August, 1891, when James HI. Canfield assumed the office, and held it until September 1, 1895. George E. Maclean then was appointed and he remained until September 1, 1899. Again Professor Bessey acted as chancellor until E. Benjamin Andrews took the office September 1, 1900. On January 1, 1909, Samuel Avery became acting chancellor and on May 20, 1909, was elected to that office.
UNION COLLEGE AT COLLEGE VIEW, NEBRASKA
Educational work among the Seventh Day Adventists in the Mississippi Valley began with the Minnesota Conference School at Minneapolis in the fall of 1888. This school was held three years in the basement of the Seventh Day Adventist Church at the corner of Fourth Avenue and Lake Street. It enrolled each year over one hundred young men and women as students. From the first, the accommodations were too small and were otherwise unsuitable, hence a council was held at Owatonna, Minn., May 20-21, 1889, to plan for better facilities. This meeting was attended by Prof. W. W. Prescott, president of Battle Creek College and educational secretary of the denomination; Elder A. J. Breed, president of the Wisconsin Conference; Elders W. B. White and N. P. Nelson, from Dakota ; Elders H. Grant, Allen Moon, and F. L. Mcad, representing the Minnesota Conference; and Prof. C. C. Lewis, principal of the Minneapolis school. At this council it was resommended that the several conferences of the northwest unite in establishing and maintaining a well- equipped and centrally-located school, and that a committee be appointed, con- sisting of two members from each conference, with power to act in the matter of building and opening such a school. The committee was called to meet again at Owatonna in July, 1889.
The meeting thus appointed was not held. Before the time arrived, the idea had entirely outgrown its original form. At a meeting held at Lincoln, Neb., a few weeks later, a larger council recommended the establishment of an educa- tional institution of college grade which would serve all the conferences of the Mississippi Valley.
LOCATION OF THE COLLEGE
At the annual session of the General Conference held at Battle Creek, Mich., in October, 1889. it was decided to establish a college, under the auspices of the denomination, at some point between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains. A committee was appointed to select a suitable location. Invita- tions, accompanied by promises of a substantial bonus, were received from various cities in Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska. The committee spent some time in investigating these places, and considering the advantages offered. While the question of a central location with reference to the territory from which patronage was expected was regarded as an important one, there were other considerations also that were deemed to be weighty. The general atmos- phere of the community and its attitude toward education in general are impor-
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tant features in deciding a question of this character. It was found that while Lincoln was comparatively a new city, it was at the front in its efforts to advance the well-being of its citizens. Its substantial school buildings, its many and well- built churches, and the fact that it was already the seat of three universities, with a prospect that this number would soon be increased, testified to the inter- est of its citizens in education and religion. These considerations, together with the hearty interest shown in the project by leading citizens, and the offer of very substantial aid, led the committee, at a meeting held at Knoxville, lowa, June 28, 1890, to determine upon the City of Lincoln as the location of the new institution, which was afterwards named Union College. The citizens of Lincoln and vicinity donated 300 acres of land, 334 miles southeast of the state capitol, and the General Conference Association of Seventh-day Adventists gave a bond of $100,000 to erect, by July 1, 1891, buildings to cost not less than seventy thousand dollars. The raising of funds and erection of buildings were under the direction of A. R. Henry, agent and attorney-in-fact for the General Conference. W. C. Sisley, architect and superintendent of the work; Elder J. P. Gardiner, once president of the Nebraska Conference, with others, labored strenuously for the success of the enterprise.
THE DEDICATION
On April 10, 1890, the ground was broken for the main college building, and on the 3rd of May the first stone was laid. There were many difficulties in the way, but all were overcome, and the buildings were ready for dedication Septem- ber 14, 1891. On that occasion the chapel, with a seating capacity of 500, was filled to overflowing with citizens from Lincoln, College View, and the surround- ing country. Elder O. A. Olsen, president of the Seventh-day Adventist Gen- eral Conference, presided, and opened the exercises with prayer. Prof. William P. Aylesworth, of Cotner University, conducted the scripture reading. W. C. Sisley presented to the trustees the keys of the college buildings, accompanying the presentation with a history of the work of building. A. R. Henry, on the part of the trustees, received the keys and responded in an appropriate address. The chief address of the occasion was delivered by Prof. W. W. Prescott, the first president of Union College. In this address he emphasized the three leading features of Christian education as consisting of the study of God's word in the revelation of the Bible, the study of His works in nature, and the study of His dealings with men and nations as revealed in history. Chancellor James H. Canfield of the University of Nebraska followed with an appropriate speech of welcome, delivered in his happiest manner. The dedicatory prayer was offered by Elder Uriah Smith, editor of Review and Herald, Battle Creek, Michigan, and the benediction was pronounced by Elder W. B. White, president of the Nebraska Conference.
The presidents of Union College have been: William W. Prescott, 1891-2; James W. Loughhead, 1893-5: Eli B. Miller, 1896; N. W. Kauble, 1897; W. T. Bland, 1898-1900; Lewis A. Hoopes, 1901-3; Charles C. Lewis, 1904-9; Fred- erick Griggs, 1910-13 ; Harvey A. Morrison, 1914 -.
The enrollment in 1914-15 was 323, including students from eighteen states, Jamaica, Korea, Nova Scotia, Ontario and Turkey.
MARTIN LUTHER SEMINARY, LINCOLN
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COTNER UNIVERSITY
At the annual state convention of the Christian Church in 1887 a resolu- tion was passed authorizing a committee composed of J. Z. Briscoe, E. T. Gadd, Porter Hedge, W. P. Aylsworth, G. E. Bigelow, J. B. Johnson, and W. W. West to consider the question of incorporating a Christian university. After investi- gation the committee accepted donations of land amounting to 321 acres northi- east of Lincoln, at the point now Bethany, and on February 14, 1888, articles of incorporation of the Nebraska Christian Educational Board were filed.
The next step was the erection of a building. Arrangements were made for the building of this structure and on April 30, 1888, the cornerstone was laid, and was completed in April, 1890. The building was constructed of Milwaukee brick and trimmed with Michigan red sandstone.
The action of the committee in starting the university was confirmed by the state convention held in Lincoln from August 28th to 30th, 1888, A board of trustees was elected, known as the Nebraska Christian Educational Board, and consisted of J. Z. Briscoe, president ; Alvin Saunders, vice president ; C. R. Van Duyn, treasurer ; Porter Hedge, secretary ; and W. P. Aylsworth, W. T. New- comb, Ira Titus, C. J. Hale, Thomas Wiles, J. T. Smith, C. C. Munson, and E. T. Gadd.
School was opened in the fall of 1889 in a private house, with W. P. Ayls- worth acting as president. He was succeeded by D. R. Dungan in 1890, who served for six consecutive years.
At this time the young university was compelled to undergo the financial depression which was general throughout the country. The assets of the insti- tution decreased in value and notes which were given on sold lots for the con- struction of the buildings were defaulted. In addition to this the price of the lots had gone down until hardly 10 per cent could be realized upon their purchase price. The management of the university, in order to meet the demands forced upon them, gave a mortgage upon the building. Business conditions became so bad that the mortgage was foreclosed and the property passed into the hands of a trustee, acting for the creditors. During all of this time the school was continuing with its educational work, unhampered, or unembarrassed, by the troublesome period through which it was passing. In 1896 D. R. Dungan resigned and W. P. Aylsworth was chosen as chancellor. In 1898 John W. Hilton, an alumnus, was chosen financial agent to raise a fund for the redemption of the school property. After two years of effort upon his part and others interested in the renovation of the university, the debt was paid and the building, the campus and dormitory were deeded back to the Nebraska Christian Uni- versity. This new corporation was formed February II, 1901, and represented the Disciples of Christ in Nebraska. The property of the university is valued at about one hundred and forty thousand dollars. The university has two colleges, liberal arts and medicine, an academy, normal school, business school, school of eloquence, school of music and school of art. The medical college is located in Lincoln and is known as the Lincoln Medical College. This school was opened September 15, 1890, in the university building with Dr. W. S. Latta as dean. Vol. 1-15
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NEBRASKA WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY
In 1886 there were Methodist schools at York and Central City, and both of them were financially in need of assistance.' There was also a tendency to scatter several more educational institutions over the state, all under the domina- tion of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Realizing that this would mean the demise of most of the embryonic schools the bishop asked for an appointment of a commission, composed of five members from each conference, and three from each school. and that the educational work of the church in Nebraska be centrally located in one large school. All of the conferences agreed with this thought. Accordingly the commission, in company with Bishops Bowman and Warren, met at the St. Paul Methodist Episcopal Church in Lincoln on Decem- ber 15, 1886, and immediately began their appointed task of unifying the educa- tional work of the church. They decided that there should be only one institution of college grade in the state, the location of it to be decided later, and that all other schools of the denomination should be subordinate to this one central college, with the privilege of carrying their course of studies as far as the sophomore year. The commission then voted to place the main university at Lincoln, Nebraska.
The site was located about three miles from Lincoln and a $70,000 building erected. A town was laid out around the school and named University Place, which community has since grown to over 2,000 inhabitants. It has a municipal government of its own, but is closely connected with the City of Lincoln by electric car lines.
The first chancellor of Wesleyan University was C. F. Creighton: he stayed for six years, and was succeeded by Isaac Crooks. In three years he resigned and the place was filled by an acting chancellor until March, 1898, when D. W. C. Huntington was elected to the office. He held the place until 1911, when Mr. Clark A. Fulmer was appointed chancellor.
In 1905 the charter of the school was amended so as to have two trustees from the Alumni Association of the College of Liberal Arts. In 1911 the charter was again amended in order that two additional trustees could be elected from the Alumni Association. In 1913 the report of the conference com- missioners on the Nebraska Wesleyan University was adopted, providing for the election of six members by the Northwest Nebraska Conference, from within its boundaries ; eighteen members by the Consolidated Nebraska Annual Conference from within its boundaries; and four members from and by the Alumni Association of the College of Liberal Arts; and nine members at large by the board of trustees. One-third of the members were to be chosen annually and to hold office for three years.
In addition to the original building of the university there is now the C. C. White Memorial Building, a magnificent brick and stone structure, used for the College of Liberal Arts. This was built in 1905. The building cost over $50,000.
The Wesleyan University has just become affiliated with the Nebraska School of Medicine at Omaha, Nebraska, in an arrangement by means of which the university will offer the two years of work preparatory to the study of
MAIN BUILDING, NEBRASKA WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY, UNIVERSITY PLACE
HIGH SCHOOL, UNIVERSITY PLACE
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medicine and at the end of two years more spent in the Omaha school Wesleyan will be enabled to award the degree of Bachelor of Science.
PUBLIC SCHOOLS
The attendance of the Lincoln public schools showed an increase of 470 pupils in the year 1915, as compared with the previous year. In the year just ended 8,894 children enrolled in the grade and high schools controlled by the Lincoln school district. Out of this number 1,250 were high school pupils, an increase of 145 over the year 1914. On the first of December, 1915, cighteen grade schools furnished accommodations to 7,644 children. The enrollment varied from 73 in the Willard or West A Street School to 773 in the Mckinley School at Fifteenth and MI streets. The following table will illustrate the growth, also decrease, in the various grade schools :
School
1915
1914
Bancroft
663
352
Belmont
162
15I
Bryant
438
512
Capitol
458
529
Clinton
625
623
Elliott
652
730
Everett
443
473
Hawthorne
129
103
Hayward
480
528
Lakeview
39
32
Longfellow
152
147
McKinley
773
388
Park
606
665
Prescott
538
5-49
Randolph
199
168
Saratoga
515
55I
Whittier
699
748
Willard
73
70
High
1,250
1,105
8,894
8,424
The advance of education in the past few years has made many changes in the conduct of the schools and the school systems. No field of activity, perhaps, has had such a rapid development in the past few years as that of education. Schools are undergoing a constant revision and reorganization, whereas not so many years ago they were content to adhere to one system for year after year, never appreciat- ing the necessity of change. The newest thing in education is the trend towards vocational training. The cry of the business man for years has been that the schools paid too much attention to the classics and too little attention to the funda- mental principles and practical methods. The first lines to be cut were the required courses in the dead languages, namely, Latin and Greek. German was substituted for these. Manual training schools and domestic science kitchens were inaugu- rated, also printing and sewing.
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Some of the things which have been accomplished in the public schools during the last few years are: (1) A department of hygiene under the direction of a regular physician hired for full time, and a nurse. (2) A junior civic and indus- trial league with a branch in each junior high school. The league now numbers over fifteen hundred members. (3) An efficiency list organized under the junior civic league organization. (4) A system of school and home gardens. (5) A night school system with 25 teachers and an enrollment of 1,000. (6) Social and neighborhood centers in three schools, Hayward, Park and Mckinley. (7) A newly established system of junior high schools giving language options, with promotion by subject instead of by grade. (8) Three prevocational schools offering industrial work as a large part of the course. (9) Departments for vocational guidance. (10) A preparatory school in which apt scholars do three years' work in two. (II) A housekeeping home in the high school. (12) A $200,000.00 plant for the junior high school and a $750,000.00 plant for the high school. Corresponding changes have been made in the management and government of the schools, the curricula of the schools and the business methods.
Not only has a strong increase been made toward better things in the schools of Lincoln, but in the other districts of Lancaster County there have been like changes. There are, all together, 142 school districts in the county, with 165 school houses -- 143 of them frame, 21 brick and I of stucco. In these schools are employed 47 male teachers and 481 female, a total of 528. The county as a whole presents an enrollment of 15,791 students of all ages, and the average daily attendance is 12,483. Almost without exception the school houses in the county are listed either good or fair. Sanitary conditions are observed thoroughly and the welfare of the pupil is constantly guarded. Following in the footsteps of the railroads, industries and other activities, the motto of "Safety First" is acted upon more and more in educational lines.
SMALL PERCENTAGE OF ILLITERACY
This state is generally known throughout the country as one which is of the highest agricultural value. Its cattle are found upon the thousand hills, and its waving fields of grain are seen on every hand, but perhaps it is not generally known that intellectually and educationally speaking, Nebraska stands in the front rank.
Only a year or two ago statistics showed that there was a smaller percentage of illiteracy here than in any other state in the Union. It is the second state per capita in owners of automobiles, and is the first state in the Union in wealth per capita. In musical matters we find she is taking rank with many of the states which are much older, where the art of music had been pursued with great diligence before Nebraska became a state.
THE PLACE OF MUSIC
Recognizing the value of the art, the public schools in Lincoln were the third in the United States to offer a course in music in connection with literary studies which would lead to graduation. The University of Nebraska has recognized its cultural value by giving credit for the theoretical and applied music for more than ten years past.
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Perhaps one of the greatest agencies in the development of music in the state has been the University School of Music, which was for many years affiliated with the state university, but is now an independent institution. This was established some twenty-two years ago when the regents invited Mr. Willard Kimball to come to this state and operate a school of music.
It is well remembered by those who are still on the ground that the taste for music in this city was very primitive, save for the fact that a comparatively small number of citizens were interested in a higher musical education. The large majority cared nothing for it or regarded it as having no educational value.
MUSICAL TASTE DEVELOPING
How different it is today, when we have largely attended gatherings at recitals of celebrated artists ; when the May festival annually brings one of the largest orchestras in the country ; and the annual pageant, now fully established, consists very largely of high class music which is enjoyed by all.
The University School of Music has grown since 1894 to an institution having an annual attendance of more than seven hundred students, and a faculty of thirty-five men and women who have received the most liberal education at home and abroad, and who are sought for as concert artists in this and other states. The school has sent out hundreds of graduates who are building up the musical appreciation of the people in many different communities and laying the foundation for increased appreciation of music by the girls and boys who are being educated in our public schools.
More than fifty supervisors of music in the public schools of the state have been furnished from this school, and it undertakes to give free instruction to 100 children from the public schools annually, beside offering 100 free and partial scholarships to older students who are not able to pay. It naturally follows that this institution is worthy of the patronage and enthusiastic support of all those who believe that musical education is of value to the individual, and to all such the institution extends a cordial invitation to become better acquainted.
LINCOLN'S NEW HIGH SCHOOL BUILDING
With the completion of the new $750,000 high school building Lincoln's public schools take rank with the schools of Chicago, Minneapolis, Kansas City and other large and progressive school centers of the country. Few, if any, of the high school buildings in the country surpass that of Lincoln from the point of view of grandeur and equipment. The new building was first occupied in September, 1915. It has a capacity of 1,200 pupils. It has thirty-six class rooms, two gym- nasiums, a swimming pool, a large auditorium, music and art rooms, lecture rooms, laboratories, manual training and domestic science rooms. The building is complete in every detail and its arrangement and completeness represents the latest and most scientific ideas in education. The building is three stories high, with a fourth story in the middle. It is 300 by 200 feet in size. The material is cream colored pressed brick on the outside. The rooms are lighted with hundreds of windows from the outside and from court lights. All of the class rooms have natural light in abundance. There are six corridors in the building, one of them
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244 feet long and 16 feet wide. The floors are terraza and the walls of marble. Some of the stairs are 16 feet wide and made of fine white marble. On the first floor is the manual training room, 21 by 40 feet in size. There are also printing rooms, typewriter rooms, two banking and business rooms, sewing rooms for girls, and a modern kitchen room for domestic science. The two gymnasiums are 12 by 90 feet each, equipped in addition with shower baths and lockers. On the second floor is the auditorium which will seat more than 1,300 people. The stage at one end is 42 by 22 feet. The auditorium is So feet square and has a gallery. On this floor are also the administration offices. The suite occupies a space 30 by 50 feet. The south front of the second floor is devoted to laboratories and a large study room. The third floor contains class and study rooms, laboratories and library. The library is large enough to accommodate more than 500 students at one time. The fourth floor is devoted to music and art. In addition there is a recital hall with stage.
The building is heated by a large plant just east of the main building, with a smokestack 140 feet high. The heating and ventilating systems represent the most modern thought along this line. Only air that has been washed is allowed to enter the rooms. The artificial lighting is done by the indirect system. A large cafeteria is operated in the building where pupils and teachers may obtain luncheon at the minimum of expense.
VOCATIONAL TRAINING IN THE LINCOLN PUBLIC SCHOOLS
In the Nebraska State Journal of January 2, 1916, there appears the follow- ing article by C. B. Cornell in regard to the vocational work in the public schools of the Capital City :
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