History of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ by Daniel Berger

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History of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ

by Daniel Berger

CHAPTER V

COLLEGES AND ACADEMIES

I. INTRODUCTORY

^p.477 We have seen that the founder of the United Brethren Church, Bishop Otterbein, was a man of thorough scholastic and theological training. We have also seen that the greater number of his early associates in evangelistic work were men of but modest educational attainments, chiefly such as could be reached through the common schools of their time, or were gained in private study after entering upon their ministerial career. But what they lacked in the learning of the schools they made up largely by the greater zeal and industry in the active work of their calling. Some portion of their limited libraries was usually carried in the saddle-bags, and it was not an unusual thing to see them riding on horseback with book in hand as they went from one appointment to another on their extended circuits. Some of them indeed obtained in this manner many of the advantages of a liberal education. Habits of close and sustained thinking, the best result of mental training, if not the details of a broader learning, were thus formed, and the men who seemed to the more cultured to be without education often exhibited great power in dealing with pulpit subjects. They expressed their thoughts with clearness and force, frequently with genuine eloquence, and usually carried conviction to the minds of their hearers.

Notwithstanding the fact that many of these early ^p.478 preachers thus sought for themselves a better equipment for their work, and also that their great leader was a man of broad and thorough scholarship, there came to be fostered among them to a considerable extent a feeling of actual prejudice against a collegiate training for ministers. This feeling seems to have arisen from the fact that they saw many of the educated ministers with whom they came in nearest contact to be men seemingly depending more upon their educational attainments in their work of preaching than upon a living, spiritual connection with the divine. The sermons of these men were looked upon as learned, but unspiritual, as indeed were frequently the lives of the ministers themselves, and these lay preachers —for such were many of them at the first—felt that it was better to rely directly upon the help of the Holy Spirit in the pulpit than upon the aid derived from books. Their work, like that of their similarly called and endowed fellow-workers in another denomination,—the followers of Wesley and Asbury,—had upon it the manifest seal of the Holy Spirit, in whose inspiration and power they trusted, and they felt that a college education would in some way interfere with this fuller trust in the divine Spirit for success. The prejudice thus fostered was carried down to a comparatively late date, and when some of the ministers of a little more than half a century ago began to talk of establishing a college for the Church they met with the most earnest opposition. The proposition, if it were carried into effect, it was believed would prove a most serious blow to the spirituality and future success of the Church.

Among those who thus opposed were some of the ablest and most influential ministers of the Church. There are many persons living who remember Bishop John Russel as a man of extraordinary gifts, whose abilities as a preacher ^p.479 and counselor led his brethren to exalt him to the office of bishop. Yet this great and good man deplored earnestly the movement which resulted in building Otterbein University. But it is well known how the good bishop lived to change his mind on this subject, that he afterward gave strong encouragement to the building of a college for the Church, and that before he died he made provision for a liberal portion of his estate to be used in the interest of the theological training of ministers. It is also well remembered that Bishop Edwards, a man of similarly strong intellectual endowments, and one of the ablest and most devout preachers the Church has ever had, for a long time regarded with apprehension the movement toward establishing educational institutions. His doubts, however, in time gave way, and he became a true friend of the colleges, as also later of Union Biblical Seminary, an institution founded to promote especially what these fathers of the Church most feared—the theological training of its ministers.

This apprehension, however, cherished by these and others of the Church fathers, had a more specific reference to the college training of ministers, and not to the education of the people in general. The feeling was that of opposition to naming this or that son in a family for the ministry, without reference to a distinct divine call, and then sending him to college and bringing him out as a full-fledged preacher. Thus the colleges came sometimes to be spoken of as "preacher factories." The people of the Church believed in and supported the common schools, just as did those of other denominations, and some of their sons and daughters were sent to college, but they feared the effect upon the spiritual life of the Church of a ministry educated and relying for success upon the skill thus attained, instead of trusting to the help of the Holy Spirit.

^p.480 The feeling of the people of the earlier periods of the Church is truly expressed by Rev. H. G. Spayth, the first historian of the Church, who was altogether friendly to higher education, and yet shared with others the fear that the earnest, simple-hearted, but spiritually-minded ministry of those days might be displaced by an educated but unspiritual ministry. Writing in the Religious Telescope,¹ Mr. Spayth said: "Now mark me, literary, scientific, and religious attainments we, as a church and people, have always respected, admired, and honored. . . . Had our fathers and brethren believed it to be their duty to build up seminaries of learning, it could have been done, as well as other things; but they confessed that their call was emphatically to the weightier matter, that of winning souls. As to the ministry, they sought not so much to fill the sacred stand with men of polished eloquence as with men of power, of love, and of sound minds—men called of God, as was Aaron. They had also learned these two lessons: first, that learning is not the primary, but the secondary means, or help, in the gospel ministry; second, that the tree of knowledge is not the tree of life."

The first definite action looking toward the founding of an institution of learning for the Church was taken by the General Conference of 1845, convened in Circleville, Ohio. The estimated membership of the entire denomination at this time reached about thirty thousand. The Church was represented in this conference by three bishops and twenty-four delegates from annual conferences. The bishops were Henry Kumler, Sen., John Coons, and Henry Kumler, Jun. Among the delegates were J. J. Glossbrenner, Jacob Markwood, John Russel, J. Bachtel, J. Ritter, Alexander Biddle, Joshua Montgomery, E. Vandemark, H. G. Spayth, George Bonebrake, ^p.481 Daniel Bonebrake, and others equally well known in the counsels of the Church. Of the delegates the first three named were afterward chosen to the office of bishop, and one alone, Alexander Biddle, survives to the present. The subject of education was taken under consideration by this conference, and the following tersely expressed resolutions were, after mature deliberation, adopted by a nearly unanimous vote:

Resolved, That proper measures be adopted to establish an institution of learning.

Resolved, That it be recommended to the attention of the annual conferences, avoiding, however, irredeemable debts.

Two things are worthy of note in this action. The first is the apparent almost complete unanimity which characterized the movement, indicating that these fathers were not averse to education in general, their opposition being, as before remarked, to an educated and unregenerate ministry. The second is their decided opposition to incurring debt, a principle to which their sons might have adhered with great advantage. In the appendage to the second resolution there is plainly visible the hand of the Kumlers and Russel, whose thrift and strong aversion to debt are alike remembered. It is also evident that the conference in this action contemplated the founding of but a single institution for the entire denomination. And when it is considered that the whole estimated membership of the Church was but the limited number given above, one school would seem to have been for a beginning quite enough. Such, however, was not the feeling of the Church, as was presently seen. When once the General Conference had spoken favorably, the impulse to build colleges soon widely asserted itself, and almost every conference took up the subject for discussion, and many of them for definite action. A number of schools ^p.482 were almost immediately projected, most of which were of necessity destined soon to be absorbed or to perish altogether.

The Miami Conference was the first to respond to the action of the General Conference. At the session of this conference, held in Otterbein Chapel, in Darke County, Ohio, on March 3, 1846, a resolution was adopted proposing to unite with the conferences in central and northern Indiana to found a college at Bluffton, in the latter State, or at some other suitable point which might be chosen. The St. Joseph Conference, Indiana, at its session in Kosciusko County, in October following, entertained favorably the proposition of the Miami Conference, and appointed three trustees for the proposed college, the first trustees for a college appointed in the Church. These, it was intended, should cooperate with other trustees who might be appointed by other conferences. The subject received considerable discussion, both in private and in the columns of the Religious Telescope, but for some reason the college then proposed did not materialize.

The next movement toward college building took form in the Scioto Conference. This conference, convening in Pickaway County, Ohio, on October 26, 1846, was met by a delegation representing Blendon Young Men's Seminary, located at the town of Westerville, Ohio, and belonging to the Methodist Episcopal Church. The Ohio Wesleyan University, of that church, having just been projected at Delaware, Ohio, this seminary was left stranded, with a debt of one thousand three hundred dollars. The representatives of this institution came before the Scioto Conference with a proposition to transfer to the conference the property, with all its appurtenances, if the conference would agree to assume this indebtedness. The proposition had at least the semblance of being generous, and was ^p.483 at once accepted. A board of trustees was appointed, and a resolution adopted inviting neighboring conferences to cooperate.

In the month of January following, 1847, the Indiana Conference, located in southern Indiana, resolved upon the building of a college either at Dublin or at Washington, in that State. A committee, consisting of C. Lynn, L. S. Chittenden, and J. Lopp, was appointed to invite the cooperation of the White River, St. Joseph, and Miami conferences. This scheme soon perished, but others were presently to follow. The Allegheny Conference had caught the spirit of the educational movement, and at its session beginning February 4 of the same year, 1847, at Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania, a series of vigorous resolutions was adopted looking to the immediate building of a college, either at Mount Pleasant or at Johnstown. A committee was appointed to whom the matter was intrusted. This committee wisely determined to receive bids, and to locate the school at the place which offered the largest local subscription for the purchase of ground and the erection of buildings. The result was that Mount Pleasant was selected for the location, and in 1850 Mount Pleasant College was opened for the reception of students. In 1858 this college was absorbed by Otterbein University. The earnestness of the Allegheny brethren in the movement is indicated by the fact that the conference placed on record a resolution threatening censure upon any minister who should oppose with adverse influence the college agent in soliciting funds for the enterprise. Rev. J. Ritter, author of "Ritter's Sketches," was appointed the first traveling agent for the college.²

Two years later, in 1849, the Indiana conferences having failed to reach a successful cooperation, the quarterly ^p.484 conference of Newborn Circuit decided to open a seminary in the town of Hartsville, in Bartholomew County. The Indiana Annual Conference within the same year supported this action of the quarterly conference, and subsequently the White River Conference gave its indorsement. The Wabash and St. Joseph conferences gave to the enterprise for a time a nominal support. The projectors, flattered with the seeming promise of success, soon gave to their school the pretentious name of Hartsville University. For a number of years, though carrying so large a title, the school did good work as an academy. The name was subsequently changed to Hartsville College. But a greater misfortune than even its financial or other limitations was destined to befall it, its trustees in the time of the radical defection succeeding in carrying it away with the secession. At the present time, whatever the future may yet hold for it, the fortunes of the institution have reached a low ebb.

Two other institutions, also the immediate outgrowth of the educational impulse which swept over the Church, remain to be noted. In 1853 the Illinois Conference, supported for a time by the Rock River, established an institution at Blandinsville, Illinois, known as Blandinsville Seminary. The school exerted a good influence for the Church for a time, but its support was insufficient to give promise of a future college, and it was later discontinued. Another was undertaken, with apparently fairer prospect, but equally destined to failure, by the Michigan Conference. An institution located at Leoni, known as Michigan Union College, owned by the Michigan Conference of the Wesleyan Methodist Church, valued for college purposes at ten thousand dollars, but already a failure, was transferred to the Michigan Conference of the United Brethren Church. The name after the transfer was changed to Michigan ^p.485 Collegiate Institute, and for a time the school under its new management seemed destined to reach fair success. But the Church in this State was not able to give it sufficient support in either money or students, and after an earnest struggle against the inevitable it was discontinued.

It would be an injustice to the colleges of the United Brethren Church to discount the value of their work on account of their comparative smallness, as contrasted with some of the older and more largely endowed institutions, and especially with the great universities. It is a well-recognized fact that the most thorough work is frequently done in the smaller institutions. Their classes numbering from a dozen to twenty students, instead of a hundred and upward, each individual student is brought into more direct contact with the professors, and the possibilities of better instruction, because more personal, are sufficiently manifest. The rank gained by their graduates when entering some of the large universities for the pursuit of post-graduate courses, and, more broadly, the distinction achieved in the various callings of life by those who have gone forth from these institutions, attest the substantial character of the work accomplished in the classroom. Here, as elsewhere, the words hold good, "By their fruits ye shall know them."

II. OTTERBEIN UNIVERSITY.

The reader has seen that while the Miami Conference was the first among the annual conferences to take action looking toward the founding of an educational institution, the Scioto was the first to put such a movement into effect. This conference, at its session in Pickaway County, Ohio, in October, 1846, having accepted the proposition of the representatives of Blendon Young Men's ^p.486 Seminary, as has been mentioned, appointed a board of trustees to take charge of the new enterprise. This board consisted of Mr. J. Dresbach and Revs. William Hanby and Lewis Davis. The trustees met at Circleville, in December following, and appointed Mr. Davis as soliciting agent for the school. Mr. Davis was also to visit neighboring annual conferences, and enlist their cooperation. A better selection for this important work could not have been made. Mr. Davis possessed in a high degree the qualities essential to success. He was cool and deliberate in his methods, possessed unlimited will power, thoroughly believed in the cause which he undertook to build up, and gave himself to it with all possible earnestness and determination. Two months later, in February, 1847, he visited the Sandusky Conference, whose session was held in Wood County. He presented to that body the enterprise undertaken by the brethren of the Scioto Conference, and asked for their cooperation. An earnest discussion followed, and a favorable vote was secured by a small majority, the conference agreeing to elect trustees and a soliciting agent. From this place Mr. Davis went to the Muskingum Conference, in session in Stark County, bringing to that body a like proposition. The conference, after a warm discussion, voted it down, and the resolute agent met his first real disappointment.

The trustees elected by the Scioto and Sandusky conferences met in session in Westerville on April 26, 1847. After free deliberation they decided that the name of the institution should be Otterbein University. It was most fitting that this pioneer school of the Church should be named for its great founder, Bishop Otterbein. The name university, however, was rather to be regarded as a prophecy to be realized in the future, for not even a college was at first attempted. The school was organized ^p.487 as an academy, or seminary, its head bearing the appropriate title of principal, instead of president. Mr. William R. Griffith, a graduate of Asbury University, was chosen for this position, his associate teachers being Miss Mary Murray and Miss Sylvia Carpenter. It will be seen that this beginning was on a scale quite large enough, when we consider that the entire membership of the Church of that time, as we have already seen, did not exceed about thirty thousand, and, still further, that so far only two conferences were enlisted in the support of the work. On the 2d day of September, in that year, 1847, the doors of the school were opened for the admission of students. The attendance on the first day was not especially promising, only eight students presenting themselves. This number, however, was increased during the year to eighty-one, so that the aggregate results were highly encouraging. Such was the modest beginning of an institution which has in, the process of time grown into a position of great honor in the denomination which has fostered it, as well as of distinguished standing among the colleges of the State in which it is located, and of the country as well.

Otterbein University from its beginning admitted students of both sexes to equal privileges in its courses of study, and the example was followed by Western and Lebanon Valley colleges, and all the other institutions of the Church. At the time of the founding of these earlier schools the principle of coeducation was still held in grave doubt by many educators, and many colleges and universities to the present day, especially in Europe, do not admit women to the same courses as men, or confer the same degrees upon the completion of the required work. The plan of coeducation has been found to work admirably, resulting not only in the encouragement of a higher ^p.488 standard of personal deportment, with the almost total prevention of conduct even bordering upon hazing, but also in quickening a worthy ambition in study and the attainment of higher results in the classes.

In these early days of the college its success depended greatly upon the energy and efficiency of its chief financial agent. It needed friends in other conferences besides the two which entered into cooperation at the first. Mr. Davis visited successive conferences, and the institution being now fairly started he found it less difficult to secure further support, several conferences being soon added to the list, including the Miami, and others. The conferences now uniting in the support of the college are the Scioto, the Miami, the Allegheny, the Auglaize, the Central Ohio, the East Ohio, the Erie, the North Ohio, the Ohio German, the Ontario, the Parkersburg, the Sandusky, and the St. Joseph.

The college had not long been founded when the question of connecting with it a system of manual labor was raised. The subject was freely discussed in the columns of the Religious Telescope, in the meetings of the board of trustees, and in the annual conferences. Some of the strongest friends of the college believed that it could be made really useful to the Church only if its students were required to cultivate habits of industry for hand as well as brain. Among those taking part in this discussion Rev. Henry Kumler, Jun., bore a prominent part. He was a liberal supporter of the college, but believed that the manual-labor feature was essential to its best success. In an article in the Telescope he spoke as follows: "Cannot institutions of learning be conducted without being made a curse to many, as we see they are? In many instances students, while at college, lay the foundations of both their physical and moral ruin. They too often

Otterbein College—Main Building

Christian Association Building, Otterbein University.

(First College Association Building in Ohio.)

^p.489 return from college disinclined to labor, and profligate in their habits. ... So far as I can learn, we of the Miami Conference will go in favor of an institution in which manual labor and worldly economy are taught, as well as letters and morality; no student to be admitted who is able, physically, to perform labor, and will not. . . . Out of such an institution we might expect the rich and the poor to come with the best intellectual stock, capable of enduring the hardships common to man in this rough world. . . . For such an institution our plain and honest people will go; for they want their children educated, but not at the sacrifice of their health, habits of industry, and immortal souls." And who shall find any fault with the logic of this view? After the lapse of nearly a half century we find a strong tendency toward the practical in the educational system of our country, and schools of technology are recognized as among the most honored and useful, while many of our best institutions have added a department of this character.³

Under the impulse of this agitation the trustees of Otterbein University were led to make provision for the manual-labor experiment, upon a plan which must of necessity work its own failure. The Church of that time was very largely rural; most of its ministers had come from the farm, and it was quite natural that farming was to constitute the chief feature in the manual-labor ^p.490 department of the school. A farm was purchased, a superintendent was appointed, and the students were set to work. But the long winter season was unfavorable for farming, and in the summer came the long vacation. And as the young men were not to farm for the purpose of learning how,—a business which most of them understood pretty well,—but were to use the farm for the purposes of a gymnasium, no very great enthusiasm could be awakened among them. And so, despite the many warm discussions in the board of trustees, and the vigorous resolutions adopted and spread upon its records, and the numerous articles printed in the Religious Telescope, farming at Otterbein was doomed to perish. Very wisely, by and by, the farm was sold, and the proceeds applied to relieving the rapidly growing liabilities of the college.

The outbreak of the great Civil War in 1861 bore heavily against this institution, as against all the colleges of the land. The call to arms was heroically responded to by the young men of the country, and the colleges everywhere yielded up their full quota. So large was the proportion of Otterbein students enlisted that some of the classes were almost wholly depleted of their young men.

Soon after the opening of the college it became apparent that the old wooden building was insufficient for its uses, and arrangements were early made looking toward the erection of a new college building. A large building was erected, three stories in height, the rooms on the lower floors to be occupied for recitation, library, and other purposes, while on the upper floor there was a large room intended for a college chapel and to serve as a place of worship for the United Brethren congregation in Westerville. It would be difficult to conceive of a building less fortunately constructed with reference to specific purposes than was this first college building ^p.491 erected by the Church. Yet it served its ends for a series of years until, in the night of January 26, 1870, it was consumed by fire. The loss of this building, with its library, cabinet, and scientific apparatus, was felt for a time to be a most serious calamity.⁴ Steps were, however, immediately taken to repair the loss by the erection of a new building. The result was the rearing of the present commodious, handsomely designed, and convenient edifice. This building is one hundred and seventy by one hundred and four feet in extent, and two and three stories in height above the basement. It contains twenty-six rooms, including chapel, four literary halls, recitation, library, and reading rooms, and offices. In addition to this large building, the central figure of the group, there are three others—a ladies' hall, a conservatory of music, and a Christian Association and gymnasium building. The last-named is a students' enterprise. It is an extremely handsome structure, accommodating both a Young Men's and a Young Women's Christian Association, and is the first college Christian Association building erected in the State of Ohio. The grounds connected with the college, now finely shaded by a grove planted many years ago, comprise about eight and one-half acres. The buildings and grounds together are valued at about seventy thousand dollars.

The amount of endowment secured for the college is over eighty-two thousand dollars, to which are added contingent assets amounting to about sixty-two thousand ^p.492 dollars. The total assets are over two hundred and seventeen thousand dollars. For many years the college struggled with debt, sometimes almost hopelessly. A few years ago it was resolved to raise the sum of eighty thousand dollars for its relief. A heroic effort was required before this amount was reached, but the greatly desired end was finally gained, and the college was placed upon a permanently assured foundation. Liabilities to some extent still remain to be provided for. In this effort to relieve the college some of its friends devoted so much time and effort, as well as money, as to deserve special mention here. Among these were Mr. David L. Rike and Mr. Samuel E. Kumler, of Dayton. , The latter gave several months almost continuously to the work.

It would be impossible to estimate now, as the college has entered upon its semicentennial year, the amount of service it has accomplished. It has graduated in all since its founding four hundred and fifty-six students, while others who have been in attendance for longer or shorter periods, completing partial courses, are numbered by many thousands. Its graduates occupy positions of honor and responsibility, in ecclesiastical and civil life, in many different States of the Union. It would be equally impossible to forecast the future of this first school of the Church. Its rank is still that of a college, its place as a university, in the larger sense of the term, being still a dream to be realized in the future, as the needs and the liberality of the Church are alike enlarged. But its grade is high among the foremost of the colleges, and its friends may indulge the hope that it will in time attain to the distinguished position which its name indicates.

The following gentlemen have held the position of president of the college: William R. Griffith, A.M. (principal), 1847-49; Rev. William Davis, 1849-50; Rev. Lewis Davis, ^p.493 D.D., 1850-57 and 1860-71; Rev. Alexander Owen, 1858-60; Rev. D. Eberly, D.D., 1871-72; Rev. H. A. Thompson, D.D., LL.D., 1872-86; Rev. Henry Garst, D.D., 1886-89; Hon. C. A. Bowersox, A.M., 1889-91; Rev. Thomas J. Sanders, Ph.D., 1891 to the present time. The faculty of the college at present comprises sixteen persons: Rev. T. J. Sanders, Ph.D., president and professor of philosophy; John Haywood, LL.D., professor emeritus; John E. Guitner, A.M., Greek language and literature; Rev. Henry Garst, D.D., mental and moral philosophy and English Bible; Louis H. McFadden, A.M., natural science; George Scott, Ph. D., Latin language and literature; Frank E. Miller, Ph.D., mathematics; Tirza L. Barnes, B.S., English language and history, and principal of the ladies' department; Rev. William J. Zuck, A.M., English language and literature; Rudolph H. Wagoner, A.B., assistant in Latin and principal of preparatory and normal departments; Josephine Johnson, M.A., modern languages and literature; Rev. W. O. Fries, A.M., Christian evidences; Isabel A. Sevier, drawing and painting; Gustav Meyer, director conservatory of music; M. Luther Peterson, voice culture; Frank S. Fox, A.M., elocution.

Some of the men connected with the college have given it long periods of service. John Haywood, LL.D., was elected professor of mathematics in 1851, and, with the exception of a few years, has remained in the college to the present time. He has occasionally, in the division of labor, taught also natural science. In 1893, on account of increasing years, he was relieved of full duty, and was elected professor emeritus. He is in the forty-first year of his connection with the college.

Thomas McFadden, A.M., M.D., became connected with the college in 1858 as professor of natural science. He died ^p.494 in 1884, after a continuous service of twenty-six years, except a short period spent in the War as an army surgeon.

John E. Guitner, A.M., a graduate of the college, was elected professor of the Greek language and literature in 1862. He has remained in this connection continuously since, being now in the thirty-fifth year of his service.

Henry Garst, D.D., also a graduate of the college, was elected professor of the Latin language and literature in 1869. He was president from 1886 to 1889, three years, since which time he occupies the chair of mental and moral philosophy and English Bible. He is in the twenty-eighth year of continuous service.

Dr. H. A. Thompson, a graduate of Washington and Jefferson College, Pennsylvania, was elected professor of mathematics and natural science in 1862. He was president from 1872 to 1886; professor of logic and rhetoric 1886-87, serving through a period of twenty-five years.

Dr. T. J. Sanders, a graduate of Otterbein University, title Ph.D. received from Wooster University on examination, was elected president in 1891. He possesses learning and fine enthusiasm. His accession inspired the friends of the college to the recent extraordinary effort to relieve it of its nearly hopeless embarrassment. He may safely be thought of as one of the younger men of the Church for whom there is an assured future.

Among those who, after Dr. Davis, performed most efficient service for the college as financial managers were Revs. J. Weaver, J. M. Spangler, J. B. Resler, C. W. Miller, and S. M. Hippard. Mr. John Knox, as a member of the prudential committee, has been one among the safest of the financial counselors. The present executive committee of the general finance committee are Mr. S. E. Kumler, Rev. W. J. Shuey, Mr. John Gerlaugh, Mr. Fred. H. Rike, and Prof. Albert B. Shauck.

^p.495 III. WESTERN COLLEGE.

The first steps looking toward the founding of an institution of learning by the United Brethren Church west of the Mississippi' River were taken by the Iowa Annual Conference at a session held at Muscatine in August, 1855. After a full consideration of a proposition for this end a board of trustees was elected, charged with the duty of proceeding immediately to the work. This first board consisted of Revs. Solomon Weaver, W. G. Miller, Joseph Miller, Daniel Runkle, and Mr. Jonathan Neidig. The board was instructed "as soon as possible to select a site for the location of the college, in as convenient a place as possible for the whole Church in Iowa." It was decided that the new institution should be known as "Western College of the United Brethren in Christ."

At a meeting held in February, 1856, the trustees accepted a tract of land lying in the open prairie, near Shueyville, in Linn County, for a location, and soon afterward commenced the erection of the main building. The town springing up around it took the name of Western. The Des Moines Conference, having resolved to cooperate with the Iowa, elected J. Hopkins and C. Witt as trustees, and at the meeting in October Solomon Weaver was elected president of the college. The work on the building was pushed vigorously, and on January 1, 1857, the doors were opened for the reception of students. The other members of the faculty for the opening term were S. S. Dillman, Mrs. E. S. Dillman, and J. C. Shrader.

The manual-labor system, which had been so elaborately discussed in the columns of the Religious Telescope in connection with Otterbein University,—with much greater success in type than in the furrows of the farm,—was regarded with favor by the founders of Western College. The trustees adopted the plan, provided a farm, and after ^p.496 five years of effort to run it with student labor abandoned it as a failure. The school from the beginning, as all the schools of the United Brethren Church, admitted both sexes to equal privileges in the classes.

Within a few years after the opening of the school the great War of the Rebellion broke out. The effect upon the college classes was most decided. So many of the students, with two professors, in loyal obedience to their country's call, left the recitation room for the camp and the front that scarcely a man of military age was left, and some of the classes, as to their male members, were completely broken up. And so disastrous were the effects of the War upon the attendance at the college that for several years its grade was lowered, and its presidents were known by the title of principal.

The successive presidents of Western College, with their terms of service, were as follows: Rev. Solomon Weaver, 1856-64; Rev. William Davis, 1864-65; M. W. Bartlett, A.M. (principal), 1865-67; H. R. Page, A.B. (principal), fall term, 1867-68; E. C. Ebersole, A.M. (principal), 1867-68; E. B. Kephart, D.D., 1868-81; W. M. Beardshear, D.D., 1881-89; J. S. Mills, D.D., Ph.D., 1889-92; A. M. Beal, A.M., 1892-93; A. P. Funkhouser, B.S., 1893-94; Lewis Bookwalter, D.D., 1894 to the present. The faculty at this time embraces twelve persons. Those in the regular college departments are as follows: Rev. Lewis Bookwalter, D.D., president and professor of philosophy; B. F. McClelland, vice-president and professor of English literature and principal of preparatory and normal departments; Edward L. Colebeck, A.M., Latin and Greek languages; B. A. Sweet, M.S., natural science; Raymond E. Bower, Ph.B., mathematics; Maud Fulkerson, A.M., German and French. Other departments, including music, art, commerce, physical culture, and so on, such as are usually connected with the best

Western College—Main Building.

^p.497 colleges, are fully provided for. The whole number of graduates of the college from the beginning is one hundred and ninety-six. The number of students in attendance during the year closing June, 1896, was two hundred and thirty-five. A very large proportion of the students have entered the gospel ministry. Fifty-two of its graduates, or over one-fourth of the entire number, not taking account of others who have attended the college for shorter periods, have been enrolled either as ministers or as missionaries. Six of the missionaries of the Church now in the foreign field are graduates from this college. That so many of its young people should have entered the sacred calling speaks volumes for the religious conditions which have marked the progressive life of the college. The religious life is further emphasized by the organization of a Young Men's and a Young Women's Christian Association, each earnest and aggressive in its work.

The removal of the college from its original location to its present most desirable situation was an event of the greatest importance to the institution. The first location had long been felt to be an unfortunate one, and a desire was widely entertained to secure for it a more favorable position. But the removal of a college from one place to another is always a difficult undertaking, and is seldom attempted. The step was, however, at last fully resolved upon, and in the year 1881, a quarter of a century from the time of the founding, the transfer was made to the beautiful city of Toledo, in the same State. Preparatory to this suitable grounds were secured and the necessary buildings erected. Eight years subsequent to this time the college was doomed to meet with a most serious disaster, quite like that which had befallen Otterbein University some years before. On Christmas night in 1889 the main building was consumed by fire, ^p.498 all its contents, the library alone excepted, perishing with it. Steps were immediately taken for rebuilding, and, through the prompt liberality of the people of Toledo and the friends of the college elsewhere, the present very handsome edifice soon arose from the ashes of that which was destroyed. This building is in extent one hundred and fifty feet by eighty, and three stories in height above the basement. It is rich in its architectural design. The walls are of brick, with stone ornamentation. It is fitted up with the most approved methods of heating, and is justly regarded as one of the best college buildings in the State. Its large and inviting rooms for the various requirements of a college adapt it alike to the needs of teachers and students. Other buildings, as the Bright Conservatory of Music, Mary Beatty Hall, the boarding hall for young ladies, and Drury Hall, the young men's boarding hall, are connected with the college. The college church, a model of architectural excellence, with a seating capacity of a thousand, is admirably adapted to the requirements of a church and Sunday school. The grounds connected with the college embrace an area of sixteen acres. The entire property—buildings, grounds, and equipments—is valued at about seventy thousand dollars. The conferences now cooperating with the college, including the original two, are the Iowa, the Des Moines, the Rock River, the Wisconsin, the Minnesota, and the Colorado.

The founding and building of Western College, like that of most educational institutions when resources are limited, called for the exercise of true Christian heroism. The first among those to urge the building of a college for the Church west of the Mississippi River, was Rev. Solomon Weaver, an older brother of Bishop Weaver. Mr. Weaver was not only first in the board of trustees, but was also elected the first president of the college. Like some others ^p.499 who have gained distinction as college presidents, in our own and other denominations, he possessed but a limited scholastic education. But he had that which the college, whatever it may do in developing, can never supply—the original fiber. He had strong native sense, a clear intellect, and great earnestness of purpose. His views respecting the establishment of colleges for the Church were much in advance of those of most of the ministers and people at that time. His work in connection with the founding and early progress of Western College accomplished most important results for the Church. In 1864 he resigned the presidency, and removed to Kansas. He died in December, 1874.

His successor as president of Western College, for a single year only, was Rev. William Davis, earlier of the Miami Conference. Mr. Davis was a preacher of great eloquence and power, but lacking in the elements requisite for the successful management of a college. Before removing to the West he had served for a brief period as president of Otterbein University. His memory in the Miami Conference, where a part of his ministerial life was passed, is tenderly cherished.

Dr. E. B. Kephart, a graduate of Otterbein University, was called to the presidency in 1868. He served for thirteen years, when he was elected by the General Conference of 1881 to the office of bishop. During the period of the War the attendance had so far declined that for three years the board of trustees had not elected a president. Dr. Kephart inaugurated at once a vigorous administration, both in the college and in its general affairs. The collegiate work proper was reorganized, and in 1872, four years after he became its head, the college graduated a class of ten. During the thirteen years of his management seventy young people took their diplomas.

^p.500 In the year 1881, that of the removal, a strong hand was needed to guide the affairs of the college, and the trustees were fortunate in selecting for its president Rev. William M. Beardshear, a graduate of Otterbein University and a member of Miami Conference. Dr. Beardshear's ability and energy, joined with the impetus and inspiration of a relocation in a new and promising field, made his eight years of service a signal success. The college during this period advanced well to the front, so as to gain recognition among the foremost colleges of the State.

Rev. J. S. Mills—Bishop Mills since May, 1893—was called from the chair of English literature and rhetoric in the college to the presidency in 1889, serving in that relation until 1892. He had scarcely entered fully upon his work when the disastrous Christmas fire swept away the main college building, and brought with it the greatest inconvenience for faculty and students during the remainder of the college year, as well as the necessity of providing immediately for the erection of a new building. The work was undertaken in a heroic spirit, and through the liberality and energy of those interested a new and more commodious building soon took the place of that which had been destroyed.

During the years immediately following, those in charge found it necessary to divide their time between the work in the college and attention to the financial situation. Prof. A. M. Beal and Rev. A. P. Funkhouser served each one year as president. The weakening of the financial conditions and the temporary loss of credit made the situation embarrassing and the work difficult.

It was under these circumstances, in 1894, that Lewis Bookwalter, D.D., a graduate of the college, who had occupied the chair of the Latin and Greek languages from 1873 to 1879, was called to the presidency. Dr. Bookwalter, at ^p.501 that time in the sixth year of the pastorate of the First United Brethren Church in Dayton, Ohio, accepted the responsibility, and at once addressed himself with great earnestness to the work. Under his direction the faculty has been reorganized, the general management placed upon a more economic basis, the debt materially reduced, and the number of students largely increased. Some large donations have been made by men of means, and in every way the outlook for the future has become more hopeful.

But to write thus of a college, making mention chiefly of the heads of its faculty, and leaving out of view those who have borne the principal care of the financial burdens, is a grave injustice to some who have rendered eminent service in this less conspicuous relation. Among those who have served longest and most efficiently in this less ornate but equally essential service, may be mentioned the Rev. M. S. Drury, father of Prof. A. W. Drury, of Union Biblical Seminary, and of Dr. M. R. Drury, of the Religious Telescope. Rev. L. H. Bufkin is another who has toiled long and laboriously in this often thankless yet necessary service. Among others as chief supporters and friends of the college may be named Dr. E. R. Smith, of Toledo.

IV. WESTFIELD COLLEGE.

Westfield College, located at the town of Westfield, Illinois, was founded in 1865. It was the larger outgrowth of an academy which was organized in the same place three years before. The Lower and the Upper Wabash were the conferences cooperating at the first. To these have since been added the Illinois, Central Illinois, and Indiana conferences. The first president of the college was Rev. Samuel B. Allen, D.D., previously ^p.502 a professor in Otterbein University, the other members of the faculty being Professors W. R. Shuey, A.M., W. T. Jackson, A.M., Ph.D., W. O. Tobey, A.M., and Mrs. Rachel Tobey, M.A. President Allen died in 1879, after a laborious service of fourteen years. Professor Tobey was elected joint editor of the Religious Telescope in 1873. Dr. Allen was succeeded in the presidency by Dr. Lewis Bookwalter, now president of Western College, Iowa. He served two years, and was succeeded by Dr. I. L. Kephart, now editor of the Religious Telescope, who served five years. After him came Dr. W. H. Klinefelter, who, after a service of six years, resigned, in 1895, to return to the pastorate. He is now pastor of the Summit Street Church, at Dayton, Ohio. He was succeeded by Prof. B. L. Seneff, A.B., who is the incumbent at the present time.

The college building is pleasantly located in a campus of six acres of ground. It is in extent forty by one hundred feet, with cross extensions forty feet in depth. It is of brick, two stories in height, and contains all the requisite rooms for the various uses of the college. The incorporators and original board of trustees were W. C. Smith, A. Helton, D. Ross, S. Mills, H. Elwell, E. R. Connelly, D. Evinger, and J. H. Coons. These men, with others who have followed, have spent years of laborious toil in their efforts to build up this college. The connection of Rev. W. C. Smith with the college as trustee, and much of the time as agent, has remained unbroken from the beginning, with the exception of two years at one time, and perhaps no man in the denomination has toiled more unremittingly, or with greater devotion and self-sacrifice, in building up any of our institutions, through dark days as well as through bright, than he. An embarrassing debt, formed long ago, which had remained as a burden ^p.503 upon the college, was recently liquidated, so that the institution is now without liability. The value of the property —building and grounds—is estimated at about twenty-five thousand dollars.

The faculty at the present time, in all the departments, embraces twelve persons; six of these are in the regular academic department, as follows: Rev. B. L. Seneff, A.B., president and professor of mental and moral science; Rev. William R. Shuey, A.M., vice-president, mathematics; A. C. Streich, A.B., Latin and Greek; Miss Sarah L. Newell, Ph. B., English literature, German, and history; W. R. Rhodes, natural science; C. E. Bigelow, A.M., preparatory department. Professor Shuey's connection with the college has remained unbroken from the first, and for twenty-five years he has occupied the chair of mathematics. The college has graduated from the beginning, from the regular collegiate departments, one hundred and twenty-seven students. The attendance during the year 1895—96 was one hundred and forty-eight. A number of departments, such as are usually found in connection with colleges, are well represented, as music, art, business, shorthand, typewriting. The courses of study in the regular college department are being extended as rapidly as means will permit, and the college, now that its embarrassing financial condition is relieved, hopes to add steadily to the already excellent advantages which it offers to the young people of the Church. The church membership from which it draws its students, as well as material resources, numbers about thirty thousand.

V. LANE UNIVERSITY.

About the year 1864 a considerable amount of interest was awakened among the United Brethren in Kansas on the subject of education. This interest was largely ^p.504 stimulated by the coming to Kansas of Rev. Solomon Weaver, who had been president of Western College. Kansas Conference at that time included all of the State of Kansas, with portions of Nebraska and Missouri. Favorable action was taken by the conference looking toward the building of a college, and the proposed institution was located at the town of Lecompton, situated fifteen miles east of Topeka, and fifty miles west of Kansas City, Missouri. The college was named Lane University, the name being given in honor of James PL Lane, who was one of the first United States Senators from Kansas, and a prominent and helpful factor in Kansas affairs in that troublous period. The cooperating conferences interested in this institution are the Kansas, Neosho, and Arkansas Valley. Support is derived from Northwest Kansas and Southwest Kansas conferences, but they do not directly cooperate. The courses of study provided are those usual to colleges, such as classical, scientific, literary, normal, and music.

Rev. Solomon Weaver is regarded as the founder of Lane University, and he was its first president. The first faculty included the names of Rev. David Shuck and Miss Nettie Stickney. The beginning was thus modestly made, in harmony with the circumstances then existing. President Weaver continued in the service of the college two years. His successors were Rev. Daniel Shuck, four years; N. B. Bartlett, eleven years; L. S. Tohill, one year; S. B. Ervin, D.D., four years; J. A. Weller, D.D., four years. Dr. C. M. Brooke was elected in June, 1891, and continues to the present.

The buildings and grounds of the college are of ample proportions. The grounds embrace an area of fifteen acres. Thirteen acres are included in the main college campus. This land once constituted the grounds for the State Capitol, and in it were laid the massive foundations for a State ^p.505 building. Before the work had gone further, the capital was removed to Topeka, and the State subsequently donated this ground to the college. On a portion of this foundation the main college building was erected. This building is forty-five by seventy-five feet in extent, and three stories in height, with basement. The other building is sixty-four by fifty-six feet, two stories in height, with basement. Both are substantially constructed, and covered with iron roofs. In the main building there are six recitation rooms, an auditorium, two literary society halls, a room for experimental work in chemistry, and one for a similar purpose in physics. The other building contains library, music, reception, dining, and commercial rooms, fifty in all, twenty-four of the number for students. The property is valued, at a conservative estimate, at thirty thousand dollars.

The institution was founded originally on the responsibility of leading members of the Church in Kansas, who operated it for a time as a private enterprise in form, but really for the Church. This arrangement proving unsatisfactory to the membership, the institution, with all that pertained to it, was transferred in fee simple to a board of trustees elected by the Kansas Conference, thus becoming the property of the Church. The college has been fortunate in avoiding a heavy indebtedness. In 1891, when Dr. Brooke took the presidency, the liabilities amounted to only a little over twelve thousand dollars. This debt has since been reduced to six thousand five hundred dollars, with all current expenses paid. Dr. Brooke has brought fine tact and energy to the service of the college, and his work in building it up in its various departments has led to most gratifying results.

Lane University has gained for itself an honorable position among the higher institutions of learning in the ^p.506 State. It belongs to the State association of Kansas colleges, and its president is secretary of that association. In issuing certificates to teachers the State Board of Education accepts the work done at Lane without question. The college has graduated in its higher departments sixty-eight students, and from special courses thirty-seven. It has an attendance of about two hundred students for the current year.

The faculty for the present year stands as follows: Charles Morgan Brooke, A.M., D.D., president and professor of philosophy and sociology; Norman Bruce Bartlett, A.M., Ph.D., history and pedagogy; Joshua Nizely Bank, A.B., Greek and Latin; John Sullivan Brooke, A.M., mathematics; Elijah Sheridan Andis, A.B., science; Gabriel Marion Huffman, D.D., biblical history and literature; Martha Wilson, instructor in school of music; Bishop J. W. Hott, D.D., conductor of divinity school; E. S. Andis, school of commerce.

For a little over thirty years this institution has been quietly pursuing its way, offering the advantages of a liberal education to the young people of the Church in Kansas. It has not yet attained the eminence which its projectors and friends had hoped it would gain, but it has accomplished an important service to the Church in Kansas, and with the continued growth of the Church in numbers and strength it has before it the prospect of a greatly enlarged future.

VI. LEBANON VALLEY COLLEGE.

Lebanon Valley College, one of the early educational institutions of the Church, was founded in the year 1866. It is located in the town of Annville, Pennsylvania, and is in part the outgrowth of the earlier Annville Academy, which was founded in 1834. This school was built by ^p.507 private enterprise, and became the chief source of education to a large number of men who attained to prominence in church and state in eastern Pennsylvania. When it became known that the East Pennsylvania Conference desired to establish somewhere within its bounds an institution of a higher grade, the owners and trustees of Annville Academy proposed to transfer that school, with all its property, to the conference. Among the gentlemen interested in the academy were Mr. Rudolph Herr, Judge John H. Kinports, Rev. George A. Mark, Rev. L. W. Craumer, Mr. George W. Hooverter, and others. The proposition thus made was favorably entertained and accepted by the conference, and the property was accordingly transferred to a duly appointed board of trustees in the year 1866. Additional ground was soon after purchased, necessary new buildings were erected, a faculty was provided, and the institution entered upon its new career as Lebanon Valley College. A charter, liberal in its provisions, was granted it by the legislature of Pennsylvania in the year 1867. At different subsequent times the Pennsylvania, East German, Virginia, and Maryland conferences became interested with the East Pennsylvania Conference in the ownership and support of the college. The first faculty of the college consisted of Thomas R. Vickroy, Ph.D., John Krumbine, E. Benjamin Bierman, A.M., Ph.D., Miss Ellen L. Walker, and Miss Lizzie M. Rigler.

The buildings of this college, three in number, are located upon a fine campus of about ten acres, and are together valued at about sixty-one thousand dollars. The main building is a large brick edifice, provided with college chapel, recitation rooms, society halls, reading-room, and gymnasium, besides dormitories for young men. A second building contains the library, an art room, and music ^p.508 rooms, with the entire department of natural sciences, including laboratory and museum. A third building, known as the Ladies' Hall, is the home of the young ladies attending the institution. The endowment of the institution, which it is earnestly desired to augment, amounts at the present time to seventy thousand dollars. The number of students in attendance during the past year was one hundred and forty. The number of its graduates up to the present is two hundred and twenty-seven, while the number attending its classes since its founding, for longer or shorter periods, has reached the ample figure of about twenty-five hundred. It is thus apparent that the institution has served a generous mission in the work of promoting higher education, both in and out of the Church.
The courses of instruction offered are very complete, in every way equal to those pertaining to institutions of its grade. To these are added post-graduate courses leading to the degree of doctor of philosophy. The college library contains over five thousand volumes, being supplemented by nearly two thousand more in the halls of the literary societies. Among the organizations connected with the college are Young Men's and Young Women's Christian Associations, which exert a healthful influence in the Christian development of the young people attending the institution. Added to the library is a cabinet representing various branches of natural science, as mineralogy, geology, and zoology.

The present faculty embraces nine instructors, with Dr. Bierman at the head as president and professor of mental and moral science. The others are H. Clay Deaner, A.M., in the chair of the Latin language and literature, and astronomy; John E. Lehman, A.M., professor of mathematics; Rev. J. A. McDermad, A.M., Greek language and ^p.509 literature; Oscar Ellis Good, A.M., natural science; Fannie A. Allis, A.B., modern languages and English literature; Carrie M. Flint, instrumental music; Carrie E. Smith, harmony and theory; Stocks Hammond, Mus. Doc, voice culture; Sadie A. Light, elocution, and Leah C. Hartz, stenography and typewriting. The gentlemen who have occupied the chair of president of the college since its founding are as follows: From 1866 to 1871, Thomas R. Vickroy, Ph.D.; 1871-76, Lucian H. Hammond; 1876-87, D. D. DeLong, D.D.; 1887-89, Edmund S. Lorenz, A.M.; 1889-90, Cyrus J. Kephart, D.D.; 1890 to the present time, Dr. Bierman.

It is no disparagement to the excellent work done in the college, and under the careful management of the gentlemen who have preceded Dr. Bierman in the position of president, to say that under his administration the college has made steady advancement toward better conditions. The college work done has been of a high grade. The liabilities have been materially reduced, additions to the endowment fund have been made, and in general the outlook for the college is full of promise for the future.

VII. PHILOMATH COLLEGE.

Philomath College, located in the town of Philomath, Benton County, Oregon, was chartered in November, 1865, and opened its doors for students in September, 1867. It is under the auspices of the Oregon Conference. It has never attained to large proportions, owing, more than to any other cause, to the extreme radicalism which proved so troublesome during a long series of years, in several portions of the Church, and which nowhere acquired a greater intensity than in the Oregon Conference. Nevertheless, the college, though working under so great disadvantages, has given a better equipment for the battles of ^p.510 life to a very considerable number of students. The town of Philomath is essentially a college town, its building having chiefly followed that of the college, and the college itself giving the name to the town. The college buildings are located in a beautiful campus containing eleven acres. Besides this an inviting grove of three acres, a half mile distant, and situated on the banks of St. Mary's River, is owned by the college. On this ground the commencement and other general exercises are held. The location of the college and town is one of the most attractive to be found in that State, which abounds so much in the picturesque. It is situated in the far-famed Willamette Valley, at the foot of the lofty Coast Range. St. Mary's Peak, the highest elevation in the range, is but a few miles away, while Mount Jefferson, Mount Hood, and Three Sisters are plainly visible. With cooling air from the mountains on the one side, and the invigorating sea breezes from the other, the location is peculiarly fine and healthful. The college began its work in a modest way, with but two teachers, Joseph Hannon and E. Woodward, at the first. Mr. Hannon was succeeded in the following year by E. P. Henderson, and Mr. Henderson by James Chambers, A.M., each serving but a single year. Mr. J. A. Biddle, A.B., was head of the school for two years, from 1870 to 1872, when he was succeeded by J. R. N. Sell-wood, A.M., one year. Rev. R. E. Williams, A.M., followed, 1873-76, when Rev. W. S. Walker succeeded to a service of eight years, 1876-84. Others followed: G. A. Miller, 1884-86; Major Thomas Bell, A.M., 1886-87; Rev. James C. Keezel, 1887-89; Rev. W. S. Gilbert, A.M., 1889-93; Rev. P. O. Bonebrake, A.M., 1893-95, and Rev. B. E. Emrick, A.B., 1895 to the present. The present faculty embraces four persons; in the college department proper, Rev. B. E. Emrick, A.B., and Henry Sheak, M.S. ^p.511 The value of the college buildings and grounds is estimated at about ten thousand dollars. There is an endowment of five thousand five hundred dollars, bearing interest at ten per cent., and about an equal amount involved in uncertainty. In addition to this, the college owns a considerable property in town lots. The Oregon Pacific Railroad runs through the college campus, thus connecting the place conveniently with the rest of the world. This college, as well as the conference in which it is located, suffered greatly in the recent agitations preceding and following the radical secession. The legal conflict for possession of the college has been elsewhere referred to.⁵ With the legal troubles settled, the outlook for both the college and Church is brightening.

VIII. AVALON COLLEGE.

This institution, at first located at Avalon, Missouri, was founded in the year 1869, the supporting conferences being the Missouri and Southern Missouri. Like all the colleges of the Church it began its career upon a scale of unpretentious proportions, its faculty at the first consisting of only three persons, Rev. M. H. Ambrose, Miss Lizzie Hanby, and Miss Frankie McNeil. The school was maintained at Avalon until the year 1890, when, to secure better advantages of location, it was removed to Trenton, in the same State. The removal was effected under the direction of President F. A. Z. Kumler, who became the head of the institution four years previously, in 1886. The gains made by the removal were far larger than simply those of greater convenience, the finances of the college being by this step immensely improved. Under the wise foresight of President Kumler a valuable tract of land was secured. This was laid out in lots to be sold for the benefit of the college, ^p.512 and the result was a generous fund for the erection of a building, and something further for its permanent endowment. A well-planned and commodious college building, containing thirty rooms, was erected, at a cost of forty thousand dollars. The building is heated by steam, lighted with electricity, and in every way thoroughly modern in its appointments. Its chapel, seated in the most approved manner, accommodates six hundred persons. The grounds retained for the college campus embrace four acres.

President Kumler, when assuming the duties of his office ten years ago, having become financial director as well as president proper, wisely resolved that the school must be conducted without incurring debt, and firmly held to this purpose. When the college was removed to Trenton, he entered the new field without money. But with full faith in the wisdom of the change and in the working out of his plans, he rented a hall and began work. He succeeded in keeping all expenses paid, and in two years was ready to present to the Church the splendid building which he had erected, a property, with the lands pertaining to it, valued at fifty thousand dollars— this upon the single condition that the Church make sale of lots to the extent of twenty thousand dollars. Writing of the result, two years ago, President Kumler said, "The Church has sold the twenty thousand dollars' worth of lots, and now the college is free from debt, the only college in the Church of which this may be said." He adds that about one hundred new houses had been erected near the college within two years, and that the future of the institution was altogether hopeful.

The college faculty at the present time embraces twelve members, as follows: F. A. Z. Kumler, A.M., president, E. B. Cassell, A.M., C. F. Emerick, M.S., A.M., F. E. Washburn, A.M., Mrs. F. A. Z. Kumler, L.B., in the college department ^p.513 proper; in other departments, J. H. Drake, Mrs. E. B. Cassell, and H. E. Beals. The whole number of graduates from the founding of the college to the present time is sixty-two. The amount of its endowment is ten thousand dollars.

IX. SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY COLLEGE.

This institution, located at Woodbridge, California, was founded in the year 1879. In 1878 the citizens of Woodbridge and vicinity purchased seven acres of land adjoining the place, and erected thereon a commodious school building. In the year following the property was transferred to the California Conference, and on September 10, 1879, the institution was formally dedicated by Bishop Castle.

On the day following the dedication the school was opened for the reception of students, with Prof. D. A. Mobley, A.M., as principal and Prof. E. H. Ridenour assisting, no college grade being at the first attempted. The school grew rapidly in popularity and in the attendance of students, so that in a few years the trustees felt that the time had come for placing it upon a broader basis and advancing it to the grade of a college. In May, 1883, a new charter was obtained, the institution then taking the name of San Joaquin Valley College. Meanwhile, there had been added to the faculty Rev. W. H. Klinefelter, A.M., later president of Westfield College, Illinois, as professor of natural science, and Rev. I. L. Kephart, D.D., also at one time president of Westfield, and now editor of the Religious Telescope, as professor of mental and moral science. The first class, consisting of four members, was graduated in 1885.

When the school was raised to the grade of a college, Professor Mobley was elected president. He continued in that relation for eight years, when he resigned, after having ^p.514 been for twelve years the head of the school. Rev. J. G. Huber, A.M., was elected his successor, in 1S91, and two years later, in 1893, was succeeded by W. J. Ham, LL.B. Professor Ham resigned in 1895, when Rev. A. L. Cowell, B.D., was elected to succeed him. The faculty at the present time consists of A. L. Cowell, president and professor of mental and moral science; W. J. Ham, professor of natural science; Rev. Theodore A. Waltrip, B.D., professor of history and principal of business department; Miss Ella Jahant, Ph.B., teacher of music. The departments of literature and mathematics are for the present distributed among other members of the faculty.

The college offers three full courses of study—classical, philosophical, and scientific, each requiring four years, with a preparatory course of three years. It has graduated fifty-one persons—twenty-eight gentlemen and twenty-three ladies.
The college building is a large two-story edifice, having on its second floor a spacious chapel, with a sufficient number of other rooms to meet present requirements. The college has a well-selected library, a good museum and philosophical apparatus, and handsomely furnished halls for its literary societies.

The institution is necessarily dependent in large degree upon the people of other denominations, being owned by but a single conference of less than a thousand members, and this support comes in generous degree. It is apparent that with but one conference to support this college, and that conference having but so small a membership, it must struggle with unusual difficulty in carrying forward its work, and surprise must be felt that it has accomplished such results as have been reached, and that, instead of a debt of a few thousand dollars, it is not actually overwhelmed with embarrassment.

^p.515 X. UNION COLLEGE.

The question of founding an institution to meet the local educational needs of the United Brethren in West Virginia had been under frequent consideration previous to the year 1881. A larger emphasis was given to this thought by the advent of two young men from Otterbein University, Revs. J. O. Stevens and L. F. John, who conducted select schools of short terms in the summer of that year in Lewis and Upshur counties, the latter at Buckhannon. The success of these schools attracted the attention of some of the members of the Parkersburg Conference, among them Dr. Z. Warner, Rev. W. M. Weekley, Rev. Columbus Hall, and others. Professor Stevens took supervision of the public schools of Buckhannon from 1881 to 1883, and gathered about him many of the foremost young people of that part of the State. Not having completed his course at Otterbein University, he returned there to pursue further studies, when he was soon smitten down by the hand of death.

On his retirement from Buckhannon, for a temporary period, as was his thought, Professor John took his position, ably assisted by Mrs. Stevens. Under his direction the type of the school was changed, making it practically a church school, and this character it soon fully assumed. In the same year, 1883, ground was broken for a new building, and a structure with ample conveniences for the uses of an academy was in due time erected. Several courses of study, as classical, philosophical, teachers' normal, commercial, and musical, were arranged. Apparatus was purchased, the nucleus of a library was secured, the teaching force was increased, and soon the school was in successful operation.

In June, 1885, Professor John resigned, and Prof. W. S. Reese, Ph.M., took the principalship for one year. In ^p.516 1886 Rev. W. O. Fries, A.M., a graduate of Lebanon Valley College, was elected principal. He continued for three years, when he was succeeded by Rev. W. O. Mills, A.M., a graduate of Otterbein University. Professor Mills has remained at the head of the institution to the present, being now in the tenth year of his work. The school has until recently borne the name of West Virginia Normal and Classical Academy, instead of the larger name of college, and, as such, has done most excellent service for the young people of West Virginia, both in and out of the Church. The annual attendance, as shown by the catalogues, has varied between the numbers of one hundred and ten and one hundred and fifty. The number of the graduates in the literary department is forty-eight.

For several years past negotiations have been in progress with the Methodist Protestant Church in West Virginia for a transfer of a half interest in the college to that denomination. The two churches are so far alike in doctrinal beliefs and all essentials of government that it is thought they can cooperate harmoniously in educational work. The final details of the union are at this writing about completed.

XI. YORK COLLEGE.

One of the newest of the colleges of the United Brethren Church was opened for the reception of students, at York, Nebraska, in August, 1890. This institution, earlier known as Gibbon Institute, at Gibbon, Nebraska, is under the care of the East Nebraska, West Nebraska, Elkhorn and Dakota, and Colorado conferences. It offers the usual courses of study pertaining to colleges—classical, scientific, normal, commercial, music, art, elocution, and so on. Rev. J. George, D.D., became its first president, and continued in that relation for several years. Other members of the original ^p.517 faculty were, in the college proper, A, B. Statton, Miss Elnora Dickman, Miss Florence Williams, and in the adjunct departments, O. P. Wilson, Mrs. W. E. Morgan, and Mrs. E. J. Wightman. The faculty at the present time embraces, in all its departments, eleven members. Five of these are in the regular collegiate departments: President W. S. Reese, Ph.M., higher mathematics and philosophy; Abbie C. Burns, A.M., modern languages and literature; Maud Acton Bradrick, A.B., Greek and Latin; J. E. Maxwell, A.M., natural science; Charles N. Hinds, A.M., history and English language.

The principal college building is an imposing edifice, built of brick and stone, four stories in height, including the basement. It contains twenty-nine rooms, and is heated throughout by steam. Its chapel has seats for about eight hundred persons. The corner-stone for this handsome structure was laid by Bishop Kephart in June, 1891, and the dedicatory services of the completed building were conducted by Dr. William M. Beardshear in the following year. The grounds embrace about nine acres. The building and grounds are valued at about thirty-five thousand dollars. An important provision for the permanent security of the property in the hands of its original owners is found in the fact that it can never be mortgaged.

The college graduated two students at the end of the first four years. The number of students in attendance for the past year, in all its departments, was two hundred and three. The college is far removed from any other institution of the Church, and has a broad field from which to derive its students. It has felt, like all our other schools, the prevailing monetary stringency, but its friends are hopeful, and with an improved financial condition of the country it will greatly enlarge its usefulness.

^p.518 XII. SHENANDOAH INSTITUTE.

In the Virginia Conference there was felt for a number of years the need of a school, not aspiring to the proportions of a college, but an institution of more modest pretensions, such as might meet the local requirements of the people within the bounds of that conference. Such a school was founded at the first by private enterprise, in 1876, just a little over twenty years ago. In 1884 it passed under the direct care and control of the conference. The location for the school was chosen at Dayton, in Rockingham County, in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley, and it was appropriately named for this far-famed valley—Shenandoah Institute. Suitable buildings were erected, and in the autumn of 1876 the school was opened to receive students. Rev. J. N. Fries, A.M., was its first principal, with the following associate, teachers: Rev. A. P. Funkhouser, William Funk, Miss Anna Baer, and Miss Ida Funkhouser. The buildings, now three in number, two of brick and one a frame, are two stories in height, and contain together thirty-three rooms. The grounds comprise about two acres. The whole property, with its appurtenances, is valued at about ten thousand dollars.

The range of study includes classical, scientific, English, and commercial courses, with medicine, music, and art. The faculty at the present time embraces, for all the departments, eight members. The following persons have served in the office of principal: Rev. J. N. Fries, A.M., 1876-78 and 1883-87; Rev. A. P. Funkhouser, 1878-81; Rev. W. J. Zuck, 1881-82; Rev. T. H. Sonnedecker, 1882-83; Rev. George P. Hott, A.M., 1887-96; Rev. E. U. Hoenshel, 1896 to the present. The annual attendance of students approaches one hundred. The graduates up to the present, in the regular academic ^p.519 departments, number fifty-one. Thus the school, while not claiming a more exalted rank than its name implies, succeeds in accomplishing a large amount of good, and has proved a real blessing to many of the young people of our Church in Virginia who would not otherwise have gained the advantages of a higher education.

XIII. EDWARDS ACADEMY.

Edwards Academy, founded in 1877, was located originally at Greenville, Tennessee. Four years later the location was changed to White Pine, in the same State. The school was named for Bishop Edwards, who took much interest in the Tennessee Mission Conference. The first principal was S. C. Hanson, who served four years, or until the removal to White Pine. The next principal was Rev. Lewis Bookwalter, the present head of Western College, in Iowa. He served but a single year, when he returned to the North. David W. Doran served five years, from 1882 to 1887. The inability of the Tennessee Conference, on account of the smallness of its membership, to properly support it, left to the academy but a precarious life, and frequent changes in the teaching force continued. The recent development of the work in Tennessee, by which large accessions have been made to the Church, has placed the academy in a greatly improved relation. Last year, 1895-96, there was an attendance of about one hundred and fifty students; this number has now advanced to over two hundred. With so large an increase the accommodations are quite insufficient for the present need. Rev. J. D. Droke, A.M., who has recently assumed the duties of principal, begins his work greatly encouraged with the outlook so far as students are concerned. The academy has five teachers: Professor Droke, principal and teacher of the ancient languages and sciences; E. S. ^p.520 Vaught, English and mathematics; Mrs. N. E. Gass, primary department. Other departments, as commercial and music, are also represented. Apparently the academy, while retaining its more modest name, is fairly on the way toward attaining the proportions of a respectable college.

XIV. ERIE CONFERENCE SEMINARY.

The institution bearing this name is beautifully located in the town of Sugar Grove, in Warren County, Pennsylvania, well toward the northwestern corner of the State. It was opened for the admission of students on September 1, 1884. Its situation is within the bounds of the Erie Conference, and this conference alone is directly interested in its support. The purpose of the founding was to provide in the nearer home field educational conveniences for the young people especially within the bounds of that conference and in that section of the State, as also in the adjacent territory of western New York.

The seminary building is a structure of good size, being ninety by sixty feet in extent, and three stories in height. It is built of brick, trimmed with stone, and has nineteen rooms, including a well-furnished chapel. The ground is a handsome plat of four acres. The surroundings of the town and seminary are picturesque and attractive. The property is valued at about twenty-two thousand dollars, and the institution is practically without debt.

The school began its career with a faculty of six instructors, Rev. R. J. White, A.M., being principal. His associates in the work, in the various departments, were W. W. Prugh, S. C. Hayden, Miss Alice Dickson, E. H. Hill, and Mrs. R. J. White. Professor White has remained at the head of the institution continuously to the present. The school now has seven persons in its faculty. The departments of study provided are college preparatory, ^p.521 normal, scientific, music, and so on. The aim is to do thorough work in everything that is undertaken, but no pretense is made of doing the broader work of a college, no promises being held out which the school is not prepared to meet.

The seminary is as yet without an endowment, and consequently not self-supporting. The annual deficiency, however, is made good by its principal founder, so that no accumulating debt is permitted to burden the institution. Professor White, as the principal of this school, has shown most commendable skill, not only in giving direction to the department of instruction, but in the control of its finances as well. By a wise and economical management he has preserved the school from the embarrassments which have proved so heavy an incubus upon most educational institutions.

The school since its founding has graduated ninety young men and women. When to these are added the hundreds who have received instruction in its classes without going on to graduation, it will be seen that in the thirteen years of its existence it has accomplished a noble service for the Church.

XV. OTHER INSTITUTIONS.

Besides the institutions named in the preceding pages, efforts have been made, at various times, and in different States, to build up others. They were organized under various names, as colleges, seminaries, academies, and institutes, but, with the exception of one or two, have ceased to exist. Some of them were absorbed by other and larger institutions, some were transferred to other locations and reorganized under other names, and others closed because of insufficient financial support. All of them served a useful purpose for a time, and several were ^p.522 continued for a considerable number of years. A few of them were chiefly under private control, with conference recognition. All of them deserve mention here, as indicating the interest of the people in the conferences where they were located in the work of building up the Church by every proper means, and the sacrifices they were ready to make for this end. The institutions referred to are as follows:

Roanoke Seminary, at Roanoke, Indiana; Green Hill Seminary, at Green Hill, Indiana; Fostoria Academy, at Fostoria, Ohio; Elroy Institute, at Elroy, Wisconsin; Dover Academy, at Dover, Illinois; Ontario Academy, in Ontario, Dominion of Canada; Washington Seminary, at Huntsville, State of Washington;