American University - Talon / Aucola Yearbook (Washington, DC)

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!y r ' ' ' ' r . r ' ' ' i h T ' . i .i ' u.i.. i immmmfemKmmmm Now you must note that the city stood upon a mighty hill . . . The foundation upon which the city was framed was higher than the clouds. — THE PILGRIM ' S PROGRESS

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HAROLD GOLDER, 1896-1934 PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH AND DEAN OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL

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CHAPTER ONE The Cainpus ON Christmas Day, 1889, Bishop John Fletcher Hurst, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, began a search for a site on which to erect the physical fulfillment of his vision — an academic city in Washington, a nation-wide university for graduate study. After three weeks of intensive travel which took him over almost every square foot of the District of Columbia, he selected a 92-acre plot on old Loughboro road, on a mighty hill — the highest elevation in the vicinity. He paid $100,000 in five annual installments — a mere fraction of its present value. In March, 1895, he turned the property over to the trustees of The American University, which had re- cently been chartered by act of Congress. Founders of the University traced its inspiration back to an incident which tra- ditionally occurred during the American Revolution. Informed that continental forces had seriously damaged Harvard College during their stay there, George Washington is said to have expressed regret at the vandalism. Turning to Na- thaniel Green, he voiced the hope that as soon as the new nation should be estab- lished a national American university would be located in its capital as one of the world ' s centers of learning. Within a few years after the founding of Washington, D.C., movements were on foot in many groups to establish such an institution . The campaign to establish the present American University was initiated by William Arthur, who wrote an article shortly after the Civil War in Harper ' s Mag- azine, urging that American Methodists co-operate in establishing a national Methodist university. The movement had reached the stage of a drive to raise $150,000 for a College of History Building when Bishop Hurst presented the cam- pus site to the trustees. The College of History, which still bears that inscription, although renamed Hurst Hall, was begun in 1896 and completed in January, 1898. For eighteen years its classrooms remained dark and unused except for occasional exhibitions, meet- ings, or pilgrimages. The founders dreamed of erecting countless other buildings, similar in architecture but more imposing. Halls devoted to Francis Asbury, the Epworth League, and to Methodists in various states were built on paper, and pledges toward their fi- nancing were solicited. The only building of this group which materialized was the Ohio College of Government, renamed the McKinley Building in honor of one of Ohio ' s favorite sons, who spoke at the ground breaking for the building in 1901 as President of the United States. For the past few years, this building has been oc- cupied by the Fixed Nitrogen Research Laboratory of the Department of Agri- culture, although it probably will be re-modeled for University purposes in the near future. [II]