Knox College - Gale Yearbook (Galesburg, IL)

Page 26 text:

THE GALE 3 closed up The colonists were in earnest These state builde s like the English colonists all oxer the globe took their homes with them They looked to the future not to the past The Journey vxas not an easy one I know of nothing that could compare xxith it at the present time A trip around the world could be made in less time and vxith far less exertion In prairie schooners they came The boxs in front with a rifle or shotgun looking for game The father drixing the team with precision the mother caring for the children or preparing the meal Thus these pioneers came for a thousand miles Men xxho could sign their note for 310000 men who preached with Fmney and other great preachers of the day Down the Mohawk Valley they came across Ohio and Indiana to Ilhnois or perhaps Ontario in Canada and then across Mich igan The nrst settlement xx as made at I og City a city of thirteen cabins built in the summer of 1836 by the colonists three and a half miles northwest of the square I can imagine that the hardships of the Journey and the danvers of the way were forgotten as these pilgrims xx orked and sang building their temporary city under the shadoxx of the mighty xx oods of oak elm maple and vxalnut In the folloxxing xxinter the men prepared the l1ITllD6I'S tor thetr new homes in falesburg and in the Spring of N37 building on the prairie began in earnest Amid the excitement of building homes and putting in crops the real purpose of the colony xx as not forfotten On February 15 1631 the legislature of the state of Illinois sitting at X tndalia granted a charter to the college under the name of the Knox Xlanual Ltlxor Lollege IVIITIIIIO the school after Gen Knox of Rexolu tion trv lame after xx hom the county had already been named -Xn academx xx is built on the northcast corner of Main and Cherry Streets the center of the connnunitx life Here the great preachers of the day gave their inessi es on ex tn elisin tenu erance and reform Here the truth of abolition was procl timed as the truth th it should ni :ke men free ln 18446 the colle e r xdutted the txrst cl iss in the new church which had been built xxhere the Lentril chuich noxx stands md in l857 Old Nam was erected Thus the dre uns ot the founders xxere fulhlled and to dax we see their hopes uid desires more th in re xlwed The exangelisin of the vxorld of which they drc nned is comm true ind in Chint Japan India and Turkey Knox men and xxomen are pourinz, nexx xxine in old bottles md ltnldmg the ideals of the founders uf lxnox into thc mor il ind political life of the countries of the Orient The storx of the founding of lxnox Lollege ls .1 herita e vxhich should be cher ished more md mort is the d tys so by lt should inspire us to greater service for thc public ,oocl The idc nls ol the founders tre the leaxen to saxe us from the cl inbcrs of in ttcri il success Xpparcntly the husiest man in school MEERER 1 . . s . . I v . . , . , , 1 ' Y . 1 A v . . ' Y . . ' s . - t A U , ' . . L . V . . ' . . - Y v i 1 r' ' K 7 D 1 v -K -Y . T i I iv ' T -'I -- . K. ' . . .1 I Q K L b ' . 1 1 ' 1' , 1 ' 0' ' . ', ' - ', 1 1 I , 1 ' ' 1 1 1 1 . . 1 '. j '1 ' ' 1 1' , which is noxx' the heart of the business district of Galesburg. This building was 1' ' 1 . 1 1 1 ' . 1 ' g g 1 1 ' ' -1 ' ' ' ' ' ' ' T 1 ' ' 1 . 1 ' . 1' . . 1 ' ' , ' 0 1 - f i 1 i' 1 1 '. . 1 ' ' ' i X1 .Q x . I . . 2' I ' .K , , . 1 . U V V. . , X I 1 . . . C , I 'Y . lr Y , 4' - Y .i ' . g V . - 1 ' If 1 1 f . ' ' ' ' , ' , U. . ' ,I . ' Z . . 1 ff- ' ' 1 1 '1 A ' .

Page 25 text:

KNOX COLLEGE e Foundzng of Knox The th rd decade of the last century vxas a per1od of great rehgxous furore and emotxon The struggle over slavery and the rlght f free speech produced deep convxctlons on moral quesuons It was the age of evangehsts Central New York was then peopled by a sturdy c1t14ensh1p wh1ch thought and acted for ltself Among these people was Rev George W Gale a graduate of Prmceton a ret1red m1n1ster who was then teachlng 1n the Onexda Instrtute To h1m came 1 NISIOH of great sig mhcance He dreamed of '1 c1ty on the wes tern pra T168 of a college fully endowed of a church 1n the center of the commumty of a C1t1ZCY1Sll1p of the c1ty to be made up of chosen f?lll1ll1CS from the east of 4 beacon hght that would radlate the hght of learn1ng and rel1g1on throughout the west And tl'l1S IS how the dream came true After many d1S3.ppO1l1tl11CUtS and reverses the plan of xenturmg mto thc west was at last nnanced by Sylvanus Ierrxs and a purchasmg commlttee consrstl 1 cf George W Gale Sylvanus FCTTIS Nehemiah VVest and 'Il1011121S 511111110115 was all polnted by the subscrlbers to the project Th1S commlttee came down the l'1l es to RAY M MRNOLD 07 Detrolt where Geo W Gale was taken srck but Ferns West and Snnmons push cl on to Chlcago to Ottawa and hnally to Ixnoxulle Here to the1r delight they found the ldeal locatlon one that combmed the advantages of praxrle t11nber fuel water and bu1ld1ng 1TlHtCll3l The COI'I1l1l1ttCC mrmedxately hastened to the nearest land Ol'flC6 at Qumty and entered 10 746 acles mn the west half of Galesburg townslnp contammg land ew tend1ng north south and west of Galesburg for about three m1les Tor th1S they pald 14 821 at the rate of S125 per acre In addltlon they bought three 1l'1lDI'OX ed farms where the colomsts mrght go on the1r arru al Hastenlng home they' made the1r report and on Jan 7 N37 at VVl11l1E'SlJOI'O New York the subscr1be1s olganlzed the1r college under the name of Pralrle Col lege The town was named Galesburg after George W Gale The purchaslng CO1'UI'l11tt6C was honored by haymg streets named for them Land was set aslde also for the college the church and other Dl,1lJl1C 1ITlpI'OV6I'I16!'lfS The Sprmg of 1830 saw the colonlsts preparmg to moxe Thls was no temporary gypsy hke xenture Home t1es were severed farms sold busmess FLYNN IH chapel Xou look at vour pre ldent and say Vkhat a fine lookmg man he rs here he looked for hnnself and abruptly chan ed the subJect 7-71 ' .1 ' V ' , I O 7- C 1 T .N . . . C - - . v I C Y C - ' . 4 V c ' .J ' . 1 A V V v A 1 f L ' J ' .. ' y I . . v I - - x C - I . 8 . . . .PU 1 - 'cw l 4 . . , . V Q - 1 y , , ' ei X . . . Q HY . . . 1 - . , . . .K , c . , . , v 1 v 1 y v C 1' . Y I . 4 . , . . SS , , . . . - - f - - L v v , - KW' ' I ' V I . C , . - ' ! v 4 ' u v V t , . . , 3 , 5 . l ' ,-- , o ,G .

Page 27 text:

KNOX COLLEGE I L.. , T HE OLD OBsERvAToRY The Knox College Observatory With the opening of the George Davis Science Hall this year, and the moving of the Department of Physics into the first Hoor of that building, the Observatory building, which for twenty-three years has been occupied by the departments of Physics and Astronomy, has been turned into a home for the College Y. M. C. A., and is receiving liberal usage as the center of the college life of the men on the campus. The observatory was founded in 1883 by Professor E. L. Larkin, its first Director. Professor Larkin was succeeded by Professor C. li. Thwing in l806, and in September, 1901, Professor Thwing turned the place over to Professor Longden, its present director. The Observatory stands in latitude 400 57' 30 north, longitude 900 20' 45 west of Greenwich and 13 16' 50 west of Wasliington, and at an altitude of 778 feet above the sea level. Its equipment includes an Alvan Clark six-inch telescope, provided with equatorial mountings, a small transit instrument, which is useful in the determination of latitude, longitude and time, also, a diffraction grating by Rowland, with mountings by Brashear. The Observatory also enjoys the unusual privilege of being directly connected once a day with the United States Naval Observatory at NVashington, for the pur- pose of verifying time standards. The Y. M, C. A. has litted up the two rooms on the main Hoor in appropriate style, one a room for study with a library containing all the text books used in college, the other a reading room with all the current magazines and daily papers. The entire building may be taken over at a later date for the department of As- tronomy, but until that time, it will serve a very useful purpose as the headquarters for the men of the college. I am terribly bored-joy. ew-wud!