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Page 25 text:
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-....,,sM 'Thus the walls were finished. during this session to join the faculty. Four of the eleven faculty members were colored. Professor J. A. Tucker came in the summer of 1923, and continued the policy of adding qualified Negro teachers to the facultyg and by 192930 eight of twenty faculty mem? bers were Negroes. Nine of fourteen faculty members in 1932 were Negroes. C01 Small Beginnings at Cakwood The initial conception of Cakwood school would doubtf less have found it diflicult to visualize the magnitude of its present size and scope. Looking at it today, one would also find it hard to see it as it was at its beginning. Oakwood is a splendid example of the truth that it is not so much what we are at the beginning as what we are at the finish. That is not to say that Oakwood is at the Hnishg no telling what it may yet become and what it may do. When the farm of 360 acres was purchased for its prof posed use as a school for colored youth, little favor was shown in Huntsville and vicinity to its purposes or to its promotors. It took a few years to break down the prejudice which at first was quite strong. A change of feeling did come, and visitors came to study its teaching and farming methods. Business men of Huntsville became friendly. The farm, purchased at a cost of 86,480.00 or 318.00 per acre, was considered a fair price. It was much in the condition of most of the South at that time, run down and neglected. The land was well worn out and given over to a heavy growth of underbrush. There was scarcely a rod of good fence. About its biggest boast was that Andrew Jackson had attended parties in its Cld Mansion. The mansion itself was in none too good repair. Its foundation required early attention. That building had to be the main part of the school for some time. In 1901, the sale of fruit and other produce paid all living expenses with S400 to the goodg in 1902, there was a tidy sum of S700 gain. The farm was now one of the best in the section. Chattanooga was a source of needed help when in 1896, the sum of 81,000 was loaned the school by Mrs. A. S. Steele, who was conducting an orphanage for the colored in that city. I well remember her earnest and vigorous pleas in behalf of the work in the South when she had opportunity to talk to gatherings in the North. She helped to inspire interest and courage in the Southern work. It took close financial budgeting to get through school with not a dollar to begin with, as was the case with most students. At first, students were permitted to work their 'K -11 , '1'Z,,. . . WI MU' ,fy Student crmvassers of 1915. way through entirely by their labor of five hours a day. But this could not be kept up if the school was to keep up. In fact, finance was becoming a serious problem to the school itself as its enrollment grew. There was no little feeling with some that the school should be closed and the farm sold. In February of 1902, the Southern Union Conference Session gave study to the schools needs. It was voted to try to make it more nearly selffsupporting and to require tuition in whole or part. Action was taken looking to appealing to friends throughout the world for donations to a tuition fund. It was also voted to raise 3500 for a cottage for the principal, 5250 for an orchard and the preservation of fruit and 31,000 for material for a girls' dormitory. The need for this last item became a very pressing one when in some cases as many as 16 girls were crowded into one room. But this was only one of the urgent needs. A furnace for the school room was badly needed. There was not a bathroom on the placeg and, for that matter, if there had been a bathroom, there was no water for a bath. The water supply had always been a problem. Stock had to be driven three miles to water. The farm was badly in need of implements. Among other needs were a milk house and a laundry. Fruit canning was done in an open shed, if we can say in, when speaking of a mere roof on supports. When in January of 1904, the General Conference President, Elder A. C. Daniells, made his first visit to Cakf wood, he found for himself a situation of considerable conf cern. The sentiment for closing the school was still strong enough to make trouble. It was difficult to get leading brethern to serve as members of the Board. A number of Lum berjaclqs 49'
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Page 24 text:
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.rw -1 - ,, ,. ,X . '51 nv' s + ' I . -5 .f .,, . inmate as A, .4 . ' T - -H -lieu . 4 ,. rgys. fs 5 ff. X . f 'Kifx is t H : x, X M4,-is f ' 's 'ii' T I ff: - ,lstfts A 'itil if .1f!J1.sf'1. 53:41 is I' r I 8112.32 ai i 53.2. as ti. rw ..,h Old Mansion, the inost historic building on Oakwood grounds, was built about the year 1815. Andrew faclqson who lived not far north Clrlermitagej often visited Old Mansion,where they raced horses and sold slaves twice a year. children, left without parents, came to the attention of Oakwood oflicials, and on the knoll west of the campus circle, a twofstory orphanage was erected in 1912. The Pines, duplex apartment for teachers, was erected in 1912. In 1914, F. W. Clark, a contractor and Negro member of the faculty, directed the entire work and completed the structure which remained the young women's home for twelve years. In 1915, a new laundry with concrete floors was erected. Augmenting Principal Boyd's program were a barn, silo, wagon house, and cannery, in addition to the saw mill, and tool shed. In the spring of 1913, more than five miles of woven wire fence constructed on cedar post enclosed many acres. And with Madison County aid, the school placed gravel on two miles of the road to Huntsville and graded it. The North American Division Council held a session on the campus in April, 1917, at this meeting Oakwood was elevated from the Oakwood Manual Training School to the status of Oakwood Junior College. President J. I. Beardsley succeeded Principal Boyd in 1917 to 1918, and urged the board to give attention to the inadequate water supply. Twelve cisterns and a pump were installed. The Like Nehemiah, they built the walls in trying times. Civ .., W Z, - i i , 1 s . . 4 A, war, gs, . i V .. 't-L . . . ,, 265594 , , s ' ' 'V ' vb 'wtf what lg! Xls '3' 1. -i s-aiifp ' I 1 0 QV, V ' 4.1 -w'- ' , . ,.. M . Q. ' gi -1 ,.lWwff ' if V JM. ' - mptu , is Y Jlf Al: ' 'fl' J wax f- 'fy ,1 L. X T V I - ,. 1 1 . . if L- qi 'M , I., ' ' '-ff' ' I . . in-ani.. E I J 1 -. l ,, K ,.-.. ,tl x- C: g i?gA?:9,A 5,.,fg9.'bAL- i. W . , i . --sf' I wifi -'-sez'-'n::'...k i- CE '- '- - - - 'H 'z' Y ...L .1...w, ln., Y we ,j,f,., 'fl -, 1 ' -- - i.K..i,.,i...1.n...i. WM . .W -, ,Inv T , T- ,,.v 11: D Y iv .. , . c AN' n-f......,.,'- ' . - W- --1 I swf' i.. fi . A -9'-.... . ws . I .. .. 1 I A . fa. - -. . N 1,15 xi-,L-.,,p5.Y',gfi.w,Qgyg. I f - ' S- - .. -N. ...N i t 4.-r., 1 N.-an-f.s.i?f'-'. -1 -- . -- -. u - .N- . we--i .1 ,. ,isp .- ..' wiv:- I 1. is , -A . v - '. r1.?i:'u, L,,- ..:.' ,Qu.' 1: Eu . LS ix, . .' 1 , , I ,,-I VK ,ls 1 W . . N 5 4- .3 mn!! 1 , A849-J? .Vs .1 ir A H A 'I wb li 5 U ww x V, W.. , I . ,15 , 49. ,mm why!! A,,,:...vf, ', ul,-.R G i 5 ', yy ,LQ A Q h gf' 4 345- -' Mm.- . g::J.,1 ,V Bing ' -3, -14,6 X . -. it , S'-5 4 LM :ill illfri Tani a ' s't'll5'lTfl' h li T' Nh- ' 'rs' if .sl ' ,R 'Aa f 'Q AU ,-.,r.jQ9 ifff.?q'P,fs Ar- 1 ' ,Hui '..Jf W if' V AN. 1. -Qxf.. L: ' .53 5451! l..',,,., wb..g,x .Ag 'yy X. , ' ,X K ' 4 if. iff? - , 14151 - f 1 9.1-Ah-.J '-.1 1. w 't if .-.5 4' 11- ' .1 sc. J if Hifi. 0 ' Y Old Mansion would particularly appeal to the rugged Htypical son of the unadulterf ated frontier , who eventually became the seventh President of the United States. potato house was erected that same year, 1918, and also the teachers' cottage, Shady Nook. ' A rock crusher was purchased in 1925. During the first half of the next year the store and the Normal building were erected. The management during 1924 began selling old cows and purchasing young Jerseys. Many of the sixty which the school owned in 1938 were registered, and it was said Oakwood's dairy ranked second in the entire state of three hundred herds in rickness of milk produced. Pasteurizer and cooling systems were installed. Fire destroyed the dining hall in 1926. The telegraphic message to the General Conference read: Dining hall completely destroyed by fire. Loss 314,000 Insurance 33,500 Using old cannery for temporary dining hall. The General Conference voted an appropriation of 5B15,000, and a 332,000 building was erected to serve as dining hall, kitchen, and a girls' dormitory of 40 rooms. In honor of one of the pioneers, Elder C. A. Irwin, the building was named Irwin Hall. In 1930, a circular reservoir with a capacity of 50,000 gallons was erected on the hill near the spring. Professor J. I. Beardsley was the first Junior College principal. Professor F. L. Peterson was invited by the board A baseball team of 1907, takes time out for the g'Great American pastime gil... J' .VIE W 'JJ ill'-. FA .cue-is
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Page 26 text:
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states legislatures had passed laws against education for the colored, and it was feared that similar action might close Oakwood. Elder Daniels made a report of his visit through the Review and Herald, and Elder G. I. Butler made strong appeals in behalf of the school through the paper. In the following year there came a real turning point for the school, and a new program was inaugurated. A meeting of the executive committee of the Southern Union Conference was held at Oakwood itself and thus brought on to the grounds our responsible leaders of the work in the South. Mrs. E. G. White and her son, W. C. White, were also in attendance. Thorough inspection of the school farm and buildings was made by the company. Two impressive talks were given by Mrs. White. She told how the Lord had shown her, years before, various features of the place, many of which she pointed out: buildings, fruit trees, and the general appearance. She spoke in the highest terms of the school and its prospects and the possibilities of the soil when properly worked, adding 'not one foot of this land should be sold. In visualizing the possible future of the school she said that instead of fifty students in attendance there should be a hundred. W. C. White estimated a possible attendance of 150 to 250 under proper management. At this time some six or eight small schools had developed in the South, particularly in Mississippi. Considerable feeling had been created as to the relative importance of these schools and the one at Huntsville, affecting quite a bit the attendance at the latter. With the question of how to secure closer cooperation of all, F. R. Rogers, who was in charge of the schools in Mississippi, was elected superf intendent of Oakwood. A Summer School held in July of 1905 gave a bit more impetus to Oakwoods progress. The enrollment of Oak' wood proper was now seventy students, including five from Panama. Thirteen converts among the students could be counted that year, leaving only four or five not taking their stand. With the erection of Study Hall, serving also as boys' dormitory, the new day for Oakwood seemed indeed materializing. Then on October 10, came one of Oakwood's most poignant sorrows, the burning of this, its main building. In a very little time the Ere destroyed it all,-the new bathrooms, broommaking machinery, carpenter shop and tools, carpet loom, forty tons of coal, everything except one chair and one typewriter. One boy, Will Willingham, against the earnest appeals of others, went back into the burning building for some of his belongings and was lost. Another boy, John Green, had a very narrow escape by carefully working his way along the eave roof to another room. Well do I remember the sad morning four days later when our Southern Union Conference Committee viewed the ruins. And I have not forgotten the allfnight session of our committee in the old mansion as we worked out a rebuilding program and the further development of the school. Elder Butler, our Union president, was a hard man when it came to committee work, he could persevere to the very end. That allfnight session had to go through. Daylight came with a brighter outlook for Oakwood. Instead of one building we voted for five, one for school use only, including chapel, recitation rooms and offices, a boys' dormitory, a onefstory building for bath and treatf ment roomsg a workshop and a kitchenfdining room building. These were to be scattered some distances apart for prof tection against firefspread. Further assured support for the school was given at the Union Conference Session in january of 1906, when a number of individuals pledged suflicient amounts to support each student for a year. That meant a very definite interest in the work at Oakwood, and when the school reported, near the close of the year, twenty two students baptized that interest seemed Well warranted. Only three students
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