Roanoke College - Rawenoch Yearbook (Salem, VA)

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HISTOIQY UF IQOANO li CCLLEGE. W OST of the great and useful institutions of the world have had their humble beginnings. They have not sprung at once into full-grown being, but have developed step by step, until they have gained for themselves the place in the world's progress and life that they now hold. Some of them, perhaps, were begun by the co-opera- tion ofa numuer of men, while others have originated by the persist- ent efforts and and indomitable zeal of a single individual. Roanoke College had its beginning in a log hut in Augusta county, Virginia, near Mount Tabor in the year 1843. A young man, a native of Maryland, was laboring in Augusta county as a Lutheran Minister, and as he went in and out among his people, ministering to their spiritual wants, was deeply impressed with the need of education among his parishioners, and with the importance of increasing the facilities for securing the education of young men. To name this young man, Rev. David Frederick Bittle, is to pronounce the name of one so long and so closely identified with Roanoke College, that he was, as it were, during a great part of its history its personal embodiment. The very existence of the College today is due to the work of his hands. By his persistent efforts and self-denial, he nursed the College through her youth and started her on a career that would afterwards become as a monument erected to the memory of his own name. Douhtless, when he began to teach the few young men in the Vir- ginia Collegiate lnstitutef' as it was then called, he never dreamed of what his noble work was to accomplish. Rev. Bittle, however, had a co-laborer, Rev. Christopher C. Baughman, of Maryland, who was also interested in the education of young men. l-le became the principal of the school, while Rev. Bittle taught Mathematics two days out ofthe week. The Lutheran Synod of Virginia then took charge of the school and had it removed to Salem. A charter from the Virginia State Legislature was then M8535 secured, and it received the name, Roanoke College. No buildings were yet erected and the accomoda- tions for the students were poor. But by the renewed efforts of Rev. Bittle, money was secured for erecting a crude three story structure for a chapel, lecture rooms and dormitory. But after a few years the increasing number ofstu dents required an enlargement. Consequently a wing was added to the original building. i The College was just beginning to make some headway, when the fife and the drum of the Civil Hlar announced the fact that men were needed at the front. The students answered the call, and one of the professors acted as captain of their company. The doors of the College, however, were not closed, but it was conducted as a high school. But scarcely had the war closed before the College had grown to such an extent that an agent was sent forth to procure means for enlarging the College building, the enlarged main edifice and lVest

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MEIN BUILDING BEFORE IQIZVIOIJELIINIG

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Hall proving altogether inadequate to meet the pressinof demands. Many of the students who entered the College in the segion imme- diately following the close of the war were ex-soldiers who bore the scars of many battles and of the hardships of military life. 'fFr0m that time on its progress has been comparatively steady, the number of students gradually increasing with no serious fluctuations except in the years immediately following the death of its first president, Dr. D. F. Bittle, in 1876. 1 In 1877: Rev. T. W1 Doush, D. D., was elected to the presidency of the Institution, but served in this capacity only one year, fOr in the following year he accepted a professorship in the Lutheran Theological Seminary then located in Salem. Prof Julius D. Dreher, who had been the hnancial agent of the College for several years, and who had secured many friends and fren- erous benefactions for the College, was chosen by the Board of Tzirus- tees as the next president, Accordingly, At the beginning of the ses- sion of 1878-0 President Dreher entered upon his duties, and bv the wise administration of his office, supported by a faculty of moreithan usual ability, he raised the standard of scholarship, brought to its finan- cial support a large number of liberal-minded and generous-handed friends of education, and greatly enlarged the influence of the College. Having caught the emblems of authority so soon after they fell from the dying hand of the Founder of the College, and having steadily, for a quarter ofa Century, carried forward his aims and plans, the success and triumphs of the living have been of themselves constant tributes to the memory of the dead. The success of tl1e College in the hands of Dr. Dreher has been remarkable. Taking charge, as he did, of an institution without endow- ment and against much strong opposition, he has made it one of the great institutions of the South. To be specific, he freed the College from its debt, accumulated a considerable endowment fund, made a notable improvement in the teaching equipments, and remodeled the buildings. The Bittle Memorial and the present main building of the College stand as fitting memorials of Dr. Dreher's indomitable energy and devotion to the College. The College has a library which contains over 22,000 volumes, the oldest of which are from 100 to 200 years old. But the Library is up-to-date, and is one of the best in the South. The reading room, which, as an annex to the Main Library, is commodious and attractive, and is much used by the students. More than 12,000 mineralogical and geological specimens have been collected and placed in the Museum. Some of these specimens are very rare and valuable. Roanoke has a moderate endowment. Fifteen bequests have been left the College, eight in Virginia, six in New England, and one in Philadelphia. The largest of the endowments was left by Henry Steere, of Providence, R. I., 325000, and the next in amount, that of Col. Green B. Board, of Salem, fI0,000. Bequests have been made to the College for the establishment of scholarships to be given to needy and meritorious studentsi Other generous gifts and bequests are con- tinually being made for the general support and welfare of the College. The curriculum of the College has been made somewhat flexible