Western Illinois University - Sequel Yearbook (Macomb, IL)

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At the top: stone, the The corner Governor's carriage and thc Canton Band in the parade. At the left: The foun- dation of the main building, the masons laying the COYII IFSIOIIC Above: The main building goes up, Governor Tanner's dedica- tion address, the masons with their aprons in the parade. Right, the completed main build- ing. BUILDING AND DEDICATION

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HE next spring on April -5, 1901, a contract was let to the same company for a consideration of Sl68,980, which cleared the way for continued work ony the main building. 1 It is difficult for persons today to realize how remote from the Macomb business cen- ter the site of the new school appeare to be at that time. Conversation with lder citizens reveals that there was some feeling in many cases that the state had beeniun- wise in selecting an old brickyard arid a series of brakes and hollows west of Ma- comb as a site for the school. In order that the school might be accessible to the town, the city under bond entered into contlract for building pavement on Carroll west to Sherman Avenue, on Sherman Avenue nbrth from Carroll to Adams, and east on Adams to Lafayette Street. The city was to fur- nish sewer connections for the new school, to clear and seed the ground that was to be the campus, and to construct power lines to the site of the new school. y SAlfred Bayliss, who had been Superintend- ent of Public Instruc- tion, came to Western as President in 1l906. Through his efforts: sev- eral departments .were added and a number of important changes fwere made. He served lxntil his tragic death in 11911. The Monroe Hall! was the last contribution which Mr. Baylissrnade to the school. Despite the lateness of the building season the foundation of the building was com- pleted early in December and the date for the dedication and laying of the corner stone was set for the first day of winter, Decem- ber 21, 1901. A solid canopy of clouds and a moderate but biting' northwest vsiind greeted the large. crowd that had paraded from the business section to the location of the new school to hear, former Governor John B. Tanner give the dedicatory address after the corner stone had been laid accord- ing to Masonic rites. -5 Speaker Sherman and his colleagues were desirous of securing Alfred Bayliss for lthe first president of the new Western Illinois Normal School, hence the comment that the school was built for Mr. Bayliss is heard l N l Qjohn W. Henninger was appointed the first president of Western Illinois in 1901. Much of the early success of the school may be at- tributed to Mr. Hen- ningcr's organizing abil- ity. He served as presi- dent during the first five years of the school's existence, most perilous years in the life of any college. yet today. Mr. Bayliss was superintendent of public instruction at the time and was extremely interested in taking the responsi- bility of developing the school at Macomb. A change of governors in the 1900 elections effected a drastic change in the plans for the school. John W. Henninger, then su-- perintendent of schools in Jacksonville, was called as the first president. On April 22, 1902, the first faculty meeting was held, and the plan presented by Mr. Henninger provided for three departments, primary, in- termediate, andygrammar, the plans being generally acceptable as presented. Exactly at nine o'clock on the morning of Tuesday, the twenty-third day of Sep- tember, 1902, a business-like young man stepped out of the front door of the main building and rang a brass colored bell lus- tily, and the three hundred and seventy-- three students, who had enrolled in the Nor- mal and preparatory departments, assembled for the first day of school. The young man appeared each school morning at the front door with the bell, so long, in fact, that he ceased to be young, and when the primitive means of summoning all the students to or- der was dispensed with, Ed. De Camp con- tinued to serve the school as he does even today as director of the caretakers of the many buildings on the campus. Serious difficulties were encountered be- cause of the building's being incomplete, making it necessary that the work of the Training School and also that of the Normal School be done on the first floor. All Hn- ished rooms, constituting the first floor, were in use all of the time, maximum co- operation and mutual concession were es- sential .in order that confusion might be minimized. The pressing need for the com- pletion of the building urged the General

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l I l l l l Q sms 1 WN. nings is seen standing the third man from the left end. President Morgan is the third man from the left end. Below: A women's physical education class in progress. The photograph shows the interior of the old gymnasium at Western, located in the room now used by the library. Above: President Morgan is seen taking a healthy swing in a fac- ulty ball game, played in the summer cf 1912. The catcher's pose and the absence of the ball indicates that the President had a good day at bat. Below: The football team of 1907 is shown seated for a picture in the grand stand. Below at the right is the girls' basketball team. The just completed Monroe Hall is seen in the background. The year is 1913. Assembly to pass a bill appropriating S1 0,- 000 for that purpose. The bill was, ever, vetoed by the Governor. A contrilbu- tion of one thousand dollars by Albert Eads of Macomb, enabled the completion and fur- nishing of two rooms on the second floor, while a temporarily improvised floor in vsihat is now the reserve library, provided space for indoor sport, and the auditorium lwas not finished until 1906. ' 1 With the inauguration of Charles S. De- l l neen as governor in 1905, President Hen- ninger tendered his resignation to take effect at once, and Mr. Samuel B. Hursh, then head of the department of English, was chosen as acting-president by the Board un- til a president should be elected. In the first term of 1905-'06 the Board tendered the presidency to Alfred Bayliss, who ac- cepted on condition that he assume the duties of the office at the end of the school year. Above: The faculty baseball team in 1912. Mr. Gin-