Western Maryland College - Aloha Yearbook (Westminster, MD)

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esrenn nnvisnnn Qouaeee. A SKETCH. Ex arvis sae e ina naruin inoinenta rernin Jendcntf'-L1'zf f. l J the afternoon of Thursday, September 6th, 1866, the Master of Door-to-Virtue Lodge of Freemasons, assisted by his wardens, and surrounded by seventy live 5' V, of his brethren, laid the corner-stone of a building which, when Hnished, was X554 to be known as XVestern Maryland College. The crowd of citizens who were present had come together not merely to witness a novel ceremony and to listen to speeches, but to testify, by their presence, the interest felt in the inauguration of a great and beneticent enterprise. The hopes of the participants and spectators already high were lifted higher still by the breath of oratory. Prophecies of great things to come, of great works to be achieved, found ready credence, and Vfestminster already saw itself, as in a kind of beatific vision, the home of learning and the nursery of scholars. The very scene by its beauty, perhaps still more by its associations, lent encouragement to the most optimistic views Certainly the site chosen for the new college was one of unsurpassed loveliness. Itself one of the everlasting hills, lifted high above a surrounding country of rare beauty and fertility, with little Westminster nestling at its feet, while the majestic Blue Ridge loomed on the western horizon and freely gave its invigorating breezes, a spot retired yet accessible. it seemed the ideal location for a school. Then, too, the ground on which the corner-stone was laid possessed associations which seemed almost prophetic of the uses to which it was henceforth destined The old common at the west-end, the play-ground of the village children, the favorite resort of young men and maidens in search of the pictur- esque,-what more appropriate place could be selected as a scholastic home for youth? But the old common had been more than a play-ground. Here political meetings were 'wont to be held and the great questions ofifree-trade, protective tariff, internal improvements to be discussed for the enlightenment or confusion of citizens eager to learn their duties and their rights, here, annually, on Independence Day, the grove was vocal with patriotic oratory and music, while the struggles of the Republic were recounted and its future painted in glowing colors'-surely an educational work all this, even if intermittent and largely futile. Did not the ceremony of this sunny September day, twenty-seven years ago, seem to dedicate the hill, most fittingly, to the continuance, in a settled, solid way, of the work of training young people of botl1 sexes, in college walls, for the duties of citizenship which lay before them? ' . 2 5

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NVESTERN MARYLAND COLLEGE

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The walls did rise, and in one year from the laying of the corner-stone, the college was opened and its first session began. But early in the following year, 1868, it became evident that, inancially, the walls had no corner-stone, or other foundation, and that the whole enterprise was a ghastly failure. And in fact a failure it was fore-doomed to be, because it was the visionary undertaking of a misguided man on his sole responsibility, a man without collegiate training, and so ignorant of that with which he ambitiously grappled as not even to know that the building and the main- tenance of a college as a merely individual enterprise had never been accomplished, that it was, in fact, an impossibility. And yet, strange to say, the blunder of Fayette R. Buell was the origin of Western Maryland College. A teacher from the state of New York, he was conducting, with fair success, an academy or high-school in VVest- ininster, when the wild idea of founding a college took possession of him. He had no money, he knew nothing about colleges, but he was full of energy, Bred with zeal, and he had made influential friends. Through the good ofhces of these, he secured from the Maryland Annual Conference of the Methodist Protestant Church, in March, 1866, a recommendation of Mr. Buell and his projected college to the patronage of their people, Meanwhile, neither Mr. Buell nor anybody else knew where money enough to buy a perch of stone or a cart-load of sand was to come from, and YVestern Maryland College seemed fated to be only a paper college and never an architectural or other reality. There was a Board of Directors, it is true, of Mr. Buell's selection, but there was nothing to direct, and most likely there never would have been any- thing to direct, if no such person as james Thomas NVard had existed. But because he was, Western Maryland College is. Two friends of Dr. Wardis, bound to him by ties of love and admiration, john Smith, of XVakelield, and Isaac C. Baile, both citi- Zens of Westiiiiiister, offered to lend Mr. Buell ten thousand dollars to start his college with, on the condition that Dr. Ward should be at its head. This proposition was accepted, the work was begun, and, as we have seen, the corner-stone was duly laid. But, as we have also seen, it became evident, early in 1868, to Mr. Buell and all concerned, that the individual-enterpriseH plan of starting and conducting a college was a failure, and that unless some other plan could be devised and successfully substituted the work would have to be abandoned. The hnancial status of the college at the close of its first session, February 27th, 1868, when Mr. Buell called his Board of Directors together for consultation is described by President Lewis in his hfzkfoifzkzzl Sketch as indeed a pitiable one. H The building, he says, Wwas still unfinished, all the money had been spent, all the interest on the loan was unpaid, and the prop- erty was covered by mechanics' liens for nearly as much as had been borrowed in the hrst place. This was the situation Eeported to the Maryland Conference at its session in March, 1868. Although in no sense responsible for the disaster, the Conference had been nominally connected with it and determined to prevent utter failure if possible. The Conference, therefore, appointed thirty-three men to become incorporated by the Legislature of Maryland as a Board of Trustees. They were authorized to purchase the property of Mr. Buell for an amount equal to what had been spent and was still due on it. and Mr. Ward was directed to proceed at once to raise among the friends of the church sufficient money to meet the most pressing claims. The charter was obtained March goth, 1868, the agreement with Mr. Buell closed August 12th, 1868, 26