Wofford College - Bohemian Yearbook (Spartanburg, SC)

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bonds under this plan were ever collected but the beginning made by Mr. Boyd was of lasting importance. The work was pressed with vigor in the following years, and mainly through the exertions of Prof. W. W. Duncan and Prof. John C. Kilgo over $50,000 was raised in actual funds. The three founders of the endowment are, therefore, Mr. Boyd, Bishop Duncan and Dr. Kilgo. The twentieth Century Educational Movement and the liberality of the citizens of Spartanburg, regardless of denom- nations, at the same period in endowing the James H. Carlisle chair of Mathematics have brought the endowment to a little over $72,000. In June, 1902, Dr. Carlisle resigned the duties of President, though retaining his class work. Since then he has been President emeritus and Dr. H. N. Snyder, since 1890 Professor of English, has been President. Buildings, gifts and bequests have been added from time to time to the foundation of Benjamin Wofford. Those up to 1865 have already been mentioned. In 1889 the building now known as Archer Hall, facing Church street, was erected as Alum- ni Hall, the alumni having contributed the major portion of the cost towards it. Before the fire of ajnuary 18, 1901, which caused it to be reduced to its present dimensions, it stood four stories high. Used as a college dormitory until after the sale of the old Wofford Fitting School property, once the property of the old Spartanburg Female College and now to be seen as the five brick tenements in the midst of the Spartan Mill Village, it was later made to serve as the quarters of the Wofford Fitting School. After the fire, the present handsome Fitting School building was erected, at the cost of about $15,000 (partly new con- tributions of the alumni), and the old building, reduced to two stories, was again used as a college dormitory. An outline of the relations between the college and the sub-collegiate department may be given here. At first there were preparatory classes which were taught wholly by their own teachers. In 1887, through the liberal response of the Methodists to the efforts of Dr. A. Coke Smith, Financial Agent, the old Spartanburg Female College was bought, and until this was sold in 1895 a very flourishing preparatory school was conducted there exclusively by its own faculty. The Fitting School was con- ducted in the Archer Hall (formerly Alumni Hall) from October, 1895, until the fire in that building, January 18, 1901. Con- ducted in rooms in the college for the next few months, it was transferred to the present Fitting School building about the end of November, 1901. On the transfer of the Fitting School to the college campus in 1895 the college faculty for the first time did preparatory work, unless it be considered an exception that during the two previous years Prof. Rembert was Head Master of the Fitting School and also Professor of Greek in the college. The teachers of English Bible, Greek, Latin, Mathe- matics, Modern Languages, and History assisted the Fitting School faculty after 1895, more and more of them being relieved of this duty, however, until since 1902 the only teaching of a preparatory class by a college professor has been by the Professor of Greek, who has his Freshmen who are one year behind and the preparatory Greek men in one class. The Carlisle Fitting School at Bamberg has always had a complete faculty of its own. The Wilbur E. Burnett Gymnasium, built in 1896, owes its existence to the liberality of the alumni and the energy of Capt. Wilbur E. Burnett of the class of 1876. Capt. Burnett ' s exertions and his subscription were so considerable that the Alumni Association gave the building his name. The latest addition to the college and one of the most valuable portions of the plant, representing the most considerable addition ever made by one man to Benjamin Wofford ' s foundation, is the John B. Cleveland Science Hall, erected in 1904. 26

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tion must be made by emphasizing the tone and spirit inaugurated and constantly exemplified by the old faculty and made per- manent by Dr. James H. Carlisle during his long presidency. It is due to say that probably no student body in this country has ever conducted itself for fifty years in a more uniformly, gentlemanly and enlightened manner than that of Wofford College. There are no bad traditions in their history to live down. If the time ever comes when this can no longer be said they will have lost their chief glory. Not only has there never been a clash between any two of the three bodies of the college solar system, but the relations between all of them and the town have been equally as satisfactory. A college for women in the same town as one for men is a severe test upon the occupants of both institutions. Unpleasantness arising from this circumstance has never gone beyond triv- ial irritation due to a few individuals, and that years ago in the newness of associations in process of adjustment. For a few years two members of the faculty and presumably the students looking to the ministry were known as the divinity school, and the $5,000 donation of Mr. Geo. W. Williams in 1855 was thought to look perhaps in this direction. The divinity school, however, never had any real existence, and it is the only instance, even in name, in which Wofford has ever de- parted from pursuing singly the ideal of a college. This singleness and sincerity of aim accounts in no small degree for the ad- mirably rounded and liberal type of mind and character marking Wofford men. College life has increased greatly in complexity and variety of duties, opportunities and interests during (say) the past fifteen or eighteen years. The issue of the first number of the Wofford College Journal in January, 1889, may be taken as the first decided break into the simpler routine of the older days, when class room work began at 10 a. m. and ceased at 12, to be completed by one hour ' s work from 4 to 5- The Y. M. C. A. had been organized in 1879; the gymnasium was opened in 1896. The first Wofford base ball team the Pioneers, was in 1869, but intercollegiate games made no appearance until about 1886, and they did not become a customary or important part of the college life until 1896, since which date they have increased in number and intensity of interest. Though fraternities have existed m the college since 1867, they did not become an absorbing subject of collective college thought until about 1900. The Glee Club is another, though somewhat intermittent, recent ex- pression of student activity. College politics began to give rise to more heated contests in about 1890, at important elections dur- ing the next few years feeling frequently rising to a painful height. It is much harder to be an ideal all round student now than ever before. The student of manners observes that life at Wofford has within the past twenty years become more frankly democratic. Ideas of social caste, the heritage of an ante-bellum aristocratic society, have grown much weaker within the past two decades and the Wofford campus is nearer than ever before the place where every man has an equal chance, socially, intellectually and politi- cally. The history of the present endowment is as follows. At the meeting of the Alumni Association, June 25, 1872, Robert W. Boyd, who as a young man was the first teacher in the preparatory department, made an earnest speech proposing to raise $50,000 endowment by January i, 1874, by securing personal bonds to this amount. The plan was adopted and the amount was pledged, the preachers of the South Carolina Conference, those ever ready friends to whom Wofford College is more deeply indebted than to any other body of men, subscribing $10,000 — many times above their proportional ability. Only a small portion of the 25

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This handsome building stands upon ground once owned by the grandfather of the donor, and in placing upon the former de- mesne of his forebear his own valuable gift, Mr. Cleveland has erected a monument rich alike in utility and in sentiment. The bequest of Rev. John R. Pickett (died 1870), the whole of whose estate went by his will to the college after the death of his wife, aggregated about $14,000. The cottages used as student dormitories were erected by the college; each bears the name of a considerable benefactor. The cottage to the west of the John B. Cleveland Science Hall, sometimes rented to a professor, but not a professors house, represents a portion of the endowment. All the professors ' houses except the second to the west of the college, erected in 1892, formed a part of the original plant. The burning of the DuPre house, April i, 1881, and the Archer Hall fire are the only con- flagrations which have ever occurred on the campus. Numerous gifts of smaller amount, prompted by as pure motive and as sincerely appreciated, have been made to the col- lege by friends and alumni. The question how is, who will write his name simultaneously across the history of the college and the entablature of a worthy library building. In her great personalities and distinguished alumni Wofford College finds her deepest satisfaction ; for the production of good and great men is the object of her existence. The first President, Wm. M. Wightman, stands as one of the most distin- guished of Methodist bishops. Dr. Whitefoord Smith was among the most eloquent preachers of a day in which eloquence flourished. Rev. A. M. Shipp, David Duncan, Warren DuPre and others connected with the earlier history of the college, besides being men of great scholarship and ability, were rare and lofty types of Christian gentlemen, whose strong and noble personalities were of inestimable value in impressing upon Wofford ideals in their incipiency their peculiarly high and pure quality to maintain which is the most sacred trust of every trustee, professor, student and alumnus. Two bishops of the Methodist church besides Dr. Wightman have been connected with the college, each in the capacities of student, professor and financial agent, namely, William Wallace Duncan ( ' 58) and. A. Coke Smith ( ' 72). Three of the alumni are circuit judges of South Carolina, C. G. Dantzler ( ' 75), G. W. Gage ( ' 75), and J. C. Klugh ( ' 77), and one, Charles A. Woods ( ' 72), was elected a justice of the Supreme Court of South Carolina under peculiarly honorable and complimentary cir- cumstances. In the world of scholars, James H. Kirkland ( ' 77), Chancellor of Vanderbilt University, and Charles Forster Smith ( ' 72), Professor of Greek in the University of Wisconsin, are among the most able and accomplished classical scholars in the country; and J. Perrin Smith ( ' 84), brother of the last named and professor in Leland Stanford University, stands in the front rank of American paleontologists. A. C. Wightman ( ' 79), Professor of Biology in Randolph-Macon, Rev. J. L. Weber ( ' 82), President of Wesleyan College, Ky., W. L Weber ( ' 86), Professor of English in Emory, A. M. Muckenfuss ( ' 89), Professor of Chem- istry in Millsaps, W. P. Few ( ' 89), Professor of English in Trinity, are among the leading educators of the South. Wofford ' s contribution to the ministry has been large and valuable. Besides our Bishops, Dr. R. D. Smart ( ' 68), is known throughout the church, as is Dr. John C. Kilgo, President of Trinity, distinguished both as educator and preacher. S. A. Weber ( ' 59), W. D. Kirkland ( ' 70), and W. R. Richardson ( ' 77), have been entrusted with the responsible position of editor of the Southern Christian Advocate. 27