Wyoming Seminary Prep School - Yearbook (Kingston, PA)

Page 19 text:

THE ANNUALT Lqiainrg nf mgnming Sveminarg. 14 Uhr Zfieginning Uhr ijrraihrniz Ziiarultg I sinh Svtuhrnin PROI-'. C, O. THURSTON. To our forefathers education was the first-born of relig- ion. The church was scarcely completed before the school house was begun. The VVyon1ing Seminary was no ex- ception, it sprang from a serious religious conviction and has been nourished and guided by the church to this day. it was founded by the Oneida Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1844. W'yomin'g has been blessed in her presidents, and twice blessed in that they have been so few. Much of her won- derful progress has- been due to the fact that her presidents, or principals as they were called' at ity and ideas, and held -office long plans to ripen and bear fruit. Dr. Reuben Nelson, the pioneer, and executive, was principal for twenty-seven years. Dr. Y. C. Smith, the able professor of Greek and Latin, was an efhcient principal during an interim of one year. Dr. David Copeland, the scholar and teacher, was princi- pal for ten years. Dr. L. L. Sprague, the pre-eminent financier, has rounded out one-fourth of a century as the head of the in- stitution, and has been connected with the school for forty years. The school opened in 1844 with two teachers and fifty students. The 1906 catalogue gives' the number of teachers as twenty-Hve, of stud-ents six hundred and sixty-three-a sturdy growth, with about the same ratio between teachers and students as at first. The most of those who taught and studied here fifty years ago have passed from memory, and many have passed from earth, but the good work they did still lives in the school itself, and in the influence of the thousands of noble men and women who have passed out from Qld VVyoming1' and have made their lives tell for good in the different walks of life. first, were men of abil- enough to cause their the brilliant organizer

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WYOMING SEMINARY 1844-WYOMING SEMINARY-1907 Colors: BLUE AND WHITE. Zfinarh nf Zflruztrvz. GEORGE S. BENNETT, Esq., President, Wilkes-Ba1'1'e. ABRAM NESBITT, Esq., Vice-President, Kingston. REV. J. W. NICHOLSON, Secretary, Kingston. REV. LEVI L. SPRAGUE, D. D., T1'GaSLII'G1', Kingston. REV. ALBERT E. PIPER, Ph. D., Willies-Ba1're. WILLIAM P. BILLINGS, Esq., Wilkes-Barre. REESE G. BROOKS, Esq., Scranton. HON. WILLIAM CONNELL, Scranton. HON. THOMAS H. DAL-E, Scranton. ABRAM I. DECKER, Esq., Wave1'Iy, N. Y. OYRUS D. JONES, ESQ., Scranton. CHARLES YV. LAYOOCK, Esq., Kingston. REV. LEONARD C. MURDOCK, M. A., D. D., Kingston THEODORE L. NEWELL, Esq., Kingston. GEORGE K. POWELL, Esq., Wilkes-Barre. JACOB I. SHOEMAKER, Esq., Wyoming. JAMES G. SHEPHERD, Esq., Scranton. LEWIS H. TAYLOR, M. D., Wilkes-Barre. ANTHONY L. WILLIAMS, Esq., Wilkes-Barre.

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WYOMING SEMINARY 15 The number of those who have taught here T cannot give, but many able men and women, during these sixty-three years, have given their lives to the school and to the work they loved. N-early, if not quite, twenty thousand boys and girls have been VVyoming students, and twenty'-seven hundred have gained her diploma. Lack of room will not permit a list of those who have won tame 3 most have been a credit to their Alma Mater and many have won, for her and lor themselves, glory and honor. The first building cost less than 35000. The chapel was 243129. There were twenty rooms for students. 1 From this small beginning gradually, as need has been. buildings have been added. Flood, ire, and tornado have injured and even totally destroyed but friends have always' been found who had faith in the school. and not only has the damage been repaired but growth has been provided for Administration, Sweatland, and Union Halls were built after a ire that had destroyed all in 1853. These were united by Centenary Hall in 1866. Then followed Nelson Hall, built as a memorial to Dr. Nelson. in 1887. Here is the Chapel and the home of the Musiae Department. Abram Nesbitt, always a friend of the school, added Nes- bitt Hall in 1894. It contains the Commercial College, the Science Department, and the Art Department. The Pettebone Gymnasium. one of the finest among the preparatory schools of the state, was erected through the munificence, of Mrs. Caroline M. Pettebone, in 1897. The rapid growth of the Wfyoming V alley assures the school a prosperous and intluential future and makes the need of still greater equipment imperative. The immediate needs are a large, well-lighted Reeitation Hall, a central Heat and Light Plant, and an Endowment of not less than S250,000. And what shall we say of the future? Simply this, if the younger sons and daughters of Vlfyoming measure up to their opportunities and to their responsibilities as the older ones have done the half has not yet been told. Uhr Euilhinga Ghz' Ellniurn